Summer Acting Classes Ralph Anthony 03 - Maggie Flanigan Studio

Summer Acting Classes Ralph Anthony 03 - Maggie Flanigan Studio Q: Ralph, what did you learn about yourself over these past six weeks in this program that was a surprise? That's a good one. I think I was pretty surprised about how vulnerable I could be. I don't think anybody is that comfortable being vulnerable, especially living in New York. In New York, you have to have this tough exterior all the time and opening up those little doors about yourself and your past, it's tough. Sometimes, people just don't want to do it. You're scared. It's almost like opening Pandora's box where you're afraid if it's going to be a flood. It's like a flood of emotions. I learned how to do that and how to do it to make me feel comfortable and made me feel excited to be in a role or in acting with my partner in front of this class. It was inspiring. Growing up, it was tough. For certain scenes or certain parts of the independent activity, I pulled upon those experiences to get me where I needed to be. It was cool just to see how I could connect from here or disconnect from this and rely on the heart, right from here. I remember that's what Charlie always said. He says, "You can't think from up here. You got to come from right here." Using my heart instead of my head to expose my vulnerability was the biggest thing that I learned. Q: You're a stand-up comedian? Yes. Q: How do you think the training will help you as a comedian? I like to play off the audience a lot, especially in the beginning. If I'm doing a more extended set, if I'm doing 20 minutes, to half an hour, 45 minutes, I like to play off the crowd first. There are 200 people in there or 100 people or 50 people, whatever it is, they're one person. They combine just to be one. It's like you're playing off your partner. Even though they're looking at me, I just keep shifting the focus back onto them. It's cool, the give and takes that you have. I had a show on Saturday where I did half an hour, and it was one of the best half an hour I ever did. It was just so cool to be present. I think that's something that I learned about myself before. Just how to be more present and actively listen to what the audience was giving me back and play off their facial expressions or what they were saying. I think that's really how this course and this class has helped me be more present and playing off of them more. It's a weird version of the repetition exercise. It's a lot of fun. This past weekend, it was one of the most fun times I've had on stage. I was just playing off of people because it was a smaller crowd. It was 7,000 degrees outside this weekend, so there weren't many people out, so I had to hone and use what I've been learning to get that give and take, that back and forth, and just really use them and pretend like they were only one partner. It was, let's say, 30 people there, but there was just one scene partner for me, so I'm just playing off of them a little bit better. Maggie Flanigan Studio 153 W 27th St #803 New York, New York 10001 (917) 789-1599 www.maggieflaniganstudio.com/new-york-ny https://flic.kr/p/2jnCLzt