Weber State's semester is winding down, which means I'm almost done with my first full semester of teaching acting. We had their final performances in class yesterday, and I can't fully express in words how proud I was of my students. For a lot of them, this was their first experience with theater, and I saw them go from shaking and barely willing to speak in front of anyone, to nailing their final scenes. They were confident in their lines, had developed relationships with their scene partners, and everyone worked really hard on blocking. It was quite the transformation from their first monologue performance back in September, and so rewarding to see. I'm really thankful that they trusted me enough to open up and try new and scary things with me. And, now I'm hooked, bring on all the acting classes, that was a fantastic experience!
After their scenes we had cookies (I made them homemade cookies!), I gave them their final notes, and then we did a cold read of my ten-minute play MOM'S HAM- because it's Christmas-y and there are no swear words in it. We finished early, but no one wanted to leave, and when someone shouted out “group selfie” we made it happen. I'm going to miss seeing them twice a week. Now I just have a mountain of grading to get to!
Hooray teaching!