Honeyman 1

Dani Honeyman
Sam Arnold
Drama 30C
3 June 2016
Boeing Boeing Rehearsals and Life
I am completely disoriented in the best way possible right nowits Friday, but I feel like Ive been up here for months. This schedule is
insane but I am completely in love with it- I think my track is really nice
this summer since I have time to work a bunch of different muscles at
different times of the day- I am also really appreciating Boeing as a
nice break from the insanity of musical theater. Johanna is fucking
amazing- I feel so lucky to get to work with her. I feel like she has such
a forward energy and involvedness in her directing that is really
refreshing- shes not afraid to speak her thoughts as we are working. At
this point, Ive only had three Boeing rehearsals but I feel like weve
been living with the script forever. Im already much more comfortable
with the accent and the script and the character and its become really
natural to find that place. The other actors in Boeing are also all really
intelligent, interesting human beings- we were talking the other night
about how there is almost an invisible separation between the actors
who are only in musicals and those of us who are in the plays- its just
sort of an awareness? I dont know; all I know is that I am completely
obsessed with Berthe and am having the best time exploring her

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nuances. The relationships of the people in the room as people and
characters have already become so strong; as a cast we are super
close after three days together. The way Johanna directs just really
works with my brain- she explains things in a way that I can easily
understand and try out, but she is also open to suggestions and ideas,
which I think is really important as a director. She definitely has a clear
vision but is open to letting us explore things, and is really responsive
to our work- theres no bullshit allowed and its amazing. Shes also
helping me out with the accent- I feel as though, as I work the French,
Im getting much more comfortable with living authentically in the
vocalization. Johanna asked me to play around with vocal variety
more, and I think I definitely need to as I tend to get stuck in a middle
ground, I think because Im trying to focus on the way the words
sound. Last night I felt like I could release the worry about perfecting
the dialect and just be present and go for the intention of the words
and that was a really liberating experience. I am pushing myself past
limits I didnt know I had and its fucking awesome. I feel as though Ive
grown so much this year as an actor and a human being, and I also feel
like Ive learned an incredible amount of information and I cant wait to
learn even more. Although my brain and body are knee deep in
information overload at this point, Ive been coming home really happy
with the work Ive been doing and coming back ready to work the next
day. Building multiple characters at once is a unique beast, but Im

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kind of loving it- Im trying to have compartments in my brain for
each show Im working on so I dont get confused; because all the
characters Im playing are quite different from each other. I havent
really gotten to any scene work in Nice Work yet, but Ive been working
on my songs and they are all quite challenging- one I have to sing
while swinging from a chandelier so that should be terrifying I ,eam
exciting. Im sort of going with the unknown explorations as much as I
can, especially with Berthe, and shes starting to go in a direction I
hadnt even imagined but it totally makes sense. I think thats my
favorite part of my experience so far- I keep surprising myself every
day and its kind of magical. The people Ive met are all so kind,
genuine, dynamic, and interesting and I really wasnt expecting that,
as musical theatre people can have an air about them- each person is
truly an individual and I feel like Ive known them forever when its only
been four days. Watching how everyone else works is also really
enlightening- each person has figured out the way that works for them
to do their best work. I am super happy with the work Ive been doing
and am looking forward to doing much more. I am so grateful for the
training that I have, especially with voice work- I find myself
structuring much more often, especially with Berthe- I have to, in order
to save my voice. Evita definitely took its toll on my voice- Ive been
feeling quite disconnected this week and I didnt really get a break. The
last 2 days Ive added in destructuring time into my morning warm up

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and its made a world of a difference- it also helps me tune into the
accent when working on Boeing. Last night Johanna pointed out that I
tend to smile a lot when Im being mean, and I think this kind of traces
back to my Maureen monologue in a way. I didnt consciously register
that I do this, but it totally makes sense that I do in my head- that
doesnt make any sense. I think this note is really helpful because I
wasnt aware that that was a specific habit of mine, and Im super
grateful that Im now aware of it and can work on finding a medium
between them. Being mean is a blast- I need to live in the pure
frustration more rather than trying to save Bernards feelings- he can
take it. I think the smiling thing is also me trying to make excuses for
my train wreck of an accent- when I fuck up, I tend to laugh it off or
smile. I think I just need to accept that it is what it is right now- Im
working on it, but I think finding the authentic acting moments is much
more important at this point in the process. As a person, I apologize
way too often and I need to stop doing that- theres no point. We all
make mistakes. I apologize for the most arbitrary shit when I should
just accept that Im human and move on with my life. I am working on
being relentless in all aspects of my life, and look forward to seeing
where this allows me to go with the work.