David Chiu

Today, as I was preparing for my scene Tom approached me out in the hallway and wanted to talk to me about the piece. He said he initially forgot that the scene contained the line “…cock-eyed Chinaman…”. During a teachers meeting at the studio it was discussed whether I could just leave that line out of my performance. Well, it turns out the studios’ position is to never cut any lines out of a scene. So my choice is to either keep the line in or do a different scene altogether. Tom said he definitely did not want me to feel uncomfortable so if I chose not to do the scene that was completely fine. I would be assigned a new one. In the event that I do perform the scene, I could say the line with the intention that that was what they called me while I was in jail.

After some thought, I decided that I would go ahead and perform the scene keeping that line in. My thought was to illuminate the racist attitudes of the time instead of trying to hide or deny it. Anyway, I love the beauty of the scene. It’s very touching.

The table-reading in class went very, very well. Tom actually let us get through the entire scene without stopping us (which is rare for an initial table-reading). What that means is that my partner and I showed good understanding of the scene, the characters, the relationship, the circumstances and the emotions. He said we had a very good start and he had just a few adjustments as we continue development of our performances.

My partner and I were very pleased. I feel that this scene is going to do a lot of good in terms of my growth as an actor and sensitivity of emotions. I’m starting to feel that I am finally starting to “get” the process and how to apply it. It’s all very exciting.

+Plus I get twice the coaching on it since I have two partners!