Exercises in Class

The exercises in class have been confusing. The first class was weird because no one really knew what we were "supposed to be doing". What we really didn't know was that there isn't anything that is "supposed" to happen. The second time we did the exercise was the most interesting for me. The work that I got out of it was really inspirational for me and I really want to continue developing what I wrote that night. Having to put in the person who has inspired me the most in the life into my play sprouted all these other scenes that I really want to add in. The first day we did the exercise, I had this picture in my head about what I wanted the scene to revolve around and what I wanted the characters in each monologue to be talking about. The scene is between a mother and a son and I wanted them to discuss the father's abandonment of the son, completely. The scene ended up being about their struggle to be more "Jewish" in their neighborhood. I thought that was really cool. By simply writing for 5 minutes at a time without really thinking about it, I got something really interesting out of my work that I never would have though would have happened. I don't know if I want to develop that story anymore, but it is certainly an option. The last exercise day was the most interesting for me because I always love those exercises where someone just describes where you are going and your own imagination makes everything up. The items that I ended up picking actually had a theme between them, which I thought would never ever happen. I have gotten my most substantial and fascinating work from these exercises and I really want to continue doing them.