Dicks forward, Ladies!

I’m constantly having to remind myself that that extra little piece of anatomy that dudes have below the belt sure does change a whole lot physically! Beyond the obvious “making room” for such a piece, it’s a lower center of gravity, a shifting of the hips and pelvis which then in turn totally changes how you hold your upper body (not to mention the fact that guys don’t have the extra weight on the upper half that we tend to have).

“Tuck that stinking butt in!” is a phrase I’ve become accustomed to having yelled in my direction during this first week of rehearsal.

It’s funny because I felt like I had it down pretty well with Shui Ta, the dude I played last summer (although maybe I could get away with a little more then because technically my character was a female impersonating a male… um… and she was pregnant to boot). Petruchio’s a whole new ball game though. As I said to Erin today: “Shui Ta just wasn’t quite this grabby” (meaning not at all… but that should give you a lil’ sumpin’ to look forward to this show, huh?). I was also just able to stand my ground with him a little more; I could plant somewhere and that was that. Petruchio takes up a little more room on stage… not that Shui Ta didn’t, it’s just that Petruchio is, in general, just a more physical guy.

I sadly had to miss the always eye-opening “Find your Inner Man” class that Woman’s Will offers at the start of every rehearsal process (and which is actually open to the public and if you haven’t taken advantage of that lil’ gem, I guarantee it’s an afternoon well spent beyond the kicks and giggles you get out of facial hair application). I think it would have been extremely useful for me to revisit that class for this process, but by a fine stroke of luck, we got to have a mini discussion of the process during rehearsal in the park yesterday where there as a woman practicing a fight style that I can’t particularly name. Said “woman” had a very manly way about her, (not just in stance but voice as well, although the stance is what captured our attention the most). Her hips and the flat of her feet seemed like they were so connected to the ground and she had this side-to-side swagger movement that she was using in her fighting that was so the opposite of feminine it was inspiring. She also had quite a bit of muscle on her and so much so in her arms that it forced her to have a little extra room in her armpits, which in turn forced her arms to hang a little farther away from her body and her shoulders to round a bit. She would even toss her long hair out of her face, not with a swooping action like you see the stereotypical “valley girls” use on whatever the hottest tween soap is at the moment, but instead she’d remove it with a quick flick of the head, all the while never taking her threatening eyes off her opponent. She also probably had some “medical” help…. maybe I could ask her where she got her stuff…. Just kidding.

(NB: Woman’s Will does not condone the use of illegal substances… no really).

- El (Petruchio)