Though he said he has no interest in pursing acting as a career, he’s taking the course to help him with his writing skills.
“In class we work a lot with the relationship between text and action and emotion, and seeing that from the actor’s side strengthens me on the writing side,” Huff said.
After going through some options with his adviser, Huff decided to craft his own storytelling major supplement to his English major. He is planning to take writing courses through the Media School and the Department of Theatre, Drama and Contemporary Dance to gain a fresh perspective on storytelling.
Though Huff has had no formal training in acting, this is his third semester performing with the University tWits, a comedy sketch group on campus. Huff said performing in his Acting I for Majors course is different from in his sketch comedy group.
He said in acting, you’re looking for honesty and reality, whereas in sketch you’re looking for what’s unusual or what’s different from reality.
“The first couple days in class when we were doing exercises that were just about process and truth, I would have to fight the impulse to make choices and change the scene in some way like I would in a comedy sketch,” Huff said.
In addition to the acting course, he said he is also taking Introduction to Playwriting to help him to pay attention to his language in his writing by saying a lot with fewer words.
“If I’m writing for performance then I need to pack as much as I can into the smallest amount of space,” Huff said. “That’s the big reason it’s helped me with my writing.”
Huff said he felt like it was a fluke he was put in Henry Woronicz’s acting class since he’s such a renowned actor.
Not only is Woronicz a visiting assistant professor in the theater department, but he is also a nationally recognized actor, director and producer, according to the IU Theatre website. Woronicz said he likes the idea of Huff crafting this additional major within the Theatre Department.
He said this idea of performing and knowing what the acting process is about is helpful for storytellers because characterization is a huge component of storytelling.
“I think it’s a great thing and wonderful thing to have in your pocket,” Woronicz said. “The work we’re doing is based from texts and plays, and so you get a character handed to you while with storytelling you kind of make it up as you go along through the same process.”
Huff said the ultimate goal at the end of his two classes is a better understanding of what job he wants to pursue after he graduates. Even if he doesn’t, Huff said he is glad he took the course because it’s given him a new perspective on how humans work that he hadn’t thought about.
“Is taking one class a risk?” Huff said. “Maybe not, but just throwing myself into something I’ve never really done before formally and didn’t really know what to expect is. I feel like I definitely have done the right thing.”
