Presence In Acting

The most overused, misunderstood word in the acting universe. What is presence? It is that intangible sense that someone special has entered the room, and filled it with their Beingness, I guess.

I’ve heard tell that when Clark Gable entered a room from the back, quietly, all heads would mysteriously turn and look at him. I’ve worked with a few people who seemed to have a similar quality, particularly John Travolta and Isaac Hayes. I’ve watched actors over the years on stage who created that sort of an impact, simply by their being in the room with you. I’ve also met and worked with politicians who had the quality of presence.

Helen Hayes, perhaps America’s greatest actress during the 1930s-1950s, tells the story in her autobiography about her very long run in Maxwell Anderson’s great play, Elizabeth, The Queen. She performed the role, though she herself was very much too short for the part. But no one ever complained, and why? Presence. Ms. Hayes filled the stage and the theatre with the magnificence of her spirit, and no one doubted that she was, indeed, the greatest female ruler in history.

So now, you ask, isn’t THIS a quality one must be born with, this unique type of presence?

Yes, it is.

And everyone IS born with it.

Everyone has a degree of presence. If you exist, you impact a space when you enter it, and something vital exits the space when you leave. You have presence, and the quality of it can be consciously developed, to some extent.

Some of this quality is a result of confidence, a real awareness that a person can do with extreme professionalism what he’s there to do. There are plumbers who step into your house, and you know you’re in trouble because they’re going to break something. Another plumber walks in and you immediately sigh with relief. He KNOWS. And he knows he knows. He’s not worried, so neither are you. This sort of confidence results in presence, a sense that one is in powerful and benevolent hands.

An actor with presence radiates confidence, regardless of the role. He or she KNOWS. They know they’re good, and that you’re in for a treat, and so you are. You sit back and wait, knowing something good is going to happen, and glad you’re there to be a part of it. I believe that one of the most important elements of presence is confidence. You will develop confidence as you succeed as an actor. Another aspect of presence is a powerful sense of being exactly where you are, and knowing that you are. You can help yourself with this by simply and truly looking about each space you enter, and truly locating yourself in that space. Know that you’re there. Know that you’re YOU. Know that you know what you’re doing.

Transparency In Acting

Another quality that many really good actors develop is transparency. This means that the audience does not see the “actor” or any “acting” being done, they see only the character’s emotions, thoughts, pains, desires, etc. And those emotions, thoughts, etc. are very clear, present and understandable. When we see and hear the character with very little of the actor and his craft intervening, we have transparency.

This is a very high order of accomplishment. Some actors seem to have this quality even from the start of their training, from their first acting assignment. They just don’t appear to be “acting”. They seem to be living the role, up there on stage or in front of the camera. Their technique, the “work” they’re actually doing to create the illusion of the role is “invisible”. Only the character is visible. They appear to naturally be the character. The effort to present the character is simply not visible or apparent.

How can an actor develop transparency? There are a couple of things you can do. It is important to understand that such an actor is totally focused on creating the character and only that, while performing. Their attention doesn’t slip to other issues such as the audience or their upset stomach. They place their attention on exactly the thing or things the character would be placing his (or her) attention. For the time they’re up there, they think like the character, feel like the character, pay attention to those things the character would pay attention to.

So the first thing for you to get right in developing transparency is to know what the character would pay attention to, what interests you, and the difference between the two. They will not be the same thing. Then, while performing, place your attention on those things the character would place his or her attention. It is their universe you’re up there to create. Be interested in what they’re interested in, which almost invariably will have something to do with their objectives, tactics and beats.

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EXERCISE: Take a scene from a play. Look over that scene and decide, at every point of it, what the character would be paying attention to. What would the character be interested in at any given point in the scene. Write out at each point in the scene what EXACTLY the character is paying attention to, and how it relates to his objective. Then, read through the scene five times at least, or until you are certain you can do the scene with nearly all of your attention and interest on EXACTLY what the character would be interested in.

Do this again, with a second scene, and perhaps a different character. Repeat this exercise until you feel you can focus, and be entirely interested in what the character is interested in only, while performing.
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If you’re not certain what transparency looks like, watch almost any movie with Spencer Tracy or Denzel Washington.

Become a follower and tell a friend

Hi actors!

I'm happy to share with you the hard-won ideas and knowledge of over 40 years in the business. But I need you to share one minute of your time and become a follower. It would also be nice if you shared this blog with friends, please. When I started my students, they were not in the union, inexperienced, and without representation. Now they all work, are SAG or SAG Elig, and have reps. I'm sharing with you for free some of the ideas they pay for in workshop. Put in your exchange and at least list yourself as a follower, please. That will encourage me to wish to continue to service you with this blog. Frankly, if no one follows but I keep seeing visitors each day (as I do), I'll discontinue the blog. Thanks for your consideration. Next post will be Monday.

Steven

Vulnerability in acting

There is a unique quality some actors possess, which greatly assists them in earning the empathy of the audience. Let’s call is “vulnerability.” It is that sense you get about certain people that they might be fragile or breakable, more than they appear to be. It is NOT necessarily the sense that they could break in two at the arrival of the nest stiff breeze. But it is something the actor communicates, that under the visible exterior, under what the audience sees is a human being who can be damaged.

We root for such human beings to survive, because we ourselves want to survive, generally. I can’t think of too many enormously successful actors who do not or did not have this quality. Even the real tough guys, like Bogart, or Bruce Willis, have it. Watch Bogart in Casablanca as he tries to push the love of his life out of his life, or Willis in Die Hard as he looks at a world bent on his destruction and seems to ask, a quizzical look on his face, “what did I do to deserve this”? We can love these men at these times, because they are no longer simply bigger than life and indestructible icons. They hurt, just like us.

This is a wonderful quality for an actor to have. It can be developed. Like all the qualities of an actor, YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE BORN WITH IT! Art is NOT an elitist club for those born with “extra sensitivity”, or some such rot. Art is for everyone, and anyone can be an artist, and a good one. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you, for some reason I wouldn’t care to speculate on here.

All human beings possess a degree of vulnerability. It is a Human Common Denominator, a quality and experience we share. We all endure life to some extent. We all suffer through life to some degree. Some people hide the suffering better than others. Vulnerability is generally the ability to hide the suffering to a just slightly UNSUCCESSFUL extent, so that it is there and visible to those who wish to see it. It can make a performance darkly comic (as with Bruce Willis performances in Die Hard), or rich and sad (Bogart in Casablanca). The attempt is there to hide the fact that there is pain, but it isn’t entirely successful and the audience says “Ah! I see that he’s in pain! Look at him try to hide the pain! Poor guy.” By the way, that pain can be emotional, physical, spiritual, you name it. So long as the character feels it and tries to hide it and keep going, he’s vulnerable.

And for the record, characters who simply whine and suffer are NOT vulnerable or likable. Neither are human beings who whine and suffer. Generally, a large part of the audience will wish to take such a character, slap them around and yell at them to grow up. Such characters can be funny, or pathetic. But they can never be lovable. Actors who specialize in such roles will not be much beloved, either, as a rule.

We love the actor who is strong, but human. We love to know he hurts like us, but that he (or she) perseveres IN SPITE of their pain. We honor that artist. (This quality can be found in any art form.)

This is a quality you can develop. They key is to be able to create pain for the character to feel, and then to have the character hide the pain, though it’s still there, and to keep going. Start with this exercise.

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EXERCISE: Select a scene you are familiar with. Decide in what way your character might be suffering in the scene (even if it's a comedy). Describe the reason for his or her suffering in one sentence, get a very clear idea of it. Now, with a partner if possible, play the scene through five times and play the suffering OVERTLY, openly, without any attempt to hide it whatsoever. Keep doing this until you can really play the pain, and know exactly how to turn it on and off.

Now, part two. Play the scene five more times, feeling the pain as the character and yet persevering, keeping a stiff upper lip, hiding the pain without losing the fact that there is pain there. Do it more than five times as needed, but not less than five times. Don’t stop until you’re sure you can let a character experience pain, try to hide it, and persevere. You may need to work at this for several days. Always start with the first part of the exercise, experiencing the pain overtly and openly. Then, experience the pain but persevere and try to hide it.

How to get to emotions while acting

Characters feel. Sometimes their emotions are extremely intense. Many actors have a rough time getting to their emotions, and layering them into a performance. It can be difficult to play an emotion that is somewhat foreign or uncomfortable to you. This is certainly true, and it is the foundation for the on-going popularity of The Method, a system where the actor is asked to look at his own life history to locate moments where a needed emotion was felt by the actor, in order to “re-create it”. This, of course, locks the actor in his own past, just when he most needs to be right in the present…when he’s creating.

There are better ways. The Method assumes you can’t create an emotion out of nothing but your wish to create it, right now. You can. Children do this constantly. They decide that now is a good time to get upset, so they cry and scream and throw temper tantrums. Adults stare in horrified wonder at the rapid, mercurial changes a child can pass through, emotionally. You’ve heard of the “Terrible Twos”? Their not a myth, I have two children, and I know. And you’ll notice that there are few two year-olds who have studied The Method…

I know this sounds silly, but if a two year-old can do it, so can you.

I directed an actress in a play once, who I asked NOT to cry in a scene. She cried. Afterward, almost an hour later, I found her in her dressing room, still in tears. I was concerned. I asked her if she had hurt herself. She said she had not, that she just “couldn’t get out of character”. She was never in character, of course. She was just crazy.

Anyone can create any emotion at any moment. All emotions are created. They don’t come at you from outside. You decide to fall in love! You decide that a thing is funny, or sad! No one makes you angry, or makes you cry. No one makes you happy. That’s all you, and if you’re honest and sane, you know this is so.

An actor needs to be especially aware of his ability to create an emotion upon demand. It’s his livelihood. Now, you can choose to be nuts about this, and put yourself through all sorts of memory-oriented torture, in order to get that one, precious tear. Frankly, I’d rather see a glycerin tear, and I know that deeply offends many actors. Folks, this is an art, yes, but it’s also a job. You should do the job professionally, with as little pain and misapplied drama as is humanly possible. Your fellow artists will bless you.

So how does one get to an emotion? Well, how does one get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice. When you rehearse, hopefully you’re going to do a lot of experimenting with emotions in context to your work. For now, you should practice turning emotions on and off at your demand, until you know you can do this.

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EXERCISE: Select a scene from any play with a character you could play in it. Find someone to read the other roles, if possible. Look the scene over and select a single emotion the character might feel at some point in the seen, such as sorrow, anger, boredom or elation. For the first experiment, select a grimmer emotion, an unhappy or angry one. Go through the scene five time with your partner (or alone), using the dialogue and action to express ONLY the selected emotion, whether it makes sense or not. Groove the emotion in. Get control over it. You should notice that, as you do this repeatedly, the emotion becomes easier to contact or create and control. Do it more than five times, as needed, but not less than five times. Once you have control over it, take five minutes off, get some air. Then, select a happier emotion, like hope, or elation. Run the scene again at least five times, using only that emotion, regardless of the sense it makes. When you’ve mastered turning on and off that emotion, and contacting or creating it at will, you’re done. You may do this with any number of emotions, whenever needed, to work at creating and controlling the needed emotion.
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The Unique Qualities Of An Actor - Should The Actor "Believe"?

You’re going into rehearsal, to finally create the character you will play. Here’s a big question actors always seem to ask…should they “become” the character they play?

Here’s the answer. No. Never. We have a name for a person who really believes he’s someone else, and that name is psychotic. The actor should never, ever believe he has become the character. But he should endeavor to create as perfect an illusion of the character as possible, for the audience’s sake. That’s what he’s paid to do. He is NOT paid to inflict psychic trauma on himself by forcing his life into a character’s pattern of life. That is the road to insanity.

There has long been a ridiculous and disgusting rumor held to be true by many fools that to be an artist, one must be neurotic, partially insane. Artists are “different”. Artists are “odd”. Yes, well, artists ARE different, that’s true, because they must develop and maintain a heightened ability to communicate, and an awareness of their own creative faculties. They are different…they’re saner than the average man, at least when the artist understands that his sanity is one of his chief tools. Sad, but true.

You are unique, as an artist. If you grow into greatness, you will become a national and global treasure, whose work will be admired by millions and tens of millions. Celebrity is grand, but it’s a terrible cross to bear as well, and requires unique degrees of sanity to survive. Creation is exhilarating, but requires a high ability to remain sane and separate from one’s own creations. The artist can never afford to really fall in love with his own work. he must maintain some distance, some ability to critique and improve, and to see his work as the audience might see it. This ability to differentiate requires a very high degree of sanity.

You are not the character…you’re playing him. Always remember this. Work to look like the character, move like him, sound like him, and at least appear to think and feel like him while in front of your audience or the camera. But never make the mistake of believing you are the character. And PLEASE leave your work at work. Actors who feel they must “keep working” their character at home are insane. No one wants to live with Jack the Ripper, or Little Mary Sunshine. When rehearsal or performance ends, be the nice person your friends and family love. Leave the role at work.

More tomorrow about the unique qualities of an actor and HEY, if you're reading this and finding it fun or useful, HOW ABOUT A FOLLOW PLEASE?

Playing Comedy Vs Drama

Hi actors!

Last night in my workshop one issue that came up was whether or not the actor needs to develop and play a full character when playing "over the top" comedy. This could include comedy or farce as varied as Moliere or Aristophanes, or as current as "dumb comedy" like what you see on Disney or Nickelodeon.

The brief answer is "yes". You ALWAYS develop a complete character and play it. You do this regardless of whether the piece is comic or dramatic. Always.

For some reason, actors (and others) often degrade Comedy in their mind, as if it were some "second rate" cousin of Drama and not to be taken quite so "seriously" when putting it together. Nothing could be further from true. Any pro will tell you that Comedy is harder to make work, generally, than drama.

There is a famous story about a famed comedian, I believer it was Henny Youngman. supposedly as he was dying (physically dying, not just "dying" on stage)someone in the room said "Oh - it's so hard! You're dying! It's so hard that you're dying!" The comic looked up and murmured "dying is easy - comedy is hard".

That about sums up the truth of the matter. Comedy IS hard and requires the best of your effort and intelligence in approaching it.

A character in a comedy often does strange, almost inexplicable things. The wilder the comedy, as with a farce, the wilder the action often becomes. Yet, if the audience doesn't see real "human beings" caught up in perhaps odd situations, human beings with REAL thoughts and wishes and emotions, then the audience will simply not care much. They also won't laugh much.

Comedy has a special and extreme need for "real" from the actor. The circumstances in the action and story make it particularly difficult to believe in the play of film. Yet it is imperative that the audience care, that they even root for the main character in some way. We MUST see REAL people, regardless of the situation, people caught up in what they perceive to be life and death situations, even if the situation is nothing more "extraordinary" than, say, the character is hungry, waiting for dinner, and it never seems to come. To the CHARACTER, the situation is real, and what's more, dire.

I talk to actors about this sort of thing all the time. When constructing a character, the closer to life and death importance what is happening in the piece FOR THE CHARACTER, the better (in all likelihood) will be the performance. The clearer it is to the audience WHAT is happening, WHY it is happening, and the character's REACTION to it all based on the character's needs and desires, the better. That sort of thing is what makes an audience root for you (the actor and the character).

Groucho Marx was asked about "what funny" is. If anyone would have known, it was Groucho! He said that a baby carriage with a baby in it rolling uncontrolled down a hill is funny. Then he said that it's a lot funnier if the baby in the carriage is REAL.

One important "secret" behind playing comedy well is no secret at all. Play a fully developed character and show us their needs, their ideas, and how important to the character the predicament is that they find themselves in.

See you next week!

The Unique Qualities of an Actor - The Voice

Perhaps the most important tool in your toolbox is your voice. Nothing effects an audience to the extent of the actor’s voice. You can thrill or irritate, frighten them or make them fall in love with you. The voice is powerful in our business, so much so that many actors are able to make an very fine living as “voice over artists”.

You will want a voice that is strong, flexible and versatile. Strong, because shoots, rehearsals and performances can be very rough and long, and hard on a voice. Many actors loose their voice by opening night. Their instrument can’t handle the work or the stress, or both. Flexible, so that as an actor, you can reach your entire vocal “range”…your upper, higher voice, and your lower voice. Each part of your range will serve you for a different type of role. A bad guy might have a low, throaty voice, or a high, reedy, scary voice. A femme fatal might be breathy and low in her range. Versatile, so you can play many kinds of roles.

You should study singing if possible. Again, this is a discipline an actor can really benefit by. One of the advantages of working with a GOOD voice teacher is that they will show you how to use your diaphragm to breathe, and not just your lungs. This is critical to an actor who wants to be heard by the audience past the third row, or who needs to carry those loooooooooooooooooong Shakespearian lines without a breath, so as not to break up the thought Shakespeare (or any writer) is trying to express, with a disruptive breath. And of course, there are always musicals to audition for.

I’ve also taught voice for over 30 years, so I know better than to try and teach you voice via a book. This really can’t be done. Find yourself a good teacher. If their technique hurts your voice for any longer than the first three weeks, walk away and find another teacher. You should see regular progress in your control over your voice, and its strength and range.
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EXERCISE: Use a tape recorder, ideally a decent one. Get a novel or newspaper to read from. Start reading, recording. Speak into it using your normal voice for a few minutes. Then slowly work your voice into your upper range, as high as you can work it, stretching upwards gradually into Mickey Mouse range. Then work your way down to normal. Keep slowly working down until you’re as close to Isaac Hayes/Barry White range as possible. Then work your way back up to normal. Repeat this over a three day period, once each day, and keep your recordings so you can compare. Work to increase your vocal range. Keep this simple! Stop if it in any way hurts your voice!!!
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As to accents. The more accents you know and can expertly execute, the more castable you are. If you can do a good Texas accent, you can put yourself up for a Texas cowboy. If you’re from New York and your Texas accents stinks, you’re probably not going to get the cowboy role. The more accents you can master the better. This can be done on the cheap, and on your own time. I’m sure you watch movies. Stop just watching and start studying. When you find a film where someone is doing a particular accent very well, stop the DVD and repeat their dialogue. Imitate the accent. Train your ear to hear it. Train your instrument to create a comparable sound. You can do the same sort of thing with acquaintances, but they may not want to hang around while you imitate them. Film is safer, you’re less likely to get slapped.

There are certain accents that seem to come up more often than others in English language pieces. Here’s a brief list you might want to try to master; New York (Bronx); Southern; Texas; Upper Class British; Cockney; Los Angeles (Valley Girl); Indian (from India); Inner City Latino; Urban Black. Needless to say, there are hundreds more.

Not everyone is good at accents, but anyone can improve through hard work and practice.
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EXERCISE: If you’re not from New York, get the movie My Cousin Vinnie. Practice imitating the accents used by Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei. If you are from New York, get a film like Fried Green Tomatoes, Miss Firecracker or Driving Miss Daisy. Work for 2-3 hours, imitating any line you hear with the accent you’re trying to master. Don’t stop until you’ve accomplished it. If you already have both these accents try Cockney and Upper Brit, use My Fair Lady. If you have all four of these accents, go for broke and try a Scottish accent, or Australian, they’re very hard!
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One other note on voices and bodies before we move on…drugs are very bad news for a body. An actor MUST have control over his faculties, and drugs rob away control. Drinking swells the vocal chords for at least 24 hours, stealing away the upper register. Smoking is a vocal disaster. You’re going to make a living using your body and voice, so don’t abuse them and they will be there when you need them.

Tonight (Weds) is my workshop. I'll write about what we learned in my next blog, on Thursday.

THE UNIQUE QUALITIES OF AN ACTOR - The Sum Is Greater Than The Parts - The Body

You are going into rehearsal. You’ve done a great deal of homework, and have figured out the character and the piece. If you’ve done your homework with the script, you will probably understand the piece as well as anyone in the room, and better than most. What, besides your understanding and technique, do you bring to the first rehearsal?

An actor is composed of many aspects. The actor has a body. This is the part of the actor which the audience will see. They will see how the body is constructed, how it moves, what it looks like. These things will contribute to the audience’s idea of not only the actor, but of the character he or she is playing. Because when you’re on stage or in front of the camera, that body of yours is shared with the character. As far as many in the audience will be concerned, your body and what it does will largely BE the character. (Not the brightest audience in the world, however.)

You’ve been you for a very long time. That body of yours has developed many interesting habits. You don’t walk the same way other people walk. You don’t sit down or stand up like anyone else. You have funny little habits, most likely. Your hands do what YOUR hands do, your head tosses in a certain manner. Your appearance and bodily habits are a part of what sets you apart and makes you unique. These things may help you get or play certain roles. They also limit you severely.

If you’re a short, white male, you’ll have a hard time playing the tall, muscular leading man, especially if you’re the “nerd” type. And, I guess it goes without saying, you won’t be playing the leading lady’s role. You will, however, be “typed in” for roles that are physically right for you. This is especially true in film and TV, where the closeness of the camera makes it very hard to hide one’s actual, physical nature. The distance of an audience from the stage allows more latitude in casting, in theatre.

I know, you’re moaning “I’m an actor! I can play anything!” That may be true. But you won’t be cast in anything, not professionally. You may be the greatest talent since Olivier, but producers and directors of cinematic projects are looking for the easiest way, and they will almost always cast an actor who IS the type, not just one who could PLAY the type.

What can you do to increase the odds of getting cast, and to place limits on the limits imposed upon you by your appearance? Well, we’ll discuss the casting part in the chapter about auditioning. Right now, our concern is what you walk into rehearsal with.

You should work your body to keep it healthy, strong and elastic. Regardless of your “type”, theatre and film are very hard work. You’re going to want to be strong and healthy. You’ll want your body to be as responsive to your demands as possible. Actors are called upon to do all sorts of odd things “normal” people just don’t need to do, including completely alter their appearance on occasion. There are many disciplines one could involve one’s self in to gain greater control over the body’s movements. One is certainly dance. I’ve always felt that actors should study dance, whether they’re going to do musicals, dance professionally, or not. An actor should study dance to gain additional degrees of control over the body. You’ll need that control for your bib sword fight scene where you have to leap over a ten foot crevice.

One thing that dance classes tend to focus on is “isolation” type of movement…controlling and moving only selected parts of the body, and in controlled and selected ways. This practice can only aid an actor in making his body do precisely the actions selected for it by the actor, on stage or in front of the camera. These are a must.

Depending on your type, you’ll need to develop your body along different lines. If you’re the big, muscular type, and you’ll be using that physique to get roles, you’ll want to build up your muscles (within reason). If you’re a blonde bombshell, you’ll want the curves that go with the title. If you’re the friendly, weight-challenged “best friend”, eat away, I guess.

YOU WILL BE MARKETING YOU. Know your product. (But dance, regardless, because control over the body is a must, regardless of type.)

The most expressive part of your body is almost always your face. Many schools of acting are opposed to working a mirror. This would be getting in front of a mirror and really working the control of the musculature of the face. Working a smile, a frown, the raising of one side of the lips, then the other, etc. I think an actor should do anything and everything to gain control over his body, particularly the face. That said, I wouldn’t do this sort of work in front of others, as they’ll think you’re very odd. And I wouldn’t work a mirror very long, only until I felt I KNEW what my face was doing, and could make it do what I wanted it to do.

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EXERCISE: Work a mirror for 30 minutes. See if you can a) Smile on demand. b) Frown on demand. c) Open your eyes wide on demand. d) Squint on demand. e) Raise only the left side of your lips on demand, and lower it, rapidly. f) Do the same with the right side of your lips. g) Curl your lips on demand. h) Raise one eyebrow on demand, while leaving the other down. i) Raise the other eyebrow while leaving the other down. j) Raise and lower both eyebrows rapidly, Groucho Marx style. k) Curl your nose. l) Any combination of the above, so long as it’s on demand.

The idea of this exercise is to gain increasing degrees of control over what your face is doing. If you encounter a movement you cannot control, such as a twitch, one you don’t want, then try exaggerating it. Do that movement on purpose and really go for it, until you feel you have real control over it. Don’t do more than 30 minutes of this in a day, please. You can repeat this the next day, and the next, until your control is sufficient.
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Read Plays, See Movies! A real play list!

If you’re serious about acting, you should be reading plays and seeing movies. A LOT of plays and movies. (You should be going to see plays, too, and as often as possible.) Here is a list of plays you MUST read to understand theatre, and to be truly aware of the roles available to you. START READING! (This is followed by a recommended list of films you should see, for the purpose of studying the acting.)

THE GREEKS:

Prometheus Bound Aeschylus
The Supplicants Aeschylus
Oedipus Rex Sophocles
Medea Euripides
Alcestis Euripides
The Trojan Women Euripides
Lysistrata Aristophanes
The Clouds Aristophanes
The Arbitration Menander

AFTER THE GREEKS, AND PRE-RENAISSANCE

The Pot of Gold Plautus (Roman)
Everyman In His Humour (Medieval) Anonymous

THE RENAISSANCE:

Doctor Faustus Marlowe
Tambulaine Marlowe

by Shakespeare:
Twelfth Night; A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Julius Caesar; The Taming Of The Shrew; Romeo & Juliet
The Merchant of Venice; Richard III; Hamlet
Macbeth; King Lear; Othello; The Tempest

Volpone Jonson
The Alchemist Jonson

THE FRENCH UNDER LOUIS XVI

El Cid Corneille
Phaedra Racine

by Moliere:
The Miser ; The Misanthrope; Tartuffe; The School For Wives

AFTER LOUIS, IN EUROPE

The Sheep Well (Spanish) Lope De Vega
Life Is A Dream (Spanish) Calderon
A School For Scandal (British) R.B. Sheridan
The Rivals (British) R.B. Sheridan
The Importance Of Being Ernest (British) Oscar Wilde
An Ideal Husband (British) Oscar Wilde
Faust (German) Goethe
Maria Stewart (German) Schiller

REALISM (Plays which attempt to be more real-to-life) AND MODERN THEATRE

A Month In The Country (Russian) Turgenev
A Doll’s House (Norwegian) Ibsen
An Enemy Of The People (Norwegian) Ibsen
Ghosts (Norwegian) Ibsen
The Ghost Sonata (Swedish) Strindberg
Miss Julie (Swedish) Strindberg
The Lower Depths (Russian) Gorky
The Inspector General (Russian) Gogol

by Anton Chekhov (Russian):
The Sea Gull; The Cherry Orchard
Uncle Vanya; The Three Sisters


20TH CENTURY AMERICAN PLAYWRIGHTS:

by Eugene O’ Neill
A Long Day’s Journey Into Night; A Moon For The Misbegotten
The Iceman Cometh; The Emperor Brown

by Maxwell Anderson
Elizabeth The Queen; Anne of the Thousand Days
The Bad Seed; High Tor; Winterset

You Can’t Take It With You Kaufman & Hart
The Man Who Came To Dinner Kaufman & Hart
Awake and Sing Clifford Odets
Waiting For Lefty Clifford Odets
The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams
Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller
The Crucible Arthur Miller
Picnic William Inge
Come Back, Little Sheba William Inge
Our Town Thornton Wilder
The Skin of Our Teeth Thornton Wilder
The Children’s Hour Lillian Hellman
Inherit the Wind Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee
A Raisin In The Sun Lorraine Hansbury
The Odd Couple Neil Simon
Barefoot In The Park Neil Simon
Brighton Beach Memories Neil Simon
The House of Blue Leaves John Guare
Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You In The Closet… Arthur Kopit
Indians Arthur Kopit
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf Edward Albee
The Zoo Story Edward Albee
Seascape Edward Albee
American Buffalo David Mamet
Glengarry Glen Ross David Mamet
Talley’s Follys Lanford Wilson
Fences August Wilson
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom August Wilson
Uncommon Women and Others Wendy Wasserstein
Buried Child Sam Shepard
Angels In America Tony Kushner

MID-LATE 20TH CENTURY EUROPEANS AND OTHERS

by George Bernard Shaw (British):
Major Barbara; Man And Superman; Pygmalion
Heartbreak House; Arms And The Man

by Sean O’ Casey (Irish):
Cock-a-Doodle-Dandy; Juno & The Paycock; Shadow of a Gunman

by Bertolt Brecht (German):
Mother Courage and Her Children; The Good Person of Setzuan
The Threepenny Opera (a musical, with music by Kurt Weill)
The Caucasian Chalk Circle; Galileo
by Noel Coward
Blithe Spirit; Private Lives; Design For Living

Six Characters In Search of an Author (Italian) Luigi Pirandello
Henry IV (Italian) Luigi Pirandello
Waltz of the Toreadors (French) Jean Anouilh
The Lark (French) Jean Anouilh
The Madwoman of Chaillot (French) Jean Giraudoux
No Exit (French) Jean-Paul Sartre
Waiting For Godot (French) Samuel Becket
End Game (French) Samuel Becket
Rhinoceros (French) Eugene Ionesco
The Leader (French) Eugene Ionesco
Look Back In Anger (British) John Osborne
Luther (British) John Osborne
A Man For All Seasons (British) Robert Bolt
The Birthday Party (British) Harold Pinter
The Caretaker (British) Harold Pinter
Amadeus (British) Peter Shaffer
Equus (British) Peter Shaffer
Absurd Person, Singular Alan Ayckborn
Master Harold And The Boys (South African) Athol Fugard
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (British) Tom Stoppard
The Real Thing (British) Tom Stoppard


MUSICALS
(When studying a musical, one should get a recording of the score, and a script, and read the script, stopping when arriving at a song to listen, whenever possible! These are generally listed by composer/lyricist. This is a very basic overview of musical theatre.)

by Gilbert & Sullivan (British):
The Mikado; The Pirates of Penzance

by George M. Cohan (American)
(watch the movie Yankee Doodle Dandy, with James Cagney

by George Gershwin & Ira Gershwin (American):
Of Thee I Sing; Porgy & Bess
An American In Paris (movie, script by Alan J. Lerner)

by Irving Berlin (American):
Annie, Get Your Gun; White Christmas (the movie); Top Hat (the movie)

by Cole Porter
Kiss Me, Kate

by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart
Babes In Arms; Pal Joey

by Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II
Oklahoma; Carousel; The King And I; South Pacific

by Frank Loesser
Guys & Dolls
How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying

by Frederick Loewe and Alan J. Lerner
My Fair Lady; Camelot; Gigi (the movie)

by Kurt Weill (with various collaborators)
Lady In The Dark (with Ira Gershwin)
Street Scene (with Langston Hughes)
Lost In The Stars (with Maxwell Anderson)

by Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley
Stop The World – I Want To Get Off
The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd

by John Kander & Fred Ebb
Cabaret

by Harvey Schmidt & Tom Jones
The Fantasticks

by Sherman Edwards
1776

by Andrew Lloyd Weber & Tim Rice
Jesus Christ, Superstar
Evita

By Lloyd Weber and others
Phantom of the Opera

by Jonathon Larson
Rent

by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Aherns
Ragtime


FILMS TO SEE AS AN ACTOR:

(Not in any particular order)

Casablanca; The Wizard of Oz; Citizen Kane; Schindler’s List; The Philadelphia Story; As Good As It Gets; The Godfather (all three movies); City Lights; Modern Times; The Kid; The Thin Man; It Happened One Night; Mr. Smith Goes To Washington; It’s A Wonderful Life; The Searchers; Wild Strawberries; Annie Hall, Manhattan; Some Like It Hot; To Kill A Mockingbird; Lawrence Of Arabia; Charade; Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner; Inherit The Wind (with Spencer Tracy); Raise The Red Lantern; Forrest Gump, Gandhi.

A good idea on how to get work in Los Angeles

We had an interesting workshop last night. As usual, much of what we discussed revolved around how to get work. Not as a waiter, by the way, as an actor.

I have a small, select group of actors, all of whom have agents and managers and careers in one condition or another. One of the most devoted to getting work (and one of the most gifted actors I've ever trained) is just at the start of building a career I have no doubt will happen. It is not only his ability that guarantees his success, though it is certainly a factor. He's trained steadily and intently for over four years and has improved continuously. But it is also his savvy, his ability to understand where the industry may be headed and to use that knowledge to his own advantage.

You probably know what the breakdowns are. For the few who do not, they are a list of roles that casting agents want to see actors audition for on that day. It used to be that they were messengered and hand-delivered to agents and managers every morning in hard copies, but that was pre-Internet. Now, they are on the Internet.

You, the actor, are not supposed to see the breakdowns. You will be told that they are for the eyes of agents and managers only who, like ancient priests gifted with "knowledge above mere mortals", may look upon the sacred breakdowns without the wrath of the acting gods descending mand making their eyes to runneth with blood and tears. (Okay, sorry.)

Don't listen. Find a way to get a look at the breakdowns every day!

This is very important, actors! Agents and managers almo0st always have multiple clients. Some have many clients, too many to service well. They do not have the time to really scope through the breakdowns and place all their clients into the correct auditions that day. If you are a relatively inexperienced actor, one with few pro credits, then you may well be at the end of your agent's list of clients to send out each day.

You need to find ways to help your agent help you. Looking over the breakdowns over your morning coffee, though taboo (the breakdowns, not the coffee), will let YOU see what is auditioning that day. Just scan them, focusing on the age range and type required for each part. You're only interested in roles that you could play. In a future post we''ll discuss exactly how to determine your "type" or "types" for the purpose of head shots and casting, but for now, please keep it real. If you're a tall white guy, the center of your High school Basketball team, you are not going to be cast as a short Asian woman of age 60. Sorry, you can't get every roll.

Credibility in this process is key. You will find roles that you truly could be cast in, and then contact your agent or manager and POLITELY REQUEST that they send you out for that role. DO NOT INUNDATE THEM WITH REQUESTS! Pick your battle, one or two a week, tops. Pick the best bets. Maintain your credibility with your representatives at all cost. They also must consider their own credibility. If they send you out for roles you're dead wrong for, they look like fools and casting agents will stop accepting their submissions. It's all about keeping it real and credible.

Your agent may well ask how you knew about the available role. Just tell them that a friend told you about it. You keep your ear to the ground. Anything like that. DO NOT TELL THEM THAT YOU LOOKED AT THE BREAKDOWNS. They will angrily inform you that is their job and not yours.

This is a very tough and competitive field, and you do need every edge. The breakdowns can cost as little as $3 a month - I know people who pay that for access. They can cost as much as $40 per month or more, and are (yawn) only made available to agents, etc. Most actors in L.A. who are serious get the breakdowns, and I'm talking tens of thousands of actors! As sports commentator Jim Rome flippantly says, "If you're not cheating - you're not trying". I do NOT, however, see you getting the breakdowns as cheating, folks. I see it as you democratizing the process of casting.

That's it for this week. Have a good weekend!

Steven

The History of Acting - Part Two - Celebrate as an Artist, Don't Suffer!

(This is a continuation of my last post. You may want to read that first.)

It can be argued that Realism was born for 20th century media, for TV and film. Lord knows, an actor’s face thrown onto a large movie screen is ENORMOUS, and the smallest expressions and gestures become enormously informative. A little “too much acting” in a movie can immediately be WAY TOO MUCH ACTING. Right? That’s what directors and teachers will tell you, especially those steeped in “The Method”.

Well, they’re simply wrong. In fact, they’re somewhat deluded. I recommend to you the work of any of dozens of beloved film actors, whose work was “larger than life”. Start with Laurence Olivier, perhaps the greatest actor of our time. Look at the wonderful work of Jack Nicholson, or even Marlon Brando, famed Method Actors. Yes, you can see elements of the method at work in Brando and Nicholson. (Olivier didn’t care for the Method.) But look at how LARGE their performances are! They’re not all that “subtle”, it’s all usually right out there, bigger than life, hard to miss. I would beg you to watch 20 movies you love, and list your favorite performances. Though they will be filled with genuine human emotions, those will almost always be expressed in a manner larger than life.

THAT’S BECAUSE ACTING IS BY ITS VERY NATURE LARGER THAN LIFE! It was at the start, when we played Gods.

Imagine for a moment an audience. Who are they? People, that’s all. People with jobs, people with families, people with problems. People. They each come to the theatre, or their TVs, or Movie Theaters, with THEIR OWN LIVES DRAGGING IN BEHIND THEM. This guy didn’t eat dinner, he may be fired tomorrow because his boss hates him, he had to pick up the baby-sitter, he has a backache and gas! Yet, he picks up the wife, pays over $100 a ticket, and shows up to the theatre on time to see your play!

The same sort of story applies to nearly EVERY PERSON who watches ANY ENTERTAINMENT. They all have lives, and they all have immediate problems. When in history was the audience’s life ever easy or simple? Never! Even kings get gas! Why do audiences come to the theatre, the movie house, the TV, and in the hundreds of millions? How has theatre survived a history of wars and disasters and personal angst for over 2,500 years? It survives because the audience is willing to believe that whatever is happening on that stage is BIGGER, MORE IMMEDIATE, MORE URGENT, MORE IMPORANT THAN ANYTHING THAT IS HAPPENING IN THE AUDIENCE’S LIFE. What happens in that play, that movie, is LARGER than their lives. So, for a little while, they can watch others, and laugh and cry at someone else’s problems.

Acting doesn’t work well when played “small” or “real”. For one thing, far more often than not, it’s just boring as hell that way. The “realistic” approach works against the strengths of theatre and cinema, the very reasons the audience comes to us in the first place. Remember, theatre started out as a tribute to Gods, Gods perceived to have created the universe, not little men with gas. Though you will find little men with gas in many comedy, what happens to them in the play or movie sure seems enormous to them. That’s why we can find them funny.

Stanislavsky liked to create real, working sinks in sets requiring a kitchen. WHY? The audience knows what a sink is, they’ve lived with sinks forever. They don’t CARE that you can make a sink work on stage or in a movie! Why should they? They don’t pay huge amounts of money to stare at your set and proclaim, “Wow! Running water! There’s something you don’t see every day. Well, I do…”

What audiences care about is HUMAN EXPERIENCE, and IDEAS BIGGER THAN THE LIVES THEY’RE CURRENTLY LIVING. They are looking for a deeper understanding of life, one that will help them survive better. They’re also looking for relief from stress and strain, a few hours of pleasure, problems which aren’t theirs and which don’t actually harm or threaten them. This is what an actor provides, with the aid of other theatrical and filmic artists.

A stage is a small, empty space that begs for symbols to walk through it, not flesh-and-blood human beings. All live performance operates on a level of METAPHOR… symbols that represent larger ideas or truths. Yes, the audience must accept that the actor is believably portraying Hamlet, or whatever role. To be moved, the audience must accept the actions and people they’re watching as plausible. They must be identifiably HUMAN, so that the human audience can understand and relate to their plight. The more recognizably human the performance, the better. However, this does not require the actor to “play small” or real”. There’s a huge difference between “small and real”, and “identifiably human”. We just aren’t that small, not in our own heads. What happens to each of us sure seems big and important, to us.

And the actor…surprise…is not required to suffer as his character suffers, or to experience emotional trauma, or experience ANYTHING that the character experiences, as the Method espouses so often.

“You must suffer for your art”.

Horse pucky.

Art should be a celebration of life, and that includes acting. I’m not in any way suggesting that a CHARACTER might not experience pain, of course it can and will! But YOU, the actor, most certainly do NOT need to experience ANYTHING a character would experience in order to portray a character with complete believability! I know this flies in the teeth of most of what you’ve been told about how to act, but it’s true, nonetheless. What you do have to do is CONVINCE AN AUDIENCE THAT THE CHARACTER FEELS WHAT HE FEELS, THINKS WHAT HE THINKS, AND EXPERIENCES WHAT HE EXPERIENCES.

What YOU feel at any given time is entirely your own business. You may feel everything and nothing, and it should have no bearing whatsoever on the quality of your performance.

Think for a moment. What if you were cast as a character that had to die? How would you “experience” death and then communicate it to an audience? Were you going to have the experience, come back from the dead, and then play Hamlet? Good luck with that, and welcome to an incredibly short career!

What if you had to play a great King, having never been a King? One who must go mad, such as King Lear, perhaps the greatest role in the English language? Sure, you could find some emotional parallels in your own life, but face it, you’ve probably not gone mad at any time in this life, nor been a king.

You can’t BE Lear! You’ve been YOU for a long time, and that’s tough enough. But you can UNDERSTAND Lear and his experiences, through your own creativity and intelligence. And you can, in the NOW, manufacture any emotion or thought or experience that you wish. You are fully capable of creating ANYTHING that any character must express, without ever having experienced what the character experiences! It’s true. We call this “imagination”, something the Method and other schools of acting seems to more or less deny in favor of a dubious quantity of experience. Imagination has NO limits. Experience? Very limited. If you’re relying on experience to underpin your acting, there aren’t a lot of roles you’re going to be able to play.

And once you thoroughly understand a piece, you can intelligently select those emotions, thoughts, and physicalizations (physical qualities and motions) that will BEST COMMUNICATE THE CHARACTER. And then create them, as needed. And re-create them every night for ten years, if so needed.

You are far smarter, more able, and more creative than The Method, or many other schools of acting, give you credit for.

This is the core thinking behind the Ethical Art Technique. You can create, rather than “re-experience”. You can understand, rather than just “feel your way through” a piece. You can celebrate as an artist, rather than suffer.
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Tonight (Wednesday) I teach my workshop for professional actors in Los Angeles. Tomorrow, I'll start a practical discussion with you on how to build a career. If you have questions, I can always be reached at cctauthor@aol.com.

Steven

The History of Acting - Part One

A History of Western Acting

(But first, the link that I promised yesterday. It's not live yet, you'll need to copy and paste it into your browser to see the interview with Denszel Washington and Viola Davis.
http://www.dailyactor.com/2010/04/denzel-washington-and-viola-davis-on-the-broadway-revival-of-fences/)

As far as we know, the first actors were probably pre-language. They may have been "cavemen" of some sort, trying to communicate to others of their kind the thrill of a hunt. Since this happened pre-history, we have no record of their early efforts. Such performances, born out of a pre-language need to communicate, had to have been very physically involved.

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EXERCISE:
Try this right now. Communicate without words to someone you know, some wonderful or interesting experience you had. Don’t stop until you’ve gotten it largely across. You can use sounds. Observe how physical you need to be to accomplish this?
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What we do know is that some 2,500 years ago, the Greeks started to present the first theatrical plays. It appears they began as religious events, performed (probably in song) by a group, called a chorus, wearing masks. The first plays were doubtless religious rituals, tributes to unseen Gods.

Then, someone got the bright idea of separating from the chorus and portraying a particular personality in one of the celebrations, such as the Greek God of wine, Dionysus. Putting on a mask uniquely designed to create the appearance of the character, he stepped forward from the group and spoke (or sang) the first dialogue, “I am Dionysus. I did this!”, and the chorus answered. Tradition tells us that this first actor’s name was “Thespis of Icaria” (around the 6th Century B.C.). Since that first performance, actors have been known as “Thespians”.

At the birth of theatre, it is believed that the writer always directed his own work. This was a trend continued for thousands of years, until very recently. This means the first Greek authors of tragedy, Aeschylus (525B.C.-456 B.C.), Sophocles (496 B.C.-406 B.C.) and Euripides (480 B.C.-406 B.C.), were also the first directors, as was Aristophanes (456 B.C.- 386 B.C.), the author of the first comedies and satires, and Menander (342 B.C.-291 B.C.), the father of the “domestic comedy”, the comedy taking place in the home, and often about family.

The history of acting is the history of theatre, as film didn’t exist as a media until the late 1800s, and TV and radio are 20th century inventions. Sadly, then, we have no recording of the first great performers, or the first 2,300 years worth of performances.

We know that the Greeks wore massive masks when performing, with megaphones built in to amplify their voices in large amphitheaters. They were forced to “declaim”, or to speak boldly and as loudly as possible. Probably volume was a more desired result than subtlety in early acting. They wore shows with enormous bottoms, a foot or more tall, as they were playing Gods and needed to appear larger than life. They clomped about in those shoes throughout their performance.
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EXERCISE:
Try this right now. Get a paper bag big enough to place over your head. Cut small holes for eyes and a mouth. Place a cone of some kind in the mouth, to amplify. You can make one from paper and tape, about two inches long. Tie bricks, or something large, to the bottom of your shoes. Go to a large, open and outdoor area like a football or baseball field. Do it with a friend if possible. Then, mask on, speak for about ten minutes through the mask and homemade megaphone, while walking about.
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Theatre largely died after the Greeks, with the exception of a few strolling troops of performers in Rome who did farces and comedy, as exemplified by Plautus (254 B.C.- 184 B.C.), whose comic pieces, sometimes adapted from Aristophanes, were performed on the city streets of Rome. Acting was a profession held in low regard to the war-like Roman.

Theatre died again, until reborn in Churches as religious dramas of little lasting quality, in the 1200s-1400s, in Europe. Actors still carry a legacy from that time. When performing on stage, “upstage” means to move away from the audience toward the back of the stage, and “downstage” means to move toward the front of the stage and the audience. This comes to us from these days, when religious dramas, considered beneath the dignity of the Catholic Church, were performed on the Church Steps, with the audience seated on the road before the church. At this time, there was no such profession as “actor”.

This changed first in Italy, as troops of actors, picking up where the Roman, Plautus, left off, toured from city to city playing largely improvised comedies using the same stereotyped characters over and over. This was the famed “Commedia Del Arte”, a school of acting that was to influence comedy for centuries, and which can trace its real birth back to Plautus, and Aristophanes.

It should be clearly stated, so you know, that actors were despised throughout history, until the 20th century or so. The Catholic Church had a nasty tendency to excommunicate them, cutting them off from God and religion, as “undesirables”. Actors, once dead, were not buried with “good Christians”. Unless supported financially by royalty, one actually had no way to survive as an actor, not until around the 1700s. Acting, since the Greeks, has not been considered a “noble profession”, and was certainly never lucrative, not until our time. And still, there were actors.

Commedia made its way through Europe, as a part of an expanding Renaissance, a period of rebirth in Europe of knowledge and art. Along with Commedia, a new interest in the works of the Greeks and Romans flooded the continent. These interests made their way to England, and were latched onto by many great writer, the greatest of all (and of all writers) being William Shakespeare (1564-1616 A.D.). The greatest plays ever authored were directed by and featured Shakespeare himself as an actor, in their first productions. Bu perhaps the first great actor after Thespis was Shakespeare’s star, Richard Burbage (1568-1619), who portrayed the first Richard III, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth and Othello. Burbage, a man from a poor family, was the most in-demand actor of his day, performing in other great author’s works as well, such as in Ben Jonson’s Volpone. At this time, there were no actresses in England, as only men were allowed on stage. Yes, this means the first Juliet was a man.

Shakespeare offered advice to the actors of his day, through this speech delivered by Hamlet, through the lips of Shakespeare’s greatest actor:

Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue. But if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as lief the town crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, by use all gently, for in the very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say) whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb shows and noise. I would have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant. It out-herods Herod. Pray you avoid it. Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor. Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature. For anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure. Now this overdone, or come tardy off, though it make the unskillful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve, the censure of the which one must in your allowance o'erweigh a whole theatre of others. O, there be players that I have seen play, and heard others praise, and that highly (not to speak profanely), that neither having th' accent of Christians, nor the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted and bellowed that I have thought some of Nature's journeymen had made men, and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably. Reform it altogether! And let those that play your clowns speak no more than is set down for them, for there be of them that will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too, though in the mean time some necessary question of the play be then to be considered. That's villainous and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it. Go make you ready.

You’ll notice that the greatest dramatist in history never suggests that the ACTOR need feel anything? His concern is for what the AUDIENCE will feel and understand. It is the audience’s response he continuously refers to.

The theatre found its greatest master of comedy, and one of its greatest comic actors, in France. Moliere (1622-1673), a trained lawyer, had a terrible stutter, and put it to use to gain huge laughs in his many, great comedies.

Acting continued along these lines for centuries, until the 1800s. In the mid 1800s, a shift occurred in the arts. A new kind of artist decided that art should “hold the mirror up to nature” far more realistically than Shakespeare had intended in Hamlet’s speech to the players, and with far more “realism” than Shakespeare’s plays ever exhibit. The school of “realism” in art started in Northern Europe. It was felt by these new-age artists that art should represent life. In this author’s opinion, this was the worst thing that has ever happened to the arts. In theatre, the Russian playwright, Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883), started the trend. The first theatrical apostle of realism was Henrick Ibsen (1828-1906). Ibsen’s first great play, A Doll’s House, told the tale of a dysfunctional marriage, and a wife who finally leave her husband, an act called by many theatrical critics the “door slam heard ‘round the world.”

Suddenly serious dramas were being authored about the “common man”. Everyday problems became the source of theatre, and actors learned to play “smaller”, more “real”, more “life like”. In doing so, techniques were thought necessary that would assist an actor to access his “real” emotions and portray them. At about the same time, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) created analytic theory, psychoanalysis. This pseudo-science, a nearly random string of theories unsupported by any real data, pretended to understand the functions of the human mind. (Psychologists and Psychiatrists still make this ridiculous claim, though they can’t seem to cure or help anyone.)

A Russian director, and a student of psychoanalytic theory, Constantin Stanislavsky (1863-1938) developed the first “usable system” for an actor, largely based on the actor’s ability to recall and relive personal experiences repeatedly. He believed the actor should “live the part”. This author disagrees with nearly all of Stanislavsky's teachings. Stanislavsky himself is often said to have denied “The Method” he created at the end of his life, as unworkable. Even he suggested strongly that the student not stick to his technique, but that they create his own. In this, he was correct.

His teachings have been made more destructive through the work of several “master teachers” throughout the world, who have left a string of broken actors and shattered lives in their wake. Some great actors have come out of the Method, this is true. One wonders how much better they might have been without the Method to hamper them. One wonders if some of their careers could have been more productive, or their lives, longer.

The great Russian playwright, Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) wrote many theatrical masterworks. He said they were comedies, and in the classic sense, they are. (I’ll explain this to you in a later chapter on Theatrical Schools and Styles.) Yet Stanislavsky directed the great writer’s works like they were intense, serious, psychological dramas. Modern, BAD directors do the same thing to Chekhov’s works. “The Method” is, in fact, infected by a “seriousness” which does not often suit the arts very well.

Let me state this plainly for you. The history of theatre and acting is NOT realism. Theatre does not support the realistic, not very well, and until 150 years ago, the theatre correctly avoided realism like a plague. Shakespeare is regarded by one and all as the greatest author of theatre known to man, and his plays simply never descend into “realism”. Nor do any of the great playwright’s works, prior to Turgenev. There’s nothing wrong with progress when it is truly an advance is man’s understanding. Realism in theatre is not an advance, it denies what theatre is, and finally, is degrading to both artist and audience.

MORE TOMORROW!

Steven Horwich

What IS Acting?

The following is taken from the first chapter of a book I've authored on the acting technique I teach, which is called Ethical Art. There will be times I take excerpts from the book, and other times I write about something current. I think this part of that first chapter gives us a strong starting point. Enjoy! And do the exercises when they show up if you want the maximum gain. Don't just read. Acting is an active thing!
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Acting Defined

Let’s start with the most basic of information. You probably know a great deal of what will be discussed in this chapter, but at worst, it’s a worthwhile review. Perhaps your understanding of acting can be clarified and refined.

Acting could be defined as: the use of a human body and/or voice, intelligence, and other human qualities, in order to create the acceptable illusion of a specific Being (person, animal, etc) or Object, including that specific Being or Object’s experiences, thoughts, emotions, and existence during a given event or series of events.

Acting is used in a number of ways, today:

ACTING AS A WAY TO AVOID TROUBLE, HOMEWORK, AND THE POLICE:
I’m sure you already have a good grasp on this usage of acting. Every seven year old who insisted with perfectly straight face that Spot ate their homework, gets this. Let’s move on.


ACTING IS A CRAFT:
One dictionary defines a craft as: an occupation or avocation requiring special skills, especially manual ones, including carpentry, sewing, pottery, etc.

Acting can be and often is an occupation, as we will discuss. Needless to say, many people make a living as actors. It can be an avocation, a hobby done for fun. It requires very specialized skills, something discussed throughout this book. Many of the skills are manual, involving control over the body and it’s functions in order to create an effect. The actor uses his body and voice to carefully etch the illusion of a character. Acting can be defined as a craft, accordingly, and in it’s “starter”, more rudimentary phases, when an actor is developing skills, that is exactly what an actor is, a developing craftsman.

ACTING IS ART:
All art, any art form, has principally to do with communication. Artists are professional “communicators”. An artist is a specialist who selects what he wishes to communicate, and in what manner or method, using what media and tools.

An artist is one who has mastered to some extent the tools of a craft, and transcended that craft. His works communicate. His works are received and understood. His works also move an audience to feel emotion. Often, art leads its audience to think new or better thoughts, or to spiritual heights. Great art does all of this, and more, and it does it every day.

To be an artist, one must have truly mastered many of the tools of that art form, and its techniques. To become a great artist, one must have accomplished this to a very high degree, and be gifted with a real vision of what one wishes to communicate. One must then be able to communicate that vision to the audience compellingly and consistently, using the art form selected. We’ll discuss what makes a great artist at great length, later in this book.

A person who understands and can use the tools of acting to create emotionally compelling performances is an actor, and is using the skills of acting to create art.

ACTING IS AN AVOCATION (A HOBBY):
Acting is fun. Many people try acting out while still in school, and continue performing in local amateur and semi-professional situations while pursuing a livelihood in other fields. Some very expert actors can be found performing regularly in community and local theatres all over the world. This book is no less for the “amateur” actor than the award-winning Broadway regular. Good acting is good acting, wherever it is found.


ACTING IS A PROFESSION:
Actors pour into Los Angeles, New York, and London from all over the English-speaking world, in order to pursue a career in acting. These cities are where “the INDUSTRY”, or “the BUSINESS” of acting is focused. Los Angeles is where one generally comes to break into film, and TV. London and New York have thriving film and television industries as well, but are renowned for their professional theatre.

A professional actor is an actor who MAKES THEIR LIVING BY ACTING. An actor can make a living doing TV, film, theatre, radio, commercials, print work (print advertisements), voice over work (i.e., doing cartoon voices, radio work, etc.), and in new ways being invented as we speak, as the media used to communicate performances varies and expands. Regardless, a pro is paid to act. Don’t mistake it, just being paid does not make one a great, or even necessarily a good actor. But being paid does make one a professional.

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EXERCISE:
Which manifestations of acting are you interested in? Acting as Craft? Art? Hobby? Profession. All of the above? Some of the above? Decide which ones you are interested in and why.
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If one is in a UNION, one of the organizations established to represent actors and their rights, one is generally considered a professional, as well. These include (in the United States) the SCREEN ACTOR’S GUILD (SAG), for most film and television, The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), who represent daytime Soap Opera, radio talent, some commercials and other areas, and ACTOR’S EQUITY ASSOCIATION (AEA), for professional performers in the theatre. However, many actors today get work outside of these union’s jurisdiction, in non-union jobs, and are paid for that work, sometimes in rates as high as Union jobs. More on unions later.


WHAT ACTING IS NOT:
It is as just as important to understand what acting is not, or what it should not be. Acting is NOT “therapy”. It is not a way to work out your personal problems. In fact, and this may deeply offend a few readers, acting is not about the actor and his needs. It’s not about you. It’s not about the “rush” you feel when the curtain goes up, though this is a perfectly fine thing. It’s not even about the satisfaction the actor experiences when the audience gives a standing ovation at the end of the performance, though that is a wonderful thing, as well. It’s not even about the awards you may win someday.

Acting is about the character you play, and the communication of that character, in full, sent by you and received by the audience. The audience (or producer, however you want to look at it) foot the bill. They pay so that the production exists and so that you are paid. Your job is to entertain THEM, not yourself. You’re paid to communicate your character and the entire piece that the character appears in, to the best of your ability, so that the audience may be moved in various ways and feel that their time and money were well spent. If you want to observe and admire a performance, buy a ticket and sit with the audience. An actor is NOT a part of the audience. He is, however, a large part of the reason the audience gathers. An actor is NOT the critic, sent by the local newspaper to write nasty or pointless things about the actor’s performance. The actor is the performer the critic is watching tonight. It is not the actor’s job to critique his own performance. It isn’t even the actor’s job to worry over what the critic will write and say about the actor! It is the actor’s job to deliver a performance, first and last.

An Actor is also NOT the writer. It is not his job to rewrite dialogue, story, or anything else, especially in the theatre. There has grown over the years a sad and unfortunate tendency in TV and film for performers to believe they somehow know more about writing than professional writers. They don’t, and a result of this trend is a steady decline in the quality of works presented cinematically and on television. When a writer sells a work in TV/film, the work is called a “property”. And just like a piece of property, say a desk, once sold, the buyer may do anything he wants to it, including sawing off the legs and turning it into a snow sled. This is, fortunately, not generally the case in theatre, where the writer’s work cannot be altered except by the writer. It is of course true that there are actors who are also fine writers. But one should always be aware of which hat one is wearing at any given time. If you’re being the “actor” today, be the actor. When you’re the writer, then be the writer.

A writer selects his words very carefully, if he’s a decent writer. The words are not arbitrary. They are selected to create a desired effect. It is a part of the actor’s job to DELIVER THE WORDS SELECTED BY THE WRITER in as compelling a manner as possible. It is not his job to rewrite those words.

In much the same manner, the actor is NOT the director, set designer, choreographer, musical director, costume designer, light designer, stagehand, grip, best boy, producer, or anything other than an actor! Just as you, the actor, wish to have control over your own responsibilities as an actor, these other specialists will insist on control over theirs. It’s one thing to make the occasional suggestion (when asked for, or when the creative situation truly allows for a non-critical discussion). All too often, the actor thinks he “knows best” what the costumes or sets or direction should be. These things may be discussed if such a discussion is allowed or invited, but the specialist in that area should always make decisions for his own area.

Taking this further, actors are NOT acting teachers, not while they’re acting in a piece, even if they may be acting teachers outside the production. It is NEVER your job as an actor to critique a fellow actor’s performance or work, not even to improve your own performance, and especially when you haven’t been asked. Even when asked for your help or opinion, you’re courting hatred and disgust from your fellow actors if you offer any critique of their work. Think what you want about other actors. That’s your right. But keep your thoughts to yourself.

In short, an actor is NOT a member of the audience, is NOT a critic, NOT a writer, director, designer, choreographer, acting teacher, or anything other than an actor, not while he or she is acting! He may be any or all of these things, at other times. But while acting, he’s an actor whose job it is to create thoroughly a role, making it interesting and compelling, and then communicating it (as a part of a larger presentation, usually) in a way that an audience may understand and be moved by the creation.
(End of excerpt from the book, The Ethical Art Technique)
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Well, that's where I'd like to start. Let's agree on why you are an actor, and what we're trying to accomplish. I'm FINE if a part of your goal is to make money as an actor, even a lot of money. Why not! Money in this civilization is an indication of acceptance and what the world thinks of one's value. It's a good thing when artists are highly value. Art is a very important product of civilization, and good (or great) artists should be honored and compensated well. But money cannot be the only reason one acts, or I can almost assure you that you'll fail. You had best be doing this because you LOVE LOVE LOVE to act, because it's a tough profession in many ways. And it would be better still if you plan to use your art to make the world a little bit better of a place to live. Things are getting pretty ugly out there, the world can use all the life-affirming art it can get.

Now, here's a link you may enjoy! It's on Daily Actor, and it shows a great interview with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis about acting in film and on stage. It was brought to my attention by a student, Devin Rice, who is very intense about his own career. Take a look, they know what they're talking about and there's something to learn when actor's with that kind of experience open up. (I've never tried to insert a link into a blog. If it does not show up, I'll find a way to share it with you tomorrow.)



Another post tomorrow!

Steven Horwich

1st Post for actors! An introduction

Hi, actors! My name is Steven Horwich. This is a blog for you! In it, I'll be posting articles all about that thing that you are either already doing, or about to do - acting! This is oriented toward those of you who are pros already, or who want to become professional. It is for actors for the stage and screen.

Quickly, I have been in this business for nearly 40 years. I appeared in leads in over 150 stage productions in Los Angeles when I was "younger". I've directed well over 200 stage productions, as well as some film and TV. I have an Emmy Award as a writer and director, and Dramalogue Awards (Los Angeles) for writing, directing, set design, and music and lyric writing. I've had my shows produced all over the world, and have directed productions throughout the United States, in Canada, and even in Russia. I've taught acting for over 35 years at the University level, in High Schools, and in my professional workshop in Los Angeles.

So, what do I know that you want to know? What do I know that you NEED to know to keep your career going, or to jump start it? That info will fill a lot of posts! This is just an introduction. If you want to know what I know - if your career as an actor is important to you, and receiving free and useful info on how to audition, how to prep for a job, how to ACT is going to be helpful to you...read my posts. I'll offer an enormous amount of advice, as well as interesting links to interviews and materials you will want to know about. What else will be discussed here? Nothing, if it isn't directly related to acting.

My experience and ideas will be at your disposal here. Why? Because actors are important, and the art of acting is (in my opinion) in decline. Let's make sure together that acting gets better, and that it remains an important art!

Looking forward to sharing the concepts I've taught many actors over the decades with you.

Steven Horwich