#106: But there's plenty more to follow…Right?
Monday 11/25/24
After a long weekend of coaching and with people of varying experience/interest, I wanted to share my 5 acting tips that aren’t the ones you can just google - the ones that you may not hear every day.
1. Acting = YOU + Given Circumstances
Acting is not something we “put on”, it isn’t “becoming a character”, or being so distant from yourself. It’s about how much YOU can show up authentically just in a new set of circumstances. This is where you may hear actors with “actor voice” - they don’t sound like themselves. It’s because they are adjusting who they are to what they think acting is. This doesn’t include intentional character choices of course. Acting is about how intently you embrace the objective and understand where YOU line up with your character. I think about playing Mrs. Lovett often with this because I am not a villainous murderer who is cooking her victims into pies and selling them. BUT, i do understand the entrepreneurial spirit and the drive to do what you need to do in order to run a successful business!
2. Acting is completely reliant on your ability to accurately and intently LISTEN
The only thing that matters in your scene or song is what the other actor is saying or doing. HOW are they saying it, how do you react to that? It can’t be what you’ve decided to do
3. You don’t have to currently be in a play or musical or film to act
Pick up a play. Read the libretto of a musical. Get a $14 subscription to New Play Exchange. Investigate text. Analyze it like you work for the FBI.
4. OBSERVE PEOPLE
Observe. Watch. Be curious. You sit in your car every day. Go sit in it and make 5 discoveries. What color is the stitching? What station does the radio default to? What is in your glove compartment? How many cup holders are in the car? Watch humans - find a few things on a person you are talking to - the color of their earrings, how their mouth forms words, how do their hands and fingers move as they speak? To be an actor, you must be an observer of life.
5. LISTEN WITH YOUR EYES
This may be my favorite. We talked above about listening to your scene partner, and in #4 we talked about observing people and how to do that. When you finally make in on stage, your listening must be both with your ears AND WITH YOUR EYES. You have to take in the set, the lights, the other actor. You have to be so in tune with what they are doing so that you can use any and all of it to inform the things you then do and say.
Dreams Don’t Die
Julie