Beginning Actors: Finalizing Your Training

"For most actors, success is achieved through study, struggle, preparation, infinite trial and error, training, discipline, experience and work!" - Robert Cohen

I have given you all of the necessary steps to begin your training. However, it doesn't end here. The rest is up to you. Like the quote says, in order to succeed you will need to study, struggle, prepare, try and fail, constant training, discipline, and work.

Study: You will need to study the world. You can only enter a characters mind by using your own experiences and historical imagination, so you will need to study the world around you.

Struggle: The life of an actor is difficult sometimes especially if you want to do it professionally. There will always be competition. And there will often times be someone who is more prepared than you are or who has the look more than you.

Preparation: In order to be a successful actor, you will need to constantly prepare. It is good to prepare for an audition before you even have one. If it's a musical, already have planned out what you will do if you need to sing a few bars. Pick a few songs that show your range and have them down. For straight plays, already have a few monologues in your repertoire.

Trial and Error: Like I've already said. There will always be people who will beat you out for a role for whatever reason. Even well known actors will get beat out every now and then. You will need to know how to handle rejection and move on. You will not get a part in everything you audition for.

Training: It will take constant training to be good. Just as you must study the world around you. You must always be in training wether it's reading a book on acting or actually being involved in a play. You can even go to your room and close the door and practice monologues. You must train yourself in the areas we've discussed in earlier posts.

Work: The best way to get better is to actually have experience in acting. Get out there and audition for everything you can. Its the shotgun approach. You can always turn down a role.

Beginning Actors: Exploring Your Resources 2

"Actor training should be broadly humanistic, involving the study not just of dramatic literature and theatre history, but of languages, literature, and history generally, and should be centered on acting in plays rather than just exercises, improvisations, monologues, or even scenes." - Richard Hornby

The answers to the questions you have asked yourself will all come only after an arduous journey. Here you will systematically discover what you have in your historical imagination that might help bring your portrayal of your character to life on stage.

You have now encountered the world of the actor at rehearsal. Your goal as a student of acting is to bring to rehearsal a method of studying a role that will enable you to access the necessary raw materials for creating and performing it. These raw materials constitute the accumulation of your own knowledge and are composed f everything you have experienced or imagined in your lifetime. Your actions onstage are limited to your personal history and imagination. For the role you are playing, you will need to find elements within yourself that will allow you to create and believe in the circumstances of the unfamiliar character. Just as you are dependent on your voce and body to carry out your actions, you are also dependent on your mind to provide the proper impulses for those actions.

Fortunately, your history is not confined to what you have experience in person. It comes from reading, listening, and observing countless sources. Research and the expansion of your historical imagination are important parts of your quest to unearth the truth in the world of the play. And part of talent is the ability to deepen and extend experiences in the imagination.

But how do you know where to find these inner sources that may be deeply rooted in the subconscious regions of your mind? How can you begin to match your own experiences with that of the character? You begin with the script. First discovering the physical actions the character must perform. Even before that, however, we shall begin by giving rise to an environment that encourages maximum inspiration for the discovery of these actions. A truly creative state where you will be able to achieve full artistic expression.

Beginning Actors: Exploring Your Resources

"The inner life of the [imagination], and not the personal and tiny experiential resources of the actor, should be elaborated on the stage and shown to the audience. This life is rich and revealing for the audience as well as for the actor himself." - Michael Chekhov

As an actor you must begin your training with self exploration. The tools you will use as an actor, although they may be sharpened by practice, are present in you right now. The need for you to train your body and voice or your "external resources," should be obvious. You will need to have muscular and vocal control. Like I've said before, you will use your full body to act and your voice will need to be just as strong because it is just as important when portraying a character. Your primary task is to create a character who "behaves logically in imaginary circumstances," and truthful behavior begins deep inside your being and is externalized through your body and voice. your body, mind, and voice will join through this psychophysical process as the fundamental basis for the study of acting.

The need for internal truth surfaces the moment you start to think seriously about performing a role in a play. Suppose you are cast in a part that requires you to create a character who lives in a different time and within a culture that is completely foreign to your experiences. An untrained actor will go to their first rehearsal not knowing what to do. Before that first rehearsal you must ask a thousand questions about your character.

"Who am I"

"What are my relationships"

"What are my desires, fears, points a views about the world"

all of this you must figure out before you make it to that first rehearsal. The process begins the moment you are cast.

Beginning

Things The Actor Should Know

"If you are to do justice to [the great roles], you must fly up to them -- rather than dragging them down to you -- by expanding your range of knowledge and strengthening your imagination. Your imagination must become as real to you as your memories and feelings. What you take into yourself about psychology, politics, sociology, history and so on, will allow you to reach places in yourself you didn't know existed. No line, no image, no thought can be left general. Each must be specific and personal. Your work is not complete until this is so." - Harold Guskin

As an actor There are a few terms and names you need to know. It is always good to understand the history whatever it is you are in to. If acting is your passion and especially if you plan to pursue it beyond the local market you should know where and how it began. To truly research the history of the art is left up to you. However, here are a few things you should know to get started. . .

Constantine Stanislavski- Russian co-founder and director of the Moscow Art Theatre from 1898 until his death in 1938. The creator of the world's first and best known systemized study of the acting art. Most acting technique training is a derivative of Stanislavski's system.

Moscow Art Theatre- Founded by Constantine Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko in 1898, the MAT is the best known Russian theatre and arguably the most influential company in the history of theatre.

Richard Boleslavski- An original member of the Moscow Art Theatre's first Studio, he left in 1920, settled in the U.S. in 1922, and founded the American Laboratory Theatre in 1923. His book, Acting: The First Six Lessons (1933) introduced American actors to Stanislavski's theories.

Group Theatre- Founded in 1931 by Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg, and Cheryl Crawford, the Group was a pioneering attempt to create a theatre collective influenced by the teachings of Stanislavski and modeled on the Moscow Art Theatre. they produced the most important group of theatre practitioners and teachers in the U.S. history.

Historical Imagination- A subjective approach to convince yourself that "you" exist in the world of the play. Historical facts are not the issue, but rather the external behavior of a unique individual in a particular social order with its own culture, values, fashion, and mores.

Indicating- A derogatory term in psychology motivated acting in which actions are presented without objectives.

Mystery of Inspiration- The goal of Stanislavski's system. When actors find a consistent and repeatable conscious means to subconscious creativity, they are said to be inspired.

Internal Technique- An actors keen understanding of human psychology, historical imagination, and learning how to control and to make effectiveness of Stanislavski's theories onstage.

Magic "if"- Key to unlocking the imagination, it describes the process by which actors place themselves in the given circumstances of the scene. The actor asks "What would I do if I were this character in this circumstance?"

William Shakespeare- Author of plays such as Romeo and Juliet (1595) and Hamlet (1600), Shakespeare is the greatest playwright in the history of the western civilization.

Theatre Terms:

Apron- The part of the stage in front of the curtain

Aside- A short remark made to the audience by on of the characters in the play

Backstage- An area not seen by the audience, including dressing rooms

Blackout- Quickly cutting the lights to make the stage area completely dark

Blocking- Providing the actors with their locations on stage and their actions

Cold Reading- Reading a part from a script tat one has not rehearsed yet

House- The place where the audience is seated

Ingenue- A young girls role

Monologue- A long speech given by one character

Proscenium- Large arch that separates the stage from the audience

Thrust Stage- A stage where the audience sits on three sides

Wings- Space at the sides of the stage, just behind the curtains. Actors enter and exit from the wings

These are just a few of the terms you may hear in the theatre. Like I said the rest is up to you. there are a lot more technical terms for everything in the theatre. These are the terms you should at least now for now.

Becoming an Actor: Self Assessment

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." - Scott Adams

Stanislavski warned, "Young actor, fear your admirers!" It is pleasant to hear the flattery and praise of your adoring admirers because you want to believe them. However, you should not enter into this profession simply to amuse your followers. The naive compliments of friends and family, who are not themselves actors, will not help you grow as an actor. Talk to your admirers, but listen, understand, and even love the observations of a true professional. There is nothing more beneficial to your growth as an actor than the brutally honest words of someone who knows. Unfortunately, however, you will not always be lucky enough to have an acting coach who knows and cares standing over your shoulder giving you expert advice. Therefore, you must know how to objectively observe your own work.

Self Assessment is a learned skill. Beginning with your first acting class you must make honest appraisals of your own work. You cannot be totally reliant upon one person, always seeking their approval for your choices and discoveries. One of your teacher's primary responsibilities is to train you to be self reliant - to serve as your own critic. "Acting is Believing" says this:

"In the commercial world of theatre, film, and television, directors expect you to deliver a product. They are not your teachers. They will not hire your potential; rather, they contract your skills."

Therefore, you must be experienced and honest enough to continue your own growth and development as an artist once you leave the security of the classroom. Though the general public may enjoy your work, you still must objectively look at your own creation. You must assess your choices and continually work on your weaknesses. We are our own worst critic. I'm sure you've heard that plenty of times. That is not a bad thing, and don't let anyone tell you it is. Like I've said before, as an actor you should always be striving for perfection, even though and can never be reached. Even when your friends and family and even just some members of the community who saw your last play tell you you did great, you should still listen to your own inner critic. that is what helps you to strive for perfection. There is always something you could have done better, wether it was the delivery of a line, a different facial expression, or even just a slight movement that better transitioned into the next scene. To be a great actor, self assessment must always be a part of your acting routine.

Becoming An Actor: Performance Skills

"The audience is the most revered member of the theater. Without an audience, there is no theater. Everything done is ultimately for the enjoyment of the audience. They are our guests, fellow players, and the last spoke in the wheel which can then begin to roll. They make the performance meaningful." - Viola Spolin

"Robert Cohen says, 'all people, and all characters in plays, think about their situation more than about their own personality or character.' This is almost always true about people, and is certainly the way actors should think during a performance. But actors, off the stage, must think about their own personality and character. If you do not know who you are, if your instrument is not limber and under your control for the most part, you will never be a great actor. Master actors cultivate effortless and automatic control of their instruments."

Truthful performance skills come from in-class exercises and scene study and through actual experiences. Once you have developed the capacity to create a character and rehearse, you must learn how to mentally and physically prepare yourself before a performance. It is important to show up plenty of time before curtain in order to mentally prepare your character. Once onstage, establishing a communion with your audience is paramount. It is very important not to break the fourth wall, however, you must engage the audience in every word you say. You must have the skills to maintain and control impulse, energy, and various tempo-rhythms. Once you are on the stage you are your character and you are in the story. Your personal being is still there but you can not react as yourself. Finally you must know how to focus your stage energy and how to capture and repeat an inspired portrayal as if your character were living the events of the play for the first time you put on your character's clothing. you have already had plenty of weeks of rehearsal and now you have multiple shows ahead of you. Every show has to be opening night.