Training the Actors Mind

"An artist who has not mastered his profession is a dilettante, and an artist who has limited himself to his profession is a corpse." Goethe

The actors mind is the first part of actor training. Internal training begins with cultural development. As an artist you must not limit yourself to just mastering your craft. The material from which you draw to create a character is the entire realm of human knowledge and experience. You cannot afford to be ignorant of historical or contemporary events, linguistics, literature, music, visual arts, design, psychology, sociology, etc. The list is endless. "Acting is Believing" describes it as saying, "You must be a student of life."

Stanislavski wrote, "Truth cannot be separated from belief, or belief from truth." You must fully commit to everything that happens on stage. Your job as the actor is to make the Audience momentarily accept that the people and events onstage are real. You must also believe that the lines you are saying and the situations that are occurring are all happening for the first time.

1. Reading the script

the first thing you should do upon getting a part in a play is to read the script. Once you have read it through a few times go back and try to figure out what the writer is doing with your character. Use the situations he has put your character in and the simple stage directions to begin to form your character.

2. Becoming your character

Often the hardest part of acting is being someone you are not in real life. Of course you must; and will realize that everything around you onstage is false. You will be aware that there is an audience and that there are other actors waiting in the wings and you will hear noises outside the theatre even. You can never lose yourself completely in a role. However, as an actor breathing life into a character, you must enter into the magical world of "If." Stanislavski's method acting which has the actor asking him or herself, "If these clothes upon my back were real, if this space actually existed at this particular time, if I were this person with this distinct personal history. This is what I would do." As an actor you are searching for truthful behavior within the given circumstances or unchangeable facts of the play.

Remember however, that you must also use the given circumstances that the writer gives you to make an informed decision on what your character will do next. Also you should never judge your character. Wether a drug addict, a prostitute, a murderer, a dictator, ect. you must never approach your character from the third person. Do not judge their moral, social, religious or political views and behaviors. If you do this you will never sustain conviction in your actions onstage. Remember that not everyone holds your personal viewpoints.