Many actors just show up and expect the director to schedule and guide them through the process.  That is not a very good way to be a creative artist—it gives the responsibility for your work to someone else.

I think the way to do your best work is to schedule and plan what you hope to accomplish in each rehearsal.  This schedule runs side by side the director’s schedule, gives you back responsibility for your work, and enables you to build your performance in your own way, on your own time.  It will also help you to accomplish things in rehearsal when your acting partner is not prepared or not giving you anything to work with.

So don’t leave your work up to the director.  Always plan your rehearsals.  You do that by doing your actor’s homework, keeping an acting notebook for each show, and planning daily what you need to work on based on your process and your progress.

By doing these things, you will insure that at every rehearsal you are doing your best.   And that’s the most that any of us can do.

Links:  Act On, Act Off & Simon Callow

But what are these actors doing?  Are they just assuming a walk and character voice?  What is it that makes their characters seem so distinct and real?

I think that what makes these performers and their performances great is that they discover the body, voice, and spirit of the characters inside of themselves.  The more they change their bodies for the character, the more of themselves they reveal.  The honesty with which they approach their roles makes it seem that we are not seeing acting but rather we are seeing the people they are playing.  The key to their work is honesty and actors don’t have to disappear into a character to that they bring to a performance.

First, you must be ready and prepared at all times so that when you are auditioning, acting or rehearsing, you have something to offer.  If you have nothing to offer, if your work is always thin and uninteresting, there will never be a right time or place for you.  Second, since you can’t be everywhere at once you must be where you are completely.  That means whether you are auditioning, rehearsing, or performing you must keep all your focus on what you are doing and do your best work.

If you think you’re going to know when it’s your time and place and you save your energy for that unknowable magic moment, you’re kidding yourself.  But if you are always there, giving your best effort, anyone who sees you work anytime will know that you have something to offer.

Joseph Campbell reminds us to follow our bliss.  That doesn’t mean just talking about it, it means acting on it.  If you follow your bliss and do your best all the time, Campbell says “doors will open for you where you didn’t even know there would be any doors.”

The main thing about adjusting your movement for a characterization is that when you do, you feel the adjustments and it actually changes how you perceive and respond to things.  So adjusting your movement for a role not only makes you “look” like the character it makes you “feel” and “think” like the character.

Another reason to adjust your movement when you are acting, regardless of whether it is on stage or on screen, is that your movement is affected by the given circumstances.  So if you are entering a scene from outside and the writer says it is a winter’s day, then the way you enter is different than it would be if it were hot and muggy outside.  These changes in temperature change how you move in real life and it is essential to communicate them in your acting.  Doing that brings the given circumstances to life, puts your character in a specific place, and it enables you to live honestly in the circumstances given to you by the writer.

So controlling your walk is not just for stage actors, it is for all actors. How you move and walk defines and communicates your character.  It also helps to define and communicate the given circumstances.  And when you live honestly and move honestly in those circumstances your acting will be more interesting for you and the audience.

Links:  Given Circumstances, Meryl Streep

As a young student of theatre, one of Peter Brook’s first lessons was in walking.  “We had to master the very first exercise in which theatre and life meet; how to walk, being no less and no more than ourselves, just a little more collected, a little more open than usual.”

So start paying attention to your walk today.  Notice the length of your strides.  Are they long or short?   Are you pigeon-toed or do you walk with your feet turned out?  Look at the bottoms of your shoes and notice the patterns of wear to see how you place your feet on the ground.  Try to notice whether your arms swing easily in opposition to your leg movement or hang motionless at your sides.  Does only one arm swing while the other seems clamped to your side?  Are your shoulders filled with tension and raised toward your ears?  Are your hands clenched in fists, or are your arms and hands like limp noodles that flop as you move?  Is your head jutted forward?  Do you move as if you’re being pulled forward, held back, or walking through thick gel?  Do you generally walk quickly, or do you amble?  Do you look at the ground when you walk, or are you looking at the world around you?

Just as your walk communicates a great deal about you, you’re character’s walk tells the audience a great deal about the character.  The body reveals, and it is up to you to make sure that what the audience sees when you enter is the physicality you have chosen for the character rather than your own, which, because of lack of awareness or control, you are unable to change or adapt.

Remember your body is not a bi-pod for your head.  Your body and the way you move define who you are.  So start walking and pay attention to your what you are doing.  You will soon discover your movement signature and then you are on the way to adjusting it for a character.

Links:  George Leonard            Yoshi Oida                         Peter Brook

Spongy acting is weak and unfocussed. It means that the actors never pursue objectives with determination or take responsibility for their work. Spongy acting starts in rehearsals and it manifests itself with actors just saying the words and rarely committing to any intention or goal.

Acting is action and sponges tend to be inactive. So to avoid being a spongy actor you must come to rehearsals prepared with goals and objectives and pursue them with determination. Of course, you must listen to and respond to what your acting partner is giving you, but you have to take responsibility and make sure that you character is active and always in pursuit of something.

Acting is a delicate balance. You have to be sponge-like and absorbent but also strong and, at times, aggressive. Too much of either characteristic will prevent you from giving and getting the things you need to make your acting great.  So be firm yet flexible and shape your work.  Make interesting decisions and actively pursue your objectives. Then no one will ever accuse you of being a spongy actor.

It was created in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute to celebrate the theatre and it’s power to inspire, give hope, and connect people.  The intention in 1961 was to help break through borders and help others see the world theatre community as a positive and unifying force.

While many theatres have performances and workshops to celebrate the day, the most important annual event is the circulation of the World Theatre Day International Message.  This statement, written by a person of the theatre with world status, shares his or her reflection on the theatre and a culture of peace.

This year’s statement is by John Malkovich.  It reads, “May your work be compelling and original. May it be profound, touching, contemplative, and unique. May it help us to reflect on the question of what it means to be human, and may that reflection be blessed with heart, sincerity, candor, and grace. May you overcome adversity, censorship, poverty and nihilism, as many of you will most certainly be obliged to do. May you be blessed with the talent and rigor to teach us about the beating of the human heart in all its complexity, and the humility and curiosity to make it your life’s work. And may the best of you – for it will only be the best of you, and even then only in the rarest and briefest moments – succeed in framing that most basic of questions, “how do we live?” Godspeed.”

So on March 27, take some time to celebrate the theatre, that art form that you love so much.  And remember that the theatre not only entertains it has the power to move, inspire, transform, and educate by reflecting the diversity of cultures and the shared human condition.

Links:  Lynn Nottage and Judy Dench

Watch people as they come through a door so you see how their lives spill in with them. Remember, when you make an entrance into a scene your character isn’t entering with the intention of playing that particular scene.  They are coming from somewhere and they end up encountering a scene or being drawn into one.  So watching people as they come through doorways will give you ideas you can use in your work.

Watch people in restaurants as they eat and talk to see how they combine speaking with an activity.  While this is something we do all the time, as soon we get onstage it seems unnatural and difficult.  But the way people do it, reveals a great deal about them.

Get into the habit of getting outside your own world and observing people who are different than you.  Watch people in different economic strata and people in different professions.  It’s your job to play a range of characters and observing only the people you know will limit you.  So open your eyes to the wide world around you.

Finally, pay attention to how you move, feel, and respond to things.  Only by knowing how you do things will you be in a position to change them for a character. Naturally you can’t do this every moment, but self-observation should become a regular activity for you.

Observing what is going on in you and around you is essential work for the actor.  So next time you are waiting someplace, instead of burying your head in your phone, look at the people around you.  You’ll be amazed at what you see and what you can use in your acting.

By slowing down you’ll see the ideas and moments that your character is going through and how they link to form a speech or a scene.  Then you’ll be in a position to define and shape each one.  This doesn’t mean that you are going to play every scene slowly or that you are going to speak every line slowly.  But slowing down in rehearsal, allows you to see all of the moments and to make them your own.

Slowing down is a key to success in staged readings because it helps you to clarify each moment in the script.   Slowing down is also vital to playing Shakespeare, as it will help you to connect to words and ideas and to articulate them clearly.

Slowing down is a guideline that can serve you well in all of your work because it counters the natural tendency to rush.  It helps you to discover all the potential moments available to you and enables you to see and hear what your fellow actors are giving you.  Slowing down gives you time to breathe and to connect the words and ideas to your head and to your heart.  Slowing down gives you control of your work.

This is a difficult question.  Harder, perhaps, for actors because we do what we do for love, not necessarily for money.  And recognition and public approval is very much a part of our work.  One can measure success by the work you are doing.  If you are auditioning and getting cast that is a measure of success.

But more important than success is your worth.  Many actors, after not getting cast, lie awake at night and wonder about their value as a person.  They begin to question what they are doing, why they are doing it, and even who they are.  The point is they let their work determine their worth, their value, and that is a harmful mistake.

I believe your worth is determined by how happy you are and whether your life and all its components (work, relationships, and leisure) give you joy.  Your worth is determined by being able to work relate to and work with people.  Your worth is determined by what you give to the world around you, which can be as simple as common courtesy and a smile or it can be money and time to worthy causes.  I believe your worth is rewarded in joy; joy in relationships and in the simple things of everyday life.

So, please don’t confuse your work with your value, your success with your worth.   Work hard at your acting, but don’t neglect the really important things, the people and world around you.  By doing that, your successes will be sweeter and you will always be worthy

Next time you read a script and you see that the writer has told you that the character is angry – don’t go to your habitual responses. Look at the script from some other angle so you can see what is really going on rather than what you expect. By accepting that emotions come in different forms, textures, and colors you will be able to cut yourself loose from your habitual response. This could make your performance larger, smaller, or more varied than you expected. What it will do is help you to change your approach, since it won’t be all about you and your response set.

The bottom line is that as actors we need to work our roles and make appropriate and interesting choices rather than falling into our ordinary responses. It is through these explorations that our acting will evolve and be most interesting for us and for audiences.