DOGMA AND ORTHODOXY IN ACTING
Each acting technique, each approach to the craft, has its own lineage — practitioners who serve as guides, passing down their knowledge and helping actors unlock their full creative potential. Think about it — once, the relationship between actors and their craft was direct and diverse. Actors learned through trial and error, through real-time experience, […]
Contradiction and Polarity are certainties in Art
Look at Stanislavski contradicting his own writing IN THE SAME BOOK ! THAT’S WHY I WILL KEEP ON SAYING: “THE ROOT OF THE THING IS NEVER THE THING ITSELF.” IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A FORMULA…CHANGE OCCUPATION ART DOES NOT HAVE ONE. never get away from yourself. The moment you lose your¬ self on the stage […]
The Blind Spots of Critical Response Process (CRP) in the Field of Acting
(It is probably fine in the “fine arts”)A Nuanced and Very-Very (VERY) Biased Examination AGAINST IT. Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process (CRP) is designed to create a structured and supportive environment for giving and receiving artistic feedback. While its methodology has gained popularity in the arts—particularly in the academic and artistic environment of theater and […]
Charles Erich Conrad: The Evolution of Meisner BY CONRAD and the Almost Arrival at Demidov
In the history of acting, very few teachers have managed to challenge and significantly improve upon the teachings of their predecessors. One of them is Charles Erich Conrad, who, despite being a direct student of Sanford Meisner, ultimately rejected and reshaped key aspects of Meisner’s technique. His approach corrected several weaknesses of Meisner’s system, particularly […]
Emotional Tactile Reading
Step 1: Attitude Toward the Text Do not approach the text with full conscious attention.Keep a “glance” over it but allow your subconscious to absorb it.Avoid “fully experiencing” the text at this stage; do not react emotionally yet.The goal is to let the words sink into the subconscious rather than process them intellectually. Step 2: […]
The Transparent Eye
If the eye is cloudy → the mind is unclear. If it is restless → the body is unfocused. If it is closed → with contracted pupils, the actor is not receptive. Cleansing and calming the eye stabilize both body and spirit. Exercise for Attaining the Transparent Eye Select an object and look at it. […]
Beyond Identity to Artistic (Trans)cendence
Let’s start with this: Acting is transformation. And no, I don’t mean putting on a wig and a costume. I mean diving deep into something unfamiliar, finding the universal truths that connect us all, and then bringing that to life. When we talk about transformation, we’re not just talking about makeup and voice changes—we’re talking […]
Paul Scofield
A personality all actors should know about.
Oldie but goldie – On the WHY and NOT the HOW
It seems that the why, a question that usually befuddles us during our earlier years and then dissipates—either because of our profession or the obscurities of everyday life—is a more important question than the how. The how is a question that usually comes to the surface when we enter the profession as neophytes or when […]
A-EFFECT (Alienation Effect)
(Excerpts from the book Shall We Stop Listening to Nonsense?) Brecht states that the A-EFFECT (Alienation Effect) is not about the absence of emotion but about creating a different kind of emotional response: “For the actor, it is difficult and exhausting to evoke specific internal states or emotions night after night. It is simpler to […]
