“Poor Theatre Costs”
Part A(By Robert Cohen) In the winter of 1982–83, Professor Andy Harris of Columbia University contacted David MacDonald with an intriguing proposal: Jerzy Grotowski was in the United States and wanted to visit California. Andy wanted to know if we were interested in such a visit and perhaps a series of lectures from Grotowski at […]
The “Hintergedanken” of acting Part 2 (PUT YOUR CLOTHES ON)
Do you know what en-clothed cognition is? Well, let me explain it to you in layman terms (I am probably going to kill it, so bear with me) An experiment was conducted in 2012, a set of scientists decided to give two teams of participants a lab coat to wear. Team A was told the lab […]
On Titles
Usually, in an acting class, at some point — inevitably- we will reach the moment of assigning scenes. Without a doubt, the teacher will ask the students to read the play, they will suggest multiple readings, in fact, will explain or try to explain the importance of multiple readings, and if they are worth their salt, will […]
Director Types
It is unfathomable but these two types of directors are still out there: the grand puppeteer (the god figure) the indifferent — chief blocker. The first type “puppeteer” He secretly (sometimes not so secretly) wishes actors had no brain and no will…Ah!If he (seldom she) could just puppeteer actors, their emotions and their intonations. — […]
The “Hintergedanken” of acting
PART 1 — Hintergedanken, a German word, which means “thought in the very far back of your mind.” My hintergedanken these days is the word transformation, what does it mean to transform? Can it be done? Is experiencing the “I AM” of another character a very useful illusion, Or is it a red herring? As […]
The System
This text is by no means a detailed historical overview of Konstantin Stanislavski’s system, but an attempt to fill certain “gaps” caused by half-knowledge, the perpetuation of inaccuracies, and the repetition of foolish “sound bites” from people who have not studied the system. These individuals may have skimmed through some of the hard-to-read translations and […]
Impregnated moments
What you are doing right now, right NOW, is already impregnated with the next Moment without you even knowing it. This moment right now contains the potential of the next moment! Nothing ever ends its a continuum of moments and that is energizing to know! When you close your eyes right in this moment you […]
On Vague Terms
There are a lot of vague words in acting! There are a lot of subjective terms and unless a teacher or a director clarifies what he or she means when they utter such words and terms things get murky. at best! Phrases like “find the truth” (who’s Truth, what truth, Characters ? Given circumstances? or […]
Lists and Acting
People who know me know I love lists … why? I think they make our life simpler. Ok, maybe it’s just my OCD! Of course like Santa, there are bad lists and good lists. When I see acting books by trending hollywood acting Gurus doing nothing more than twelve stepping a whole process with so […]
Some thoughts on emotions
I WANT TO CRY ON CUE SHE/HE SAID! Well guess what now you are a dry well Don’t go chasing emotions, don’t try to squeeze your emotional sponge to get one tear out! What’s the point? You can only create the conditions for an emotion to appear. -UNDERSTAND THE CIRCUMSTANCES — PLAY YOUR ACTIONS! Make […]
