[Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2003 @ 12:32 p.m.]
[ "Acting Is"-Sydney Langosch ]

I've had this sheet of paper since high school, and since I'm doing this play, I thought I'd refresh my memory about what acting is. What acting isn't is the next entry.
  1. Acting is creating a believable character. The actor calls upon all of his experiences, observations and imagination to build a character which is based on reality.
  2. Acting is speaking with better than average speech. While the reality of the character on which an actor is working must be maintained, the ability for an actor to communitcate to his audience so that they may hear without straining is a necessary technique. Special training is important, but any actor can increase projection, avoid sloppy diction and learn to point(?) important words in a speech without special classes. Sometimes a director or assistant director will provide extra rehearsals for those members of the case who need the additional training.
  3. Acting is bringing the stage area to life. There are no limits to the way space may be utililized by the actor and designer. Sometimes space is defined by quite traditional and realistically built sets. Other productions may depend very little on sets and properties. Whatever the style of the production, it is the actor who makes the design work through his own creative abilities during the actual performance. An audience will believe the setting because the actor does.
  4. Acting is learning to concentrate at a far greater intensity than you usually do in real life. An actor cannot become preoccupied with himself during rehearsals or production. A performer is like a magnet: if you are able to concentrate successfully, you pull in the audience while creating a heightened emotional intensity.
  5. Acting is establishing a relationship with all of the characters on stage. An actor must know how he feels about everyone and everything in the play-his own and other's appearance, what the other characters say and do, even if the context of the speech does not directly relate to his own character. It is therefore important for you, as an actor, to become totally engrossed in the entire play, even though you may appear in one or two scenes.
  6. Acting is using every resource inside and outside yourself. Preparing for a role may include remembering sensory experiences, including tasting, smelling, seeing, feeling and moving. Sometimes memory is sufficiently sharp, but there are occasions when you must refresh your memory, either through direct experience or through research.
  7. Acting is connecting your role with everything going on around the character. The most innovative, effective characterisation is meaningless unless the actor's creativeness is blended in with the entire production.
  8. Acting is evolving a physical picture for the audience through complete knowledge of the inner parts of the character. An actor must carry a physical image of himself as the character he is portraying, but not without a sound precept behind the choices made. While a limp may be a part of a physical identity of a character the actor conceives, a director will seldom welcome such additions unless the limp is part of the action of the play.
  9. Acting is knowing what the character is saying, but also knowing what the character is thinking. It is in the "inner meaning" or the "between the lines" study from which an actor truly creates his role. This was one of the main building blocks of the Stanislavski method for training an actor. In Constantin Stanislavski's book, Building a Character, the director wrote, "The words come from the author, the subtext (the meaning and imagery between the lines) from the actor."
  10. Acting is getting across to the audience the main idea of the script. It must be clear in the actor's mind what the play is about and the way the character you are playing forwards this main idea. Referring once more to Constantin Stanislavski, the artist must know the "super-objective" of the production. It is the director who makes these decisions according to the script and other production details. If you don't understand the theme and main goals in a production you are in, then you should ask the director to explain them. Most directors will welcome such discussions, especially if the actor approaches him early in the rehearsal of the production.

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