Active - Play actions. Pursue objectives. Don't Show. Do!
Connected - Connect to moments, to others, to body, to emotions.
Truthful - Don't pretend. Be in the moment. Act. React. Really.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Lowe's ACTORNYMS 1
I like to be called an actor.
I'm not keen on being called an artist.
Acting involves more than art.
Art enriches, but the audience needs to be engaged and the story needs to be told.
Acting is:
Art
Craft
Technique
Thursday, November 27, 2008
One stone at a time. One flower at time.
A few years ago, I was acting in a play in Chemainus, B.C. on Vancouver Island. Almost everyday, I walked through a lovely area in a forest called the Hermit Trails. I spent many hours enjoying that place of beauty and tranquility. When I learned the story of the man who designed and built the trails, my daily walk became a time for personal reflection and perspective.
The Hermit Trails were named for the elderly reclusive man who created them. He lived alone in the forest and was nicknamed “the hermit”. The hermit was old and stooped and slow, but he worked diligently for many years, and moved hundreds of rocks and stone slabs to create a series of pathways and steps over a few acres of forest, bordered by gardens of wild flowers. Single-handed, with few resources, the hermit created a small forest paradise that’s been enjoyed by thousands of people.
The hermit’s name was Charlie Abbot. Charlie arrived quietly in Chemainus sometime in the 1970's and lived alone in a makeshift shack in the forest where he created and maintained his environmental masterpiece until he died in 1989 at 87 years old. The Hermit Trails are Charlie’s legacy. Nature provided the raw materials, but Charlie’s labour translated nature’s beauty into eloquent human terms. Charlie was dedicated and determined and his work was deceptively simple. He used crude natural objects to create a mystical place that celebrates nature. Since Charlie’s death, local residents have maintained the Hermit Trails so Charlie’s creation continues to be enjoyed and appreciated.
I don’t know much about Charlie except what’s written here and I like that bit of mystery because Charlie’s work ethic and achievement are what define him for me. I can only guess what motivated Charlie to create this little piece of paradise but I’m sure it wasn’t fortune or fame. Regardless of his background or motivation, Charlie’s work is impressive, joyful and inspiring and has had a profound impact on how I now view my own work.
My daily walks through the remarkable place that Charlie crafted without regard for recognition and remuneration, motivated me to reflect on the value of my own work as an actor, a filmmaker and teacher. While money and accolades are certainly appreciated, they are not the primary goals of most actors or artists. Sure, applause and a paycheque are always welcome but many great artists work with dedication and passion for many years without receiving any tangible rewards but are still considered successful.
The size of an audience doesn’t always reflect the success of a creative endeavour and we can’t measure the value of creativity in financial terms. The real rewards of creativity are the satisfaction of accomplishment, the tangible results of one’s labour, and the joy of sharing creativity with others.
Actors, artists or anyone can accomplish amazing things if they are primarily driven by the simple, honest desire to create excellent work and then work diligently with patience and perseverance to satisfy that desire.
Charlie’s gone. I never met him, but I feel blessed by the joy and inspiration I received from his labour and his creation.
Thanks, Charlie.
Paul Ygartua's 'The Hermit' mural, Chemainus
I learned a few other things from Charlie;
You are your own best resource.
Everything you really need is already close at hand.
Focus on the task and work hard with patience and perseverance.
Place one stone at a time. Plant one flower at time.
Simple, honest work can create something beautiful, complex and profound.
You are your own best resource.
Everything you really need is already close at hand.
Focus on the task and work hard with patience and perseverance.
Place one stone at a time. Plant one flower at time.
Simple, honest work can create something beautiful, complex and profound.
Good advice for actors. Good advice for life.
Friday, November 14, 2008
I Succeed When You Succeed
In rehearsal, performance or in an acting class, actors need to feel free so they can be free to explore all aspects of the emotional life of a character and scene. Actors need to be uninhibited and emotionally vulnerable. They can’t be restricted by self-censorship or fear of failure. Actors need to feel safe enough to drop the defenses they’ve developed for life in the real world and remove their carefully crafted social masks so they can be as playful, as open and as un-self-conscious as a child.
A good director or acting teacher will create a working environment where actors feel secure and emotionally protected so they can quickly develop enough trust to be vulnerable and uninhibited. This can’t be treated casually. The importance of a safe, nurturing working environment for actors cannot be overstated. An actor’s creativity flows freely when they are unimpeded by judgment, analysis and censorship. Collaboration works best in an environment of openness and trust.
In my acting classes, I use many games and exercises to develop an environment of trust. One series of exercises involves actors passing balls around in a circle. These exercises have many steps and variations, and I won’t go into detail here, but there is an important point of discussion that arises when I first introduce these exercises to a group of acting students.
I use air-filled toy balls about the size of a volleyball. They’re very light and bounce easily. When the first ball is introduced into the circle, the actors are simply instructed to call out someone’s name and pass that person the ball. I usually let this first game go on for several minutes without further instruction and, almost always, the speed of the game soon increases and one or two actors start throwing the ball in ways that make it difficult to catch. Others quickly pick up on this trend and start tricking each other into missing a catch. Within minutes, the ball gets out of control and bounces out of the circle.
This trend used to frustrate me until I realized it’s an excellent illustration that helps actors recognize the behaviour and attitudes they’ve learned on the playground and the sports field. The ball bouncing out of the circle is an eloquent demonstration of how competitive, selfish behaviour is counterproductive to collaboration and teamwork.
Teamwork is as fundamental to actors as it is to athletes. But, there’s a significant difference in how we view success in the performing arts versus the way we measure success in competitive sports. It’s an important difference that actors must understand.
Simply put, success in sports is called winning, which implies there must be a loser. In other words, success is measured against the failure of others. The implication – right or wrong - is that for one to succeed, others must fail. To be the best is ideal – so we must strive to be better than everyone else and work to make others fail. This attitude may be a key to success in sports, but it’s the key to failure for an actor. That’s the attitude that caused the ball to bounce out of the circle.
Just like in sports, an actor is part of a team. They must work with the other actors, the director and the crew to do the best work possible to succeed as a team. However, the success of an actor and the production are dependent on the success of everyone and enhanced by the failure of no one. An actor doesn’t succeed by winning because there is no one to defeat.
When the young actors in my class are encouraged to throw the ball with the intention of ensuring a successful catch, their focus shifts from the throw to the catch. They make eye contact with other actors in the circle, communicate readiness and carefully throw the ball in a manner that ensures it will be caught. With this small shift of attitude and intention the ball tossing exercise can quickly and easily be developed into a complex series of exchanges with several balls moving rapidly around the circle in complicated patterns with very few missed catches. Now, the ball rarely bounces out of the circle.
Throwing a ball around in a circle seems quite simple but the actions of throwing and catching are not the point of these exercises. When both actors commit completely to the successful completion of the ball transfer, they start to trust and rely on each other and they almost always succeed even as the task becomes more challenging and complex. The important discovery for the actor is the powerful connection that is formed between people who are focused on the successful completion of a shared task with openness and trust.
The beauty and magic of acting are manifested in the unspoken connection between actors who are fully committed and openly engaged in the action of the moment and the almost divine exchange of energy that occurs through that connection.
Friendships, marriages, families, communities and even nations are created and succeed not just through action, but also through the personal, emotional and spiritual connections that are created, revealed and renewed, by those actions. Electing an exciting new leader, playing a game, making love, singing in a choir, watching a play and acting are all actions. But it’s the powerful personal connection that occurs between the people who are openly and willingly sharing those actions that is valuable, joyous and wonderful.
When actors in a company or a class can feel free to work with openness and trust in a secure, supportive environment where everyone’s success is equally important, collaboration and creativity will flourish. When everyone’s success is valued, everyone’s success is assured.
Good advice for actors. Good advice for all of us.
A good director or acting teacher will create a working environment where actors feel secure and emotionally protected so they can quickly develop enough trust to be vulnerable and uninhibited. This can’t be treated casually. The importance of a safe, nurturing working environment for actors cannot be overstated. An actor’s creativity flows freely when they are unimpeded by judgment, analysis and censorship. Collaboration works best in an environment of openness and trust.
In my acting classes, I use many games and exercises to develop an environment of trust. One series of exercises involves actors passing balls around in a circle. These exercises have many steps and variations, and I won’t go into detail here, but there is an important point of discussion that arises when I first introduce these exercises to a group of acting students.
I use air-filled toy balls about the size of a volleyball. They’re very light and bounce easily. When the first ball is introduced into the circle, the actors are simply instructed to call out someone’s name and pass that person the ball. I usually let this first game go on for several minutes without further instruction and, almost always, the speed of the game soon increases and one or two actors start throwing the ball in ways that make it difficult to catch. Others quickly pick up on this trend and start tricking each other into missing a catch. Within minutes, the ball gets out of control and bounces out of the circle.
This trend used to frustrate me until I realized it’s an excellent illustration that helps actors recognize the behaviour and attitudes they’ve learned on the playground and the sports field. The ball bouncing out of the circle is an eloquent demonstration of how competitive, selfish behaviour is counterproductive to collaboration and teamwork.
Teamwork is as fundamental to actors as it is to athletes. But, there’s a significant difference in how we view success in the performing arts versus the way we measure success in competitive sports. It’s an important difference that actors must understand.
Simply put, success in sports is called winning, which implies there must be a loser. In other words, success is measured against the failure of others. The implication – right or wrong - is that for one to succeed, others must fail. To be the best is ideal – so we must strive to be better than everyone else and work to make others fail. This attitude may be a key to success in sports, but it’s the key to failure for an actor. That’s the attitude that caused the ball to bounce out of the circle.
Just like in sports, an actor is part of a team. They must work with the other actors, the director and the crew to do the best work possible to succeed as a team. However, the success of an actor and the production are dependent on the success of everyone and enhanced by the failure of no one. An actor doesn’t succeed by winning because there is no one to defeat.
When the young actors in my class are encouraged to throw the ball with the intention of ensuring a successful catch, their focus shifts from the throw to the catch. They make eye contact with other actors in the circle, communicate readiness and carefully throw the ball in a manner that ensures it will be caught. With this small shift of attitude and intention the ball tossing exercise can quickly and easily be developed into a complex series of exchanges with several balls moving rapidly around the circle in complicated patterns with very few missed catches. Now, the ball rarely bounces out of the circle.
Throwing a ball around in a circle seems quite simple but the actions of throwing and catching are not the point of these exercises. When both actors commit completely to the successful completion of the ball transfer, they start to trust and rely on each other and they almost always succeed even as the task becomes more challenging and complex. The important discovery for the actor is the powerful connection that is formed between people who are focused on the successful completion of a shared task with openness and trust.
The beauty and magic of acting are manifested in the unspoken connection between actors who are fully committed and openly engaged in the action of the moment and the almost divine exchange of energy that occurs through that connection.
Friendships, marriages, families, communities and even nations are created and succeed not just through action, but also through the personal, emotional and spiritual connections that are created, revealed and renewed, by those actions. Electing an exciting new leader, playing a game, making love, singing in a choir, watching a play and acting are all actions. But it’s the powerful personal connection that occurs between the people who are openly and willingly sharing those actions that is valuable, joyous and wonderful.
When actors in a company or a class can feel free to work with openness and trust in a secure, supportive environment where everyone’s success is equally important, collaboration and creativity will flourish. When everyone’s success is valued, everyone’s success is assured.
Good advice for actors. Good advice for all of us.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Acting and Learning
There are many reasons people become actors including creative expression, personal growth, the desire to perform and to be part of a creative community. Fame and fortune are short lived motivators - there are much easier ways than acting to achieve both.
What I love most about being an actor are the opportunities to learn. That’s mostly what’s kept me doing this for over thirty years, first as a student, then as a professional actor and now as a teacher – the opportunity to learn, grow and develop as an artist, a teacher and a person.
Actors, playwrights, directors, designers, technicians and filmmakers are always learning. It’s fundamental to their work. Theatre and film use a combination of performing arts, visual arts and literary arts to engage, entertain and enlighten us about our lives, our world and the human condition.
To be an actor means that you are always learning about your craft, about yourself, about others and your relationship to the world. Actors never stop learning.
I am currently the director of the School at Prairie Theatre Exchange, a professional theatre company in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. I am honoured to be given this opportunity to share my craft and to create an environment for actors of all levels to continue to learn in a creative professional environment.
This blog will be my way to share what I've learned and will learn...
John B.
ABOUT PTE SCHOOL www.pte.mb.ca
As part of an established and respected professional theatre company, PTE School has the resources, the expertise and the environment and to ensure a quality learning experience. Whether you’re a student, an emerging theatre artist or an established professional - or if you just want to have fun, PTE School will help you learn and grow as you develop skills you can use on stage, on camera and in real life too. We want to welcome you into our creative community.
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