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Students in my acting classes know that when they do scene work the expectation is that they will rehearse and plan their work carefully to demonstrate that they can make and repeat good choices and give the impression that it is all happening for the first time.  I don’t want students improvising their scene work in front of us tdespite that I thinkthat improvisation classes and workshops are good training for actors andvisation I don’t necessarily mean comic improvisation. .  If you believe as I do that acting is reacting—improvisation teaches you to listen and watch carefully so you respond and react to what your acting partners are giving .    Improvisation sharpens your mind and body.  And teaches the most important lesson , which is to say yes to whatever other actors give you. saying yes to what you are given is a great life lesson as well as a great acting lesson–  as so many actinglessons are—in life you must deal with where you are andwhat you are given.  Pretending life is different than it is does little good and it certainly doesn’t change the reality.  You are better off saying yes to what is, acknowledging it and .   onstage or on filmto be in the moment you must respond to what you acting partner is giving you.  Pretending that he or she gave you something different doesn’t eliminate what they did–  it only points up that you are ignoring them and not in the moment.  And what your acting partner gives you is going to fuel your performance.  So say yes to it and live off of it.

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Students in my acting classes know that when they do scene work the expectation is that they will rehearse and plan their work carefully to demonstrate that they can make and repeat good choices and give the impression that it is all happening for the first time.  I don’t want students improvising their scene work in front of us tdespite that I thinkthat improvisation classes and workshops are good training for actors andvisation I don’t necessarily mean comic improvisation. .  If you believe as I do that acting is reacting—improvisation teaches you to listen and watch carefully so you respond and react to what your acting partners are giving .    Improvisation sharpens your mind and body.  And teaches the most important lesson , which is to say yes to whatever other actors give you. saying yes to what you are given is a great life lesson as well as a great acting lesson–  as so many actinglessons are—in life you must deal with where you are andwhat you are given.  Pretending life is different than it is does little good and it certainly doesn’t change the reality.  You are better off saying yes to what is, acknowledging it and .   onstage or on filmto be in the moment you must respond to what you acting partner is giving you.  Pretending that he or she gave you something different doesn’t eliminate what they did–  it only points up that you are ignoring them and not in the moment.  And what your acting partner gives you is going to fuel your performance.  So say yes to it and live off of it.

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http://www.actingis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Trust_Yourself.mp3I am delighted that you have chosen to listen tomy NOTES ON ACTING podcasts ng but I hope you understand that my goal in providing these thoughtss isto help you learn your craft so you can listen to  and trust your own acting instincts.  to have a career as an actor you must be ablle to work on your own and be able to handle any kind of acting challenge. It is particularly true that you must be self-reliant when working in television where there might be many different voices giving directions and in theatre with a weak director who has little to offer you, you must still create strong ,believable three dimensional characters.  That is your job regardless of the situation you find yourself in. To do this you must develop your acting instincts and  trust yourself.  The difficulty is this trust comes from working.  The more you work the stronger your acting instincts get.  Its like that old conundrum to get an agent you must be workingbut to get work you have to have an agent.  In the case of developing your acting instincts you need to be working in classes, on small projects, in student films.  It doesn’t matter what you do just get to work.  I assure you that the more you do the better you will get and the better your instincts will become and the easier it will be to trust yourself  So turn off your computer and get into an acting class and do as much work as you possibly can the more you work the more you will trust yourself.  At first you may have to actjustike you know what you are doing .  Since you are an actor that shouldn’t be too difficult.  Imagine how your favorite actor would approach the role in one of my acting classes students would say”what would Gary OLdman do?  How would he get into this character?  Then they woul try to imagine his process and do it. so use your imagination to help you.

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If you have listened to my podcasts you know that I think you should be able to read a script carefully and pull out story and character clues to guide your work. You don’t have to be a scholar but you must be analytical and disciplined so you can find a doorway for yourself into the script. If a choice you make feels wrong don’t worry about it, for as jazz musician Miles Davis said, “Don’t worry about mistakes there aren’t any.” If something that feels wrong or uncomfortable see it as an opportunity to explore and find something new, at the audition. Don’t try to think your way into a character. Find the element that allows you to embody the person, some movement, posture or gesture that allows you to slip inside the character without having to think through every line reading or choice–sometimes over- thinking things only serves to paralyze you as you try to pick the right answer out of a bouquet of choices. Even if you knew everything the producer was thinking it wouldn’t help you because his or her mind is changing. Each actor he or she sees makes him or her rethink the role so there is no way you can think your way though the audition trying to guess what they are looking for, there is too much to know and it is changing all the time which is why the only thing you can do is stop thinking and play the hell out of the script. Let your Actor’s intuition guide your play and respond to the words and situations, let your own character shine through and people will cast you.

 

Listen to Stop Thinking and Nail That Audition

 

 

i recommend the bookthe dude and the Zen master by jeff bridges and bernie glassman for more valuable tips on acting from the heart

If you have listened to my podcasts you know that I think you should be able to read a script carefully and pull out story and character clues to guide your work. You don’t have to be a scholar but you must be analytical and disciplined so you can find a doorway for yourself into the script. If a choice you make feels wrong don’t worry about it, for as jazz musician Miles Davis said, “Don’t worry about mistakes there aren’t any.” If something that feels wrong or uncomfortable see it as an opportunity to explore and find something new, at the audition. Don’t try to think your way into a character. Find the element that allows you to embody the person, some movement, posture or gesture that allows you to slip inside the character without having to think through every line reading or choice–sometimes over- thinking things only serves to paralyze you as you try to pick the right answer out of a bouquet of choices. Even if you knew everything the producer was thinking it wouldn’t help you because his or her mind is changing. Each actor he or she sees makes him or her rethink the role so there is no way you can think your way though the audition trying to guess what they are looking for, there is too much to know and it is changing all the time which is why the only thing you can do is stop thinking and play the hell out of the script. Let your Actor’s intuition guide your play and respond to the words and situations, let your own character shine through and people will cast you.

 

Listen to Stop Thinking and Nail That Audition

 

 

i recommend the bookthe dude and the Zen master by jeff bridges and bernie glassman for more valuable tips on acting from the heart

[inevery day in our private and professional lives we are confronted with irritants and annoyances.  The problem with these things is that they are as sticky as superglue and if you engage them foreven a moment it is hard to get unstuck from them and then they become more than annoyances. As actors We need to learn to un stick ourselves from these unimportant things before they distract us from the real business we have to attend to, mind over what doesn’t matter  is learning to disregard irrelevant things that get in the way of doing the work we need to do sometimes an actor arrives at a audition so distressed by traffic and parking they can’t really think about the audition instead during the audition, all they think about is the parking meter and that’s not going to help the audition so the goal is to  to learn how to focus on the important things and let go of the unimportant distractions that crowd the brain — maybe you show up at the audition and there is that same actor who is at all your auditions and he or she seems  get cast more often then you and that rat got the last freeparking space an d his or hert car is nicer than yours,  thinking about this actor all during the audition and how much you hate them is not going to help your audition so you have to learn to let go of your resentment and focus on s giving the best audition you can.   Sometimes an actor shows up at a rehearsal and is so distressed by a by a costume or a prop that whe or she can’t rconcentrate on the rehearsal and what is going on withwhat other actors are doing they givecan’teven pay attention to or think about think about the character o rtheir ines or they are so focused o n inot liking the costume or prop that they give and get nothing from the rehearsal sowe can’t work until weare are  able to disengage from these distractions so we can focus on the things that matter.surprisingly something as ordinary and gentle as breathing can break the bonds of these distractions.  So as an annoyance keeps repeating itself over an over in your head ifocus on your breathing and inale for 2 counts hold your breath for 2 beats and then exhale for 2 beats .  inhale ,2 and notice the air as it hits the inside of your nose(by paying attention to specific elements of your breathing the distraction will begin to loosen its grip.  When the distraction has let go then bchange your focus to some specific area of the work at hand again focusing on specific elements will enable you to get to work and it will improve your work for generality, as Stanislavski said , is the death of art.It is best to practice mindful breathing regularly so youcando it when you need it.  if you only practice when you asredistracted it will be hard to overcome the distractions, they’ll win every time.  for more on this idea reviewthe earlier podcasts on meditation and mindfullness.

Stella Adler said, “You have to get beyond your own precious inner experiences. I want you to be able to see and share what you see with an audience, not just get wrapped up in yourself. The actor cannot afford to look only to his own life for all his material nor pull strictly from his own experience to find his acting choices and feelings. A great disservice was done to American actors when they were persuaded that they had to experience themselves on the stage instead of experiencing the play.”

Link:  Stella Adler The Art of Acting

 

©  Eric Barr.  All rights reserved. 2013.

If you listen to my Notes on Acting regularly you know that I haven’t added a new podcast in several months.  What you don’t know is that in April I developed an infection in my heart that caused several strokes. I was in a fight for my life and the strokes made it impossible for me to speak and paralyzed my left side.  I am now well enough to write and produce a podcast and get it on the website and I am more than anxious to talk to actors and those who visited the website in the past 6 months  I have been forced to learn some important life lessons that I think apply to acting. First no matter how long it takes for your career to take off don’t give up. Re-learning to talk and walk again have been the hardest things I have ever done and my success depends on me showing up at rehab every day mentally and physically and persevering and working regardless of how tired or frustrated I am.  I cannot give up on myself, that’s a lesson I learned as an actor, and you can’t give up on yourself.  Patience and perseverance are muscles that can be trained so we learn to carry on even whe we don’t think we can. You are much stronger than you think you are… I have learned that I am much stronger than I thought I was. You have to believe  that quitting is not an option. Just because you don’t get cast from time to time is no reflection on you or your talent so don’t let it get inside your head and undermine you.  Stay strong, show up physically and mentally for every audition and performance and be true to yourself   Thanks for listening and thanks to those of you you who wrote to me here and on Facebook to see if I was alive and well.  Your interest, concern, and support got me back in front of the microphone faster than I would have on my own. Thanks for listening I hope you’ll join me next week at actingis.com for my Notes on Acting ©  Eric Barr.  All rights reserved. 2013

listento podcast

For podcasts and more follow on Twitter @NotesOnActing.

Listen to podcasts on iTunes or Stitcher On Demand Radio

If you listen to my Notes on Acting regularly you know that I haven’t added a new podcast in several months.  What you don’t know is that in April I developed an infection in my heart that caused several strokes. I was in a fight for my life and the strokes made it impossible for me to speak and paralyzed my left side.  I am now well enough to write and produce a podcast and get it on the website and I am more than anxious to talk to actors and those who visited the website in the past 6 months  I have been forced to learn some important life lessons that I think apply to acting. First no matter how long it takes for your career to take off don’t give up. Re-learning to talk and walk again have been the hardest things I have ever done and my success depends on me showing up at rehab every day mentally and physically and persevering and working regardless of how tired or frustrated I am.  I cannot give up on myself, that’s a lesson I learned as an actor, and you can’t give up on yourself.  Patience and perseverance are muscles that can be trained so we learn to carry on even whe we don’t think we can. You are much stronger than you think you are… I have learned that I am much stronger than I thought I was. You have to believe  that quitting is not an option. Just because you don’t get cast from time to time is no reflection on you or your talent so don’t let it get inside your head and undermine you.  Stay strong, show up physically and mentally for every audition and performance and be true to yourself   Thanks for listening and thanks to those of you you who wrote to me here and on Facebook to see if I was alive and well.  Your interest, concern, and support got me back in front of the microphone faster than I would have on my own. Thanks for listening I hope you’ll join me next week at actingis.com for my Notes on Acting ©  Eric Barr.  All rights reserved. 2013

listento podcast

For podcasts and more follow on Twitter @NotesOnActing.

Listen to podcasts on iTunes or Stitcher On Demand Radio

Victor Chi, this week’s Notes on Acting guest, is an actor based in Los Angeles, California. In this podcast, Victor shares his thoughts on taking acting classes once you arrive in Los Angeles or New York.  He looks at the different types of classes, explains why you should take them, and how to find the best ones for you.

Victor works in theatre, film, and television and recently did a show with the Young Vic in London, which also played at A.R.T. at Harvard.

Listen to full podcast.

For podcasts and more follow on Twitter @NotesOnActing.

Listen to podcasts on iTunes or Stitcher On Demand Radio

 

Links:  Victor Chi IMDB                    Victor Chi website