Creative Actors Lab

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Join Max and Kelley as we discuss the Improv and Teambuilding Game - Yes And... It's a technique that keeps you in the affirmative and is something we've used in both acting as well as in our business training. It's so easy to go negative, which takes less energy on the front end but robs you of energy on the back end.  Yes And... teaches you how to build on other people's ideas so no one feels like their contribution will be diminished.  When people don't feel like they'll be judged, they're more likely to open up and contribute. It's a great game to use in team building in business, committees, faith-based, and performing arts organizations.  This week's prompt is to do a random act of kindness whether it's complimenting a stranger,  holding a door, or buying lunch or snacks for your business colleague. 

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel -  @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page.  Thanks so much for listening!

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In this episode, Max and Kelley talk about doing a play and script writer's festival and how they actually met at the Florida International University Playwright's Festival doing a play ironically called Whoredogs.  As the Fates would have it, they kept on meeting randomly in other productions, including a children's theater version of A Midsummer's Night Dream.   

They also discuss good and bad behavior on sets and two great experiences with Bruce Greenwood and the Farelly Brothers.  Sometimes those bad run-ins on sets or with people in theater can redirect you into something new and better, you just need allow yourself to see it. 

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel -  @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page.  Thanks so much for listening!

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Kelley and Max discuss the famous quote from Polonius in Hamlet,  "Brevity is the Soul of Wit," and how it can translate to your creative projects (check out NoSweatShakespeare - Making Shakespeare Easy & Fun✔️ to find cool ways to learn about the Bard). So often, procrastination is not about being lazy; it's because you have so many ideas you don't know where to start. 

We discuss the heavy metal band Tool and its many influences. There's a quote from Tennessee Williams and discussions on meditation, elevator pitches, slates, and how one little girl used social media to get her father a kidney. 

Rather than focusing on a huge project, break it into small bite-size pieces like a forty-five-second elevator pitch, a monologue, or a two-page, two-person scene.  You can take it outside of writing and try that recipe with four ingredients or a drawing that uses only a pencil and charcoal. 

Get inspired, and learn that brevity has great power.  A huge shoutout to the Gwinnett County Library system for allowing us to record at their facilities. 

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel -  @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page.  Thanks so much for listening!

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In this episode, Max and Kelley explore the best way to show what you mean rather than telling. In acting or business, it's a vital skill to have. For example, if someone acts up at a wedding, rather than mention it as a line of dialogue, do the scene where the mother-in-law has a meltdown - that's much more interesting.  Max also uses examples from the acting guru. Jerzy Grotowski, on using an exercise in which you use animals to show what your character would be in the wild. 

Kelley also talks about how people with the least experience often make up for that lack by telling but not really having much to show to justify their claims. 

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel -  @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page.  Thanks so much for listening!

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Join Max and Kelley as we discuss how similar the process is for casting a play or movie to trying to find the right "actor" or employee to fill the role in your company. We also look at how important acting is when dealing with the public and keeping that drama mask in place. 

Of course, we discuss the Writer's, SAG-AFTRA and possible Teamster's strike and how important it is to advocate and not undervalue yourself. Then there are the CEO's who make more in a day then one or two of their employees make in a year.  

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel -  @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page.  Thanks so much for listening!

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Max and Kelley talk about knowing when you're wrong.  Being able to admit that you might not see all the aspects of a situation is the key to emotional intelligence and makes you a better artist and leader.  Many times, we've been delighted to be wrong.   

We also examine the difference between a sincere apology and a non-apology that pivots to the fault of the people who "might have been offended."  

Acknowledging that you made an error makes you human; your team will respect you more by admitting it. 

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel -  @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page.  Thanks so much for listening!

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Max and Kelley discuss how working in restaurants and the theater have overlapping premises. You have the front of the house, which functions as the actors in a restaurant; the back of the house, which is similar to the backstage, and the chefs and managers are the producers and directors. It might explain why so many actors work as servers.  We also discuss how the structure of the meal works as different acts are similar to a play and how managing both with respect and honesty is the key to success. 

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel -  @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page.  Thanks so much for listening!

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Max and Kelley look at why using failure as a learning tool is important. So, yeah, failure is an option. We use examples of our own life from a pilot they tried to produce in 2016, which later became a blog, a novel, and now back into an award-winning screenplay.  Max talks about the time he tripped and face-planted in front of a theater audience that was waiting to go in and see him in a play.  Kelley also uses examples of how successful people like Einstein, Steven Speilberg, Oprah, and Michael Jordan learned to succeed when many people wanted to count them out.  

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel -  @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page.  Thanks so much for listening!

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Join Max and Kelley as they talk about how to make interesting choices when creating a character or scene. It's important to know why the character does what they do, but more importantly, what are the choices that a performer can make to their character real and interesting.  Kelley shares a time when a group of children in the audience taught her improv players how to work on a whole new level, and Max cautions about using things from your real life if you are not ready to. 

For non-actors, think about choices can you make to become more creative such as making a dish that you loved as a child or making a dish for a character in a TV show or movie. 

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel -  @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page.  Thanks so much for listening!

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Join Max and Kelley as they explore what makes an intriguing hero. It's more than being brave in the face of danger; it's having the complexity to overcome obstacles, both physical and mental.  They explore Batman, Sherlock Holmes, Scarlet Witch,  Clarice Starling from The Silence of the Lambs,  Mulder, and Scully from The X-Files, and  Mookie from Do the Right Thing,  along with some personal stories.

For this week's creative prompt, create your own hero and ask yourself what would their flaw be?  How did they grow up?

Spoiler Alert: We do discuss the full movie of The Silence of the Lambs as well as Mookie from Do the Right Thing, including the endings.

#Batman #SherlockHolmes #TheXFiles #DoTheRIghtThing #ScarletWitch #SilenceofTheLambs

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel -  @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page.  Thanks so much for listening!