I Don't Need an Acting Class

Ok. It's a creepy sounding episode title but it's not what it sounds like. In this episode, we learn more about the power of everyday-observations and how to integrate them into our creative process. Four people from class tell us about characters they’d crossed paths with over the last week, proving that it’s the details we notice about character traits, behavior, and circumstances that make the story good theater. But how do we translate our observations into our work? If we find something specific about them that we really respond to, we can steal it. Brought to you by weaudition.com and anchor.fm I Don’t an Acting Class- the book is out now! Order at idontneedanactingclass.com

As actors, we are the musician, instrument, composer and conductor. Therefore, there are certain technicalities we have to be aware of that have little or nothing to do with being truthful. Since real life is often boring, it’s not enough for our work to be truthful, it also has to be interesting. Brought to you by weaudition.com and anchor.fm I Don’t an Acting Class- the book is out November 1st. Pre-order at idontneedanactingclass.com

This week’s episode can be applied to any part of the process. You always want to give yourself permission to let your mind wander through, make discoveries and absorb information, be it about a character trait, their relationship to a certain fact, what is going on for them, or what the play is about. It’s okay not to know. In fact, “knowing” anything too quickly can be a hindrance to the creative process, the millions of possibilities that exist and the depth necessary to dig when building a human being. Brought to you by weaudition.com and anchor.fm I Don’t an Acting Class (the book!) is out November 1st. Pre-order at idontneedanactingclass.com

When working on a role, we will inevitably come face-to-face with adjectives that describe our characters. We find these adjectives in the script itself, or if auditioning, in the breakdown. But if those adjectives don’t do anything for us, as actors, we need to find ones that do. Just as we have to translate an “effect direction” into something active that brings us to life, we also have to take descriptors we don’t connect with, and translate them into words that affect us and free us up, words that we “get” and instinctually know how to play. Otherwise, we may fall into the trap of playing a cliche. Brought to you by weaudition.com and anchor.fm I Don’t an Acting Class- the book is out November 1st. Pre-order at idontneedanactingclass.com

If you want to create characters that have depth, that is work that you have to do. The script won’t give it to you, and the director definitely won’t give it to you. This requires asking the question: what kind of person would do this/say this? And then, really slowing down as we explore. We must be careful not to jump too fast to a conclusion or make an assumption based on a cliche, or our own limited experience. And, we must spend time digging deep to understand the complexity of the person. As Milton says in one of our very first episodes: “Begin as if you know nothing.” Brought to you by weaudition.com and anchor.fm 

This week, we celebrate the return of Broadway by looking at how the joy of acting, and and the joy of being part of its tradition and community is a huge part of what the actor gives and what the audience receives. “That’s what you get for free when actors are so happy to be acting, and acting together,” Milton says in this episode. “If we can connect to that and bring it to our work, it adds an element that is part of the actor’s contribution.” Have a question for Milton? Email him at [email protected] Brought to you by weaudition.com

One of the problems we face as actors, is that, without even knowing it, our limited experience and points of view as human beings naturally affects the way we approach characters that are different from us. Obviously we cannot stop having our own opinions or world views, nor would we want to. But it’s something to start becoming conscious of: how are my personal feelings about the character affecting my ability to play the fullest scope of the character’s humanity? Have a question for Milton? Email him at [email protected] Brought to you by weaudition.com

Visualization is such an enormous part of what we have to do as actors and it requires exercising our imagination on a regular basis. If we’re not consistently building worlds that are not our own, we will limit ourselves and end up creating cliches as opposed to something specific that we love, that feeds us and grounds us in the scene. Have a question for Milton? Email him at [email protected] Brought to you by weaudition.com

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Blocking should always come out of what is really going on in each scene. And as your emotional understanding of what’s happening becomes clearer and more profound, the blocking with naturally change. Unless the director is hugely conceptual, (and therefore “setting” stage pictures, they will welcome this. It comes back to the idea that while very few directors understand the acting process, they nevertheless expect the part to walk in the room at the audition, for our work to deepen and evolve over time, and to take their “effect direction” and translate it into something actable. Have a question for Milton? Email him at [email protected] Brought to you by weaudition.com

“Raising the stakes” is an expression we hear a lot in the world of acting technique. In this episode, Milton gives you very practical ideas and exercises that will help you raise the stakes. These are practices you can apply to any project you’re working on that will help to turn the dial. “The reason practical techniques like this are so useful,” says Milton, “is that, without artificially raising the stakes and playing an effect, it allows you to be more active.” Have a question for Milton? Email him at [email protected] Brought to you by weaudition.com