The Three I’s

My fundamental goal as an acting coach is to help actors to be more present in a public space, be that on a stage, on a set, in a classroom, at an interview or, most especially, in daily living. This is the necessary first step before any creative agility can exist. Simply put, my teaching asks each actor to explore five essential questions: Who are you? Who are you in this group of individuals? Who are you in this piece of art (the character)? And so, Who are you, embodying this character, in this group?

To successfully answer the first question, Who are you?, the actor must be engaged in an honest self-analytical journey that includes an assessment of their vocal/physical strengths and weaknesses as well as their ability to invent and sustain action on their feet in the present moment. This isn’t an easy task. I’ve discovered that my first responsibility is to provide a studio environment that will be playfully creative so that each actor can vulnerably examine their present state in an honest, open way. This environment must encourage and quicken three potential performance talents: the ability to relax, to concentrate and to observe. I call this phase Developing the Rigor of Introspection.

After some years of experimentation, I’ve found that actors are more willing to invest themselves in the first question by attempting to answer the second one – Who are you in this group? Self-aware discoveries are initiated, supported and affirmed in our relationships with the individuals around us. I will ask actors to explore different areas of their voice, a variety of movement patterns and all five senses in small scenarios or etudes. I will explain that the group is on a hunt that has no exact target or destination, no right or wrong answers. There are no perfect solutions. I encourage them to take risks, be bold, almost reckless, certainly carefree in their approach to an exercise. I’ve named this phase Developing the Rigor of Imagination. It is my belief that the imagination, much like muscle, can and should be exercised to become more supple. Any actor who truly commits to this imaginative hunt emerges with a better sense of their private and public self.

The next step is to put this new found self-awareness in a context or structure to see how it operates. I ask the actors two questions: Who are you in this piece of art (play or screenplay)? And who are you, embodying this character, in this group (ensemble)? I call this Developing the Rigor of Investigation. The actor is asked to explore their personal talent for transformation. Stanislavski explains this process in his text, Building a Character. This can only be accomplished with a thorough, specific search for textual clues. The performer must transform the script into three-dimensional life much like a good detective assembles the culprit’s profile by assessing the evidence at the scene of the crime. The more inventive the investigation, the more the actor finds the self in the piece of art. And the more the actor keeps in mind the question, (Who are you in this character in this ensemble?), the more authentic and truthful the actor-to-character-to-script connection becomes.

So…

The actor’s creative act is born in the impulses of introspection, fueled by the resources discovered in script/story investigation and sustained by the active, inventive use of the imagination.