I am not sure that we (Apollo, Dionysus, Stanislavsky, Meyerhold and I, Anatoly, can let you take Acting Two without 200X core Aesthetics and Dramatic Literature. Go there!
All questions will be answered in Biomechanics and Method directories!
NotesThe biggest sin in teaching acting is to be "nice". We try not to hurt their feelings, you know, they are young. Of course, they are young, when do they supposed to study acting? I don know, maybe in some chemistry classes, it's okay, because they will never use in their everyday experience the formulas they memorized for exams, but acting is something we do 7/365! Something very practical, even if they are not to become professional actors.
What is it? Don't they have my curtesy of a straight talk? "Critical"? But how will they be able to get any feedback? "Nice" is a lie.
Many of them I won't see again. What did they take away from this class? How they will be evolving on their own? They are too yong even to understand what is going on. I have to think about those who I will in Acting II...
This was the page I made for my graduating students. It's lost.
Every time I teach a new acting class I realise how much we are in need of the system, any system! Read pages in Students directory!
Simposia, Discussion, Feedback
I. Creative Experience
Everyone can act. Everyone can improvise. Anyone who wishes to can play in the theater and learn to become stageworthy."
We learn through experience and experiencing, and no one teaches anyone anything. This is as true for the infant moving from kicking to crawling to walking as it is for the scientist with his equations.
If the environment permits it, anyone can learn whatever he chooses to learn; and if the individual permits it, the environment will teach him everything it has to teach. "Talent" or "lack of talent" have little to do with it.
We must reconsider what is meant by "talent." It is highly possible that what is called talented behavior is simply a greater individual capacity for experiencing. From this point of view, it is in the increasing of the individual capacity for experiencing that the untold potentiality of a personality can be evoked.
Experiencing is penetration into the environment, total organic involvement with it. This means involvement on all levels: intellectual, physical, and intuitive. Of the three, the intuitive, most vital to the learning situation, is neglected.
Intuition is often thought to be an endowment or a mystical force enjoyed by the gifted alone. Yet all of us have known moments when the right answer "just came" or we did "exactly the right thing without thinking." Sometimes at such moments, usually precipitated by crises, danger, or shock, the "average" person has been known to transcend the limitation of the familiar, courageously enter the area of the unknown, and release momentary genius within himself. When response to experience takes place at this intuitive level, when a person functions beyond a constricted intellectual plane, he is truly open for learning. (Spolin)
Dionysos: I rule in Acting II -- viva physical theatre!
Apollo: I rule in Acting III -- long live psychological truth!
Meyerhold: Go Biomechanical!
Stanislavsky: Go further!
ET: I came from the end of the universe! Where the hell could I go to learn acting?
ANATOLY: Go, inside, inside yourself, if you have it...
How to get ready for Acting II -- first, get your stage experience! Audition, perform and give a deep thought, if acting is for... If you are not sure, it's not. Don't confuse your insecurity about the role, your monologue, scene -- this is good line of questioning. It will be with you forever; this is an indication that acting IS for you!
* Okay, I will say a few words to this ET kid in my class:
First, welcome. You got to the best place of the universe. I mean, the Earth, USA, Alaska. Second, "welcome home!"
Anybody who wants learn acting is a human. My computer doesn't ask for acting instructions. Good.
Do you want to be human -- act!
Do you want to act -- go on stage!
Do you want to get on stage -- audition!
PS
Stanislavsky said: "There is no system. There is only nature. My lifelong concern has been how to get ever closer to the so-called system, that is, to get ever closer to the nature of creativity."
Of course, this is the most diffical area to "teach" -- I only hope that creativity could be developed as by-product of other subjects I teach.
And of course, I hope that you develop this artist in yourself, which will be there for you 365/7/24 throughout your entire life.
Part III. Space-in-Time = Chronotope (Next -- Biomechanics)
Am I an actor? It's easy to asnwer. How many hours a day you spend on acting? Do you keep your actor's journal? Do you read plays? Do yopu audition? Professional actors do.
Classes are only to help you in this self-growing process. I hope that you understand by now that I am not your prime teacher; you are! Stanislavsky and Meyerhold, even the gods of theatre are not the suprime stage beings; you are. If you won't take this central position, nothing could be done. If you are not there, forget it. You drive...
"DISCOVER THE THRILL OF THE STAGE : Weekend Workshop, Acting For Non-Actors
Ever thought you could act? Thought acting would increase your self-confidence? You are right! Acting is not about faking or pretending. It's about being genuine in the moment. Acting For Non-Actors will help you discover you can act. Through simple acting exercises, you will learn how to read a script naturally so that your acting is believable. You'll learn how to deliver your lines with genuine feeling. And, you'll learn how to create a spontaneous "give and take" with an acting partner. You will work with short scripts from plays and movies. Simple step-by-step techniques will help you relax and feel confident on-stage and in daily life."
Here we go, I should teach it too, again. I did it once in Virginia; the car and real estate folks came on that Saturday.
ET: I have to take another acting class!
How to get ready for Acting II -- first, get your stage experience! Audition, perform and give a deep thought, if acting is for... If you are not sure, it's not. Don't confuse your insecurity about the role, your monologue, scene -- this is good line of questioning. It will be with you forever; this is an indication that acting IS for you!
