Theater Or

Back in May, I auditioned for Denver Center Theater Company. I wrote up a post about how they rarely hire from within Denver Metro and implored all cities everywhere to wake up to their local talent. No, DCTC did not call and, as far as I know, I still haven't pissed anyone off with that particular blog post. I'm just not that popular or powerful.

On the other hand, someone is out there listening, watching, and taking notes. Let this be a lesson to actors everywhere. (And to blogging actors, especially!)

The audition for DCTC went fine, all things considered. When I walked in the casting directors made polite faces, but were obviously exhausted from seeing 250 hopeful faces in the course of two days. Aside from the casting directors and the accompanist, there was a woman sitting in the audience. I assumed she was timing the auditioners since DCTC made it clear that they would be strict about time constraints. I did my monologues, sang my 16 bars and made a swift exit.

The next day, I got an email from a casting director at Theatre Or, Diane Gilboa. It turned out, SHE was the woman in the audience and she liked my work. I was invited to audition for Theatre Or's upcoming production of "Apples from the Desert". How about that? Someone was listining, watching and taking notes!

For the audition I was asked to read for the role of Rivka, an 18 year old, 5'9" tall, skinny Sephardic Jewish girl in Israel. Needless to say, I did not actually get cast in the role seeing as how I'm a 30 year old, 5'3" short, curvy gentile. But, days after the audition, Diane called to apologize for not giving me the role, explaining they even talked about putting me in high heels but knew that I'd look too petite when I sat down!

There are two lessons to be learned from this experience:

• The first lesson is that no matter how amazing your audition, no matter how prepared you are, no matter if you're the most talented actor on the face of the planet, if you're not right for the role, you're not right for the role. End of story.


• The second lesson is that someone is ALWAYS watching.

Actor beware--this works both ways! Don't sabotage a career by talking bad about your fellows, writing scathing blogs (*note to self) about how you didn't get the role, and just generally being an ass. There will be someone listening, watching and taking notes on you when you least expect it so make sure the notes they take are good ones.

Thanks, Diane, for the invitation to audition. I had a great time and look forward to seeing the show. Thanks, too, for using local talent and for producing innovative, thought provoking theatre.

On Meisner

Red.

Red. Red. Red.

Red shirt. Red shirt. Red shirt. Red shirt. Red shirt. Red shirt.

You are wearing a red shirt. I am not wearing a red shirt. You are wearing a red shirt. I am not wearing a red shirt. You are wearing a red shirt.

...and on and on it goes.

If you've never taken a Meisner class, that's pretty much what the first three months sound like, over and over and over again. It can get pretty tedious, but then, Meisner was a genius. He understood that the best way to get an actor out of her head was to make her endlessly repeat this observational drivel until her instincts kick in and she acts not from some pre-concieved idea about what the lines mean but from within the electricity of the moment, the subtext, the gut.

There is much I love about Sanford Meisner's acting technique. Meisner is a wonderful exercise for connecting with another human being on a very visceral level. It heightens the actor's awareness. It grounds the actor in the idea that every action is actually a reaction, that listening is imperative, that we exist in relationship and that the walls we erect around our beings are so much more impenetrable than we ever imagine them to be.

Pinch/Ouch. Let it do you. Put your attention on the other person.

But.
Yes, here is the 'but':

I think there comes a time in an actors training when she needs to realize that Meisner is but one weapon in the arsenal to be fired when appropriate. After all, how many times have you caught yourself not really listening to the friend who is pouring her heart out? How many times have you lied to yourself about who you are and what you want? How many times have you wanted to react from your gut, your instinct, but held yourself back and used that rational brain instead?

This is where Meisner falls short as an acting technique. The technique offers an actor a tremendous advantage of honing in on the world around you, both audibly and somatically. But, the characters in the play don't always listen (heck! this is the recipe for comedy gold). Sometimes, even when the character does listen, she doesn't always care. The characters in the movie lie to themselves and to each other and bite their tongues all the time and we, as actors, cannot forget that. To assume that every character listens well, is honed in on her partner and acts according to her gut is to erase what often lies at the heart of a scintillating plotline.

On the other hand, Meisner is great for preparing the actor's instrument to make terrific, genuine, human drama. So what if we brought Sanford Meisner's famous technique into the "real world"? As Hitchcock famously said, "Drama is life with all the dull bits cut out." Life often suffers from inattention. We don't listen. We don't react. We don't let people in because it feels scary and vulnerable and overwhelming.

How much more raw, engaging, and authentic might life be if we all actually listened? If we dropped our cleverly transparent walls and just let it hurt? If we let it do us? If we felt the 'pinch/ouch' of a moment in time and responded genuinely? If we put our attention on the other person?

Would we find ourselves in pieces, shrinking and shaking in impotence?
Or, might we find that our neighbor is just as scared, lackadaisical, vulnerable, overwhelmed, interested, fucked up, and joyful as we?




***For great Meisner training in Boulder, CO, check out Chris Thatcher! He's super dedicated and has that eye for authenticity that makes acting class such a rewarding experience.***