Pre-Character is the base to all actors!
<< Theatre Anthropology postulates that there exists a basic level of organisation common to all performers and defines this level as pre-expressive >>. (Eugenio Barba, The Secret Art of the Performer). I am calling this level Pre-Character. And this is this level of organisation common to all performers before even considering any Character that I propose to explore in the Actor’s Labs of this coming season. In a certain way, we as actors need to get as Tabula Rasa as possible regarding “Characterization”.
Of course we think technique. But we think more, and we think Presence, we think Creativity, we think Spontaneity, we think Resilience, Energy, we think Memory, we think State of Mind and more. And we Experience. We experience Space, Time, Movement, Sound, Words, Silence. And we question. We question the 4th Wall. We question Stage. We question Table work. We question Principle, we question…..what we question. The Actor’s Lab is not prescriptive but experiential and descriptive. The Lab is like the greek Agora where authority comes from knowledge and inquiry is normal mode of learning and teaching: questions, questions, questions.
ACTOR! Let IT happen to you! You are not doing IT. IT is doing to you.
We will explore this basic principle which both Alexander Technique and the Craft of the actor share. It is the most simple thing, and the most difficult to achieve! But when we get it, it is when the Actor on stage feels, for a split of a second: I am ON!
The great thing about this coming Actor’s LAB (March 7 to 30) is that I myself expect to learn a lot from our exploration together, teacher and participants! A mosaic approach to explore the skill and art of Acting. I say that “Skills can be shared – talent can be encouraged and nurtured.” The Actor’s LAB’s are designed so that I can share my training & experience as a theatre artist, from France, Canada, Vermont, NYC and Italy. My interests in visual arts & words, architecture and movement also come into account when working during a LAB. As well as my Alexander Technique skills.
As professional actors, we know that we should
- Be on time! …Why?
- Number one: it is a good actor’s habit. We all have habits. Some are helpful. Some are potentially harmful, or at least not beneficial. And to be punctual is the best habit a professional actor should embody.
- Number two: it is a sign of respect towards the other participants. Disturbing a group of people involved in an activity they would like to learn from, they would like to share at, they have paid for, they have travel to go to…is not very respectful of their needs.
- Number three: not fun for the organizer, who has prepared according to a particular schedule of activities involving all registered participants, including you.
- So of course Number four: you may miss something …that you will miss later!
- Be Serious!… Why? …
I mean take your work, exploration, experience, seriously, even if it looks and sounds and feels weird. It should feel weird, if you allow yourself to be open to new perspectives of being and doing and thinking as an actor. Habits again! Oh my they are tough to get rid off. And we cannot, by definition, learn, actually learn (something new) if we do not get rid of the way we are used to do our work as an actor. So if you feel weird in trying something different, it is a good sign of the beginning of learning something different.
By the way, that’s when creativity happens, and presence! When we are in this space time where we leave our habits a few steps behind, and when we are considering alternatives a few steps in front: it is in this GAP that Creativity and Presence may mysteriously happen! But this is for another story! Another blog.
By definition, this LAB can NOT function if we are fewer than 4 participants. Find interested kindred spirits and join!
I strongly believe that “Life is a mosaic – diversity is essential”. So I hope to explore in the LAB with a great diversity of participants!
The Actor’s Lab is offered several times during the year.
Check out the website at the page Acting or Classes, or leave your name and email for my mailing list ( I use it only to share new classes). You can also contact me.
