Drama League Fall Directing Blog: Actors!

Actors are creative athletes

Tomorrow we begin the tech process for Don’t Go Gentle for MCC theatre. It’s been a rigorous and productive process in the rehearsal room. I’m looking forward to seeing the play get introduced to the theatre space. While watching the final run-through today, I took a couple of glances at the actors sitting on the side. At one point I noticed them gazing with a joyful focus at their colleagues who were acting in scenes. Later on in the run, I spotted an actor with head tilted forward, preparing to go on for their next acting moment. I will never cease to be amazed by the skill and craft of a great actor. I liken actors to a breed of athlete. A creative athlete. Great acting demands concentration, commitment, and physical exertion as well as personal excavation -- all of that devoted to the craft of storytelling. It requires tenacious effort to be aware of your self but not be self-conscious, and to act with conviction while being open to a spontaneous inspiration. And the end effect is like a ballet dancer who spends hours perfecting a dance in order to make it look so easy and natural. A good actor makes the expression of language, whether it’s explosive or tacit, seem effortless and essential.

Admittedly, the reason I go to see theatre is to see an interesting story and to see actors onstage sharing their craft. It's like watching a baker put the final details of icing on a cake...it's hypnotizing. Yes, I love to see the sets, lights, costumes, props and make-up and hear the music and sounds, and see the staging too. But today, at least until the next time I’m in a rehearsal room, today I got to savor the rawness of a company of unadorned actors expressing text and telling a story. And it was sweet heaven.

What I learned: I learned something about devotion. Not to be simply devoted to the overall craft of theatre making, but to be devoted to the moment at hand. Actors understand that you can't act the whole play all at once. They commit all of their focus to one sentence, to one word, a touch, a breath or a glance. And the accumulation of all of those acts of commitment creates the larger arc of a story. It's about devoting myself to each moment until it passes, and I’m in the next moment. And all of those moments will create the arc of my life.