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| Another Square In The TapestryIn acting workshop this week I did a scene from one of my favorite movies, "Memento". If you know the movie you realize that
a) time is reversed, to portray the trouble the main character Leonard has since he has no short term memory, and
b) the movie role was much younger than I am
Both points make this role a stretch for me. It was a short scene but rich with material for an actor to draw on: the loss of a loved one, the feelings of being out of control, the fear of being manipulated by others, the passion of reaching for a goal, the desire for justice and even revenge.
As actors, we must bring up and deal with emotions that are not always good for us. We don't want to harbor these feelings, but they are completely human and it is in part our feelings that make our performance interesting. Is it real? Is it authentic?
That's part of what I love about life's rich tapestry. As creative artists we can take every square, every thread and shift it into something original and beautiful. No experience need ever be wasted. We can learn from everything, use everything, repurpose everything, and even make the blemishes of our lives stunning in some way.
That's part of why I love acting, and part of why I appreciate and love life's rich tapestry -- whatever it brings.
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| Acting EverydayActing is one of the most creative and fulfilling things that I do. For part of my life I acted everyday and (usually) got paid for it. Then I took a kind of sabbatical to raise a family that pulled me away.
But I've started acting again and the thrill is as real as ever. Things that I once took for granted now touch me in ways deeper than I'd ever imagined. To act, to help others to feel, you've got to feel yourself -- at very deep levels. But, you've also got to make room in your instrument for new feelings to emerge - the feelings of your character. To do that you've got to partially empty yourself, to make room in the vessel for more.
This weekend I participated in an "Emo" acting workshop in Denver. We poured out our feelings. We found new feelings to experience. We found ways to instantly evoke the emotions we needed to make the essence of ourselves fill the presence of the characters we played. Saturday and Sunday, filled with acting.
Then on Monday was our usual Advanced Film Acting class and the juices were flowing still. Get up, put on your clothes, work on your acting.
Tuesday, at last, my first audition in several months. It went well enough to bring about:
Wednesday's call-back when I had the joy of working with and in front of another roomful of acting. What joy, what delight, what fun.
Acting day is what it takes to act. Get up, put on your clothes, and make yourself a more creative actor.
What will you do tomorrow?
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| How Many?How many ADHD adults does it take to change a lightbulb?
Let's go ride a bike!
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| Cleaning HouseWe were cleaning house for a birthday party. It was an all day effort that included walls and windows, floors and all surfaces. That place shined. We were ready to go.
A couple of hours later, the place caught fire and nearly burned to the ground. Things we'd saved for years were gone. Things I'm still paying for having moved from Pennsylvania to Colorado were completely burned up. Other valuable items were soaked from water damage or smoke filled. The fire fighters did an outstanding job to save many of our valuables -- they threw tarps over many of my books and most of my make-shift office that was in the basement.
Still, for two weeks we've been cleaning, drying, and sorting out what is really valuable from what is no longer salvageable. What matters? What should we keep? What can we not live without? Where do we go from here?
People have come to our rescue to help. They've helped us clean, pack, store, and dry things out. They've fed us, hugged us, slipped us gift certificates and money. We struggle on. But so much is gone.
What really matters? Why do we carry so many things thru life? Does anyone (even a scholar-boy like me) need so many books?
Here's a sobering fact: I'd already eliminated about half of what I owned before moving here. I guess it wasn't enough . It's time to eliminate some more.
We've got a lot of cleaning house left to do...but no house to live in.
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