I sat in on callbacks for a production of a play of mine today, which I always find enlightening. You just sit there, hearing your words over and over and also over, and the actors, as they try and make sense of what you’ve written, school you hard, exposing the inconsistencies in the characters and the TERRIBLE MOMENTS OF EXPOSITION. Today I found myself thinking a lot about what good acting is, or what personally grabs me when I’m watching an audition and makes me want to hire the actor to follow me around and act out the scenes in my head. And so actors, here is your entirely unsolicited advice that you’ve probably heard before:
Act like you’re not acting.
Do not act.
Do not act, like, at all.
Unless, of course, it’s a specific, larger than reality character, in which case, you should probably act.
But also, be 13% more self aware than an actual human so that you might craft an emotional moment.
So I guess act but act a little.
Okay fine. Act A lot?
Speaking of acting, I’m going to stop acting like I know.
I do not know.
I tried for semesters to hold and feel the imaginary coffee cup and I never could.
One time in college I auditioned so bad I got ‘cast’ as the stage manager.
So basically, never listen to me at all.