A Simple Tip for Acting Success
by Ruth Kulerman
In the George Gershwin song "Embraceable You," the "you" is the one being
embraced. But for this article, let's make "you" the person doing the embracing.
That is, you are one who embraces. So today we hold a mirror up to you, the
actor, the person who embraces, the actor in the act of embracing.
AN IDEAL EMBRACER
Within the past weeks I have seen 30 actors enter a room to interview/audition.
One -- yes, only one -- walked in owning the place. He spilled energy all over
the room. He focused on me, not on himself or the impression he was making.
His "Hello" accompanied an ear-to-ear smile. He entered, greeted, smiled, and
without saying anything except else sent a message: "I am so glad to be here.
Isn't this just GREAT! I am GREAT! You are GREAT! The world is GREAT!" What a
role-winning message! What an A+ initial impression! What an embrace!
His auditioning persona was a delight, especially after the actors who tippy-toed
in, exuding silently, "Oh Zeus, is she going to bite me!" The man with the grin
got an immediate vote by embracing himself, me, the situation with a contagious
pleasure. The others embraced their self-doubts, their insecurity, and their
expectation of rejection. What you are embracing is the first thing a casting
director senses before you take three steps into the room. What really made the
grinning man successful?
His energy. His willingness to chat openly with energy, courage, and a lack of
self-consciousness. He was brimming with energy and that magic quality of
embracing the world.
And then came the monologue
Free-fall elevator to the basement of utter boredom! He had the energy of a
snail and the interest of a slug. What happened to the delight of his perfectly
honed interview persona?
How sad, how disappointing, and what an utter waste of life it is to want to do
something (act), to have a perfect "interview mentality," (a basic essential)
and then shrink to a toadstool mumbling a monologue. HE DID NOT EMBRACE THE ACT
OF ACTING. He did not embrace his audience during performance.
And yet he had raved about how much he loved to act. The difference between this
actor interviewing and this actor acting was shattering.
But even worse were the actors who tried to disappear into the wall or crawl
under the rug, hoping that a miracle would make them feel "comfortable." It is
not the role of an audience -- or a casting director -- to make an actor feel
comfortable. A hiding actor has perfected an unwillingness to embrace this thing
he insists he loves: ACTING. And if he waits until he feels comfortable, he will
be very old before landing his first role.
YOU vs. YOU
How do you stop the internal civil war that pits an actor against his dreams?
GET SOME LIFE INTO THAT ACTING! EMBRACE IT! Let the world see that you love it.
Walk into a room with electricity. Carry that electricity into your acting! Park
yourself at the door. Bring in the actor. Create the role of someone who loves
acting and SHOWS IT. That is the best role you will ever play. It opens the door
to all other roles.
The curious thing is that the shy ones and the hearty one -- all of them --
performed their monologues as if they were reading a telephone book. Somewhere
some place someone has taught impressionable would-be actors that "Real" =
quiet, pulled back, pulled in, toneless, monotonous, dead voice, dead everything
and that the only variety allowed is to yell occasionally. What audience can
feel embraced by mumbling or yelling?
EMBRACING
An early requirement to embrace the act of acting is to become converted to the
notion that acting real is still acting, and that acting real includes variety,
energy, vocal inflection, rhythmic speech patterns and an obsessive awareness of
the ends of sentences.
Stop thinking of yourself, your psyche, and your comfort level. Think of the
words. Embrace them. Embrace your listener for being there to hear you do the
thing you love to do: ACT.
COMFORT: The Deadly Goal
Need to feel comfortable? Forget it. Performing is not comfortable. It is my
strong belief that the emphasis on being relaxed and comfortable has produced a
generation of ho-hum acting, the antithesis of embracing.
The greatest sin on stage is not forgetting your lines. The greatest sin is not
making an incorrect entrance. THE GREATEST SIN ON STAGE AND SCREEN IS BORING
YOUR AUDIENCE.
THE AUDIENCE
Those wonderful people want to feel embraced. Your love of the act of acting in
some magic way touches them. They pay their money to be entertained or to thrill
at a performance or to see a star. Your love for acting must pour out, not be
dribbled or rationed as if a teaspoonful must last a lifetime!
TALENT vs. EMBRACING
I insist that talent is not the final consideration in casting. I just read an
ad on an Internet site, proclaiming that when agents meet you they want to know
who you are and if you can act. Oh yeah? Since when? Agents want to know if you
can book jobs. PERIOD.
There is no surer way to book a job -- unless you look like Adonis -- than
shouting from the rooftop with energy, with joy and delight in yourself, "Look,
world, I'm an actor! Hallelujah! Aren't I grand! And aren't you all, every one
of you, grand too!"
CONFIDENCE
There is no confidence pill. Gaining confidence is a whole article itself, but
the basics for gaining confidence are preparation, not thinking about yourself,
allowing your love for acting to show through, letting your audience (audition
committee) know you embrace acting and embrace them for giving you the
opportunity to do what you love.
If it's strong enough, that love of the act of acting will force you to embrace
-- everything. It will not only change your acting but in time it will change
you. A definition to consider: Acting is an art whose culmination is the act of
embracing. Embracing what? Life.
"Actor Tips" is copyright 2006 by Chad Gracia and ActorTips.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
For more articles on acting, as well as free monologues and acting supplies, visit
www.actortips.com.
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