THE ESSENCE OF ACTING

The Actor's Goal & The Actor's Tasks

The actor's primary goal is:

To perform determined actions that are willfully directed toward attaining conscious desires.

To accomplish this goal the actor's primary tasks are:

• To determine what desires his character has at each moment of the play.
• To determine what actions are required to successfully attain those desires.
• To convincingly perform those determined actions.

(AWOL note: In this lesson, the terms, determine and determined, mean to intentionally choose something)

Associated with the concept of determined desires, the following is an essential question that an actor must answer about his character: Who am I?

Also related to the concept of determined desires, here are two important concepts that influence the acting process:

1. Emotions (feelings) arise from the subconscious as a result of our ability to fulfill our desires.
2. An actor strives to make his character's desires his own desires.

In every moment of acting, an actor must have justifiable and believable answers for these three questions:

1. What am I doing?
2. Why am I doing it?
3. How am I doing it?

People are motivated to action by a desire to attain a goal. For example:

1. You desire to stop feeling nervous about going on a first date with someone you like a lot - so you go to the refrigerator and get something tasty to eat.
2. You desire to be accepted by people you like - so you dress in a similar fashion and behave in similar ways.
3. You desire to stand out seperate from the rest of your peers, so you color your hair purple and pink and wear nothing but black leather clothing with silver studs.
4. You desire to own a new car - so you get a job, save your money and secure good credit so you can afford the downpayment and qualify for credit to purchase that new car.
5. You swing your arms at an attacker's knife - so you can ward off the deadly stabbing blows.
6. You weep deep, sobbing, tears - so you can express and alleviate you intense pain and grief over the sudden tragic death of your dearest friend.

In the real world, our desires and actions are not always known to us consciously (available to our full awareness and knowledge.) Often times our desires and actions are initially known only to our subconscious (unavailable to our full awareness and knowledge.)

For instance, in example one, you might not be consciously aware that you are eating because you are feeling nervous about the date. You might interpret the nervous feeling as hunger. Or you might not even feel hungry but are simply eating out of habit - it is simply something you do when you are nervous. Or possibly, as you are nervously preoccupied with preparing for your date, you might not even be aware that you have opened the refrigerator door and have taken something to eat.

In the second example, you probably did not consciously say to yourself, "Gosh, I seem to like those people. I want to be liked by them. I think I will dress and behave like them." No. More than likely, your attraction to a particular group of people, your desire to be liked by them and your decision to dress and behave like them was initially not a part of your conscious awareness. You might, in retrospect, have become aware of why you dress and behave like the group you belong to, but that is likely something that happened some time after your desire arose and you started dressing and behaving like them.

Of course, in the real world, desires and actions are also a part of our conscious awareness. For instance, in the fourth example, you could easily be consciously aware that you want to own a particular new car, and consciously decide to get a job, save your money and establish good credit for the intent of one day being able to purchase that car. The entire process would be a conscious effort.

So in the real world, desires and the actions which attempt to fulfill those desires can be both conscious and subconscious.

In real life, as stated above, emotions (feelings) arise from the subconscious as a result of our ability to fulfill our desires. For instance, let's say as in example 3 above, that you did color your hair purple and pink, etc. and showed up at school the next day. You found that you indeed were quite different and seperate from your peers and everyone noticed you and commented how wonderfully unique you were. You would feel happy perhaps even euphoric because your desire (whether determined or still in the realm of your subconscious) to stand out seperate from the rest of your peers , has been. gratified.

You did not plan to feel the emotions happiness and euphoria. You did not plan to smile broadly, walk with a light, carefree, bouncy gait and talk in an upbeat, cheerful tone. These actions came about as the emotions of the happiness and euphoria arose from your subconscious; a result of the fulfillment of your desire to stand out seperate from the rest of your peers .

If, however, you colored your hair purple and pink, etc. and showed up at school the next day only to find that ALL your friends also showed up to school with purple and pink hair, etc., you would likely feel frustrated, angry, perhaps even sad because your desire to stand out seperate from the rest of your peers has not been gratified.

You did not plan to feel the emotions frustration or anger. You did not plan to frown, to walk with a reckless, heavy gait, and talk in a curt, abrupt manner. These actions came about as the emotions of frustration and anger arose from your subconscious; a result of the lack of fulfillment of your desire to stand out seperate from the rest of your peers .

Acting, on the other hand, is not like real life. Acting is willful (conscious) . Actors have to determine and plan every desire, every action. When performing, an actor cannot depend upon sudden revelations of subconscious desires and spontaneous bursts of unrehearsed action. Heavens, the entire performance would be thrown into chaos. Each member of the cast constantly trying to figure out and respond to the seemingly random actions of every other cast member.

(AWOL note: We are not talking about improvisation and certain rehearsal exercises and games, which frequently uses subconscious thoughts and spontaneous action. Improvisation is useful in the rehearsal process and has a place in certain performance situations. We are talking about working with scripted material - which is what most actors work with most of the time.)

In the process of developing a role, as part of the rehearsal process, the actor uses his subconscious mind and his interactions with the other actors and the director to explore possibilities of emotions and actions and to develop meaning and truthful justifications for actions. Ultimately, however, it is the actor's willful determination of specific desires, actions to perform and ways to perform those actions that are the actor's tasks - and the key to a successful performance.

An actor strives to make his character's desires his own desires. By this I mean that the actor must keep his full attention upon his character's desires. The character's various desires must occupy the actor's thoughts every moment of the play, each at it's appropriate time during the play. Not jumping ahead in one's mind, anticipating the next few determined thoughts, desires or actions, but instead, at the moment the character, if he were a real person, would have such a thought or perform such an action. Acting in the here-and-now.

This concept is important for the actor to master. By doing so, the actor will be able to convince the audience that the character's emotions are "real" - so the audience can also feel those emotions.

It is also extrememly difficult, if not impossible, to do from curtain to curtain. Even great masters have lapses during a performance. It is a great rarity indeed to achieve a perfect performance in every aspect. Many things can impair an actor's ability to act, for every moment, in the here-and-now: concentration can be momentarily broken, entire pages of dialog can be skipped by fellow actors, scenery and props can be uncooperative or missing...many things can interfere with total perfection.

It is, however, the actor's responsibility to do the absolute best he can - always.

Let's make believe that you, the actor, are in a play. You are playing the father of 12 children. In the opening scene, you are to enter through a door at down stage left. When you enter, you are carrying a stack of three large boxes - surprise presents for your children. You enter, place the boxes on a small table near the door, remove a whistle and blow on it. The shrill noise from the whistles summons all the children in a chaotic mass from all parts of the "house" and, while you time them with your watch, they assemble in formation along the front of the "living room" facing the audience. When all are assembled, you say your first line.

Scenario #1

A novice actor might approach the part of the father something like this:

He would read through the script several times. He would notice that various stage directions say things like "enters down left through door carrying stack of large packages. Places packages on a table, turns and takes whistle from vest pocket and watch from watch pocket. Blows on whistle.", "feigns disappointment", breaks into happy smile". Making note of this, the actor concludes that he should play his character emotionally "happy" in this opening sequence except during the time when he "feigns disappointment". The actor practices being happy and smiling broadly. The actor practices feigned disappointment. The actor practices bringing the boxes through the door and setting them down. The actor practices supressed smiles mixed with frowns of feigned disappointment. The actor practices taking the whistle and watch in and out of their appropriate pockets. The actor practices blowing the whistle. The actor practices opening and closing the door (since it seems not close securely all the time and he wants to get it right.) The actor practices his blocking (his entrance positions and where he is supposed to stand while the children assemble.) The actor goes through the rest of the script as well, finding places where he is supposed to be sad, angry, furious, apologetic and a number of other emotions - all of which he dutifully rehearses so he can perform those emotions at the appropriate time. Finally, after many weeks of rehearsals, opening night arrives.

The curtain goes up.

The actor opens the door, entering the stage area carrying a stack of packages.

The packages jostle a bit but do not fall. The actor feels relieved that the packages did not fall.

The actor closes the door, which starts to swing open again (of course) and the actor turns, a bit annoyed but dares not look annoyed (he's supposed to be happy) and closes the door again. This time it stays closed.

The actor turns, places the packages upon the table.

The actor turns to face down center, removes the whistle and the watch from their pockets, blows the whistle, checks the watch.

The children assemble.

The actor registers his look of mixed smile and feigned disappointment and says his line,

"Eleven seconds." You say. "I'm afraid your timing is off this evening."

Then, as he is about to announce he has presents, the actor smiles in his well rehearsed, broad smile. Surprise! Surprise!

The actor has successfully completed his rehearsed tasks. WHEW!!! He got through that part OK!!!

Scenario #2

Now, imagine that this is real life. You, the actor, are not there. No stage, no set, no audience, no props, no costumes, no actor children. Instead, you have become the father. You have left work an hour early so you could go downtown to Wicker's Department Store to buy special presents for your children. In the store, you carefully choose just the right present for each individual child. A telescope for Ethel, she is always gazing at the stars, wondering what the universe is all about. A paint set for Richard, who seems to draw and doodle every chance he gets. A special gift for each and every child. Each child having a seperate and special part in your life. Each and every one the result of your loving marriage to your real wife who you also anticipate seeing when you arrive home. Their joy is your joy. And you eagerly anticipate your real children's unrehearsed delight at their new discoveries.

Your home is a real home, with a real door that really, stubbornly, won't close some of the time. You wear your own vest that you bought at Hanson's Mens Clothiers a week before. Your whistle is a real, solid steel whistle that you recaived when you were a Boy Scout, twenty-five years ago. Your watch was your father's; five-jeweled, gold plated pocket watch that was passed on to you, his eldest son at his death of cancer.

Your feigned displeasure is a common joke you play on your kids - and they fall for it every time. Your joy is the joy of a loving father and husband who sees a great future in the excitement and wonder of his children and who considers it vitally important that he help them constantly make new discoveries, learn new things so that their excitement about living and ever increasing knowledge will allow them to prosper and do well in life.

You open the door, the stack wobbles, it seems it will tip.Your desire is to keep the presents from falling and being damaged, so you spend a second or two balancing them; a momentary look of anxiety crosses your face as you imagine the precious cargo tumbling to the ground. You successfully prevent the packages from falling and smile at your success.

You close the door, but it re-opens. You determine that you will win at this "close the door" game that this uncooperative door seems so intent on playing. You stare at the door intently for a moment, as if to command it to close. Then, with a determined gesture, you close the door. You smile.

Smiling, you gently, fondly place the packages upon the table, sharply turn, reach for your whistle and watch as you have done every day for the last 10 years. You want reassurance from your father that you is doing the right things in raising your children, so you gently, holds your deceased father's watch in your hand, as if it were sending you a message of reassurance.

You desire the comfort that comes from order and ritual, so you stiffen your back in a pose of attention and give the whistle a sharp and hearty blow so as to assemble the "troops"(the ritual you learned in the Boy Scouts).

The "troops" scramble from every direction. You want to hide the fact that you have a surprise, so you supress your smile, pretending that this is just an ordinary home coming, like so many before.

When the children have assembled, you look at your watch. You want to have some fun with your kids, so you decide to play that old game of "daddy is disappointed you didn't assemble fast enough." That feigned scowel comes over your face. You supress a smile as you wonder when your children will see through your well-worn joke.

"Eleven seconds." You say. "I'm afraid your timing is off this evening."

The children moan and groan in disappointment at their failing (of course they got the joke long ago.) You break into a smile, happy at the success of your little trick. You then break into a joyously happy smile as you let down all pretense and are about to announce you have presents; their newest discovery - their newest wonderment about the world,.

What is the difference between Scenrio #1 and Scenario #2?

In Scenario #1 , the actor sees himself as an actor . His "focus" (his attention) is on himself, as an actor, playing the emotions he believes his character, the father, should feel. Playing the emotions he has detemined and rehearsed. His focus is also upon dealing with the door, the lines, the boxes, the pockets, the whistle, the watch, etc. The actor attempts to play the determined emotions ("My character is happy, so I will smile". "My character is making believe he is disappointed so I will half frown, half smile") but because his attention is wasted and scattered on so many other "acting" concerns, his performance falls short of expressing believable emotions. And might easily fall into the realm of the cliche, the predictable and the uninspired.

The audience can see he is happy and feigning disappointment, but the audience members personally do not feel that happiness and feigned disappointment. They see and understand, but they do not feel. The actor might even pull off a passable performance and get decent reviews, but the performance will still fall far short of creating a reality for the audience. They will not experience the emotions the actor portrayed. They will see that the actor is happy, but they will not genuinely feel within themselves that same happiness.

In scenario #2 , the actor does not see himself as an actor playing the role of the father. He sees himself as the father . He sees through the eyes of the father. His attention (focus) is on himself as the father; who is experiencing real events; who has a past; who has real desires; who interacts with real people and real things in spontaneous ways (not as scripted words.) He does not predict his emotions and perform them at a pre-determined time. In scenario #2, the actor's attention is on his character's desires - not his emotions. His desire to surprise his children leads to his happiness when giving them their presents. His desire to get the door closed and his pleasure at getting it done. His desire to keep the presents from getting damaged and his happiness when he succeeds. Each time his various desires are fulfilled and he is pleased or happy. Each expression of happiness different from the others. His performance is filled with depth and subtle variations of action and speech.

The actor is focused on determined desires and actions determined to fulfill those desires. The actor's focus is on himself as the father and his experiences and relationships with the door, the presents, the watch, the wistle, the children - as if they were real, not as props and set pieces and other actors.

Yes, the actor must still know his lines, must still check and handle his props, must still deal with the door if it does not stay closed and the packages if they become unbalanced. But in this scenario, the actor's focus is on the determined desires, the history of the character, his relationships with his children and wife, the events that preceeded his entrance - his life. The actor is focused upon the same things that the character would be focused on as if the play were real life. He is not concerned with producing the correct emotions. Those will arise of their own accord as a result of his fulfilling his desires.

In Scenario #2, the actor is making the desires of the character his own desires - even though the character, within the reality of the play, might have no awareness of those desires. The actor still experiences happiness (and other emotions too as the actor's varied desires create more depth to the character) but the audience perceives his happiness as genuine - as if it really were the father's happiness they shared. Because of this belief, the audience also will feel a genuine happiness in themselves. Because of this belief, the audience will be swept into the performance by the actor. They will feel what the character feels. Such a performance is far superior then the performance by the actor in scenario #1.

Emotions (feelings) arise from the subconscious as a result of our ability to fulfill our desires.

Let me make something clear here. An actor does NOT somehow lose his own personality and assume the personality of the character as one might see in some weird Hollywood horror movie.

To convincingly "become" a character, an actor uses his own analysis of the subtext and other elements of the script, his invented and/or researched history of the character, his researched and/or knowledge of the time, place and circumstances of the play, his physical and vocal training. He uses these elements to "focus" upon the determined desires and determined actions of the character. He attempts to see his character's world - the world of the play - through the characters eyes. And he attempts to think and act as he believes the character might act in the given circumstances of the play.