Ads 468x60px

Labels

Sunday, January 27, 2013

SOLUTIONS TO PRACTICAL PROBLEMS IN APPLYING METHOD PRINCIPLES #3



During my first few years of teaching as director of the Method Actors’ Training Centre In Pretoria, South Africa, I stuck to how the classes were handled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York during my time there (1981 – 1984).

What I did do differently, however, was to do year-end shows with my students. We either did a few existing short plays chosen around a theme or created original workshop productions based on improvisation as an ensemble, starting rehearsals in August and usually performing at the end of November or beginning of December. I believed very strongly that it would be pointless for students to study acting and learn how to apply Method acting techniques to scene work if the actors did not have the opportunity to perform in front of an audience at some point also. Actors need to learn how to solve both acting and technical problems under pressure, under the lights and while being watched by both strangers and loved ones. The stress and pressure you are under when performing for an audience is completely different to working in front of peers you know well within a class set-up and students must gain that experience and professionalism if they wish to enter into the industry as paid actors.

It soon became apparent, however, that my students were absolutely useless during blocking rehearsals! They didn’t have a clue how to behave on a stage; stumbling about, masking and blocking themselves and their fellow actors, not knowing what to do with their hands and feet, moving around like wooden dolls, placing set furnishings in ways that did not work at all and often behaving illogically and with a lack of awareness with regard to how to tell the story visually and theatrically. Not only that – they presented with major problems when it came to voice reproduction, of which the worst was that they could not be heard and that diction and articulation, in general, was extremely poor. I had been aware of these issues while watching scene work in class, of course, but since these weaknesses were paid no mind during my training I didn’t concern myself with it either.

Once you’re designing a set, telling a story, blocking a scene (requiring actors to do daily activities with an awareness of stage craft) and getting actors to move effectively for public performance to a paying audience, however, attention must be paid to the age-old theatrical conventions, whether we like it or not! While I do not subscribe to slavishly following each and every “rule” to the exclusion of real action and honest behavior, I do believe we should strive to honor the most basic aspects by making them our own and eventually executing them so naturally that they are not noticed at all. We should at least know the “rules” in order to break them effectively and towards a specific purpose should we feel so inclined.

The fact that actors must possess a strong, resonant voice with good tone which can be heard at the back of the theatre, that diction should be clear and that the characters’ thoughts and feelings should be meaningfully expressed is non-negotiable, as far as I’m concerned. The mumbling, inexpressive voice of the cliché Method actor who can barely be heard in the first row (even in the movie theatre!) is something many have complained about throughout the years and I was not going to allow this to be the case with my students.

So … I started adding voice classes and workshops in “non-method” aspects, not only because I needed my students to behave more professionally during rehearsals for the year-end shows but also because I required them to do more theatrically effective scene work in class – even if the main focus is teaching them how to apply relaxation, sense memory, emotional memory, animal work, etc. in practice. Surely this does not exclude working correctly with regard to wider performance and theatrical aspects and actually being heard by the audience (whether in theatre or film) also?

It helps to have a common language with directors and actors in the wider industry, for instance, since this makes communication and working together easier and would make the novice feel much more comfortable in professional company.

Actors and directors and stage managers need to know where “Prompt side” is and what “OP” means, that the stage is divided into 15 units, what these positions are called, where Centre or Down Right Centre or Up Left Centre, etc. would be, and where the most effective playing areas are (in case you wish to use them), how to write stage directions or notations in a text. It would make life easier to know that XDRC, pause, XUSC, out means: crosses down right centre, pauses, crosses upstage centre and exits, if the stage manager is absent and you’ve been asked to help out by giving fellow actors notes from the script.

Here follow a few simple suggestions based on Jean Lee Latham’s Do’s and Don’ts of Drama that my students and I have found helpful over the years, giving their performances a more “polished” and professional feel without taking away from the realness and honesty of their responses and emotions. The individual will choose whether to disregard or use them:

STAGE SETTING

1.    Don’t place furniture so it hides an important entrance/exit.
2.    Keep the stage balanced by placing furniture left and right of centre, not on one side only.
3.    Give the stage setting depth by placing furniture upstage and downstage.
4.    Guard against the monotony of straight lines when placing furniture.
5.    See to it that one piece of large furniture does not block the view from another piece, such as a sofa, where important action is to occur. The audience must see the action.
6.    Place furniture around which important action is to occur, within effective playing areas.
7.    Place a chair in which an important scene is to occur where all audience members can see the occupant.
8.    Do not place furniture in such a way that actors upstage themselves when doing activities.
9.    Don’t place furniture in the main playing areas so far upstage or downstage that the actors are forced to play behind it (DS) or - if placed US - the stage looks top-heavy and the actors find it hard to dominate the audience.

EFFECTIVE STAGING: ENTRANCES & EXITS

1.    First rule in staging an entrance: Clear the doorway of other actors for entrances and exits so the audience may have an unobstructed view of the character entering.
2.    Give him/her room to walk into the scene so s/he is not stuck at the door or against a wall.
3.    Minor characters should not obstruct the view with regard to major characters and/or important action.
4.    The more important character should have a position US of the other, where s/he can dominate the scene/face the audience.
5.    When a major character enters to join a group, use motivated movement to get non-essential characters out of the way so s/he can walk into the scene and address the other major character(s) with ease.

BLOCKING: KEEPING THE STAGE BALANCED

1.    The importance of a character has as much weight as the number of characters. In other words, one major character is as important as several minor characters and may therefore be placed separately without the stage becoming unbalanced.
2.    Use the whole stage and different levels – standing, sitting etc. - when blocking.
3.    Variety in blocking is very important. Vary moving your character(s) or placing the action DSC to RC to DSL etc., when blocking scenes played one after the other.
4.    Do not simply move characters up and down and left and right in straight lines – move them US and DS, SR and SL in straight as well as diagonal lines. Mix it up.
5.    Keep the following in mind:
(a)    keep the stage balanced – do not place all or most of your characters or action in one area only, leaving the rest of the stage empty for long periods of time
(b)    give the main character place of prominence (if relevant)
(c)    don’t allow one character to mask or block another
(d)    don’t allow your characters to upstage themselves when involved in an important scene or action
(e)    keep the main characters in the effective playing areas or where the action can be clearly seen
(f)      always use a direct route from one position to another on the stage unless there is a definite reason for doing otherwise (the character is dawdling, unsure or playing for time)

STAGE TECHNIQUE

1.    When holding a gun/glass/newspaper etc., use your US hand. Tip: In rehearsal, move your script to your DS hand, which will force you to use the US hand for activities etc.
2.    When you start walking, make the first step with your US foot. You do not want to block your body or cross yourself with your first step – keep an open position.
3.    A seated character should not cross the DS leg over the US leg since this blocks the body. Keep the body open towards the audience by crossing the legs the other way around. 
4.    Always position a character watching action off-stage (looking out of a window/door etc.) in profile rather than with the back to the audience. Profile gives the opportunity to view facial expressions and hear dialogue.
5.    Dialogue can frequently not be heard when an actor faces US and away from the audience, unless s/he has a very strong voice. Weaker voices should always face toward the audience in order to be heard.
6.    Playing with your back to the audience can be very effective, but this choice must be made with caution and for very specific reasons.
7.    Two or more actors should not walk next to or directly behind each other on stage unless specifically required for effect. Rather let one walk slightly behind and to the side of the other when exiting together or changing on-stage positions in order that the audience may still see both characters clearly.
8.    Try not to have two characters walking to different positions on-stage together or crossing [X] each other. Let one character move and once s/he gets to the required position let the other character move.

TELLING YOUR STORY VISUALLY

Always look for ways to bring meaning and/or subtext across visually, through placement on-stage and/or action and activities and not only through what characters are saying. Do this with subtlety and insight with regard to a character’s intent, motivation, what is really meant underneath what is being verbally stated, etc. Don’t hit the audience over the head with a sledgehammer though! Some examples:
Friendly Scenes: Place the characters closer to each other for greater intimacy. Distance may be better suited to broad comedy or the highly dramatic or hostility, depending on how it is handled.
Dramatic Clash: Don’t place minor characters in-between the two majors during a conflict scene – get them out of the way in order that the characters in conflict may communicate and play off each other without difficulty.
Tension between characters: Consider putting distance between them or having them turn their bodies away from each other or try out “closed” body language (arms crossing over the chest), etc. Daily activities can also be very expressive so pick these carefully and look at how different meanings can be expressed through how the activities are executed.

VOICE

Voice work forms part of my Method Course. The students have to attend weekly one-hour Voice classes in order to develop this all-important part of the actor’s instrument. Since honest expressiveness is essential I work according to Kristin Linklater’s techniques with regard to Freeing the Natural Voice. 

I train my actors to attain physical relaxation; release of the breathing centre and speech channel, correct breath and voice placement; strong resonance; rich, full voice tone; effective voice projection and volume as well as clear articulation / diction and truthful verbal expression of thought and feeling.

Developing effective voices remains a frustrating struggle since students don’t do the required work at home in order to fully develop their voices as instruments. They stubbornly believe they can get away with doing the minimum, as most students do, and we pay the price when performing the year-end show every time. Lack of volume, thin voice tone, weak resonance and woolly diction have haunted me for the past twenty-two years. Even so, I keep hoping that my actors are doing better in the Voice department than they would have if I had not spent the time trying to develop effective verbal instruments at all. I like to believe they are! 

Written by: Stephanie van Niekerk
Director, Method Actors' Training Centre

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

SOLUTIONS TO PRACTICAL PROBLEMS IN APPLYING METHOD PRINCIPLES # 2

While studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York, I was given a piece of paper which contained the basics with regard to the list below. I read through it at home, took note and put it in my file. Since these questions and the importance of answering them were seldom referred to in class when scenes were being criticized and discussed, I quickly forgot about the list and continued doing scene analysis in my own haphazard way – as did most of my peers. I only discovered it again years later when I started teaching others and searched for ways to solve the problems my students and I were having. If only I had stuck it to my mirror and used it all those years ago, many uncertainties and difficulties with regard to choosing and applying sense memory work in practice would have been solved then and there!

I have since added information to the list and organized it differently in terms of question placement.

So, here follows the all important analytical tool without which no actor should attempt to act a scene:

QUESTIONS A – J
Practical Scene Analysis

ALWAYS ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS WHEN REHEARSING A SCENE

a) What would I be doing if this scene never took place? (Answered in order to prevent anticipation and pick logical and correct daily activities for the character.) Do not change the location in which the scene takes place.

b) What makes this time different from any other time? (Why is this scene special and included in the text?)

c) When is this happening – the period in history, the season, the time of year/day, in the course of the relationship and the character’s development, the plot, etc.

d) Where did I just come from? Where do I want to go? Where am I now? (Immediate past, present, future.) We need to see you coming from somewhere, being in the moment during the scene, yet with the intent to move forward or go elsewhere in the near future.

e) Who am I? Including the character’s life before the play starts – logically deduced from the facts given in the script.

f) What one thing must be attended to in order that the scene may be created (Is this an information scene? Is it about relationship, situation, conflict, characterization, etc. What is the core of the scene?) Answering this question is central to picking the most effective Method work for the scene.

g) What do I want in this scene? (State the character’s Intent in writing: I must or I want to, followed by a verb indicating a specific action to be executed and followed by because – indicating the character’s motivation and a justification for chosen actions. Example: I must walk straight and steady because I feel a little drunk and I don’t want my parents to notice.) The answer to this question is also central to picking the most effective Method work for the scene. PLAY THE INTENT OF THE CHARACTER!!

h) What is in my way? (The obstacle in the way of what the character wants.) What do I do to get what I want? - which can also be stated as: What does this situation call for? (The action. Remember: Acting is doing!)

i) Why is this happening? Why am I feeling or responding in this way in this situation? (The character’s psychological make-up, motivations, aspects of history that cause this behavior or these points of view.)

j) What sensory work (object(s), place(s), relationship(s), emotional memories etc.) must be created in order to play the character truthfully and realistically? (The correct Method work to be chosen based on the analysis.)

Now, the above questions – and especially finding the correct answers to these questions – seem deceptively simple. I have found throughout the years that my students actually have to be taught how to interpret and answer these questions effectively. As their last written assignment, my first years are required to write about why it is important for these questions to be answered when working on a character – referring specifically to the roles played by motivation and justification - and illustrating that they know how to do an effective analysis by providing examples from one of the three scenes they’ve worked on during the year, explaining why they chose certain interpretations and Method work, based on Questions A - J. The results of these assignments are usually very poor (with the odd exception) and most either scrape by with bad marks or fail, having to re-write.

Why am I telling you this? Because we have to realize that the ability to analyze and comprehend and answer even these seemingly simple questions effectively is something that needs to be acquired and learned. Even senior students sometimes miss the boat completely! The ability to read subtext is an acquired skill that needs to be worked at.

Whenever I direct a scene or a production, I take the time to go through each of these questions with each actor for each scene in order to make sure that my actors fully understand what they need to do in order to create their characters truthfully and effectively, based on logical interpretation. My senior students are required to go through the same process, providing guidance to less advanced students whenever they are directing or mentoring scene work for class. Both actors and directors need to develop these skills.

Why is it so important to acquire the skill to do this correctly? If you misunderstand the questions and don’t have the ability to find meaningful, in-depth answers that reflect the intent of the author, the play, the scene and the character, your understanding of what you need to do as a director guiding actors or as an actor (to effectively portray the character within a given situation in order to reflect the required intent and meaning or message), will be faulty. If you don’t know how to find subtext and make decisions while taking it into account, your choices will be superficial and probably ineffective. As a result of the actor’s interpretation being superficial or questionable, the Method work choices may be superficial and questionable, which will result in the actor not playing the character and the character’s intent. As a result the dramatist’s intent will get lost.
Very few young actors have the insight, wisdom and knowledge required to find the necessary in-depth answers. The skill takes time to develop. We are not born with it, nor does it simply drop out of the sky. If the actor – and please don’t forget the director - doesn’t know what s/he is doing, how can we expect of the audience to “get it”?
I therefore contend that, before the actor can do anything with the practical relaxation work, sensory recall and truthful, real expression of the sense memory work experienced, the actor needs to have very strong cognitive, comprehension and analytical skills as well as awareness, perception and insight when it comes to understanding the text and character to be performed. If any actor – including the Method Actor – does not have these skills the author’s intent and the play, including the character, will be ineffectively portrayed. It doesn’t matter how beautifully the Method Actor can cry, be fearful, be angry, be in love, be happy, be surprised or express any of the scores of human emotions we experience (as a result of doing sense memory), if it is not done in the context of effective analysis of the play as a whole and each scene in particular, the performance will be weak because the character will not be seen.

In my next article I will discuss the structuring of scenes (set design, blocking, status, movement, stage craft) in order to enhance meaning visually. See you then!

Writer: Stephanie van Niekerk, Director, Method Actors' Training Centre

Saturday, January 12, 2013

A new Photo Set from when I studied at the Training Centre!

Don't you just love sleeping on stage.
Hold me back!

 
 
 
Please feel free to leave a comment...

SOLUTIONS TO PRACTICAL PROBLEMS IN APPLYING METHOD PRINCIPLES # 1


While teaching The Method to adult students in Pretoria, South Africa, over the past twenty-two years, certain challenges with regard to the successful application of the practical work to scenes (relaxation, sensory recall and the honest and free expression thereof) had to be dealt with on a regular basis.



1.  Students needed a framework within which to place the use of skills (relaxation and sensory recall) being taught and they

2.    clearly experienced a lack of understanding with regard to how to correctly apply the acting skills being learned to practical scene work



Not actually having received full instruction myself while I studied, which resulted in confusion, incorrect working methods and application of techniques, I had to come up with solutions to these fundamental challenges quickly and effectively … basically flying by the seat of my pants!



  1. Firstly, while what is being taught has remained sacrosanct, certain aspects of how it is being taught – in terms of supplying a foundation of knowledge on which to base the use of acting skills – has changed radically with regard to how I was instructed back in the day …due to what I've added to the syllabus.
  2. Secondly, it had become clear that additional information needed to be added to my syllabus. Text analysis, a strong focus on practical scene analysis, a study of the theory of drama and acting, stage craft, blocking for stage and voice development have all been successfully employed in an attempt to solve problems.
  3. Students have to write and pass three written assignments a year in order to prove that they understand the theory of application and correct working methods when making decisions about work choices as well as why things are being done the Method Way.





The development, not of a new way of teaching The Method, but of a package of knowledge and information on which to base the use of practical acting skills with insight and understanding, has resulted from my trial-and-error attempts at problem-solving over the years.



My goal is to document and make available guidelines which will assist Method students and other actors in gaining an understanding of how to apply their practical acting skills through providing a framework based on competency in analysis, voice and stage craft and a knowledge of acting theory, since such guidelines were not, as a rule, discussed by Method teachers at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute New York during my period of study there (1981 – 1984).



I did a B.A. Drama degree at the University of Pretoria before going to Canada and the United States. As a result of my brush with academics, I understood the importance of analysis. Most student actors, however, think that you receive a text, you learn your lines by rote, someone tells you where to stand or sit or walk, you somehow say your lines absolutely brilliantly at the drop of a hat while executing your movements meaningfully at the same time because you’re naturally damn good … and, VOILA! you’re an actor!!



This sadly desperate belief suffered from by so many who wish to “act” would’ve been funny if it wasn’t so tragically ignorant … but there you have it. Nothing to be done! It usually comes as quite a shock to my first year students to discover that strong language, comprehension and analytical skills are absolutely essential to the art of acting and directing. So, one of the most important subjects I’ve added to my curriculum is Text Analysis. My students need to study and research three plays and their authors every year and pass an oral exam within a workshop setting on each drama or fail the course. An actor who is incapable of, or simply doesn’t do analysis, will have no idea where to begin in making the right decisions for the play and the character, based on the text, or how to eventually pick the right Method work to create that character in a way that is real and truthful and reflects the author’s intent. 




I’ve been wondering how often the complaints made by directors / fellow actors and other critics in the professional acting world, that so-called Method actors only act themselves, churning out the big emotions, can be laid at the door of the inability or unwillingness to do proper text analysis in order to play the character. As a result, these actors end up showing the audience how many big, real, honest emotions (thanks to sense memory) they can string together. We see the actor acting. We don’t see the character being. This means that the actor is failing dismally at his or her job.



Text and scene analysis is therefore a fundamental and integral part of the training I give my Method students in order to assist them to make the correct work choices in order to play the dramatist’s message and the character.



STEP # 1



HOW DO YOU BREAK DOWN A PART?

1.           Do a thorough analysis of the play using external sources also and not your personal understanding only, which may be way off the mark: study theme, plot, conflict, author's intent.


2.           Do a thorough analysis of the character, including the life of the character before the beginning of the play, based on the facts contained in the script. Write a Who am I? as the character, not as yourself!

 


3.           Ascertain the over-all objectives of the character: What do I want?


4.           Answer Questions A – J for each scene based on the text  including:

What do I want in this specific scene? The main objective/intent in each scene, according to which you make your Method work choices for real response and behavior by the character.

What is in my way? Ascertain the obstacle, if there is one.

What do I do to get what I want? The action, which is usually given to you by the dramatist as part of the text and is worked out specifically in order for the character to achieve (or lose out on) his or her Intent.


      5.          Do a Breakdown of Beats: A beat starts when an immediate objective sets in, and is complete when the objective has been realized or finally lost. A beat can also start when a new motivation sets in or when an emotional or mood shift occurs – when there is a change. A new intent and specific actions may come into play with a new beat. This helps you to achieve light and shade in your performance.


6.           Take a careful look at all the Conditioning Forces and make real for yourself the time, period in history, place, and objects that surround you.

 


7.           Study Relationships:


              7.1.    The character's relationship to the play


              7.2.    The character's relationship to other characters in the play


              7.3.    The character's relationship to objects in the play


HOW DO YOU INCORPORATE AND USE THE METHOD 
WHEN  PORTRAYING A ROLE?

Once you have broken down the part in this way, finding Justifications and Motivations for all the character’s actions and responses and working out intents and specific actions for each scene, you start searching for appropriate Method work: personalisations, substitutions, personal objects, overall sensations, emotional or effective memory work, animal or portrait work; the ways of building a character, etc. You test your chosen Method tasks by yourself and in rehearsal to make sure that it works in terms of the play, the character’s intent(s) and who the character is. You want to make sure that the end results of your tasks are logical and suitable for the character and that you are playing the intent of the author. You make Method choices that fit in with the play and the character in order to make the role and actions you are portraying real, truthful and original.

Questions A – J will be discussed in my next article, so watch this space!

Read the previous post here - PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED IN APPLYING METHOD PRINCIPLES...



Stephanie van Niekerk 

Thursday, January 10, 2013

DO THE WORK!!!


I have always dreamed of becoming an actress. As a child I was very confident, singing and dancing at every given opportunity. I believed in myself without question.

After school I studied Method acting and voice for 4 years at THE METHOD ACTORS’ TRAINING CENTRE. This experience enriched my life and brought my dream a little closer.

At age 22 I started looking for acting work. Completing your studies and going out into the big world alone is a very scary thing; you feel unprepared for what you need to do when school is finally behind you and you have to face the realities out there all by yourself. Initially you are very excited and then very scared!

I got an agent, waited, went for auditions.

I discovered that when I did land professional acting work I still felt empty inside. Nothing was fulfilling me and after four hard years of part-time jobs, failed auditions, theatre productions filled with people that did not take their job seriously and voice-overs done to survive, I threw in the towel and gave up!

I had always said: “If this doesn’t work out I will simply get a real job!” So ... this is what I decided to do. I took a job as an event manager and gave up on acting all together.

Two weeks into the job I was so depressed that I could not get out of bed in the morning. I had signed a three-month contract and I was determined to see it through but no matter how hard I tried to get somewhere and “stay positive”, I simply could not.

By the time the third month came around I was literally crying every day and I was gaining weight. I became suicidal, praying that the earth would swallow me up. For those who do not know me: this is not my personality at all as I am usually a bright and enthusiastic person.

I had to face what was eating me alive inside. Was it really the job? The routine? The money-hungry boss? I did not know and my mind never became peaceful about what was upsetting me so much.

My contract was extended by one month and I accepted it so that I could have money to go on vacation. The final month of work was the worst as the job became very stressful. We had a crisis on our hands and I had to cope with double the work load.

I started having a nervous breakdown. I could not remember anything, I had no energy and I was moody. This was a very scary time for me because I could not trust myself. One day I lost my parking ticket and nearly got arrested because of the way I acted in the parking office. I was totally OUT OF CONTROL and my life was falling apart.

I worked my last day and got onto a flight that same night. I traveled to Cape Town and joined my boyfriend and his family on vacation. During this period I had time to sit down and just be in nature and with myself. I discovered certain truths about things that were keeping me back.

Firstly, I realized that my dad did not believe in my acting abilities. I can’t say he did not support me or tried to hinder me but he made it very clear to me that I would be a better manager than an actor. One day I sat him down and asked:  “Why do you not believe in me?” and his response was chilling. He said: “Well, do you want me to lie to you?” followed by the entire speech (all over again) about me becoming a manager! I cried for days after this conversation.

I realized that I would need to let this go because it was holding me back. I had felt that I needed his support before I could believe in myself. I had thought that I would make it if only he believed in me. I blamed him for me not “making it”. I recognized that this was holding me back and so I simply let it go. I felt free afterwards and decided that nobody would ever have that amount of influence on me again.

Secondly, it became clear to me that I'd never had faith in myself. At every audition I actually believed that there was someone better than me for the part. 

Thirdly, it hit me that I had been sitting around for the past few years, waiting for the perfect audition, and that I was not doing the work.

I then came to the conclusion that these aspects were all linked. I never did the work because I was scared of actually being successful. I did not believe in myself or the fact that I could be a good actor and my dad not believing in my acting career confirmed what I thought about myself. Once I became aware of this, I decided to change totally and to actually start believing in my abilities.  Suddenly the Great Depression lifted and I felt free again!

I decided that from now on I will do the work and have confidence in myself until the day comes when the right door is opened for me. 

You cannot be an actor if you do not do the work. On the video clip placed elsewhere on this blog, Will Smith says that people confuse talent and skill. Talent you are born with but skill is something you learn (which is absolutely essential to have if you want to be a viable artist).  As an actor it is your duty to do a voice warm-up and articulation exercises every day. You have to work on a monologue or dialogue under your own steam when you are not working in the industry in order to keep your acting techniques going and your instrument fresh and ready to perform when you do get work. It is a full-time job even when you’re between jobs! 

My days are very different now. I spend at least a third of every day working on myself and training my voice and acting abilities / techniques. Do not think that just because you have studied you can relax at home and work on your instrument the day you get a job in the industry. My Method teacher, Stephanie van Niekerk, keeps saying over and over again … year after year … that an actor cannot afford to stop working on his or her instrument once the studies have been completed. Like a musician or ballet dancer, who has to practice every day, the actor has to keep working on acting and voice technique continuously or s/he will be back at square one pretty quickly!  

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF … believe that you are the best and you will be.
DO THE WORK … and you will succeed!

Here is the trick though: surround yourself with your true brothers and sisters (these are the people who believe in you and support you); believe without a shadow of a doubt in your mind that this is your destiny and work as hard as you can on your instrument and your skills every day.

At my birthday dinner in January I told my entire family that I will be acting again this year. My dad asked how I would do that and I told him that I planned to work as hard as I needed to in order to get where I want to be. I added that whoever does not believe in me would not stand in my way as I was prepared to cut them out.

My dad's response was that it is great! ... and I now have his support.

You see, throughout my whole life I'd thought that he did not believe in me because I was not good enough … but the truth is that he did not believe in me because I did not believe in me!

You cannot lie to the world about how you feel about yourself because it shines through anyway.

I will only give up on my passion the day I die because I have found something that is worth dedicating my life to. I have found something that is worth dying for.

Watch Will Smith in the video clip While you are sleeping I will be working. I hope it inspires you to work harder than ever before!


Michelle Victor as Sam in Daydreams and Nightmares (2010)a Method Actors’ Training Centre workshop production based on improvisations
Written by: Michelle Victor, Method Actors' Training Centre Alumni and Actress

Credits