Not Here No How

UnknownToday in class I introduced the use of interogatives with the directing class. So much of the success of the director depends on the way we use and respect the interogatives of who, where, when, how and why. The true danger for the young actor and especially the young director is to move to “how” too early. When a director introduces “how” into the rehearsal the creativity is stopped. Now the rehearsal process is stopped and everthing is focused on the product. With “how” it also becomes about getting IT right or getting IT wrong. Now the actor is simply seeking approval from the director; and the director is foolishly excluding the creativity of the actor. In the world of art how can you possibly be arrogant enough to say that something is right or wrong? There are experiences that mean more then others in the theatre, but they can never be called wrong. There is no Scantron in theatre – no bubbles to fill in with a number 2 pencil – – thank God!

In my experience, I have found that much patience is in needed to stay in the who, where, when and why. This is true artistic trust. This is about relying on the joint creativity of both the actor and the director. As I have said in previous blog entries answers serve little function in the theatre. (I, in fact, find less and less reason to value answers at all.) Questions are the key. And in the theatre, “NO HOW, not here.”

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