These adolescent actors are WAY out of shape. It is sad that a 57+ year old man (me) shows more stamina and core strength then some 17+ year olds who tire at the prospect of sitting upright. Sad. Back in the day – and I know that causes eyes to roll – back in the day we all had to take PE in high school EVERY year and that PE had quarterly fitnesses tests where we had to climb ropes to the ceiling, meet certain sprint times, benchpress a set amount of weight, chinups, pullups, etc. In PE class you sweated – you sweated so much that there was the obligatory shower at the end of class. – – But now I have no idea what they do in PE. When I walk by the gym, I am hard pressed to find ANYONE that is breaking a sweat or even breathing heavy. Braiding hair and texting seem to be the new bench press. I also sense that gym is full of parents who have writtine waivers or gotton doctor notes that have waived PE for thier student. I guess it makes more sense to medicate and placate your child then to get them to just lift some weights, break a sweat, build some muscle, get some body tone and loose some weight. I am thinking that some children could use a few less meds and a few more laps around the building. AND now you can do PE as an internet course from the comfort of your laptop in your bed ? ? ? But, hey, I’m no doctor.
I try to change this thinking for my actors. I repeatedly tell them that they have only three things that they bring to the table of Thespis: 1.) thier voice, 2.) their body, and their 3.) imagination. I highlight the “body” I use the metaphor of the canvas to the painting. Before one can begin paiting, you have to make sure that you have a clean workable canvas that is snug and taunt against its frame. It must be stretched. AND – the body becomes the canvas to the actor. Sloppy, loose, and with no tension is just not going to work. How is the paint going to stick? Tend to the body; tend to the canvas.