Over my years I have collected a group of phrases that capture what I am looking for when coaching actors in scenes. One of my favorites is “Up and Out.” A challenge that I find with young actors is that they may have something real going on inside them – but they lack the ability to get this emotional energy up and out so that it can be shared by an audience. It has been very difficult for me to communicate this with student actors. What often happens is they end up pushing so hard that the moment is forced and ruined – or they give up the energy and the moment falls flat on the floor at their feet.
But just this week, I had an “Ah Ha” moment. While working on the closing assignments of our work on Viewpoints, I had a revelation. Now, of course, this revelation is likely common sense for other theatre teachers – they may have learned this lesson much early and much easier then me – but still it was my insight today.
In one particular sharing I had a boy laying on the floor living out a relationship/conflict in his life using a coat-tree. (only in theatre classes, I imagine, would you find a student on the floor in communion with a coat-tree). He was feeling a great deal but he was stuck inside of himself – – then he put the words of Viewpoints into action. He used speed, duration, repetition, topography, gesture and shape and the moment was free!
I figured out that what I was lacking in my world was vocabulary to discuss this “entanglement” with the actors. I wasn’t giving them something TANGIBLE that they could put into action; I was giving them words of the “head” and not words of the “body.” I then began to speak the words of Viewpoints above and it all clicked. I asked students to play with the Viewpoints mentioned above and actors were solving their OWN moments. They didn’t need me and my clever words! Sad – – that I was putting myself out of business. Probably not the best business plan – but exciting to watch the actors.