Acting Without the Drama

January 30, 2009.  I’m a pleaser.  It’s been a problem for me pretty much my entire life.  I want people to be happy with me.

I’m also opinionated.  That’s a really interesting mix.  I want to agree with everyone, but I don’t.

I’m pretty sure we’re not supposed to.

When I think about it, if everyone agreed with everyone else, it would be kind of boring.  How could innovation happen if we all shared the exact same vision of the world?  If there was only one right answer to the question of what makes a good performance, every actor would have to learn the one way to accomplish it.

Instead, we have a world of Meisner actors, Method actors, Stanislavski actors, Chekhov actors, and every once in a blue moon, a true original.

When I was running an acting program, one of the things I valued most about the faculty members I worked with was where we differed.  I loved the fact that they all came from different backgrounds and perspectives.  We didn’t agree on a lot of things, but we generally agreed on good performances.  It was the connection that moved us.  We could all feel it.  Some styles of teaching worked best with certain personalities, and that was completely ok.  It was more than ok.  It was great.

We don’t always have to see eye to eye on everything in order to work well with one another.  There does need to be mutual respect and caring.  Without those essential ingredients, the differences can easily become chasms…great divides that sever connection.

Yeah.  It all comes back to love.

That pretty much seems to be the answer to just about everything.

So, I’m gonna spend some time loving.  I am so grateful for the loved ones in my life that I don’t always agree with! 

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