Making demands on yourself is one of the keys to being a professional actor.
If you played the piano, you would
have the music to tell you exactly how
to play it. If you were a lawyer you would have, the law to dictate to you
how to practice law. If you are in construction you, the laws of physics tell
you how to properly build. As an actor, yes, you do have the story, the script,
but how you play the story out - moment to moment - is up to you. You put
this problem (the story and situation), this demand on your heart, mind and
soul and it pours out in your performance. Yes?
This important principal is true
at the beginning of your acting career - when
you are researching the art of interpreting a story and pretending you are
someone else - and will remain so for your entire acting career.
You may read about acting, you may
witness great acting in the moives, TV or
live theater, however until you pick up a script, practice a role, and make
the
demand on yourself, to use the "work", the craft, and actually " act."
Making
the effort to become someone else - you are not acting, you are not learning
acting, and will not become an accomplished actor. And that is the end of
that story.
First demand: How do I get myself
in a position to act as often as possible?
"I will ________________" You fill in the blanks. And the answers
are, doing
theater, doing plays at home with friends, plays at school, acting class, AOW
monologues and evaluations, auditions, act for film students, making your own
films - be what I like to call a "self-starter."
The writers, the director, the producers,
and the audience, all make demands
on the actor. They ask the actor to give out with a performance, "tell us the
story"
let it speak to us through you, do it,
act it out for us. Why? Because they can't!
ONLY an actor can do this task.
However every one of us know that
until we turn that demand on ourselves --
nothing, nothing is coming out of your heart, your soul, let alone your mouth.
How it comes out, how you interpret the story, express and perform this task
of "acting" is directly related to the demands you make on yourself NOW. It
is
directly related to what degree of passion and depth that you study acting.
ACTING IS DOING IT!
How hard you study now. How often
you act now. Exploring and comparing
acting theories, learning from every mistake, every success, but you MAINLY
LEARNING ACTING BY DOING!
It does not matter if it is acting
you do in front of an audience of two thousand
fans or for us at AOW and a camera of one. Doing it is ultra important to your
using AOW to your greatest benefit or any acting class to your benefit.
Stepping into that ethereal special
world known as "acting" where for an
immeasurable moment a percentage of your being is not you but some new
created being that only exists because you demanded that it exist. It is close
to Godliness.
It is true creation, from the first
act curtain to the last bow. So special a thrill
that it is hard to put into words, or explain to non-believers but as all actors
know -- makes acting addictive. We long to do it again, again. (That is why
we
need a strong union because we love it so we would do it free. What an ugly
thought.)
One delightful older French actress,
her beauty still evident, expressed to me
her theory about acting - "It is a holy triangle," she said in her lovely accent
-
The Actor experiencing on stage, the Audience sharing in the experince, and
God looking down on his creations creating as he did. An ancient and holy concept
that was probably performed before there was the written word and certainly
long before vaudeville.
So in conclusion "acting" this holy
experience does not happen until you the actor
makes that demand of yourself to use the craft.
Unless you are acting in theater,
in a workshop, in an acting class, or making a
film, you should take advantage of Acting On The Web and send in your
monologues.
The growth of practicing and recording
your performing before a camera is in itself
of great value to your acting and learning the acting craft. Which on it's face
may
look easy but achieving it on a level of critical and mass approval, of achieving
something close to brilliant on a continuing basis is not at all easy but in
fact is
as difficult as making a hit record, or sinking a hole in one.
If join AOW you will be inspired,
you will learn a great deal about acting. You
will be versed in the highest ideals about acting - a very important ingredient
to sticking it out and making it as a professional actor.
Demand of yourself the task of actually
acting, doing one of our
monologues, or being in a live class, I do not see how you can become
competant at acting, become a consistently good actor... one worthy of being
paid money, even if you do already know
how to act "naturally" as some people
claim.
I mean it is possible... but not
really. Why risk it, it is wiser to study hard, do
what is asked of you, and make that demand of yourself and have the security
of really knowing what you are doing when you audition, when you perform.
With the knowledge acting will continue to be a pleasure and not be come
painful. You will always have fear but you will know how to work, how to have
the "acting state of mind" so that fear is part of the job and just a fun challenge.
In the end let me say learning a
mentally healthy way of making demands on
yourself and delivering the rewards of achievement and recognition back to
yourself will help you in every aspect of living no matter what career path
you
choose or that chooses you.
So invest in your talent today and
join us here at AOW the only real acting class
and experience on the Internet. Isn't your talent and future worth it. If you
don't
learn much more than you do now about the acting craft. You can get your money
back. You have my word. So don't waste another day. Learn to make a demand
on yourself and you will collect the rewards.
Acting On The Web - Don't Leave Home To Act - Not yet anyway.
Break a leg,
Frank Cavestani
Your Director