The Myth of Paying Your Dues

Yes, I know, a lot of people do.

But not everyone. There are those who are simply enjoying their lives, pursuing one of their many passions – because we all have more than one, although so often I know I get transfixed by my passion for money, forgetting that it is actually my passion for what money will let me do more of that is really driving that myopia – and as they are going along, acting jumps up and takes them by the hand and says, “This way, please!” And off they go.

I had a talk with my agent yesterday. Her advice was sobering, to say the least. In fact, it was so overwhelming to me that I went and slept for an hour, just to get away from my own brain’s chatter of fear and confusion!

She told me that in order to continue to be considered for gigs in this area (the San Francisco Bay Area) – and in fact in any area – was to have things on my resume changing; being added. The purpose was to show that I was still studying my craft.

I was overwhelmed by this advice because of some monetary restraints, and the fact that I haven’t seen a lot around me that I really want to invest my time and energy in. The thought I had was: “So, I’m supposed to do things I don’t want to do and have no interest in, just to prove to some unknown Producer or Casting Director down the road that I really really want to be an actor?” I just can’t do it!

A friend of mine in L.A. is having trouble with finding that open I’m-A-Full-Time-Actor door, and he’s my age (50′s) and he wants to make a real effort to make it, before he gives up and goes and does something else, or goes and does acting somewhere else that is less killing than L.A. can apparently be. I listened to him tell me this, and in his voice was stress and strain about what he thinks he has to do in order to “make it”, and yearning and fear that he will not meet his goals. I know that fear and that yearning intimately. But I noticed that I heard no joy in my beloved friend’s voice. I heard no love. I just heard the stress, and the fear of losing a very big dream.

And that’s when I realized that my idea of paying my dues was to suffer. That I had this old-timey idea – and I know I’m not alone here – that paying one’s dues means that one has to struggle and be unhappy in order to gain the brass ring of happiness and success at the end!

And at this point in my life, having learned that nothing in my life comes to me through struggle except for more struggle, I’m simply not willing.

That doesn’t mean I’m not willing to work. I’m willing to effort, absolutely, but it has to be in the name of joy. It has to be in the path of walking in my joy! That’s why I say that “paying your dues” is a myth – at least in the way we tend to look at it, with our Puritan work ethic of suffer, baby, suffer!

I’m out! Count me out of the suffering path! I know that I am meant to be successful as an actor, but that doesn’t mean that I know the day of its arrival, or even the method of its arrival. I’ve had amazing things happen to me along the way  the last 21 years. I’ve been in a television commercial that the director loved so much, he wrote another one for me, for a completely different product. That doesn’t happen often. Because of that director I became a member of one of the unions: AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). This year, 2012, I became a member of SAG (Screen Actors’ Guild) when SAG and AFTRA merged. It was a big step, even though it wasn’t one that I personally had to take by jumping two hoops, when the two unions were two unions.

These are, maybe, comparatively small steps, and yet they are significant parts of the scenery of my journey, and I have come to recognize that it is my choice of attitude, outlook, and way of thinking that is what makes the journey one of wonder, or one of pain. Honestly, it feels like a long journey, and I am notoriously impatient with my own journey. I am, however, truly sick and tired of living in fear – “What if I don’t make it?” “What if it never happens?” Pfooey! – I now have this new attitude: all that has happened over the years is a preparation for and an indication of what is coming about. And I base that knowing on my spiritual path and the lessons I have learned about my part in creating this fabric that I call my life. It is that same spirituality that is keeping me sane, realistic, joyous, and aware that opportunities and life aren’t over until this body is finished working!

Do you remember the show Northern Exposure, back in the 1990′s? The actor who played the shopkeeper in the show was a woman in her 60′s named Peg Philips. It was her first acting gig, and it lasted 5 years, and I’ve been told that she launched some scholastic programs for high school students to teach life lessons! Peg was an accountant by trade, but at the age of 65 she started taking acting classes, and got cast in a show that was massively popular, and launched a number of acting careers including her own.

You can call that a miracle, but I call it taking the way of ease. That falls on our ears strangely, I know, but it doesn’t mean not working. It means to give up struggling as a pathway to success! I can’t vouch for anyone else, but I know that I’m tired of looking at the craft as a struggle. It is, in fact, an honor to act, to perform, to share one’s feelings externally, and it should be a joy! And I am putting my faith in life, that in investing in and nurturing my joy in life in every way I can, it will return life to me in the coin I know best: performance. And while I may be waiting for it to do so, I am not waiting for my joy. No more paying my dues by suffering the artistic path. It’s collection time! Bring on the joy!

Peace and love!

Lori

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Lori is an actor and Acting Coach living in the Bay Area. She teaches via Skype as well as face-to-face. For more information, go to www.LoriKirstein.com.

“As If” – Using an Acting Tip to Impact Life Directly

There is an acting exercise called “acting as if”, which is exactly what it sounds like.

Act as if you are happy, and you will feel some happiness, or a lot of happiness! Act as if you are sad…ditto!

The question is: how do you act “as if”? There are several answers to that question, and here are a few that you can try on:

Physically – Dare to pull your shoulders back and stand straight and tall, and if you are not accustomed to feeling that stance in your body, take a few moments to feel what that does to your sense of self. It’s an amazing and instant impact on the quality of your life as you live those moments and dare to continue to assume that stance physically, and in your attitude to your life.

Visually – Have you ever noticed that when you are in love, the sun literally does seem to shine brighter? Try this during any given day: open your eyes wider and look out at the scenery outside your window, whatever that scenery is. The fact is that when we are feeling love, extreme happiness, and a oneness with that flow that makes us feel that nothing can harm us, we actually are using our eyes differently. It’s an amazing thing. Give it a try, and make sure you notice that you are acting “as if” you are in love, in safety, in the flow. Give yourself feedback about how that feels.

These are just two of the acting “secrets” that help one feel more empowered, stable, and creative in one’s own life. There are singing “*secrets”, drawing “secrets”, “secrets” of language, and of spirituality!

To join 11 amazing teachers on a journey of expansion, transformation and empowerment, come take a look at our recession-busting $49-for-all-11-classes extravaganza here, beginning with a description of my class, “Empowerment Secrets for Breakout Wild Women” here: http://bit.ly/WildWomen.

You will be with others who are going to take this at-your-own-speed journey that is open to all transformational women for 4 months, beginning this Monday, March 26th.

http://bit.ly/WildWomen – Take the ride of your own life, because we have all figured out that while no one can do it for us, we do it better with the support of others like ourselves.

Blessings!

Get WILD! Spring is Coming, and the Wild Women Are in Bloom!

Get WILD, and get your Self-Empowerment on! Creativity, Fun and Incredible Breakout Growth!

Join WILD for a collection of eleven wild woman teachers offering growth and healing classes to all wild women in a warm, welcoming online community until July 31, 2012!

Think of it! Eleven teachings - Eleven Wild Woman teachers – and Countless Other Wild Women Students in a community-based, self-paced learning and play environment with all kinds of goodies: Videos, Audios, Downloads, Community interaction with other students and the teachers, and all kinds of extras that the teachers will be offering!

REGISTRATION STARTED MARCH 1, 2012! SIGN UP TODAY! It’s only $49, and that’s just an out-and-out steal!

CLICK HERE AND GET WILD!

An online, self-paced set of clases for the Wild Woman who wants to break out, live larger, be her magnificent self! Eleven wild woman teachers of various types, and personal growth for wild women of all types! Registration begins Monday, March 1, 2012! Classes available online until July 31, 2012!

REGISTER TODAY AND GET WILD!

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Here is the line-up of creative, transformative, 
empowering, playful and juicy classes 
for WILD!

Find out more about the teachers HERE

Nicolle “Margot” Birta http://www.studiomargot.ro

Femina. An Expression of Love.

This class has been designed as a very special journey that would help us rediscover, treasure and share our gifts as women through art of any kind. As each of us is unique, each of us will have different results. But they will all be fabulous portraits of our femininity and expressions of the enormous love that makes the core of our existence. And because ‘love is what moves the sun and the other stars’ (Dante), at the end of this class you will get to shine your beauty in brilliant paintings like this, this and this.

Lisa Bolender http://www.creativitysoaring.com

I am not a Duck

Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong? Do the people around you “get” you? Do you feel supported and nurtured? If not, you may be a swan living among ducks!  By diving deep into the intuitive waters of imagery, we return with a better sense of who we are, what we want, and who we want there beside us. The SoulCollage® process helps us to connect with our inner wisdom by creating small collages using found images and using them to express different aspects of ourselves. We gain insight into ourselves through journalling, asking questions, and interacting with our cards.  I love the flexibility of this process, and how it connects us gently with our spirit. The results can sometimes be surprising, and I always come away from a collage session feeling nurtured and a little more aware of bigger self.

Jane Cunningham http://www.reframingyourstory.com/

Seeing off the Too Good Mother

Letting go of nice at the cost of truth and opening the valve to Juiciness.

This course combines deep work and fun, examining archetypes and creativity, building connection and letting go of that which no longer serves you.

In our time together we will meet the “Too Good mother” archetype and examine her role in our lives.  Using journaling and use guided visualisation we will invite in a new possibility and shift stuck energy drawing on the archetype of the Good Enough mother.  Together we will explore this voyage through perfectly imperfect creativity.

We will also form a network of recovering TGMers and practise celebrating our victories.

This work balances the deep serious with fun and foolishness.  It requires courage (but I can lend you some of mine and have a secret weapon to share about that!)

Come join me if you are ready for more juice!

Lisa Dieken http://www.WildCreativeHeart.com

Primal PoweR

An exploration into your wild woman oneness with nature

Some people talk about our “connection” to nature. My intention for this class is to show you, and have you experience, how you ARE nature. My intention is that you will come away with a new perspective of the natural world and of yourself as a “wild” woman.

You will be provided an opportunity to experience a feeling sense of the moon and the elements, (earth, air, water, fire) and we will explore how, as women, we are at one with them. You will learn a “mapping” technique, that will help you gain insights into how your physical experience, your emotions, your spirit, even your dreams may be affected by the forces of the moon and the energy of the elements.

Join me to discover the primal power of the wild woman!

Hali Karla http://www.lilywheelslide.com

Arousing Creative Succulence

Let’s face it – as women, enticing our full-being arousal can be tricky. Fully experiencing the sensual awareness and insights of the body is vital to activating a healthy, succulent, loving cycle of giving and receiving with the mystery of creativity.

We will explore simple, playful ways to re/connect with our bodies and Turn On to the wild inspiration and potential that is always available, always ours, alive within our very senses. We’ll explore how this activated arousal can naturally flow out into our lives in passionate partnerships with a variety of mediums & activities as we write, draw, taste, touch, sniff, share, dance, paint, and more. This class is an adventure that you will be able to modify and take with you on your journey as a Spirit gifted with being sensationally human.

Whether you express your creativity through the arts, service, healing, cooking, interactions or any way imaginable, this class is for You. If you feel like you are not creative or are way out of touch with creativity, this class is absolutely for You! The only prerequisite is that you hold the curiosity to explore and develop an intimately holistic, accessible relationship with your own wild, sensual knowing and expression.

Natalie Kimbrough http://www.healingisis.com/

 Let your Inner Light and Love Shine

Harmony Convergence with Lady Kuan Yin and Inner Light Reiki

Join Natalie to connect more fully with Lady Kuan Yin, her Blessings, and all her being.  Be initiated into the realm of Love and Compassion that comes from deep within… then add the Inner Light Reiki and shine brightly.

Allow yourself to step onto the path of Harmony Convergence so you can be the beacon of love and light that you are.

In this workshop you will learn about Lady Kuan Yin, connect with her on vibrational levels and become initiated into her circle.  Then you will receive her Blessings to share with all those that are open for them.  And if that is not enough, you will learn a bit more about Reiki, the ethics of energy and spiritual work and receive the attunement to Inner Light Reiki (with certificate) so you can work with others and yourself.

Are you ready to step forward and shine, serve and be in Harmony?

Lori Kirstein http://www.LoriKirstein.com

Empowerment Secrets for the Breakout Wild Woman

From the worlds of acting, singing and drawing, to the worlds of linguistics and power in language comes a class for the Wild Woman who wants to embrace, claim and deepen the practical application of her Wild Woman Nature to the details and underpinnings of her life, her choices, her dreams. We will learn together, practice, and share our insights regarding: (1) Emotional Freedom Secrets of the Actor; (2) Verbal Empowerment Secrets of the Wild Woman; (3) Spiritual Grounding Secrets for the Integrated Wild Woman, and more – all leading to the release of the “Good Girl” in favor of the rise of the Empowered, Self-Expressive Wild Woman!

Mary “Nalini” MacNab http://www.delphicwave.com

Embodying the Energies of the Solar Feminine

The embrace of the Divine Feminine has been the most profound shifting and learning experience of this life. This course offers initiation into three facets of the jewel that is the Goddess:  AnMorRigan of the Celts ~ Sekhmet the Lioness ~ Kali of the Vedas ~ all aspects of the solar feminine, or ‘power’ of and from the heart.  The next cycle is about embodiment.  Why not begin to embody love in Her power aspects?

Natasha Reilly http://www.CreativeNachos.com

An Intuitive Mixed Media Journey

to the Center of the Wild Woman Soul

If we believe all we read in magazines or see on television, then we believe that our body is an unforgiving landscape with endless areas that need to be fixed, pruned, changed, etc. This type of thinking makes it sound as though the body is separate from the soul and that is simply not the case. Changing this type of thinking does a something quite amazing. It allows you to step outside of mainstream societal thinking to reclaim the power and beauty of your individual body and reconnect with your wild, joyful, succulent, sensual soul. So what do you think? Want to get a little wild?

In this workshop, we will be uninhibited adventurers using our intuition to explore and celebrate the landscape of the feminine form and soul. We will reconnect with a wildness we knew as children while re-establishing our kinship with both the natural world and our authentic selves. Through the use of writing, painting and collage, we will create a mini mixed media book of paintings and vignettes – a love letter to your wild heart – that celebrates the magnificence within you and let’s your stars and inner moonlight dance out into the world.

Mary Rives   http://www.ThriveandShine.com

Liberate Your Inner Wild Woman!

Free yourself to shine more brightly in your light. Participate and activate your personal liberation in this fun Wild Woman Workshop. Imagine re-awakening your sense of soulful adventure, freeing your playful spirit, allowing yourself to laugh for no reason and celebrating being alive! You will be gently guided to expand your capacity to experience great joy by creatively incorporating story telling from your life, utilizing cutting-edge Laughter Yoga techniques, and creating your own liberation ceremony.

Tina van Leuven  http://innerdelight.com

Tapping into your Source ~ Embodying your Inner Delight

Have you ever felt your creative wild woman stirring within you with lots of inspiration wanting to be expressed?  And then found yourself putting your plans on hold until you’d have all your ducks in a row? (what do you mean, perfectionist?!) Or held back due to lack of money, resources or not knowing how to make it all happen? Thinking that if only you had… ( fill in the blank) then you would move forward?

Isn’t it time you gave yourself permission to honor your wild woman and let her be seen and heard?

When you love yourself enough to thrive, it is no longer acceptable to live a life which is anything less than JOYFUL. It is time to tap into your Source for everything you have been seeking outside yourself.  Time to embody your own inner delight.

“I don’t think you ever stop learning to act” – Jimmy Stewart

This is especially true when you realize that for every project, there is a different process that needs to happen in order to meet the needs of the director, the story line, and the actor’s own necessarily new technique born of having grown and changed herself or himself.

I just finished watching the 1987 show, hosted by Johnny Carson, about Jimmy’s life. It’s a tremendously revealing and moving show, being about a performer who lived a balanced life of work and family, creativity and service – a life based in a kind of integrity that was rare then, and is even rarer now, in my opinion.

Johnny said to him, “You make it look easy. Is acting easy for you?” And Jimmy said, “No. I don’t think you ever stop learning to act.”

I love that. It’s kind of a koan of meaning, that sentence, because acting is about not acting. In fact, a man I hold in highest regard – Harold Guskin, actor, director, acting coach extraordinaire, drily humorous and laser-like servant of the craft of acting rather than the well-behaved servant of the business of acting – wrote a seminal work called “How to Stop Acting” that is an unparalleled insight into that lightning-in-a-bottle experience of being in the creative moment as an actor – that moment in which we are being lived by that pure creativity that is far more long-lastingly addictive than any drug.

In other words, as I’ve probably said before, acting is not about pretending – it is about living out loud. And none knows that better – nor teaches it and lives it more relentlessly than Harold Guskin. Acting is not something you do, it is something you come to understand enough about to allow it to do you, and it is a high privilege to be a part of it, particularly when you are in a project in which your process is permitted to live and breathe and develop, and is supported in that birthing process.

Some things that happen with actors are simply magic. I don’t know how on earth Johnny Depp came up with his swaggering Captain Jack Sparrow, but it’s magic! Keira Knightley said in a video interview that she was totally unprepared for what he brought to the role – that when she hit the set and was confronted with that characterization for the first time, without warning, it was a genuine shock. That’s the kind of ownership of interpretation, the kind of devil-take-the-hindmost surrender to the high-dive risking of self-expression that is the epitome of great acting. And lest you wish to argue with me about whether Mr. Depp is a “great” actor or not, let me make something clear: acting is about living out loud, living emotionally turned inside out, about reaching for something or some character aspect that is like flying into the Grand Canyon without a net, willingly! That is greatness, and that is why, as George Clooney said on his appearance on Inside the Actor’s Studio, that we “celebrate celebrities”, once they reach that state because they do what ordinary people spend their time trying not to do, and would never do! And that is: Express oneself as fully as possible, as foolishly or passionately, as lovingly or hatefully, with as much abandon, surrender, and (ironically and confusingly) mastery as possible, publicly!

And just to make it even more interesting, some of what has come to be well-known moments in film, or characterizations in film, came about from nothing at all related to actor techniques.

Jimmy Stewart and his stuttering line delivery are an inseparable duo. But the truth, he says, is that the stuttering was not what he set out to do; that what his delivery was revealing, actually, was that he was thinking about what the next line was!  He had some difficulty in learning lines, it turns out, and I can really relate to this because for me that is the greatest “work-like” aspect of this process. Whether it’s a song or a script. But of the two, as far as I’m concerned, scripts are easier because they have a preexisting setting, and most often a back and forth with another character, which songs do not usually offer.

And then there is Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man in the famous bath scene where he has a panic attack as the bath is being drawn. He has been lauded for that scene. And yet, he revealed in his appearance on Inside the Actor’s Studio that the take that ended up in the movie actually was not a character-focused choice, but was him “just” pitching a fit because he couldn’t “get” that moment the way he wanted to.  Host James Lipton listened to this with his customary  respectful disbelief, looked to his students in the audience, and said, ” ‘Just’. Right.”

Acting is lightning in a bottle. It’s risking showing up, and allowing one’s self to show.

And the reason that one is never done learning how to act is because one, one’s own self, is the process, and we human beings are always in flux, ever changing. We are the lightning in a bottle, we human beings. As actors, we simply celebrate that incredible, miraculous truth of human existence, and we do so publicly, with our own bodies, our own emotions, our very beings.  And what it is that makes that such a necessity for every actor, that’s a passion deeper than I can put words to. And that is why Jimmy Stewart’s words hold incredible weight for me.

Thank you, Jimmy.

The Director and The Actor – Heaven or Hell?

What is it that makes a great working relationship between a director and an actor?

You could say it depends on who each of them is, personally and professionally, and you wouldn’t be wrong. But what I’m interested in is what makes a basic great relationship in that respect, and since I get to write this thing, I’m going to give you my point of view, from over 20 years of working with all kinds of people.

For me, as an actor, the work of putting together a character that is flesh-and-blood real, that has complexity and dimension, that is unpredictable as people are unpredictable, is an undertaking that is both broad and specific in its demands. And the demands are wonderful. For my money, it is its own kind of bliss to become acquainted with the character I am to play. I get to look at so many things about this “person”: their psychology, where they come from (financially, family-wise, culturally), their tendencies in terms of expectations, beliefs, general mood and outlook; how they might look, move, react. In looking at a personality in this fashion, one becomes a detective and a therapist and the compassion quotient rises. You begin to understand not just that character, but yourself and other people much better. It’s a trip, and it’s one that I love deeply.

But in building the character there is more than the character to consider. There is the story that surrounds the character. When I look at the character arc – the character’s journey from being one kind of person, or reacting in a certain kind of way, at the beginning of the play or movie, to being a different kind of person, or reacting in new kinds of ways at the end! - it is critical for the character arc to make sense. But that arc itself is in service to the arc of the entire work, the entire story as a whole, and not to the arc of the character only, as if that character lived in a bubble without being affected by the other characters and situations of the story.

The better the actor, the more this is understood. And the better the actor, the less of a diva experience on set or backstage, because that actor knows that every single person involved in that project is in service to the art, not to his or her own ego.

So the actor from heaven knows:

(1) How to build a character that is compelling and that grows as an organic thing within the story as an intrinsic part of that story.

(2) How to communicate her/his needs to the director in terms of his or her process, or in terms of needing to understand his or her character’s place in a given scene or in the story as a whole, if that is not clear.

(3) How to step back and be comfortable with simply having fun doing what one does best: acting! Sometimes one can not get an answer from the director that helps. It is useless to let this frustrate you, though it will – big time! It is best instead to just make your choices and keep on going! If it is a film, it is the editor, anyway, that will have the final say about what you do and how it looks on film, so your fate is not your own in any case…unless you’re Brad Pitt or Julia Roberts and can have a final say about final edits. At least, I assume that they can!

The actor from hell is a diva, is not nearly as talented as they think they are, and not-so-secretly wants to be the director – so makes inappropriate suggestions about considerations that are only in the bailiwick of the director.

So, what about the director? The director that is the director from heaven is the one that understands two very, very important things: (1) What the vision/focus of the project is; and (2) How the actor works, and how to support them in their work.

(1) The vision/focus of the project. If a director has only a vague idea of what s/he is trying to say, the actor is in the dark. It’s like swimming in a pool with no “other side” to kick off from. There has to be a very clear and compelling message, and there has to be a clear and compelling reason for each character’s appearance in the story. That’s up to the director to ensure.

(2) How the actor works, and how to support them in their work. The actor is not a machine with buttons for “Cry/Don’t Cry”, “Fear/Love” and so forth somewhere in their bodies that can be pushed at will at any moment, but that fact might surprise a great many people. Actors, and how they do what they do, are still a most mysterious quantity in the world; the “normie” (actress Rose McGowan’s term for someone who has chosen to have a “normal” life rather than an artistic one) spends life trying to keep things in order, keeping untidy emotions organized and rather hidden. The actor goes in completely the other direction, and that is why we love to watch them – it’s a visual catharsis for our senses. But that doesn’t mean we understand the individuals who voluntarily choose to stripe themselves emotionally naked in public! Well, it behooves the director to figure this out – to learn how to communicate with actors as a general rule, and to learn how to adjust for the literally unlimited types of actors that need all kinds of different modes in which to work! It’s not a small thing to learn, but if the director makes the effort, the results are what a Scorcese comes up with, or a Robert Redford, or a Steven Spielberg. Yeah, it’s well worth the effort.

Without these two things in place, the whole project goes to hell in a handbasket…. Without communication, without the director bringing an openness and a sense of learning to each and every project, the actor can easily get hamstrung and have to either bring their B-Game to the table, in order to get through the ordeal, or simply make choices that the director doesn’t like, but can’t figure out how to effectively communicate.

The director and the actor – a relationship in heaven or in hell? Depends – is everyone communicating and learning and co-creating something brand new out of the building blocks of mutual creativity? (Heaven!) Or is each party just doing their own thing and hoping that it magically works out, somehow, in the end? (Hell…)

It’s your choice, and mine, and that guy’s, and hers, and theirs…every single time we start something new. I choose Heaven. As often as I possibly can.

The Actor’s Mini-Heaven

I attended a movie audition today. It’s always a good day when you can audition for something that you truly are interested in.

I am interested in this movie because the script is great – the few pages that I have seen, I mean; they only give you a few pages to look at for auditioning (“sides”, they call those pages, for those of you who are uninitiated to the process). But the thing is, with just a few pages, I get the character; I get the flavors of who this woman is and I get to make some strong character choices. That’s a great script. That’s a thrill to read in audition. And the director told me that my reading was “great”, and seemed to mean it. Of course, this doesn’t assure anyone a part, but it never hurts to be told that you rock. I’ll take it!

Tomorrow I audition for a print ad. I have yet to land a print ad of any kind. I’ve done on-air commercials, but no print. Maybe this will be the break-through.

And tomorrow night I do a jazz singing gig in the nearby town of Livermore at a wine bar called The Double Barrel.

This is a good week. Pretty heavenly, really, which to a non-actor sounds just totally ludicrous, I’m thinkin’.

Gotta go – got to find a beautiful jar I can use for people to put their tips into tomorrow night. The auditions don’t pay, but the singing does, and the tips help.

Living the nutty process…

Lori

George Clooney and the Truth About Acting

I just watched George on the TV show, Inside the Actor’s Studio, and he’s just, simply, fabulous.

I don’t know – I’m almost speechless. Did you know he comes from the same city I do? Cincinnati, Ohio. Yep! We’re neighbors!

Well, we were, in some sense or other, I suppose. And I hereby claim that I will be working with George on a set.

I even know the name of the screenplay – no, I’m not sharing it – which, apparently, I will have to write, even though I don’t know what it will be about, although I do know what the relationship between us will be, and no, it’s not a romantic one. (“Fool!” I hear you screaming. You’re too right. Maybe I should rethink this relationship business.)

Anyway, the truth about acting. As usual, in my experience, the truth about acting is the same about the truth about life, and he said it beautifully (of course; shouldn’t it be against the law to be so amazing? Nah…we’ll take him fabulous.). He said that in order to do your best acting, you have to be at ease. He was asked by a student if it were true that he is a massive practical joker on set, and he said it is true because you gotta have some fun! You gotta relax. I will paraphrase here. He said, “You know how it is in class, when you suck? You try and try and try and you just stink up the place. It’s awful. Then, the minute you just give up, you do it perfectly. It’s great. It’s because you just let go.”

That’s why so many of us keep up this business of acting even when we go months or even years between really relevant acting gigs: it’s that letting go. It’s a feeling like riding a wave, except that the wave is inside of you and is you, all at the same time. It’s a joy that drives you even if the scene has you weeping in grief – a double-feeling experience that can’t be beat!

That’s the truth of acting: we live – we act – to let go.

Ahhhhhh…..