Our sensitivity is highly intelligent. We know those one thousand moments very well. But when we are dismissing our own experience, trying to prove ourselves to an outside force, sensitivity is an embarrassment. We want to discard it. We feel like we have to squash that sensitivity in order to project confidence, to prove that we are valid, that we can meet external standards, that we are worthwhile, that we can do it correctly. As if there is an ultimate certificate of excellence, or at the very least, a certificate of appreciation.
But, if you can find your way out of proving yourself, if you can realize the certificate you are craving doesn’t actually exist: then you are able to experience those one thousand moments. Your sensitivity is no longer your problem, but becomes your active intelligence. Your sensitivity becomes your passion. You become interested in your own experience, rather than trying to do the right experience.
That is acting, the art of experiencing. The training in the art of experiencing, is to learn to leave trying to achieve achievement, and instead, to do doing.
Video: Lesson Six of Preparation & Imagination, Point of Focus and Speaking.
Assignment: Sit in a “restaurant” and repeatedly request the server for your order.
Part 1: Caitlin’s first effort.
After she submitted her work in, Caitlin was asked to repeat the exercise and incorporate Active Discovery.
Part II: A brief demonstration of Caitlin performing Active Discovery.
Active Discovery is an exercise taught in Preparation & Imagination. Active Discovery helps an actor integrate their immediate feelings into their work, and connect more fully with the given circumstances of a scene.
Part III: Caitlin’s second effort.
In her second effort, Caitlin submitted work which showed her clearly embodying the scene and actively focusing on her experience rather than trying to act the scene correctly. Her first effort was what Stanislavski would call Representational Acting, and her second effort is what Stanislavski called Experiential Acting.
Caitlin has access to a lot of sensitivity. In her first effort, that sensitivity was working against her. In her second effort, all that sensitivity is working for her. She gives a dynamic and highly realistic performance.