The
Actors' Muse
I
was born into the world of acting and have always felt it to be a
deeply sacred profession. Acting
requires a dedication beyond the ordinary job.
It demands total dedication.
It demands that its disciples commit themselves to constant
self-exposure, and total self-awareness.
All inner questions must be answered and no leeway is given
for any reason.
Intensity
is demanded of everyone in the acting profession.
We listen intensely. We
enjoy ourselves intensely. We
work intensely hard. We
insist on feeling and exploring all of our emotions, regardless of
restrictive moral codes. We want to know the extreme intensities that cause people to
commit acts we would otherwise shun.
We search for the truth with an intensity that frightens
people who would rather hide.
We refuse to accept any refusal from ourselves, and we
learn, and we learn, and we learn.
With
intense curiosity, we seek into the souls of all earthly beings.
We need to know why everyone does what they do.
We need to know why we do what we do.
If we are to give truth to a fellow human then we must
understand as many potential motivations as we possibly can.
Every
moment of the day is a training session for the actor.
Every emotion is a lesson.
We watch ourselves, and observe how we laugh and cry,
scream or cajole. We
watch other people, and note the variances in their reactions.
We watch how everyone, including ourselves, reacts in every
situation. We learn
body language and we become intensely intuitive. It’s all part of our profession.
Each
person we watch is catalogued for future reference.
We note the interesting way they walk.
We analyse their displays of happiness, or sadness, or
anger, or boredom. We
take each movement, each expression and we dig for its motivation.
We are ruthless in our search.
Our art insists we give life.
We must make it a full life.
We
dig even more deeply into our own personalities.
We learn that, at some level, we are all capable of any and
everything the human creature is capable of.
We learn we are connected at the most intimate level with
our fellow inhabitants of the globe, and we are thankful for the
connection and the understanding it brings, and the way it
enhances our portrayals.
Acting
is deeply humbling. Actors
create new life with each new job. We give meaning and focus to the possibility of a person, and
we love them with the intensity of a parent.
We nurture our understanding and, in the process, nurture
the complexities of this unborn being we will present to the
world. We dig into
our creative baby’s reason for being, and uncover their every
pain, their every joy. We know who they are and who they want to be.
We know why they have become as they are.
We know them better than we know our friends, our family
and even ourselves.
There
is a deep humbleness and joy that comes when we explore enough
into the lives of our fellow humans. We find we are all connected.
We discover the potential for every act ever committed by
any person. We see
the darkness and we see blinding light, and for the sake of our
art we learn to accept them both and use them equally.
We learn compassion, and respect.
We become gentle and empathetic.
Actors
have been blessed by an enchanting, and powerful muse.
We can all feel the might of our muse – it is with us
whenever we work together. A
new world is formed because we make it so.
We bring magic and comprehension to the world, and we feel
infinitely lucky to be the channels for this wonder.
We are the children of Art, forever playing and forever
praying to bring greater truth to our profession.
We know our job brings us in constant touch with demanding
and joyous miracles. We
know our work is sacred, and I, for one, give thanks for our
profound good fortune.
There's No Business Like Show Business
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Dance of the Muses
Romanus, Julius
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