PHILOSOPHICAL MUSINGS

THE NEW YEARS BLOG:Making New Years resolutions has always left me a little suspicious. Why? There’s always been a tiny tremor of doubt that I was simply setting myself up for disappointment. These “resolutions” felt as lame and as anemic as a Hallmark Christmas movie plot. I’d sometimes feel a knot in my stomach anticipating the moment (often within weeks) of the new year that I would break one. What seemed like a sure bet would just as soon evaporate into the land of “why bother” or “maybe next year”. I concluded that making a New Year's resolution was about...

Another banality of the coaching/teaching industry that needs to be addressed, is the mind-numbing cliché that in order to act, you have to “use yourself.” My question is, “which of your many selves are you using?” We are multiples who have multiple relationships with other multiples. Although few of us can lay claim to (or would even want to lay claim to) being like Sybil, we all have many sides to our “personalities” – it’s our multiplicity that makes us interesting and unique. Using 19th century concepts rooted in Freudian psychology as our main source of relationship analysis is as...

If the goal is to be authentic then the only way to be authentic is to be authentic. Therefore, an actor needs to learn how to do consciously what they are doing unconsciously anyway. The underlying premise of what follows is rooted in the belief that standing or sitting on the mark is no different than anywhere else. You are always here. It is always now, and you are always some aspect of yourself under different conditions. If you accept this premise, then what follows should hold true. If you don't it will crumble under its own weight. PART ONE:You cannot bring to...

We are born with a powerful set of lungs able to emit  sounds as piercing as a factory whistle or an ambulance wail.  Yet actors dedicate 4 years of their lives in an acting school learning how to master the art  of breathing in an attempt to “find their natural voice.” As a child our emotions can fluctuate  in a nano-second from red-faced rage to a delightful explosive laugh. Yet we spend 4 years in an acting school learning to “get in touch and access our emotions.” We are impulsive, daring and spontaneous as children. Yet we dedicate 4 years...