The Music Never Stopped

There is nothing like looking into another actor’s eyes on stage, and knowing that they are with you. You have a bond, a trust, that has come through the rehearsal process.

We are putting our student actors on the right path to trusting one another on stage. We supply the tools to do so. Learning how to realize that trust comes through experience and working together.

The Grateful Dead allowed one another to experiment and improvise on stage, all within the fabric of any given song. Every night’s show with that band was different, new, and fresh. How long did it take them to develop that trust? It certainly wasn’t overnight, but the respect that they had for each other’s artistic capabilities and creative sensibilities, allowed them to go to new places musically. They weren’t afraid to try new things onstage, they broke with all concepts of “formula”, constantly trying new things. Going someplace new artistically is a challenge for all involved, so the question arises, “Are you up to meet that challenge?”

The great movement teacher Viola Spolin said of Marlon Brando, “He didn’t get in the way”. This is how she approached her life, with concepts of movement and behavior, and blocking. You are learning how to own your space AND stay out of the way of the other actor. When you have that trust, you freely flow in and out of one another’s space, you share the territory, as it were. With that trust, comes Creative Freedom.

He didn't get in the way

Each of you can subjectively define your experience here. Being a student here is like being in a laboratory, where you are free to experiment. Some concepts, some exercises, some assignments, some ideas may work better for you than other things do.  With food, some have lactose intolerance, some have allergies, and others can over-indulge in ice cream sundaes. Eating a piece of turkey may put one person to sleep, and it may energize another. We are all individuals who process things differently.

I’ll never forget being in a scene study class, and my scene partner was eating an apple. I continued on with my “doings” in scene, and I checked back, only to see his arm completing a throwing motion. I realized that he had tossed the apple, in my direction! I held up my hand, and it landed right there, in that hand! I never saw it before it landed there. Who trusted whom? Did he trust me? Did I trust him? He saw an opportunity to try something, and it worked. It added a new element to the scene, a happenstance that might happen in an everyday relationship between friends.  It was a real behavior, as we represented a real relationship on stage. Ultimately, he may have been aching to try that move for a while, and maybe he felt safe enough to try it with me, and it worked. The communication landed.

There is no “right” way to say a line. The only way to say a line is to land your communication on the other actor such that they acknowledge it. It’s one thing to memorize your lines, it’s another thing to communicate them to another person. When you send a real communication, or do something, you’ll get a real response, and then you are creating real behavior.

You are never alone on stage. You are never alone in this career. NYCDA will always be the artistic home for our graduates, who are always welcome to visit, and share their successes and their experiences in “The Business”. Your teachers will always know you, and you can always share artistic challenges. To be on a quest for success you need to have a question. We’ll always try to help you find the answer.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites