The Secret Of Theatrical Space

Notes from Word of Mouth @ A/C Studios/Early rehearsals for Riant Theatre's production of The Upside Down Mirror by Emanuel Fleischmann

First we form habits. Then they form us.
  ~Rob Gilbert

Habit is either the best of servants or the worst of masters.
  ~Mark Twain

As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge.
  ~Henry van Dyke

When I'm learning a role, at some point, I write out my dialogue. This 1) helps me to remember it (a technique I learned from Ed Hook's The Actor's Field Guide: Notes on the Run) and 2), it helps me to focus on each word.

A third incredibly helpful purely physical technique I'm practicing is quite simple -- breathing: while self-rehearsing, I let my breathe fully drop, all the way, down to the bottom of feet, before speaking, and then I just go slow enough to "be" in each word.

Specifically, here's my new self-rehearsal technique:

1. I read and read and read the play to get the sense, the meaning, the thought or intent behind each line of dialogue. It's not that easy, at least for me, but it does becoming easier with experience.
2. Once I've got the meaning, then I integrate the breathe into the meaning: I let my breath fully drop (so I can feel what I'm saying),
3. and I pay close attention to my partner and what I'm trying to communicate

So what does it mean, really, to integrate the breathe into the meaning?

(a short note from last night's rehearsal of The Upside Down Mirror)

What's still fuzzy to me when I tackle plays: the dramatic logic or sense of a scene, what the characters want, specifically. This is the big picture stuff. This is understanding the play from a dramatic perspective, from a dramatic sense . . . this is "getting it" . . .

. . . then there are the lines, the text. This is moment-to-moment.

And through, around and within it all is being open. Being Open.

All of this -- all this is what I want more then anything in the world. It IS the world. It's everything. It's all I want -- I only want this.

Oh yes . . . and really, really DO everything . . .

I don't know if I want to do these shows because I need to act . . . or because I need to learn how to act. I guess I'm not a natural actor: I seem to spend most of my time -- not acting -- but in learning how to act, how to get better . . .

and I take a great deal of joy in that.

Rehearsals for The Upside Down Mirror are going well, but it's an emotionally challenging play, esp. for the lead characters. I've been watching many of us, especially myself, struggle.

Some thoughts about why it can be avoidable struggle . . .