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card reads "how to stay fresh in acting"

How do I stay fresh when I’m doing a scene over and over again?

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I had a student share that she was feeling stale after doing several takes in a row at home and she wondered what to do about that and how to stay fresh.  Watch the clip from class below and then circle back to this top section to get into “the how.”  ↓ ↓ ↓

The main idea is that as actors we need to learn how to be able to do take after take without getting stale.  The take after take itself isn’t the problem.  Does that make sense?   

You can practice in a good class how to rediscover the scene each time.

Here’s some key questions to ask to stay fresh when rehearsing: 

  • Are you truly being active and doing something to the other person in the scene?  When you are warmed up and play a juicy action (that’s right for the scene)  like “I smack them,” it will get you in your body, focused on deeply listening to see how that action landed.  Ultimately it should get you out of your head and into the “right now.”  (not stale!)
  • Are you deeply connected to a big want in the scene?  Does it ignite you?  And for comedy, are you going for the laugh or going for the want?
  • If you had a rehearsal or take that felt good, did you then try to recreate or regurgitate that thing you did, or did you allow yourself to let go and rediscover the moment to moment?
  • Are you in your head and judging or watching yourself?  Try a few mantras before you roll like “It’s okay to let go,” “I do my work, I do not prove my worth,” “I will allow myself to be seen,” “I’m going to let the camera take the ideas from me.”  See if that helps.

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah: My husband Matt and I have been watching Friends from the beginning (it’s such a great lesson in comedy). And I listened to this interview with David Schwimmer about going to Northwestern and getting theatre training and, you know, he has very specific training, and he was talking about how he has to have the technique to be able to do something again and again and again and again and again–but how he’ll experiment with something being new every time, even though he knows he can repeat it. What if I fell this way, and did some physical comedy in this way?

So I think you have, you know, there’s gonna be stuff that works, especially thinking specifically about comedy, which this scene is not, there’s stuff that you will rehearse in there because you’ve found that that’s what works, on the timing, on the thing. But there’s always a letting go that happens so that if you have an impulse, you’re available to it. That slowing down enough to not have like, I’ve gotta do this plan, I’m gonna hit it every time, you know.

It’s why people talk about working with great actors making them better, because they give them so much to work off of, but if you’re not an actor who can work off of someone, it won’t matter who you’re in the scene with. Great actors will give you something fresh every time. Even if it’s the same choice, it’ll be the same choice, discovered new.

Right, that’s why actions are so great, because just because you decided in a moment it really works to release him, if you release him for real every time, it’s never gonna be the same. It’s fresh every night. How do you do eight shows a week on Broadway? There’s things that are gonna be the same, but new. They’re not regurgitated, but discovered. You can discover the same choice every night. But you’re still available and listening in case you get a curveball.

card reads "why it's impossible to over-rehearse"

Craft, technique, and why you can’t over-rehearse

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It kind of blows my mind that pursuing craft and technique are almost controversial these days.

I get it. It’s kind of an attractive idea that you could simply work on freeing your instrument, memorize a bunch of words and give a performance the story deserves. I have just so so rarely seen that happen — and even in those rare cases, I tend to find certain aspects of the performance lacking and detrimental to the story.

There are cases where the actor is simply playing a role that is incredibly similar to themselves and it kind of works—but what happens when your personal instincts that feel good are just wrong for the story? What happens when your typical reaction to confrontation in life is to shut down but the story calls for strength? This is when I see actors unintentionally make the story about themselves.

I really don’t say this to be judgemental or critical of anyone’s process. I say this because this work really matters to me. It makes me think about how Larry Moss sat next to Stella Adler at a dinner party and she begged him not to “let it die,” meaning the craft. I’m grateful to him that he’s been such a big part of keeping it alive for me and so many others.

In this clip, I share a powerful example of how technique, craft, and rehearsal can create a recipe for mastery and lead to performances that feel almost transcendental.

This is why I don’t really think it’s possible to over-rehearse—if you learn how to release and let go.

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah: The Presence book that I was listening to this morning, she was talking about concerts. She loves concerts…and seeing musicians when they’re really in the moment, and what happens and how they sort of transcend. And then she was  talking about dancers and this friend of hers who had seen Mikhail Baryshnikov do this dance that Jerome Robbins had choreographed. And the first time they saw it, it was technically perfect, but didn’t have this deep impact. And then he saw it again like a year later and said it just completely blew his mind.

It’s the same dance, and it was the same choreography, but that he was so alive and present in a way that felt intangible, you know, like it felt spiritual, you know?

Student: Oh, yeah.

Sarah: And that to me is so much about what I—you know, cuz I really do believe in technique. And technique, you know, there’s the coaches who really believe that all you’re supposed to do is get present and go from your instincts, and for me, it really is, it’s like doing that dance that Jerome Robbins choreographed for you. You have to do all the work, so that you can be technically perfect, and then you give over. And then you surrender. And then you let it go.

Student: Yeah.

Sarah: That’s mastery.

card reads: how to rehearse and keep it fresh

How to rehearse to keep it fresh in performance

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Ever not exactly sure how to rehearse?

I believe in rehearsal.  I’ve rarely used the term “over-rehearsed” because I rarely see that as the cause of less than excellent work.  This diagnosis is usually thrown out there when a performance looks rigid, planned, or stale.

But how you rehearse is crucial and the key to avoiding those previously mentioned pitfalls.

Ok, so how do you keep your work fresh when rehearsing a lot?  Or when you’re doing the same take or play over and over again?

How you rehearse will inform how you perform.  So if you notice in rehearsal that the scene feels stuck in sameness each time through, when you get on set or on stage, you may find yourself regurgitating an intonation or making an attempt to reproduce certain results that felt good. But this means you’re focusing on yourself and the results instead of the other person.

The key here is to think of rehearsal as a time to play, experiment, and plant seeds vs a time to lock in your performance and create some sort of rigid plan. Focus on what you’re doing to the other person instead of how the words are coming out.  Make sure you watch the clip below to learn how to implement this.

I love to recommend the app Actions: The Actors’ Thesaurus to keep rehearsals playful.  It can help shake you out of that dreaded “saying the line the same way every time” problem.

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah:  Let’s talk about how to rehearse now that you’ve got a good little skeleton here to work with. 

I want you to be really careful of trying to recreate. Like, you’ll try something with your verb, and you’ll like it, it’ll come out well. Ooh, that feels right. And then, instead of trying to redo the verb, you’ll try to redo how you did it, with the same inflection. Try to stay away from that. Try to keep playing. I’m doing this to Dad, I’m doing this to Dad. And let it come out fresh every time.

And you can also—we don’t have to nail down all these verbs, right? You can rehearse and keep looking for more. Okay, “destroy” was cool, what if I demolish him, what if I attack him, what if I shatter him? It’s kind of like you’re taking each seed from each verb, planting it in the little hole in the dirt, covering it up, and then watering it. And then when you go to do the scene and you’re rehearsing it, you see what comes up based on your instincts and based on what the other actor, or the other reader, gives you in that circumstance.

So you’re not locked in. You can still listen. You can still respond with authenticity.

card reads "HOW TO STRENGTHEN YOUR IMAGINATION EVERY DAY"

Why you need to strengthen your imagination as an actor

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What do you do to strengthen your imagination in acting?

Practice!  For example:

  • Think about a specific setting or place of a scene you have worked on. (Like, a park or a funeral home)
  • Use sensory work to deepen your connection and get as specific as you can–
  • What does this place look like in your imagination? 
  • What does it smell like? 
  • What is the temperature of the air?
  • Is there an object in this place you might touch that affects how you’re feeling?  

Or:

  • What if there’s a monster you need to be terrified of?  How can you create the reality of that monster?  Can you see its gnarly teeth?  
  • What would be like if you were covered in spiders?
  • If your flesh was on fire?
  • If you had an alien in your belly?

Or:

  • Think of a character you’ve worked on with a rich history or backstory.
  • Use your imagination to build a specific event from this person’s past so that roots take hold in you and affect you deeply.  
  • How specific can you get?  Can you include your five senses?

When you practice, can you feel yourself being affected by this work?  If not, it’s definitely time to add more imagination to your daily practice.

You can also read a new book, and when you get to an interesting scene, put the book down, and strengthen your imagination through building the scenario on the book as vividly as you can. Invest in the circumstances. How would you react in that situation? Can you get on your feet and embody it?

Even just five or ten minutes of this sensory work daily can help you strengthen your imagination, and as a student says in this clip from class, there’s nothing more powerful than the human imagination.

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah: And that’s why it’s good, as part of whatever warmup you do regularly, for both of you, to have regular work of sensory recall – of working that muscle so that you can see and connect and have things hit you and there’s not gonna be, the more you do those kinds of warmups every day, so that things really do move through you in a free way, you can tell that story with your body and your voice.

Student: There’s nothing more powerful than the human imagination.

Sarah: It’s really true.

Student: But it is like a muscle.

Sarah: It is!

Student: You have to regularly train in.

Sarah: It is. Larry Moss used to say that actors’ imaginations were lazy now because we watch everything instead of read, and that the best thing an actor could do would be to read a lot of novels, read a lot of things that are gonna constantly strengthen your imagination. And then to do those kinds of exercises, where you’re seeing someone in front of you, and touching your face, and smelling their hair, and allowing it to affect you.

And doing that work all the time. Even in a small way, if you do that for five or ten minutes, that muscle gets strong. But it can be hard. It can be hard if you’re not used to doing it.

card reads: having trouble stepping int your character's shoes?

How to make stepping into your character’s shoes easier and more authentic

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Ever thought about the idea of an action palette for the roles you work on?  I love this, it’s super juicy and can help you with stepping into your character’s shoes.

I often use exercises inspired by Scott Illingworth’s book (Exercises for Embodied Actors) to encourage actors to find their own personal action palette.  (Essentially you take detailed notes of the actions you play in your own life for a week and you’re eventually able to boil it down to a small group of action words that reveal the palette you tend to play from in your everyday life.)

The roles you play also have palettes and I find this incredibly helpful, especially when you are working on a role who has had a very different set of circumstances in their life than you and won’t be able to simply pull from your own palette of actions and do the role justice.

In this clip, I had encouraged this actor to build the story and connections that will justify her actions in the scene.

Instead of hoping you will magically lose yourself and transform or morphe into an entirely new person (this is not usually what an actor experiences), think of their life as yours.  What if there was no distance at all?  What if it was actually vital that you never lose yourself?

Find the hooks that connect you to the circumstances and the core of what you are experiencing in the scene. This can help you truly live their life on camera and shatter the notion of somehow losing you.

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Student: It’s funny, I feel much more like Angela than I did in the beginning.

Sarah: Yeah! Good!

Student: In the beginning when I first read it, I was reading it to Rosie, and I was like, “Rosie, I’m never going to be able to be this woman!

Sarah: You totally are! Such a good experiment, though, right?

Student: It was a great experience because it really forced me to be uncomfortable, like I’m not, I can’t say that, I’m never gonna say things like that, but…

Sarah: It’s so much more fun!

Student: I can say things like that!

Sarah: Why not? And, this is why I’m, again, excited for you to do these actions in your own life, because you’re gonna start to see, like you said, I don’t feel like her yet. Part of us, in our own lives, what we start to see doing this exercise, is that we are constantly code-switching, depending on who we’re with, and in a way, it’s not that different, when we step into these temporary situational selves.

And say, this is me, if all these other life circumstances happen, so let me build some of the past, let me build a couple of vivid memories, let me step into her shoes. I don’t have to become her, but I can figure out what her palette is and why. Why does she have to protect herself? What happened?

Student: Right.

Sarah: So it doesn’t have to feel so far away from you, like you have to become this other human and lose yourself into Angela, you know? I don’t think that’s real.

BUILDING BLOCKS

Skip this simple rehearsal step = derail your scene

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It can be super easy to launch yourself into exciting material that’s got you all fired up and forget to begin with the simple steps or the foundation.  After all, you’ve been at this for a while, right?  You know what you’re doing…

But skipping that early important work can have disastrous effects on the scene because you may end up unintentionally playing a scene that’s more about the actor’s mood or emotion than the story on the page.

So save this post for when you just need a quick reminder of what you need to know before you jump into a scene:

The Circumstances

What’s literally happening in the scene, including what has come before. What are your relationships to everything mentioned in the scene? (I call this the POPE- people, objects, places events.)

The Big Want

In this role, what do you want to achieve, what is your main goal?  What do you want from the other people in the scene?  Sometimes there are multiple wants.  Build a relationship to why it’s so important you achieve that want that you the actor can connect to internally and deeply.  Can you zoom out?  Do you also have a big life dream in this role?

The Obstacles

What is in your way? (the other people are almost always providing good obstacles) How are you going to get through their obstacles?This is the very beginning, some of the stuff you can take right from the text, that you can then use to help you start to make choices in the next phase of rehearsal. 

 

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah: Actors forget this all the time, and we have to remind even the most professional actors: what do I want? What do I want? Because we can start making all of these choices and getting totally derailed, so try to remember that until you know what your character wants in the scene, you won’t be able to play the scene well.

Student: Okay.

Sarah: Because everything you do after that is gonna be in service of the thing you want. One of the biggest mistakes you can make going into a scene is to try to play the idea of a scene. Is to try to play an emotional idea of it. We can read this and be like, oh they’re angry and they’re sad. So I’m gonna do that. I’m gonna try to be angry here and I’m gonna try to be sad here. And I’m gonna, you know, I’m gonna try to play this idea of it, when in fact, we have to scrap all of that. Think about what they want, go after what they want, build the relationship internally to what they want so that you can feel it, and the rest of that stuff, the emotion, the anger, the sadness, that will come without you having to show it. This’ll make more sense as we start to work.

Student: No, that makes lots of sense.

Sarah: Yeah, cuz it is the big trap. It’s the big trap that a lot of people…they play an attitude or an idea of a scene, and that’s when they get caught acting. That’s the acting that puts us to sleep, where we’re like “I don’t know if I really believe that.” They’re playing an idea of something rather than…in our lives, we’re always trying to get something from someone else, right? In every moment! In every moment of our day, we’re trying to get something. When we’re having an exchange with people, you know, I’m in the kitchen with my husband in the morning, I’m trying to get things happening!

Student: Yeah.

Sarah: So it’s the same thing for our characters. So what’s literally happening, what do I want, and then there’s this little triad, these three things that would be in the acting triangle, of [what’s happening,] what do I want, and what’s in the way.

card reads "HOW TO INSTANTLY GET MORE PRESENT IN ACTING"

How to instantly get powerful and more present in acting

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Don’t you kinda wish there was a magic spell for feeling more powerful and more present in acting? Something that would boost your confidence heading into an audition and make you more present in all your work?

Well, it’s not a magic spell, but power posing feels pretty darn close.

This is a tool I learned from the book Presence by Amy Cuddy, and ever since I learned about it, I’ve been reminding myself to implement it in my own life, and I hope you can do the same.

(I even used it with my daughters who were super nervous about their doctor appointment so we played Simon Says in the waiting room and I tricked them into power posing…it worked!)

Power poses like standing with your feet planted firmly and your hands on your hips, or arms up in the air in a V for Victory pose, can cause actual chemical changes in your body. The poses decrease your cortisol and increase testosterone which creates the perfect combination for presence, calm, and assertiveness.

Watch this clip from class and let me know if you try it out!  Love your feedback!

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah: Let’s try something. Just stand up and see if…we’re gonna do some power posing. Do you know what power posing is?

Student: No. Maybe.

Sarah: It’s awesome. There’s a Ted Talk about it, but there’s this woman’s book I’m reading. It’s called Presence, is the woman who talks about power posing. And she talks about the science and the chemistry of what happens in our bodies when we take on these physical poses, and how a lot of how we carry ourselves, if we’re collapsed, if we’re twisted up, if we’re hunched over, like this, the chemistry in our body changes. Our cortisol spikes, literally just from physical posture.

From physical posture, our cortisol goes up, and our testosterone goes down. But when we are in powerful poses, like you can start with your hands on your hips and your feet a little bit spread, chin up.

When we’re in powerful poses, our cortisol goes down and our testosterone goes up, which is the perfect combination for presence, for calm, for assertiveness. So this is like, you may have heard of people doing power posing before job interviews, and they did this study where they followed people who were—even people who were more qualified for the jobs did poorer than the people who power posed before job interviews. Because they were so much more confident and calm. And present! And present.

So this is, I’ve been thinking a lot about my posture when I sit at my desk, I’ve been thinking about like, you can just keep holding the pose, and now you can shift it up into, arms up like a V, like victory, like you just won the race. Chest out, arms up, feet planted hip distance apart. Like you just won the race and your arms are up.

There’s the most fascinating studies done about all of this that’s totally blowing my mind. And how power, how in a lot of ways, power and presence are almost the same thing. Meaning personal power, not what they would call social power.

So sometimes even just adjusting your body, how you sit and carry yourself and walk around in the world, can make a tremendous difference. And even, they said, in times when you can’t do the physical pose, like if you’re in the waiting room for a job interview or whatever, or you’re with people, you can do it in your mind, and even that will make a difference.

card reads: having trouble connecting to your body in acting?

Why connecting to your body in acting is essential

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There’s a lot of talk about building your inner world and using your imagination and building connections in acting, right?

But have you ever felt like it’s your body that’s holding you back?  Using your full body in acting is essential, and sometimes connecting to your body can be just as difficult as working through an emotional block. But I promise it’s worth the time you’ll put in.

Why is it so important to act with your full body? (yes, even on camera!)

If something isn’t clicking internally, it’ll be hard to inhabit your body truthfully, and likewise, if you’re not feeling free in your body, you may find that your emotions become difficult to access.  They sort of…get stuck.

For example, maybe you’re tall and have always subconsciously felt like you take up too much space so you hunch your shoulders and round your back. What’s going to happen when you attempt to embody proud royalty?  There are lots of exercises you can do to free your body up, including doing Alexander Technique work, which is truly fabulous.

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Student: I do get really uncomfortable in my body and like I don’t really know what to do with it, so that’s definitely the next thing I want to work on, is just moving to that next step of what’s the next chunk to work on.

Sarah: Yes. And finding where you’re cut off from yourself in your body and working to release. Find some Alexander technique videos online that you can watch that will help you. I remember learning early on, working on George Bernard Shaw, I was working on Mrs. Warren’s Profession, and I realized for some reason I was completely cut off from full extension in my arms.

So I would go to gesture and it would be like, everything would kind of get stuck in here. And I think it was because I was working with the corset and all the stuff, but I had to learn that I wasn’t fully embodying the stuff that I was playing. And working on Alexander and doing different animal work and all that stuff, so that I could feel confident in using the full expression of my body.

Student: Gotcha.

Sarah: And all that stuff from the folder will be great to keep doing, the playing with the dial, expanding the actions, embodying those full expansion, cranking it all the way up to a 10 and letting your full body get engaged. And then you can bring it back down. And when you’re frustrated and you have an impulse, you feel like BLAH, you know?

But good. I’m glad you did that, I’m glad you taped, and the more you’re taping these things and figuring out that process and how to get in your body before you do that so that you can feel the way you look right now. Right, you’re released right now, and moving normally, and…

Student: Yeah.

card text reads "rehearsal vs instinct"

Rehearsal vs instinct: does rehearsal kill instincts in acting?

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It’s one of the great battles in acting, and especially in acting classes: acting technique vs. instinct.

I’m sure you’ve heard the stories of name actors who never rehearse – they walk on set having never uttered the words out loud until they roll.  I’d be lying if I denied there are certain actors that can do this successfully in very specific scenes for very specific roles.  Those roles are usually very close to the actor and can be played very close to home.  It’s usually very naturalistic and, dare I use the phrase that gives me hives, “thrown away”. 

I can even remember an audition I taped when I was acting that was pretty dang good where I pretty much relied on my instinct only and it was good work.  (But I also have technique deeply ingrained in me and I break scripts down as I go without even being aware of it.)

This method has severe limitations.

On the other hand, if you’re working scenes with just rigid technique only, you might find yourself feeling stilted, or worrying too much about if you’re “getting it right.”

This debate reminds me so much of the parenting debate: should I read books about parenting or should I rely on my instincts?  My approach for parenting and acting are the same – do the homework, read the books and THEN trust your instincts.  It’s not just rehearsal vs instinct, one or the other. Instincts are freed by good technique, technique and rehearsal do not kill instinct.Check out this conversation in class to hear more about why I think having a strong foundation of acting technique is essential to creating authentic work.

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah: I do think technique is so important because…I feel like there are these different schools of acting coaches out there right now. There’s like the hardcore dogma technique stuff, where it’s like, you have to follow these rules. And then there’s this other kind of new wave, new age of acting technique, where it’s like there is no acting technique! You just free yourself and then your instinct is all you need.

That makes me actually angry because there’s no way! If you’re truly just playing everything from your instinct, you’re going to be playing a version of yourself always and forever, you know. So I really feel like there’s a middle ground. We have to do all that work so that we can get freed up, so that we can have all those wonderful impulses and there’s some stuff where we really do need to know the rules of the world and all that stuff.

card reads: "how to make acting look real part 2"

How to make acting look real PART 2

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A couple weeks ago, I shared a blog about the superpower of imagination and how to use it to make acting look real. You can use your imagination to build memories of moments your character has experienced, and if you go deep enough with that work, you might find that your body does the work of getting emotional. Cool, right? If you haven’t yet, take a look at that post and then come back here to go a little deeper.

So the next piece here is simple: How do you know if it’s working?  The key is paying attention to how your imagined memories affect you physically.

Think about a time in your real life when you did something really embarrassing.  I once knocked a glass of wine off a table at a tiny, crowded East Village restaurant table with my head while impersonating a woman tossing her hair back.  When I relive that moment, to this day, my stomach dips and I feel like face-palming. When emotions are real to your body, your body will let you know…it’s the physical clues you’re looking for – it’s the way you get stirred up by what you use. Those are the moments that will make acting look real.

Check out this clip from class to hear more about how to know when your imagination is really working for you. It’s a game-changer!

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah: Good, so that’s that part. That’s that next part of going through and making sure you’ve got that specificity, you’ve got that specificity of okay, exactly what are my images. And you may find as you work, that you’re building it, and then you can kind of do the line again with the picture and see how it feels. And do I need to adjust the picture? Sometimes what you build is very simple, like if you’re building a simple sentence like, “Where’d you go this afternoon?” “Oh, I went to lunch at this restaurant and I had a ham sandwich.” Very simple, right.

If you’re talking about the last time I saw my mother before she passed away…she was frail and sick and…that is something that you not only have to build with specificity, but how might you treat that differently? If you were working on something where there was a situation like that? How would you know…how would you attempt that differently?

Student: Compared to the ham sandwich?

Sarah: Yeah.

Student: Okay, so I probably would imagine having to visit her in the hospital, like maybe when she first got sick, and I had to rush her to the hospital. Maybe being beside her on her deathbed and telling her I love her, like that.

Sarah: How would you know if it was working?

Student: For me personally, if I was…if it was hard to get out, if it’s hard for me to say, like if I’m crying or tearing up or something or I’m just like incredibly sad.

Sarah: Yeah. Is it affecting me? And that’s how, that’s what the work looks like. Like when you’re rehearsing, it may be that right off the bat, that what you’ve built isn’t affecting you. And so then you’ve gotta go deeper, or you’ve gotta go, okay, why is this not affecting me yet? Is it that my imagery isn’t right? Is it that I’m blocked off emotionally about this? Did I lose my mother and now I don’t wanna feel this? Why, why? Right? And then I gotta go do…that’s why no scene is the same. Because our lives are all so uniquely different, right? And we’re all gonna have different stuff. So we gotta go in and go, am I telling the story right now?

Student: Mmhmm. Okay. Yeah, it’s a good question to ask yourself.

Sarah: Yeah. Am I telling the story? Cuz that’s it. It’s not, do I sound natural? It’s am I telling the story that needs to be told.

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