Gil Bomber is organizing 2 workshops with English a natural voice and Alexander Technique teacher, Andrea Small. The workshops will be October 11th and 12th and space is limited, so you should sign up early. Each workshop costs 750 Kč and you should bring your own lunch (drinks are provided). The workshops are being held at Základní škole, Mohylova 1963, Prague 13, close to Metro Lužiny
On Saturday 11th October there will be a workshop (adults only) from 10.30 to 4.30 called “Singing for the Truly Terrified” which is mainly intended for those who feel they would like some extra help when singing, and for those who truly believe they cannot sing. But it is also suitable for anyone who would like to come along and sing (including those who came to it last year) – we will just be taking it a little more slowly than on Sunday.
On Sunday we will be “Singing for Joy”, also from 10.30 to 4.30, and the workshop is open to all adults – we will be singing different songs from those learned on Saturday so attendance at both workshops is fine.
To sign up or for more information, please contact Gil at gilbomber@cbox.cz phone: 608 233 310. Andrea will be teaching private lessons on Friday 10th October. Please book through Gil.
A lot of people talk about how “talented” an actor is, a lot of people starting out acting worry if they have enough “talent” to be successful. But what is talent? Talent seems to be a mixture of how emotionally available you are together with how open you are to showing it, together with a certain sense of vulnerablitiy. Brando talked about measuring talent by thinking about a piano keyboard of emotions. If an actor with no talent can only play a few keys on the keyboard, whereas a hugely talented actor has a large range of emotional range.
Setting talent aside to focus on the craft of acting, how does anyone find out what makes them emotional? When a student is starting out acting, how can they actively enlarge that range of button issues? Being opinionated is key to this. Not only is an actor’s opinion directly linked to how they feel about something (their emotional range), their opinion, or “take” on any given subject is what will set them apart from other actors that may have the same physical characteristics. So, to increase your emotional range, start by really tuning in to your opionions about things.
This isn’t easy to do at first as society rightly trains us all to not show our opinions and go with the flow. Political Corectness is death to an actor’s opinion (and therefor “talent”). As Meisner said: Fuck Polite. Everyone has likes and dislikes that are specific to them, that they really care about when given the freedom. And when given the freedom to really own those opinions, they can produce really strong emotions as they come up against someone who has a differing view of the subject. Apathy, indiference, irony, sarcasm, jadedness, going with the flow, not wanting to make waves, worrying about what other people think. All have a place in everyday life. They all have a reason for being. But for an actor who is just starting down the path of “living truthfully” they will kill that truth really fast.
Actors must seek out their own truthful opinions about things, everything. Those opinions will push them onto the path of emotional openness and fullness, which people view as “talent”. The more opinionated you are, the more varied your opinions are and the freer you are with those opinions, the more “talent” people will say you have. So work on your opinions. Often they’re the only thing that separates you from the thousands of actors who look just like you and have more experience and a better resume.
As always your thoughs and comments (ie. opinions about this post!) are welcome!
The Prague Playhouse is going to be having auditions for Jane Martin’s “Criminal Hearts” September 1st and 2nd at the E-Space (http://pragueplayhouse.com/meisner-acting-class/getting-to-the-space/) from 8pm. “Criminal Hearts” is a comedy about a woman who’s trapped by her phobias about a recent divorce and what happens when she comes into contact with a free spirit.
We’re looking for 2 women and 2 men. The women are aged 25-35 and the men 25-40. To schedule an audition, please contact Amy Huck (774 554 851) or a_huck(at)yahoo.com.
The production will be going up at the end of October.
Acting student James High spent the beginning of the summer at PCFE learning about film directing. The final product is below. There are quite a few acting students in the film. Have a gander! We’d love to get feedback on the short, so leave a comment!
Meisner acting class is back! The class runs every Monday and Wednesday at 18:30 and is open to all who are interested in working on their acting. We had our first class after the summer break last night and it went quite well.
We’re working on monologues this quarter, along with the standard Meisner exercises: What to choose, how to choose it, what to do when you walk into the room, how to rehearse the monologue.
If you’re interested in coming to the class, please call 608 577 012.