Posts filed under 'Acting'
We just finished up our last Meisner acting class of the quarter and are starting our summer break. Class starts up again September 14 and there is space available, so if you’re interested in getting serious about your acting, get in touch. We’d love to have you!
I’m including here an email that I sent out to the acting class to give you all an idea of what you can do to keep sharp on your acting (or art in general, really), when the days are long and we’d all rather lay around in the park.
- Rehearse! just because there isn’t class doesn’t mean that you can’t rehearse. The more regularly you can meet, the more you can keep exploring the technique, your opinions, working off of the other person. Most (95%) of the work happens in rehearsal, so make plans to meet with each other and KEEP THEM!
- Keep an Artist’s Journal. Journaling is a great way to explore your opinions, meanings, doors and activities, the technique in general. Getting in the habit of writing down your ideas, really working out the specific details in writing, using your writing as a personal sounding board (where you can test out how you feel about the ideas you’re exploring in your writing). Get writing, write down every idea, every exploration, every problem you have to work out or are wrestling with, every insight into the technique or thought about art in general. Use the writing to find your voice.
- Reading plays/scenes/acting books. Reading is the primary way we learn. Period. If you’re not reading books that are good for you as an actor and an artist, then you’re reading the wrong things. If you have trouble finding good books for acting, let me know and I’ll give you a list of books. Reading plays and scenes is Absolutely necessary for those of you that are working on scenes. Over the next few weeks, I will start making copies/scans of the plays that I have and soliciting other thespians in the community for their plays so that I can develop a library of plays which you will be able to access. You must read plays to get a feeling for story, character, pacing and dialog. Read GOOD plays by experienced and celebrated playwrights. If you need help finding good plays, you can order them from Dramatists Play Service. They have lists of Tony and Pulitzer prize winners: http://www.dramatists.com/text/pulitzers.html http://www.dramatists.com/text/tonys.html. READ PLAYS!!
- Support groups – The Artists Way and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. A great way to change habits (the habit of procrastination, for instance) is to do it in a group. Let group peer pressure work for you. There are two books which offer solutions in 1) being creative (The Artists Way) and 2) being effective. You will need both skills as professional artists. Being effective means that you actually do the things you plan or want to do. Being creative means that you have access to your fantasy, imagination and are able to welcome new ideas and instincts without dismissing them or prejudging them. Support groups, group meetings where you work through each of these books chapter by chapter, are a great way to tackle what can be a daunting paradigm change. Like the Sunday Church meetings, create a stable meeting where once a week you meet, discuss the previous week’s chapter, share any of the homework or worksheets that the previous week asked for and one person teaches the next chapter to the group (the next week, someone else teaches the next chapter). Teaching is a wonderful way to learn something deeply and each of you should get experience in it! I would focus on one book per quarter. And just rotate through them.
July 7th, 2009
New Master Class: Screen Acting Technique
Casting Director, Nancy Bishop, C.S.A. offers a new on-camera master class taught in English for actors. New and returning students alike are welcome to attend this two day intensive course. Unlike previous workshops, this class will focus on screen acting techniques, rather than casting technique.
Day 1. Screen Acting Technique: Actors participate in a series of practical exercises that develop effective methods for screen acting. Material covered will include learning how to calibrate a performance for close-up vs. wide shot, playing an inner monologue, playing reaction shots and playing in the eyes.
Day 2. Strategies for Screen Casting. Actors will apply the techniques they learned on Day One to perform scenes from a variety of genres. The scenes, chosen from actual film scripts, will include a variety of genres ranging from historical drama, to action/thriller to sci-fi. Each participant will get one-on-one coaching in front of the camera with Nancy.
Emmy-award nominated, American Casting Director, Nancy Bishop, has cast over fifty American and British films, from her base in Prague. She is a member of The Casting Society of America, and the International Network of Casting Directors. She has cast for major feature films including Roman Polanski’s Oliver Twist, Hellboy, Bourne Identity, and the recently released Wanted and Prince Caspian. In addition to being a casting director, Nancy is committed to actor training and has developed a proven method for casting technique. She has been teaching casting workshops throughout Europe, the UK, and the US, and she is starting an Acting for Film Department at the Prague Film School that begins Sept, 09. Her book, Secrets from the Casting Couch, will be published by Methuen drama in August, 09.
Time: 11:00AM – 5:30PM
Date: Thurs-Friday, 30-31 July, 2009
Place: Studio Storm, Biskupsky Dvur 4, Prague 1
Cost: 4,000Kc for two days, or 160 EUR
How to register: The class is limited to 14 participants so please register soon.
Please send photo and CV to: workshops@nancybishopcasting.com
See: www.nancybishopcasting.com for more information
July 6th, 2009
this is a test excerpt
Continue Reading June 22nd, 2009
Hi everyone!
I’m Boris Wilke and member of the Prague Playhouse Meisner acting group. I blog about our class activities.
Yesterday Monday, June 15th, was a truly astonishing class, as some members did “Home Alone” activities, a thing I had never seen before. I’ll talk about that after Wednesday’s class, though… 
Besides, yesterday’s class made me think about motivation. And that is, what I will write about today.
Click on the “ACTING CLASS” button above to read more about the class itself and where we meet!
Click the “(more…)”-button below to read about motivation!
I was gone on vacation for a week. Before that I had a couple of classes, that I failed to find interesting enough to blog about. And last week, I suffered from “Acting Fatigue”, which is a euphemism for “lack of interest”.
Now, what is it, that keeps me from going to class sometimes?
The answer lies in the nature of the course. Friends of mine have asked me about it, time and again. And their questions all ran like this:
“So you go to this acting group. What play do you work on?”
“None.”
“None? Are there at least skits or scenes, you are doing?”
“Scenes, from time to time. But they are used merely as exercises, as the rest of the time in class.”
“What? You only exercise? What is the use of that? Why don’t you create something? When can we see you on stage?”
“When I make an audition, I mean, IF I make one. Then we rehearse and then we perform. But that has nothing to do with the Meisner acting class.”
“I don’t get, what you are doing there…”
And so on…
Yeah, I sometimes also don’t “get”, what I am doing in class. Activities and doors take hours to prepare. They involve you emotionally. Otherwise they tank. You are supposed to rehearse with them as well. I am a writer and have time. But I still cannot get myself to do enough for class. How do people fare, who actually WORK all day?
And that is the thing about the Meisner technique: It is really cruel. It throws you back on yourself, over and over again. You are supposed to delve deeper and deeper into your inmost feelings and baring them in this stupid space in front of these near-strangers called class-mates, who gawk at the awkwardness and geeky situations of embarrassment, that you present them with; until it is their turn, that is. And it so shows, when you come badly prepared. It also hurts, when you see people, who have been in class way shorter than you, pass you on their way to become “Meisner trained”, just because they rehearse more.
When you put on a show in class and try to remain chief of the situation, you are reprimanded by your teacher, and rightly so, for being fake and not letting out your true opinions, thus failing to transport your true feelings. When you become defensive, because you have become really vulnerable and fear getting hurt emotionally during an exercise, you get flared for not letting go, for being too polite, for focussing on other things than your partner alone.
Meisner is harsh and takes a lot of dedication.
How can one motivate oneself to muster the energy to come up with the necessary level of dedication?
Many of us did make an audition and did get to perform in real plays, TV-series and films. They have had a certain reward for their suffering in and around class.
I have only been in student films thus far and am really sick and tired of just going to class.
But I need this high level of dedication as well. Otherwise I can quit, right here, right now. But I will do ANYTHING than that!
How do I motivate myself for just going to class, then?
I go to class despite it and because of it. I try to love it, to just go for its own sake. Meisner class, to me, is a little laboratory of life itself. I might have mentioned this idea already before. But it is all the more important to stress it:
In class people laugh, cry, despair, fight, scream, cuddle, smile and sing, just like in real life, or better even, just like they SHOULD in real life but fail to, because of political correctness and other mechanisms, that inhibit them.
I test myself every time I do an exercise. I put myself forward and see what I am like. That is absolutely worth all the pain and strain and despair and lack of energy and humiliation, that go along with it.
Paradoxically enough, all that is my motivation: Even during those times, when I give in to NOT going to class – because it wears me out, it unnerves me, I hate its participants too much, I cannot muster the energy to come up with yet ANOTHER door and activity, I feel above or below it, I don’t see the point of it… – I dedicate myself to the process of the Meisner way.
If he didn’t say it, I am sure, he placed it between the lines somewhere: “As life is not about happiness but fullness, so is Meisner training.”
There is no easy way to it. And that’s what I love about it. Easy is boring.
Meisner is exiting!
And that is that.
**********************
General stuff:
Our acting class consists of some ten active members, who meet every Monday and Wednesday from 6.30 pm to about 8.30. We do Meisner. And the Meisner-technique really rocks!
If you want to connect with your inmost feelings, expressing them freely in an acting environment and thus getting to know yourself better and better, feel free to join us! But beware, this quarter is going to end in about two weeks! Check this site for details as to when the summer break will end!
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About the author:
I am Boris Wilke, a German expat in Prague. I am a writer at large and have been studying Meisner since January 2008. If any of you know of any kind of acting work, that befits a laddish, tall 40-year-old, please leave a note!
June 16th, 2009
Hi everyone!
I’m Boris Wilke and member of the Prague Playhouse Meisner acting group. I blog about our class activities.
On Monday, May 18th, our teacher Ben Steel reminded us to mind about connection in Meisner exercises.
Click on the “ACTING CLASS” button above to read more about the class itself and where we meet!
Click the “(more…)”-button below to read about last night’s class!
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Last night I finally had an exercise that felt good, worked well and was appreciated by our teacher, too.
Whot hath gone right?
First of all, my exercise had meaning. It wrenches my heart out to think about it even now. It had a strong connection to the most important of my real life worries. It had an imaginary element. It was physically difficult. And I let it drop enough to connect to my partner.
Now, connection: What is that exactly?
First timers in Meisner class connect by looking at their respective partners and commenting on something existing, non-mental, such as: “Your pants are torn.” or: “You have a scar across your biceps.”
When one repeats those obvious facts, the connection consists of your partner’s reaction to these trivialities, which is mostly smiling, blushing, going blank or stiff.
The words don’t carry any meaning, really. One uses them just as a transfer medium, as a bridge to your partner. This is the most important and basic means of connection.
When one starts to comment on one’s partner’s behavior, a few steps higher on the 20-year-or-more-staircase of Meisner training, the words flavor this basic connection. They add an element of feeling. It does make a difference if your partner tells you: “Your hair is green.” or if they yell at you: “You are green with envy!”
But connection remains something non-verbal. You still just use the words as a medium that carries connection.
Try to repeat with eyes closed. You will see, that a lot has to do with your senses. With your eyesight gone for a moment, your hearing and sense of space all of a sudden become really important. Blind repetition is a valuable addition to exercises, in that it strengthens your connection. The link through words is even stronger. But you might find out, that their meaning really only flavors the link, rather than, that the link consists of the words.
I wonder what it would be like to constrain oneself to a non-sensical call such as: “Unni wenno, whooz.” or anything that comes to mind and does not carry any meaning whatsoever. How hard would it be to connect? And what would the connection be like? I bet, the way, one would say “Unni wenno, whooz.” would alter dramatically during the exercise. One would laugh, get angry, frustrated or worried just like with “real” words.
Ben mentioned silence as well. Taking the above example to extremes would mean, not to say anything at all during an exercise. And silence can carry meaning. One can remain connected during a period of silence. It works in real life when you run out of words to say or just get tired saying them, when you are too happy to speak or overwhelmed with some other feeling.
Go figure that this works in acting, too!
Go figure what a great moment silence can be to an audience, when this silence is bristling with the most intense connection between the partners on stage.
Now that is awesome and leaves the audience breathless and connected to the play.
That is Meisner magic!
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General stuff:
Our acting class consists of some ten active members, who meet every Monday and Wednesday from 6.30 pm to about 8.30. We do Meisner. And the Meisner-technique really rocks!
If you want to connect with your inmost feelings, expressing them freely in an acting environment and thus getting to know yourself better and better, feel free to join us!
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About the author:
I am Boris Wilke, a German expat in Prague. I am a writer at large and have been studying Meisner since January 2008. If any of you know of any kind of acting work, that befits a laddish, tall 40-year-old, please leave a note!
May 19th, 2009
Hi everyone!
I’m Boris Wilke and member of the Prague Playhouse Meisner acting group. I blog about our class activities.
On Wednesday, May 13th, our teacher Brian Caspe had us think about meaning in Meisner exercises.
Click on the “ACTING CLASS” button above to read more about the class itself and where we meet!
Click the “(more…)”-button below to read about tonight’s class’s resemblance to aliens having just found a new home here on Earth!
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Imagine you met someone, who thought, life was a Meisner exercise – say, an alien, who looks like a human being, but really isn’t human at all and sees this plane of existence as an option rather than the real thing.
If he ran over your beloved poodle with the stupid wheel-barrel, he tends to walk around with, crushed Fido dead and then shrugged it off with a laugh, you’d be really offended, would you not?
He’d be lacking meaning in the things that he did. Running around with a wheel-barrel has no meaning, unless you transport something with it. And even if you did transport something, you as a human, would consider other modes of transport, depending on what exactly it was, that you are transporting.
Crushing a poodle with a wheel-barrel is really hard to do. Or you would have to be using it like people used ramrods in the dark ages. Our alien would certainly look awkward, doing the barrel-crush: goofy and too forceful at the same time. It would lack any sense. It would lack meaning.
Now, laughing about leaving a bloody mess of your beloved pet tops it. The alien would look totally nice and friendly. But he would lack any type of sympathy for the creature he just thrust over the threshold of this world. It wouldn’t mean anything to him: life and death, love, passion, pain, loss…
This is, how a Meisner exercise can look and feel like, if the door or activity you’re doing, is lacking meaning.
I juggled balls today. I literally did. And I fumbled in more than one way…
I had come up with this activity within ten minutes, because I somehow sensed I would need one. The door I had, was stronger, had more meaning.
Besides I had been posting stuff onto this site, instead of preparing well for class.
So in Meisner world I wheel-barreled around, bounding funnily, recklessly up and down. I failed to crush a poodle this time. But I wouldn’t have cared much, if I had. My partner was in a similar mood. Following the analogy of the alien, he probably had neon-pink curlers in his three-meter-long hair, trying to unroll his outrageous locks while keeping his eyes closed.
Is there any meaning in that? Would we have been this strange to one another outside of Meisner world? No!
Lesson: Take your time coming up with a door or activity that actually means something to you. Doing it twice a week – or more, if you also rehearse outside of class with doors and activities, is hard, though.
You need to believe in the circumstances you created. It has to be something quite specific, you are going to be striving for. You need to get all upset, happy, concerned, sad, mad or angry about the thing you came up with. It should hit you in the stomach. At the same time it needs at least a kernel of truth, because it has to be that good, so that smart you is going to believe in it, while in the exercise.
In short, coming up with a good activity is hard work. The same goes to a teeny-weenily lesser extent for doors.
Funny though, that it is you yourself you’re fooling, when you try to circumvent the working and time-consuming aspect of finding meaning! And that goes for real life outside of the Meisner world as well.
By trying to fool others you end up fooling yourself.
It might take longer to stick, but once you got it, you got it.
I love this aspect of the Meisner world. In a nutshell it represents the real world. It helps me understand myself interacting with reality really well. It helps me become a better person.
And if I could tell Meisner that, I know, he’d be happy.
**********************
General stuff:
Our acting class consists of some ten active members, who meet every Monday and Wednesday from 6.30 pm to about 8.30. We do Meisner. And the Meisner-technique really rocks!
If you want to connect with your inmost feelings, expressing them freely in an acting environment and thus getting to know yourself better and better, feel free to join us!
+++
About the author:
I am Boris Wilke, a German expat in Prague. I am a writer at large and have been studying Meisner since January 2008. If any of you know of any kind of acting work, that befits a laddish, tall 40-year-old, please leave a note!
May 13th, 2009
The Prague Shakespeare Festival, Guy Roberts Artistic Director, will be holding open call auditions for its 2009 Artistic Company, Tuesday May 19th at the Globe Bookstore and Café’s new outdoor stage area from 3pm – 6pm.
All actors should bring a photo and resume and prepare one memorized Shakespeare monologue not exceeding 2 minutes. Callbacks will be held Wednesday May 20th from 10am – 6pm at the Old Burgrave’s Residence, Vysehrad. Sides will be provided for actors invited to callbacks.
Actors who have previously worked with PSF or Guy Roberts and who are interested in casting opportunities may contact Guy Roberts, bypassing the general audition and directly schedule a callback. All others must come to the general audition and then be invited to callbacks.
PSF is currently casting for the following projects:
HAMLET – (understudies and replacements only)
Performances:
Tuesday June 2 @ 19:30 – Open Final Dress Rehearsal
Wednesday June 3 @ 19:30
Thursday June 4 @ 19:30
Monday June 15 @ 10:30
Venue: Old Burgrave’s Residence, Vysehrad
AS YOU LIKE IT (All roles available)
Performances:
Wednesday June 10 @ 19:30
Monday June 15 @ 19:30
Friday June 19 @ 19:30
Venue: Old Burgrave’s Residence, Vysehrad
All actors are paid 1000cz per performance. Note: Actors performing in June 15 Student Matinee of HAMLET receive 500cz for this performance.
Actors may contact PSF via email at act@pragueshakespeare.cz to arrange a specific audition time. All actors will be seen on a first-come, first-serve basis. Directors, Designers and Stage Managers may also come to the open call to submit resumes and portfolios.
All actors, directors, designers and stage managers who work with PSF are members of the PSF seasonal artistic company. The seasonal artistic company, under the guidance of the Artistic Director, work constantly together to explore a cohesive classical style. The Festival provides an ensemble atmosphere for extended theatrical exploration wherein company members work as a group to develop skills and to perfect their craft through the continuity of several productions and ongoing training workshops. The quality of commitment demanded of the company members fosters a cohesiveness and intensity of approach to the Festival’s classical repertoire. In addition to performing, training and educational activities all company members work behind-the-scenes and assist in the day-to-day administration of PSF.
ABOUT THE PRAGUE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
The Prague Shakespeare Festival presents professional theatre productions, workshops, classes, lectures and other theatrical events, of the highest quality, conducted primarily in English by a multinational ensemble of professional theatre artists, with an emphasis on the plays of William Shakespeare, bringing to the Czech Republic, European and World audiences English-language based performances that are fresh, bold, imaginative, thought-provoking, and eminently accessible, connecting the truths of the past with the challenges and possibilities of today.
May 13th, 2009
Hi everyone!
I’m Boris Wilke and member of the Prague Playhouse Meisner acting group. I blog about our class activities.
On Monday, May 11th, our teacher Brian Caspe let five of us try out relaxation prior to our respective exercises.
Click on the “ACTING CLASS” button above to read more about the class itself and where we meet!
Click the “(more…)”-button below to read about Monday’s class!
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Relaxation is easy and hard to achieve at the same time. Everybody is able to calm down a bit during a break, during lunch, while waiting for something. That’s easy. But to use relaxation to become more astute, to concentrate and thus to perform better, can be hard.
On Monday Brian let five of us slightly more advanced class members leave the room before our respective exercises. We were to relax for a while to be better prepared for them. While I tried to calm down, Frederic had his exercise with John-Paul and Jana. And the former was yet again a “tsunami of truth” as Brian called it afterwards. Although I did not see the exercise, I could hear it well and was totally wrapped up in listening to Frederic’s and J.P.’s yelling and cursing – and Jana’s sneering.
It’s normal to having to relax under less than perfect circumstances. I don’t know, if I did well. But during the two exercises, that I had the luck to be able to do that evening, I felt myself much less than usual. I was more in the moment and did not at all think about myself. I hope that meant, that I was more focussed on my partners. What that relaxation did not do: It did not give me a sense of certainty in what I was doing. I might have been better prepared after all. But I didn’t really notice it.
Only time and more practice will tell, if in the long run I will be able to forget about anything that goes on around me, in order to clear my mind completely during relaxation.
But I will certainly try.
**********************
General stuff:
Our acting class consists of some ten active members, who meet every Monday and Wednesday from 6.30 pm to about 8.30. We do Meisner. And the Meisner-technique really rocks!
If you want to connect with your inmost feelings, expressing them freely in an acting environment and thus getting to know yourself better and better, feel free to join us!
+++
About the author:
I am Boris Wilke, a German expat in Prague. I am a writer at large and have been studying Meisner since January 2008. If any of you know of any kind of acting work, that befits a laddish, tall 40-year-old, please leave a note!
May 13th, 2009
Prague Shakespeare Festival is presenting an expanded version of Guy Roberts’ One Man Hamlet May 15 and 18 at Divadlo Na Pradle.
Ten Actors. Eighteen Characters. One Hundred Twenty Minutes. The Prague Shakespeare Festival’s production of HAMLET illuminates the mind of Shakespeare’s greatest and most famous creation, offering new insights into the life of theatre’s most canonical character. Using only Shakespeare’s words, in a conflated text that incorporates the First Folio (with additional aspects from the First and Second Quarto), the audience experiences the world of the play through Hamlet’s eyes – only seeing and hearing the scene and moments that the character Hamlet himself experiences in the play. Taking this singular journey with the Prince of Denmark, audiences will understand the actions, themes and motives of the play’s main character as never before. Whether seen as story of devastating human domestic passions or a suspenseful political mystery of intrigue, revenge and betrayal, the tragedy of Denmark’s “sweet prince” continues to challenge and inspire.
Information about the show can be found at the Prague Shakespeare Festival website. Ticket information can be found after the jump:
DATES:
May 15th & 18th, 2009
CURTAIN TIME:
19:30
LOCATION:
Divadlo Na Pradle
Besední 3
Praha 1 – Malá Strana
TICKETS:
200kc General Admission,
150kc Student/Senior
RESERVATIONS:
pokladna@napradle.cz online
257.320.421 phone
May 11th, 2009
Hi everyone!
I’m Boris Wilke and member of the Prague Playhouse Meisner acting group. I blog about our class activities.
On Wednesday, May 6th, our teacher Brian Caspe talked with us about relaxation.
Click on the “ACTING CLASS” button above to read more about the class itself and where we meet!
Click the “(more…)”-button below to read about tonight’s class!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Before I go on about relaxation, I’d like to stress the fact, that being in the moment and being truthful really are the key to success in Meisner technique and ultimately to acting itself.
I was humbled yet again by what happened in tonight’s exercise. I had to deal with Fred, who was very emotional and totally focussed on me, while I struggled with my activity. Instead of dropping it, I forced myself to juggle with it and didn’t connect enough with Fred, who was left alone with his sadness and anger. Had I been truthful and in the moment more, I would have shucked my activity and placed all my attention on Fred. I didn’t.
I don’t want to blame myself for anything, though. I broke down crying in class and experienced how it alienated my partners, how they shut down and left me alone with my emotion. It just happens. I know now, why they did it. Fred scared me. I was overwhelmed by his intensity. Next time I should try to express at least that. It is a step in the right direction. I did try, but I fell short of it. I will do better next time.
Rehearsal is the key to getting better. I used to think that going to class twice a week and coming prepared was already quite good. It is not enough – not, at least, if one wants to progress.
Fred has been dedicating his whole life in Prague, now about eight months, to Meisner. And it shows. I rehearse two to three times a week. It shows. Some people do not rehearse. It shows.
As with any art – any skill, really – practice lets you progress. I am a writer. The more I write, the better I get, just by writing. Fred is an actor 110%. He rehearses more than once a day and spends hours thinking about his acting work. Even he might have a bad day. But he shoots at it so hard and from so many angles, he is bound to get better – and fast at that – because he simply does it.
What is to learn from this? Acting is hard, but applying yourself to it suffices.
“I take care of quantity, God takes care of quality” is the quote of choice for this (from Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way”).
++++++++++
Now on to relaxation.
Brian said, it helps you prepare yourself for anything, that you need to be focussed for – be it a sport event, a job interview, a performance of any sort, an important talk or a Meisner exercise.
I have been using visualisation with amazing success for the last two years. It involves being relaxed. But I do it at home, mostly in bed, before I fall asleep or directly after waking up.
Relaxation wants less than creating a whole new world for oneself, which is what visualisation can be used for. Visualisation involves putting oneself in an alpha state. It’s a state of mind exactly between waking and sleeping. You can do it anywhere. But it involves practice and skill and oftentimes misses the point.
Relaxation is easier to achieve. Basically closing one’s eyes and getting oneself in a comfortable position does the job. People are not used to suddenly putting themselves in a state, where they can hear themselves think. They get scared by the fact, that at the beginning it is really hard to clear one’s mind. I tend to hear music a lot, even in my sleep. And it is music, my mind produces. How scary is that?!
But as much as it might be disconcerting to fail at achieving a clear state of mind at the beginning, even the most nervous relaxation-rookie automatically does relax a least a little bit, simply by doing it.
Sit, stand or lie with eyes closed and relax! That’s all you need to do, really.
Like my writing, Fred’s acting exercises or anything else, one chooses to do regularly, relaxing will lead to deeper, better, faster and more effective relaxation.
Relaxation will eventually set in within seconds. And two to five minutes of it will suffice for you to let go of tension, anger, anxiety and/or stress. You’ll loosen yourself up, so that you can easily put yourself in the moment with a full focus on doing the thing, that you are getting yourself relaxed and ready for.
Brian recommended trying out different techniques, because everyone of us needs to find his or her own way to relax.
Finding one’s ideal relaxation technique can take some time and involve work. But ain’t that one heck of a fun way to work?
**********************
General stuff:
Our acting class consists of some ten active members, who meet every Monday and Wednesday from 6.30 pm to about 8.30. We do Meisner. And the Meisner-technique really rocks!
If you want to connect with your inmost feelings, expressing them freely in an acting environment and thus getting to know yourself better and better, feel free to join us!
+++
About the author:
I am Boris Wilke, a German expat in Prague. I am a writer at large and have been studying Meisner since January 2008. If any of you know of any kind of acting work, that befits a laddish, tall 40-year-old, please leave a note!
May 6th, 2009
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