I took my first acting class this week. Having only started studying and pursuing the art a few years ago but still getting work (I don't think they were all because of my nice smile), including a lead role in an indie film, I finally decided to get some counseling and direction from someone or some people who have been doing it a lot longer than me. Initially I was supposed to start classes in January with the Actor's Theatre Workshop but I unfortunately had a "falling out" with the assistant of the program before the start date, which led to her revoking my Master Class Status and diminishing me to a 6-week Workshop. Not willing to accept an inferior offer of class quality and commitment, I denounced her egotistical attempt to have me "get started and then see how it goes from there". Moving on, I searched throughout New York city for another school that I felt would fit my needs and schedule. I have concluded with the Lynette Sheldon Actor's Studio and loved every minute of my introductory class on Monday. She is lively, humorous, knowledgeable, and blunt. "She is hard on you but in good way," a student commented about her. And that same hard on you but in a good way challenged me this week to live up to my own potential by applauding my work (she said she could see me as a young Forest Whitaker after reading a cold read from "The Crying Game") and then giving me much research and work to do for the next class. Wanting to truly grow and flourish in this art form, I conceded with her words and took on the assignments in full force regardless of the rigor.
So what does all of this have to do with thinking and doing? Well, Rene Descartes famous Latin statement was referring to the idea of existing. If one is capable of thinking, then they undoubtedly exist. Modern interpretation has evolved this saying into meaning that what I think about is undoubtedly what I am. I agree with this charge, ultimately accepting that we become what we think (given the premise that we already exist and can't possibly not exist). So, if I think I am a medical doctor, I should practice physically healing people. If I think I am an architect, I should practice drawing and possibly even building things. Likewise, if I think I am an actor, I should practice the art of representation; study cultures, dialects, and diction; understand the psychology of myself in relation to others. Our talent lies in our choices. For me to grow to this place of maximized potential, I will have to choose to be it. I could have easily told my acting teacher that the four plays she told me to read (of which I have already finished one and in the middle of another) and choose a monologue for next class was simply too much work. I have a job(s), I am already in a play now, and I am even trying to pen my own play in conjunction with another writer. However, the choice of following her direction and trusting that it will benefit me in the long-run is paramount to how I approach these scripts in the future if ever revisited in an audition. I am choosing to be a well-trained thespian. I am choosing to be a disciplined, multi-dimensional artist. I am choosing to live up to my potential, to consciously pursue my destiny.
With all of this been said, I will conclude that if you say you are about something you should try your hardest to act like it. That's what the art of acting is about. That's what the philosophy is about. You are living truthfully under the given circumstances. Those circumstances are the thoughts that you create for yourself, your interpretation of the script of your life. So, those circumstances become you. And if you are, you must do as you are....otherwise, you are just lying to yourself and unconvincingly fooling your viewing public.
