I hope you’re having an excellent start to December!  The final classes of this session have ended. I’m looking forward to the new year — working with actors on their craft while I learn more and find new ways of adapting the established exercises and techniques.

ACTOR NEWS

I coached Daniel Webber when he was a young, new actor on his first role as well as for some auditions. We have communicated through the years since.  Aside from his travels, hiking and rock-climbing all over the world, he is lucky enough to have been continuously cast in roles that push his limits. I’ve loved his dedication to the varied roles he’s been cast in, his devotion to the craft and to stretching himself as an actor. Most recently he’s been one of the many villains in Billy the Kid.  This role allowed him to put his superb physical skills to work as he honed his riding and shooting abilities. Before that, I was quite taken with his work as Motley Crue’s Vince Neil in The Dirt.

INSPIRATIONS

I came across this interesting article.

The last of the Sharon Chatten conversations:  ‘What Makes an Actor’s Performace Stand Out’ 

RECOMMENDATIONS

National Theatre at Home

If you haven’t had a chance to see or participate in a lot of first-rate theatre, there are some wonderful new offerings on National Theatre at Home! Expand your knowledge, and watch actors deal with the story-telling of theatre staging, movement, and connection!

Matlock

 I’ve so enjoyed watching Kathy Bates in Matlock; she has adapted to the formulaic procedural genre with her usual brilliance. 

ALIEN: Romulus

Pretty well done for a sequel with strong leading roles and excellent acting from Cailee Spaeny and David Jonssan.

The Day of the Jackel

This is a well-done thriller – again, with strong acting from the leads – the multi-talented Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch.

Here’s the next section of my ABCs of acting inspirational thoughts

9 | Always Be Centering Part 3

All of the training is undertaken with the understanding that if we can go through the “fire” we’ll always have a sense of vulnerable strength, a core of “centeredness” which is absolutely fundamental in many of the circumstances encountered in the modern-day “business.” It’s only after a personal ‘cleanse’ of our vocal, physical, spiritual, emotional, intellectual blocks, that we can take that breathe into creativity. Like the Fool stepping off the precipice in the Tarot and other mystical teachings, we are without fear, fully centered and grounded; we are ready to expel a breath to be filled with our creativity. We have become instinctively disciplined, relaxed, open and grounded. We are an aligned conduit for the character and the text:  centered in ourselves and centered as the character.