TO THE ACTOR

i have begun reading Michael Chekhov's TO THE ACTOR in my limited amount
of spare time (therefore not getting nearly as far into it as i would like
to) and i have come across a few things already that i find to be very
useful reminders and that i thought my fellow classmates might find
helpful too...

-> one can only understand the art of acting through PRACTICE. we can talk
and analyze things for as long as we want, but something i like about
chekhov's approach-and also something i discovered in my limited
suzuki/kabuki training of this summer--is that these schoolings advocate
DOING. learning through getting up and trying something no matter how
bizarre it might be.

-> we are in college and there is unquestionably an varying amount of
partying/lack of sleep/etc that occurs for everyone. my point in saying
this is referring to chekhov's stress on the importance of the physical
aptitude of the actor. it's not so much that our body is a temple and
should never be touched by the forces of the outside world...BUT we must
be strong, flexible and healthy in order to carry out whatever our
imaginations might demand of us. he places importance on the "sensitivity
of body to the psychological impulses." which brings me to my next
point...

-> we as actors must strive for harmony between body and psychology--to
find the balance between spontaneity and over-intellectualization. there
is a lot of work to be done with any text so one can never purely rely on
their physical efforts to carry them through. likewise, if we sequester
ourselves to the pages of our text work without entangling with our scene
partners, etc. everyone will be left wanting.

much of this we've discussed in class already, but to hear it again
through someone else's words and reprocess i find valuable so...there ya
go!

-jessie