So, I was sitting around thinking about how freaked out my clients can sometimes get when I grab their sides and tell them to “Make it up.”

It is, I suppose, a perfectly understandable reaction, given that they don’t know the material yet. However, when they trust me, they find they learn the material so much faster and in such a more profound way.

If you memorize your lines, not only do you waste valuable time you could be using to “do your homework on your history”, but the tendency is to set how you will deliver those lines. It’s a heady process that can too easily become intellectualized.  I like to work with actors in a more organic way. Never having them learn the lines by rote, but by deepening their understanding of the character and circumstances, having them learn the lines “by heart.”

Together, we visualize the actor’s history as the character. From that given backstory, the character’s intention in this moment becomes evident. The actor takes this on, and then allows what I’m saying as the other character to trigger him to think about what to say in response in order to win the objective. The actor doesn’t know what's coming until the other character gives it to him or her. It feels internally spontaneous each time. It is an improv game that ends up with the actor “accidentally” coming up with the exact lines of the script. Quickly and effortlessly, what you think your lines might be evolve in to what the lines indeed are.

Because the actor experiences the thought patterns of the character, the lines soon become known as the clearest way to express what they need to say; resulting in a spontaneous, deeply felt experience. One in which the actor never jumps ahead to the next line or action, nor lags behind in order to judge themselves. He or she simply stays in the present, goes after what s/he wants, while dodging the objections of the other character.

Now it is time to give the actor back the script. With sides in hand, the actor again listens carefully to what the other character is giving him or her, thinks about what his or her response might be, physically responds (while at the same time looks down at the page to see what the lines actually are, if need be and then looks up) and speaks. 

What a wonderful way to be in the moment, to be connected, to listen, to have sub-text...all the things that make acting fun and real.