June 16, 2008 by webmaster.

Good morning or good afternoon, welcome to class.

Welcome.

I’m writing today because I want you to know where your strength lies. I’m writing today because I worry about you. I worry that you will miss the truth. I worry that you will let the architecture of your heart remain rigid and, (while looking what is so right in the eye) allow agreements you have signed with a blood oath but never knew you had made, bind you to all that is so but never was and never really will be. We carry, (in a long bag we drag behind us) agreements about who we are, where we are, and what we are destined to do become. Our parents and ancestors slip through the doorway of sleep in the dead of night and plant new ones, or water the old to keep them fresh and alive. Agreements that bind you and blind you to the simple truth, that you are welcome.

Thanks.

You’re welcome.

God, the details can weigh you down can’t they? Life has never moved this fast. Can’t even keep the fucking checkbook balanced. Every time I write one I slash a note in the ledger about who I wrote if to and for what amount, but when am I going to get the time to pull the numbers down and find a total? My agent sucks. I don’t even have one. If I did they would suck. Spiderman fucking III. Toby Maguire doesn’t even look like that, plus you don’t write the number three like that – it’s backwards. Brilliant. Clean your apartment, pick up the kids and wonder what exactly is coming out of his nose? Change in the car and walk into a room full of people who look exactly like I do. Student films. There’s the answer. But the director has pimples, and the camera is impossibly small. I didn’t get into this to have a camera that small pointed at me! I won’t fit in that! I want one of the real camera’s, the one that looks like it’s some ancient God being tended to by a small band of priests who hang all over it with spray cans of compressed air and mysterious metal boxes with long black things I don’t know the name of but will nod agreeing when they tell me the number of the one they have attached to the rolling metal God. That’s a camera for me! But right now, I have to go to work. “Would you like another roll?” (“Cuz I sure as hell would like one, not even another one, just my first one”) “What?” I’m sorry, sourdough or raisin walnut?” Super.

Thanks.

You’re welcome.

I’m writing to you because I was talking to a very serious young actor I have known for years yesterday who wondered what I thought, (and I assume what everyone else thought as well) about him. I stumbled for an answer for a bit, and the truth came out.

“Not trying to be a buzz kill here on the importance of it all my serious young friend, but I think I have lived just long enough to discover that the truth, whether it works for you or not … is that life … is a joke. No shit, a joke. You hear the wind in the trees? That’s God laughing. So is every other sound. Life is a joke. It’s a meaningful joke, but a joke none the less”

Thanks.

You’re welcome.

You are more welcome to this joke than you could ever have imagined. This is a joke that is awake at all hours of the day and night with open arms, just waiting for you to fall into them. Waiting for you to stop trying to change everyone else and rest in its arms. Waiting for you to stop resenting anything and I mean any thing, and curl up in its lap.

I love a good joke. And I have the best one ever: Your life.

Thanks.

You’re welcome.

Jokes are important. Nobody likes a shlem without a sense of humor. Why do you think the Dahli Lama is smiling all the time? Cuz he gets to wear a skirt? Cuz he’s endlessly happy? I doubt it. It’s because God is laughing and he can hear it; and he’s waiting for you to laugh along with him. Laugh through your tears of frustration, guilt, shame, longing, or loss. Laugh when you don’t know where your next paycheck is coming from or even if there will ever be one. Love with unerring ferocity the ones who are near you, and laugh for all the meaning that brings to your day. Laugh on your deathbed, because the end is only the beginning.

When you don’t feel welcome it’s because you rang the wrong bell. The house of frustration and pain will open the door and let you in, but it will never welcome you. You don’t belong there. Do you welcome those ants that have decided in the heat of the summer to march their armies up your sink and into your trash can? No. They don’t belong there.

Listen; you are welcome. God is playing hide and go seek with himself disguised as you and everything else. Don’t be the kid who stands there and balls because he couldn’t find anybody when he never even started to look. He won’t be invited back to the game. And if you are him, then cross the playground and ask nicely if you can play just one more time. Promise you won’t give up too soon and bring the game to a halt with your tears and recriminations. Promise you’ll search under every bench and bed. Promise that when the other kids find the hider first you won’t kick someone’s shin but instead you’ll ready yourself for the next round, keep an open heart, count to ten, and go looking for the gift this life came into being to give you.

Make it matter, even though it’s funny. Engage those around you in the game you have discovered. Ask how you can help to give away what you thought was what you wanted for yourself. And most important of all, the whole point of this message today; why not set God as your highest example of conduct, and just like life does for you every hour of the day and every day of your life … open your arms to the one next to you and let them know …

“You’re welcome.”

Thanks.

Cameron Thor

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June 16, 2008 by webmaster.

“Originality is unexplored territory.
You get there by carrying a canoe –
You can’t take a taxi.”

Alan Alda

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January 21, 2008 by webmaster.

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature nor do the children of man as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”

Helen Keller
1880-1968, Blind/Deaf Author

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January 21, 2008 by webmaster.

As storytellers our first mission is to make the incredible credible. If we want our audience to take the trip we have planned with us, we have to build as much credibility as possible into the tales we weave. As time goes by, many of our lesson plans are going to move in this direction. Sometimes leaning towards esoteric theory, sometimes-playable technique.

In this lesson I’d like to talk about a small but important detail I like to call, Opening Doors. It’s born from this dilemma: How do I create the details that knit together to make a character seem true, without getting bogged down in technical choices? Well … you Open Doors. A typical example that I see all the time of an actor that doesn’t do this is the guest star doing a day or two: The director gets his cast together for a blocking rehearsal and they take a run at the page and a half of dialogue they have to tackle. As so often happens the actors rest on the text; their arms lay limp at their sides, they never break eye contact with their scene partner, and the rhythms and hues of the scenes elude them. The director then has to use valuable time in his day to offer ideas, (usually second rate) to get the scene on its feet all the while making mental notes never to hire that guest actor again. Don’t expect any help from the regular on the show; he’s too busy’ just trying to stay awake. If the actor was trained in Opening Doors all this could be averted. The point of Opening Doors is to find the beats, inside beats, inside beats, without having to think about it. The first thing one does when opening doors is to examine context and circumstances the actor finds himself in. Remember that guest star? When he did the blocking rehearsal he was sitting at a table at a restaurant; our couple just settling down to dinner. Around him there are other diners, lights, music, maybe there are windows, maybe not. These are his environmental circumstances. Closer in he has napkins, silver wear, and glasses. These are his objects. By giving some awareness to his context he’s beginning to open a door. So let’s open the first door… he picks up the napkin as he sits. What often happens is the actor picks up the napkin and then just lays it right in his lap. He’s cracked open the door and left it to slam shut on his fingers. Before he just dumps it in his lap, what I like to say to the actor that picks up the napkin is, “You bought it - now you have to pay for it”. Where does the napkin go from here? What can you tell us about whom you’re playing with that napkin? So the actor can’t just lose the napkin in his lap, he’s got to do something with it. He looks around … ah; his hand is a little dirty. So he wipes it with the napkin. The actor opened a door by picking up the napkin, the door he opened led to a room filled with more doors, he wipes his hand and has opened a new door that leads to a room filled with… you guessed it … doors. Now what’s he going to do with that now soiled napkin? He’s got to crumple it up and throw it away? Or maybe it demands to be neatly folded and tucked on his lap? There are dozens of options, each one now leading to a room filled with doors.

When I started spouting this the other day in class someone asked, “Do the actions he plays, the doors he opens, have to be psychologically based on his character”? The answer is simple; they will be. The point of this line of thinking, and the exercises that train the actors intuition to respond by opening doors, is that the actor should never think past the first door. He may stumble and fall the first dozen or so times he tries to incorporate this into his work, but after living with it he’ll think into the first Door and never past it. Actions that illustrate the character perfectly will emerge without effort.
The more the actor can fill out the details without thinking about them the more the actor can free himself from the text and find the root of the relationship in the scene.

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November 26, 2007 by webmaster.

When considering analysis, discussion, or
presentation, listen to your inner self and to your
feelings every time. Should you be mistaken, after
all, the natural growth of your inner life will guide
you slowly and in good time to other conclusions.
Allow your judgments their own quiet, undisturbed
development, which, as with all progress, must come
from deep within and can in no way be forced or
hastened. All things consist of carrying to term and
then giving birth. To allow the completion of every
impression, every germ of a feeling deep within, in
darkness, beyond words, in the realm of instinct
unattainable by logic, to await humbly and patiently
the hour of the descent of a new clarity: that alone
is to live ones art, in the realm of understanding as
in that of creativity.

In this there is no measuring with time. A year
does not matter; ten years are nothing. To be an artist
means not to compute or count; it means to ripen as
the tree, which does not force its sap, but stands
unshaken in the storms of spring with no fear that
summer might not follow. It will come regardless. But
it comes only to those who live as though eternity
stretches before them, carefree, silent, and endless.
I learn it daily, learn it with many pains, for which
I am grateful: Patience is all!

Rainer Maria Rilke (from “Letters to a Young Poet”)

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November 26, 2007 by webmaster.

There are in Zen culture and thinking what is called the Four Dignities of Man. They are, “Walking, Standing, Sitting, and lying.” Zah-Zen is the Japanese word for,”Sitting Zen.” Sitting Zen, because it’s easy to understand is generally what the western mind associates with the idea of Zen, or a Zen Lifestyle. But that is an oversimplification that surprisingly enough - has the effect of overcomplicating people’s ideas of a Zen consciousness. Already it’s Zen, “an oversimplification that overcomplicates.” For example, if I think Zen consciousness can be achieved by sitting cross legged on the floor for an hour or two a day I will become frustrated and stiff legged and write off Zen as a bunch of hocus pocus where practical people can’t survive. After all, who can spend their day sitting in a corner when there are things one needs to attend to?
People are often disappointed when they find out that there is more, (or really less) to Zen consciousness then sitting in the lotus position. The most ancient, the most practical Zen includes the four dignities, and is a way of life; “Walking, Standing, Sitting, and Lying.” Imagine sleeping in Zen consciousness. Zen has been described as, “When hungry eat, when tiered sleep.” The Zen student asks the Master, “Well don’t people just do that, walking, standing, sitting, and lying?” and the Master replies, “No they don’t. When hungry they don’t just eat, but think of ten thousand things, when tiered they don’t just sleep, but dream innumerable dreams.”
A lot of people, in the West, would like to be able to sum that Zen up then with simple truisms such as the old saying, “When using a hammer, use it with all your might” or the English school motto, “Auge dum augus” meaning “Act when you act”, or “while you act.” But it’s more than that and escapes reasonable explanation; but perhaps a story will help: Here’s an acting story for you …
Paul Repps who drew a lovely book called, “Zen Telegrams” once asked a Zen master to sum up Buddhism in one phrase, and the master said in heavily accented English, “Don’t act, buuuut act” and this delighted Repps because it seemed to confirm what is the Taoist notion of “Wu-Way” that which is, “action in the spirit of not being separate from the world.”
Realizing so fully that ”you are the universe too” , that your action on it is not an interference, but a rather a reflection of the totality. You see Repps saw it as a Zen Koan where an action is turned on itself to the point of absurdity and is designed to paralyze the student into an awareness of only the moment, “Don’t act, buuuut act.” But you see it turned out later that Repps had simply misunderstood the Master, that what the master had really said was, “Don’t act baaaaad act.” And I suppose if you think that I twist you around sometimes and say one thing and then another or meant one thing and then another – well it all boils down to, “Don’t act baaaad act.” That’s what I’m always saying.
I spoke to you last week about the over use of the word, “Bliss” that is has come to mean in popular culture a sort of generalized glee. I went on to explain that bliss is really only, “The Moment” -The explicit awareness of the now.” And that the study of acting, being the art of the moment, is as sure a path to bliss as any; but not an isolated and extraordinary kind of bliss, rather the most authentic and usable bliss, the bliss described in the four dignities of man, the simple truth that each moment, should it not be wasted in the lulling about in the past or twitching about the future, is a bliss state. Just like that – there is one – and there is one – and there is one – and so on like that. The actor is aware and lives in the Four Dignities.
“Wu-Way” action in the spirit of not being separate from the world. Realizing so fully that,”you are the universe too” that your action on it is not an interference, but a reflection of the totality.
Assiduus usus uni rei deditus et ingenium et artem saepe vincit - Constant practice devoted to one subject often outdoes both intelligence and skill. (Cicero)

Cameron Thor

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August 2, 2007 by webmaster.

Myths are great tools for actors. The stories are always about the hero’s journey and they are filled with archetypes and deep emotional and psychological truths. Understanding myths can help us as actors in analyzing and understanding the character, and give us insights in living a creative life. The Myth of the Handless Maiden is an excellent example.

This myth is from the 12th century, a time when our present attitudes about life and society were being developed. It deals with man’s love affair with technology and the
trade-offs we sometimes make to “get ahead.”

The village miller has a successful flourmill; he and his wife work hard to ensure continued success. They have a beautiful daughter: the maiden. (Maidens are usually symbolic of our undeveloped creative energy - the maiden has not yet developed the full power of womanhood, the creation of life, and therefore she symbolizes untapped or unknown creative potential.) The miller and his wife work their mill by hand for the most part although they also use the family horse. One day the Devil appears, (he always does in one form or another - usually a very charismatic character, pleasing and attractive). He tells the miller that he can make his mill twice as productive with half the work, and the miller doesn’t have to do anything for this miracle to occur. Of course, the miller is very interested; the Devil offers his services in return for “what stands behind the mill.” Knowing that there is nothing behind the mill aside from a stand of old trees, the miller agrees - he makes a deal with the Devil. The Devil proceeds to hook up a water wheel to the mill, utilizing the stream that runs beside the mill. The mill becomes almost immediately more productive, grinding much more flour than before. The miller and his wife are both astonished and delighted - they no longer have the hours of hard work and effort that the mill previously required. They become very rich, thanks to the mechanics (from the Greek root word for “trickery”) of the Devil. They seem to have gotten “something for nothing” and found a “shortcut to success.”

Sometime later the Devil reappears, of course to collect his payment - what stands behind the mill. He and the miller walk out behind the mill and lo and behold, there stands the miller’s beautiful daughter. The miller is now distraught. He doesn’t want to lose his daughter, nor does he want to lose his water wheel and all the benefit that he has now derived. He begs the Devil to let him keep both. But, a deal is a deal. The Devil decides to take only part of the miller’s beautiful daughter: he cuts off her hands and takes them away!

The myth continues, but let’s examine the first part of the handless maiden myth for now. The cutting off of the maiden’s hands is symbolic of cutting off our feelings or our connection to the creative, feminine self. When the maiden loses her hands, she has lost her ability to feel and create. She becomes the symbol of our loss of ability to create. When we make a deal with the Devil in which we agree to a mechanical (trickery) shortcut to success, we lose our maiden’s hands.

As actors we are surrounded by an industry filled with the “deals of the devil,” offering us mechanical shortcuts to stardom without any of the hard work of acting.
“get the “photographer of the stars” to do your headshots.”
“sign up for the scene showcase seen by the industry’s “greatest” casting directors.”
“take this workshop with this soap opera director and be a soap star.”
“let us show you how to succeed at the business of show business.”
“let me show you how to get that great agent.”

All this “success” without having to do Off Off Broadway plays, cattle call auditions, student films, or acting class.

Being a successful actor comes from doing the work of acting EVERYDAY. And all the shortcuts and mechanical “deals with the Devil” will only cut off YOUR maiden’s hands. You will lose your connection to your inner creative self, your wounds and joys, your dreams and hopes, your true self - i.e. what makes you an actor.

If you do happen to become a “star” through trickery, shortcuts, deals with the devil, your acting life, like the maiden’s life, will be frustrating, fearful, and unfulfilling. More than likely you will need to seek out support, comfort, pleasure and reassurance from outside sources (affairs, drugs, booze, eating disorders) since you are unable to provide it for yourself. Witness the ever-present never-ending sagas playing out monotonously on the entertainment news shows! This is a recipe for failure.

Find a copy of The Myth of the Handless Maiden and read it. See how the maiden regains her hands and her power. It’s fascinating and we will talk more about it later. For now, remember … you cannot be a successful actor without your maiden’s hands!

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August 2, 2007 by webmaster.

Life is change…

Growth is optional…

Choose wisely…

- Karen Kaiser Clark

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July 23, 2007 by webmaster.

In any artistic development there are three stages of significant growth.  These stages are important to understand and experience.  Knowing where you are creates context, and with that you can see clearly towards your dream to the future.  But just as important are the gaps between the stages.  Those empty spaces that, because they are the places in between, we assume have little or no value.  In fact, understanding and experiencing the gaps and what it takes to make the leap from one stage of development to another, can be critical to reaching your goals.  So, lets take a moment to examine those stages, the gaps in-between, and what it might mean to your journey …

Inspired Intuition

This is the, “Ah ha!” moment.  Some of you had it early on in life, some had it later, and some few of you may still be waiting for it.  It is the striking sound of your Calling.  Myths and legends abound with stories of the Calling.  A life without it can barely be a life lived, and a life with many becomes enriching both to the one living that life, and those around her.  It is the undeniable sense that you have linked up with part of your destiny.  In our case it’s about the performing arts.  Each one of you heard the Call; something inside of you needed expression, and the stage was the place to find it.  When someone is at this phase they are in a state of Inspired Intuition.  It is very difficult to make a mistake when in this stage.  It is the common experience of squeezing the trigger for the first time and hitting the target dead center.  While from this well much hard work can be fed, it can also be a tripping point. I f the initiate believes that this experience is an end in itself, that this bliss of first encountering the Calling is what the Calling is beckoning you towards, then there will quickly follow heartbreak and disillusionment.  This is only the opening stage, one of great joy and elation, but there is much work to follow.  While everything seems to be humming at this stage, soon the play will begin to look like work and the desire to create a discipline will emerge.

The First Gap

This one is easy, it usually come with almost no effort.  The desire to start creating discipline and building the kind of muscles that only time and hard work can make possible begins now.  We are excited in this Gap.  We admire the others that have gone before us.  We have studied their lives, as we grow positive about our own.  As easy as this Gap can be, we need to take a moment to do just a coupe of things.  Consider first that you need to know that you are leaving your first stage behind.  Too many actors will do good work that needs some improvement and in the note sessions they will be quietly kicking themselves for things not going perfectly.  This is a ridiculous conceit.  In a training environment you are there to fall down and grow up.  Undo self criticism is a sign that the trainee hasn’t cut the cord with the first stage.  They are lost in the fantasy that this all comes naturally.  Maybe the best way to cut the cord with the first stage is to embrace it.  An awareness coupled with genuine expressed gratitude about where you’ve been can be the antidote to staying stuck.  Typically an actor might say to me something like, “I don’t know why I’m not moving forward in my craft, I feel stuck” and I can respond, “Why would you want to move on? You have such a cozy relationship with the past.”  Moving on is a big part of moving forward.

Technical Excellence

This is the one of the Three Stages that an actor can most likely get stuck in.  It is an essential part of the growth curve, you can’t skip it, and it is the hardest to part with.  So the young actor is all a blush with the joy of what they do and the more they learn about it the more they want to know.  Reading books, watching the stars work that they admire.  They have decided to leap into the technique.  This is the beginning of a life’s work.  I’m always saddened by outsiders that look at the art world and say,  `Oh … an actors life, that’s a tough one.”  Poppycock.  Most everybody sets out to just get by.  The artist sets out to be the best at what they do and change the world with it.  When your task is so strong you’ll meet with disappointment and loss.  The outsiders look at that as painful and so live lives of, “wishing they had”.  The artist sees those things as inspirational and a driving force in their lives.  The artist has turned disappointment into discontent and made it a fire that stokes their every action, and armed with that energy they begin to train.   They set out to learn everything they can about what they do, the tools, the history, and the personalities that made it great.  They write, act, direct, design, and most of all they dream.  They fall on their ass a lot and each time they get up and brush off they are a little bit stronger than they were before.  The road to Technical Excellence is a long and hard one fraught with peril, but the artist quickly turns it into a game where learning from losing is as exciting as any wins.  But, with as many bumps and bruises as there are along the way of Technical Excellence, it is still the hardest of the three stages to move on from.

The Second Gap

There are a lot of bodies at this threshold.  As a director, or when I’m helping a director put together a cast, the number one drawback that we see in actor is their unwillingness to let go of their work.  It is never more important than in the art of film acting.  Unlike stage acting, the actor for film has to work at a much more collaborative level.  The disciplines that make up telling stories with film are each critical; directorial, editorial, writing, cinematography, composition, producing, score, and of course, acting.  The goal is to tell stories, not to let any one of the disciplines linger in the spotlight.  When we’re looking for great actors, we’re looking for great actors who will turn in their work completed but with enough room for us to do our work with the rest of our disciplines.  The actor that is stuck in technique is showing the seams of his work, and if you think you like that idea, try wearing your shirt inside out for a day or two.  Why is this gap particularly difficult to move over?  It is because to achieve Technical Excellence one must dedicate oneself completely to it.  That complete commitment is difficult to leave behind.  The very thing, your commitment, that made it possible for you to call yourself a master, is the thing that makes moving on so scary.  Who are you if you’re not your technique?  I don’t have a lot of solutions for the artist about how to move on.  This stage is intuitive and tricky.  To teach you a technique to move on is to keep you in technique and so self-defeating.  I do know this; expect to try to give up your work and rely in your intuition and get your ass kicked back across the line into technique more than once.  That line out of Technical Excellence is one you’ll cross dozens of times as you mature.  If you hold out for one big leap where you’re forever free you’ll spend your life waiting.  Try, fall down, get up, try again, etc.

Intuitive Mastery

There comes a point in any artist’s life where they feel like they are falling without a net only to discover that joy of the freefall never ends with a landing; there is only the fall.  Your trip up the mastery curve tops out at Intuitive Mastery.  It doesn’t end there, as this is a life’s work and therein lies its joy, but once the artist has hit Intuitive Mastery she can really begin to make some bold strokes with her work.  It is the place when you have had the courage to leave your work behind and see what gifts await you.  It is the combination of your natural Intuitive gifts and the Mastery that only strong technique can provide.  This work falls into the realm discussed by Goethe when he suggests that, “the best things cannot be put into words, the second best things are misunderstood, and the third best things are what we talk about.”  While there are very little details about what this work feels like, you’ll know it when you see it.  It can be alarmingly simple.  So much so that the artist must be on guard for a desire to do more just so that you can visit with your old friend, “Hard Work” from technique class.  The idea that when the story begins the work ends and we start the play is powerful, but a rarified air that only the actor who as achieved Technical Excellence can breath.  It feels effortless only because of the effort you expended to get there, it is simple only because you have eliminated all the complexities by mastering them, and it is freeing only because you have worked so hard to become free.

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July 23, 2007 by webmaster.

“The art of acting consists of keeping people from coughing.”

Sir Ralph Richardson

“My old drama coach used to say, ‘Don’t just do something, stand there.’”

Clint Eastwood

“Talk low; talk slow; and don’t talk too much.”

John Wayne

“Acting is like sex.  You should just do it.”

-Joanne Woodward

“Come to work on time, know your lines and don’t bump into the other actors.”

Spencer Tracy

“Don’t take life too seriously.  You’ll never get out alive.”

- Bugs Bunny

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