This chapter was basically written for me. It's everything I try to do; and everything I probably can't do.
Reading Uta Hagen's book so far is like seeing my own thoughts written out in front of me - in a more coherent and intelligible way.
I'm simply going to make a list, of important things, things to remember, things to work on as so on...:
1. You have to know who you are before you can act (ie. Art Life Motivation thingy)
2. Remember characters are human - they pee, eat, sleep, pick their nose, get colds etc.
3. Naturalistic acting can also fall into stereotypes/ we try to copy successful natural actors... and when we copy that's representational/ we find the natural in the ordinary (not extraordinary) of our own lives - and who wants to watch ordinary?
4. With natural acting, we try to water down reality so it's believable... sometimes life is unbelievable
5. Who I think I am is NOT who I am - we view ourselves as a constant and static - but we are changing and evolving all the time - we almost have multiple personalities
6. Since your personality is a lot more expansive than we thought, it provides us with a totally competent "warehouse" (or library if you will) of behaviors and characteristics to help us create a real and believable character - we don't really need to use our imaginations too much
7. You have to accept and acknowledge the parts of yourself you don't like (very hard for me - I want to cry just thinking about it)
8. ... that's probably why I have the most trouble playing parts that are similar to me
9. We think we are boring... but we are not! (sometimes I don't believe this...but I should)
10. Note to self: don't be the personality actor! (who plays herself in every part she plays)
11. Our culture sucks because it tells us "don't cry", "don't feel", "hide your emotions".... and then we're suddenly supposed to be vulnerable on stage? That's hard.......
12. A connection to your heritage and history is important ( I don't really have that)
13. Now this is what's troubling me... " If you are affected in you daily life, calculatingly self aware in you relations with others, you will undoubtedly be abad actor, because your attention is narcissistic." I don't know if I'm just being paranoid, but when I read this an alarm went off. What if this is me? And if so, what does that mean for my acting? And most importantly, how do I fix it?
What's cool is I realized I know more about acting than I think I do. There was nothing that she was talking about that I don't already contemplate, strive for, or understand. But at the same token ( I don't want to give myself too much credit), I feel like I'm doing everything wrong. Does that make sense?!?!
One thing I have to remeber: a Facebook friend posted this a while ago and it has stuck with me..."Acting is being yourself, while convincing others you are someone else."
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