WORDS WORDS TO INSPIRE

THESE QUOTES APPLY TO BOTH ACTORS AND SPEAKERS

   "Above all, the actor must be the great understander - and that puts him in a catergory with the philosopher, the poet and the priest."  Laurence Olivier

FROM FRANK LANGELLA, Theatre and Film Star

"I do what works.

I bellieve that acting is a wilderness and that just as you reach a clearing, feeling safe and secure, it's time to march back into the wilderness.

I subscribe to no method, no school, no approach. Providing an actor can speak, move, read English, and memorize, the rest is up for grabs.

There are, of course, certain basics. You must own your lines as you own your own toes. You must know what they mean and you must mean them when you say them. But, that done, the mystery of acting will remain your lifetime companion.

I have learned most from audiences, too often ignored by actors, as if somehow doing it for them is contrary to the truth of their art. Audiences have to hear you, they have to understand you, and they must be moved to laugthter or tears by what you do. It is their comfort actors must consider - their pleasure. Actors send life across the footlights and audiences send back the reward.

It is, of course, not as simple as all that. If it were, anyone could do it, and anyone can't. You need breath, stamina, skill and talent. The first three you can acquire, the latter you can't. If you are blessed with talent, respect it and cherish it.

Young actors should, early on, rid themselves of the notion that there is a "right" way to act. There is only what works and, in order to come close to what works each night, an actor cannot burden himself with anything that does not result in the truth of the moment, and in the communicaton of that truth to his audience.

There is much to learn from the investigation of all theories, all styles of acting, and all approaches. But after he absorbs all he needs, the actor must be ready to forget it. He must take a deep breath, call upon his stamina and skill, trust in his talent and go out there and be.

All else is a wilderness in which the actor must happily wander."

"ACTING can be said to be the ongoing meeting of the actor and the character with the other actor and character, with all things personal, preofessional and artistic at paly in all aspects of the field."  Janet Sonenberg

"Make voyages, there's nothing else."  Tennesse Williams

"ACTING - it wakes ourselves up to who and what we are."             
F. Murray Abraham

"Above all, the actor must be the great understander - and that puts him in a category with the philosopher, the poet and the priest."  Laurence Olivier

From Chinua Achebe
The poet (artist) who is not in trouble with the King
is in trouble with his work."

AND

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we subconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." Marianne Williamson

"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right."    H. Ford.

It is better to speak from a full heart and an empty head then from a full head and an empty heart.
from THE DUBLIN OPINION

The actors who show their tension are better off than those who have it under control.

Encourage tension to express itself in the part of the body in which it is occurring.

Allow tension to express itself as part of the life that is happening in the scene.  After you have included tension in the scene, involve yourself with your choice and with your acting partner.  INVOLVEMENT IS THE ENEMY OF TENSION.  

AND REMEMBER FEAR IS A CREATIVE FORCE IN YOUR LIFE.

The more you are concerned with yourself, the less you are with others. 

Give up being right or correct or good.

Leave yourself alone.

Trust yourself.

Stay in the moment.

You have to fail as an actor to be a good actor.  You are going to fail.  Success is an accident so have your own compass.

FEAR is the excitement necessary for the message to move the audience.  It shows you care.  COURAGE is having fear and doing it anyway.  Be willing to fail, to be foolish, to be ridiculed, to discover the unknown areas of yourself without judging.  

There is only the commitment - to make mistakes and how to make them work for us.  That's the magic some have.

Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone.

The willingness to be wounded may be all we have to offer.

You must learn to float without your hands.  Hands are used to untie knots.

Psychologist Karen Harvey's Study of  Self-esteem yielded this result.  "When a person attempts something intellectually or physically they usually succeed!  Yet, most people imagine they will fail more often than succeed and never attempt what they want to do.  What we do not do out of fear is experienced as failure."

TWO ACTORS AND THE MOON

From The Invisible Actor by Yoshi Oida

"In the Kabuki theatre, there is a gesture which indicates 'looking at the moon', where the actor points into the sky with his index finger. One actor, who was very talented, performed this gesture with grace and elegance. The audience thought: "Oh, his movement is so beautiful!" They enjoyed the beauty of his performance, and the technical mastery he displayed.

Another actor made the same gesture, pointing at the moon. The audience didn't notice whether or not he moved elegantly; they simple saw the moon. I prefer this kind of actor: the one who shows the moon to the audience."

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It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true, I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself, if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul, if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy. I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day and if you can source your own life from its presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes."

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have, I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here, I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied; I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

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It is not the critic that counts.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marked by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasm and great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
                                                                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                            ~Teddy Roosevelt