Free Write- To Act or Not to Act? That is Not a Question.

"To act means to do."

         This week, A Practical Handbook for the Actor has taught me all about physical action onstage. According to the preceding quote, for acting to be successful, one must always have something specific to do, or else you stop acting.

          Actions must be: physically capable of being done, fun, specific, tested in the scene partner, have a "cap" (or end goal), and be in line with the intentions of the playwright. They should not be: errands, manipulative, or presuppose a physical or emotional state.
          I found this interesting because, before, I did not know how much specificity it took to make an action plausible and mean something. Looking back at scenes I have seen or been in, I agree that, yes, they were all very specific and very purposeful. I guess I just did not realize this before because it had always been a given.
          Also, I used to think acting was just something you did onstage-- you could just get up and pretend something and there you were, acting. However, this is not true at all. Acting is an art that takes years to master. There is so much thought and work that goes into it; it would be next to impossible to do it flawlessly your first time.
         All these years I thought it was so simple.
         Knowing that there is actually much more to it than meets the eye makes acting even more appealing to me.