Theatre Class Blog - Acting is a Moving Meditation

I recently coached a smart, young actor on a monologue from a play. (Yes, Zoom Acting Classes are happening!) He’s just starting out, but seems to have quite an aptitude for the work we are doing. We approached the work with a list of questions: Who are you? Where are you? Where are you coming from experientially? (You can see these questions in context, in section one, “Objectives”, of my acting text on this site. Open the scroll, Coaching: Acting and Writing; and click on, Acting Text.) These questions have become part of my routine when working with new students, and are questions I return to myself when I’m acting, but as you will discover, the questions can become innate. It is important to keep these ideas simple, so that they can (how do I put this?) easily fit in your head. Especially important is this idea, when exploring different objectives (intentions, or wants). Acting is a moving meditation. If you have any kind of meditation practice, this will be clear to you. If you haven’t tried meditation, I highly suggest it as a tool in general life, but also as a tool for acting. There are at least two kinds of meditation. One, is the guided meditation, where you have someone talking through a series of ideas, slogans, mantras. The other is the non-guided, where you allow thoughts to come and go, freely. You acknowledge the thought as it crosses your mind, notice it, see it or hear it, but then let it leave your mind as quickly as it arrived. All kinds of thoughts will come and go through your mind as you are acting, some about what’s next, what was just said, a new thought, or discovery; some thoughts will have nothing to do with the play. Your ego may start whispering awful things to you, or maybe some personal dilemma will cross your mind. All of these things, pertaining to the play or not, should come and go with each breath, like a moving meditation. New thoughts will find their way in, when you learn to be always letting go. This is a good way to insure that a performance becomes layered and stays spontaneous. Staying present and in the moment with a meditation practice, will keep you from simply repeating what you did the night before.