As one of the most prominent acting schools in Spain, ESAD of Murcia promotes exchanges that allow students and staff the opportunity to develop creative and practical skills in the theater. Alongside its varied educational programs, ESAD of Murcia considers the development of workshops and project-oriented collaborations to be critical to student success; these types of special programming allow sharing of knowledge and the development of practical skills. Participation in international festivals-such as FESTUM-is an invaluable opportunity for an academic theater institution because it's not only a platform to share creative work but also a dynamic encounter across different cultures and approaches to theater and teaching.
The main objective of such workshops during FESTUM was to bring extracurricular subjects for students and teachers so that they could learn from partner institutions. By offering our community the opportunity to learn from incoming instructors and our faculty the chance to teach visiting students, we embraced new perspectives and methodologies.
Under ideal circumstances, these workshops would combine theory and practice to better understand different acting methods in depth. Jumping directly into the exercises is recommended only when there is time to develop the craft and reflect on the process down the line. On the other hand, in short-term programs, it is crucial to make conceptual connections beforehand so students can understand what they are doing and how it fits with their current steps in the process. Also, in these intensive workshops, forming small groups allows for more in-depth work on the craft of acting because individual attention can be paid to each student.
Unfortunately, for this particular FESTUM workshop, we were unable to run the program under ideal pedagogical conditions given the course duration and the high enrollment. Therefore, we were compelled to try something new! Our adaptation consisted of two pieces. Firstly, students would jump into the work following a brief introduction, and we would leave the theory for Q&A after the session. Secondly, given that there were over 80 people in the classroom, the group was divided into observers and participants. Finally, we were extremely fortunate to be collaborating with responsive, first-rate instructors.
The Method
When working on the Method at ESAD, our curriculum offers two elective courses, each consisting of 15 weeks of work. We start by exploring some basic principles in acting-relaxation, attention, action-reaction, etc.- to move on to some of the most specific and famous Method tools, such as sensorial and emotional work. At the end of the semester, students come to understand that with this technique, and through their working process, actors reach a state of experience and behavior in which they are affected by internal and external stimuli and respond by expressing their own feelings truthfully. Reaching such a state, most qualities of the personality of the actor as a human being are available as an artist. Preparing the actor's instrument by exploring personal experiences from the past allows these experiences to become the actor's choices when working on material.
This connection of the Method with personal experiences brings us to two common misconceptions when talking about the Method. First, there is a mix-up between the process and the result. This confusion can lead students to believe that they need to be thinking about their own technical issues during the performance. It usually manifests itself in thoughts like, "if my grandmother's memory makes me cry, then should I think of Grandma during the show?" The second issue is the difference between stage truth and real-world truth. This usually presents itself in wonderings like "if my character is a serial killer, would I need to kill people to perform the part truthfully?" Both ideas are easily addressed and overcome when we understand that acting is about "play," a concept to which we will return later.
The objective of offering the workshop "Method Acting: Inside and Out" during FESTUM was to allow students to gain a better understanding of the Method through specific play-based acting exercises. It was an opportunity for students to apply the Method the way they do at the Actors Studio. Considering ESAD students are familiar with Stanislavski's work on the character and the play, they would be encouraged to harmonize these techniques with what they already know.
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Figura 1. Brian Rhienehart. Fuente: Mercedes C. Carrillo |
Therefore, we started the workshop by showing students two basic areas of Method research, or what we refer to as Self-Research: Sense Memory and Emotion Memory. The purpose of engaging in work on Sense Memory is to increase the ability to create fictive sensorial circumstances onstage or onscreen using just the imagination. For example, if the character were on a beach or in a blizzard, but the actor is on a bare stage and it's cold or hot, it's useful to have a technique that will help them substitute their circumstances as actors with the circumstances of the character. We use sensory work to sensorially affect the body so that we can truthfully live through the circumstances of a play or show.
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Figura 2. César Oliva y Brian Rhinehart. Fuente: Mercedes C. Carrillo. |
The next area of self-research is Emotion Memory. The purpose of Emotion Memory is to teach students to break through the barriers of superficial acting and to give them the ability to access the entire spectrum of their emotions, whenever they need them as actors. With their senses, humans can quite easily perceive the effects of stress or fear or happiness or excitement just by seeing and hearing themselves breathe. Those emotional states are also evident in the tone and timbre of the voice, and especially in the body language. This is why Emotion Memory works. It can make the difference between really feeling what the character is feeling and not-the necessity of which has been at the center of another, long-running debate.
This workshop, therefore, attempted to show the students how to go deeper into a character and how to access emotions, whenever they need them as actors. After enough practice with these exercises, the exercises themselves should no longer be necessary. If the actor continues to work on the mind, the body will eventually take over. In other words, the purpose of sensory and emotion memory work is to strengthen the mind-body connection, which explains the common sentiment among its practitioners that the Method is not an acting technique, but a rehearsal technique.
Actors must connect their brains to their bodies. In order to become an actor who has access to the entire spectrum of emotions, the actor must learn to lower their defenses to having those emotions. The "normal" human being builds those defenses over a lifetime to protect them from emotions. We actors do the opposite. To do our job, we must learn how to connect to them. Method actors do this with Sense and Emotion Memory Exercises.
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Figura 3. Brian Rhinehart con alumnado. Fuente: Mercedes C. Carrillo. |
At this point, we understand that using the Method is merely using the imagination. The Method shouldn't be perceived as some menacing, potentially traumatizing approach to acting, at least it's not if practiced correctly and responsibly. The Method is merely a technique that uses play-based exercises and games to stimulate the imagination and embrace what the brain does naturally.
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Figura 4. Brian Rhinehart. Fuente: Mercedes C. Carrillo. |
Play and Brain Science
Human beings only see the present through the lens of the past. That is, our brain takes in events and stimuli that are happening in the present moment and compares them to memories of similar events in the past. The brain is constantly bombarded by inputs: images, sounds, physical sensations, conversations, ideas, emotions, etc., and because the brain is ultimately geared towards survival, its habituated response is often dominated by what has already been lived, i.e., the familiar, "the known," in the form of previous inputs, experiences, and outcomes.
This acquiescence to a default response concerning what has been previously experienced by the individual is the basis of creativity in using the Method. The Method utilizes the way the brain works with the technique of substitution, consciously using this process of transference to substitute our memories of people from our past for the characters in a performance.
The brain instantaneously compares current moments with those of the past and assigns a strategy for success. That strategy, as we mentioned, is meant to ensure survival, but in this context-acting-results in creativity. And because in our industry we're mostly interested in creativity, in the Method we must find ways to embrace and utilize this default process. And the way to do this is through play.
Creativity depends on play, and the imagination is creative because of play. The imagination is the brain engaged in the interplay of past and present. One of the most fundamental aspects of human life is that we are playful. Play sharpens the senses, sparks the imagination, increases intelligence and social sensitivity, and spurs the imagination into the act of creation. Sociologists, neuroscientists, psychologists, and educators have been saying the same thing for over one hundred years, that play is a significant developmental process in the life of all human beings, and that it enables the brain to grow in ways that allow for an understanding of the external world and the people surrounding us. In play, we learn how to give and take, how to manage our needs and desires, and how to create lasting social relationships.
Through play, we are able to transcend ourselves, to break free of the limitations and prohibitions that inhibit us in everyday life. Play offers an escape from the constrictions of the present moment. It enables us to assume a multitude of identities and to commit all manner of actions with no fear of (real) penalties or retribution. You can be who you want to be in play, you can cross boundaries, break rules, and live other lives with no fear of judgment. In play, anything is possible.
Conclusion
The actors' job is not just memorizing lines and performing actions that the playwright and/or the director give them. Actors need to fulfill certain obligations given by the text. Text analysis helps identify these fictional circumstances, but the actor needs to not only know them but behave and react to them as if they were real. The exercises that the Method offers are technical tools for the actors to bring here and now personal choices for them to react organically to the circumstances of the text. In his book Irreverent Acting, Eric Morris defends the technique does not help the actor to react-which is something human beings do naturally-but rather to create the necessary stimuli to fulfill the requirements of the play. That is what technique must do for the actors.
During the workshop, one of the students asked: "If the character gets burned in the scene, do I have to get burned myself in order to convey the pain of the character?" This kind of question reflects some of the general confusion existing regarding the Method. According to the above, the pain of the character is an obligation required by the play. The actor needs to react truthfully so the audience can believe the character's suffering. Putting "play" and "imagination" at the center of the task helps us realize that the Method does not ask the actors to get burned but offers exercises to awaken their imagination so that they find a personal and unique way to react to imaginary circumstances. Understanding the Method as a rehearsal technique and as a way to inhabit your imagination resolves some of the resistance that some students/actors might have towards the Method.
Play has become a central focus of our work and research over the last twenty years. We realized early on that only with a safe, trusting environment, one that is free of the concept of failure, can play occur. This is crucial because, without an atmosphere of play, creativity is stopped in its tracks. As a director or instructor, your most important job, at least at the beginning of the process, is merely to create the conditions for play to happen. It's about providing the space and atmosphere for the actors to use their imaginations to create something singular and original.