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Technique

© Eric Prescott

If you’ve acted for a while, even if you’ve never been trained, chances are you’ve developed some sort of technique. Technique, according to Webster’s, is “the manner in which a person employs technical skills.” In other words, if you’ve been acting, you’ve probably found a way to help you achieve a desired result on stage or in front of the camera. But perhaps something still feels lacking, or you still have not developed a coherent approach to your craft. A foundational technique helps even experienced actors solidify the palette from which they create their work.

I mentioned in the previous column that one way to continually develop your craft is to always act. One way to always be acting is to continually train with a teacher or acting coach. Even Joanne Woodward, who studied early on with Sanford Meisner and later won an Academy Award for “Three Faces of Eve,” came back to study with Meisner after this achievement. The reason? You never stop growing as an actor, even when the world considers you a master. A deep actor owes it to himself or herself and the audience to always be growing, working on the craft.

The most commonly taught basic acting techniques derive from one school of thought, that of Constantin Stanislavski. Stanislavski’s System inducted his students at the Moscow Art Company into a rigorous course of study that included movement, speech, and so forth, though the core of his acting instruction was to remove the artificial in performance and to prepare the actor to perform with convincing psychological truthfulness. Vital reading for understanding Stanislavski’s approach can be found in the trilogy “An Actor Prepares,” “Building a Character,” and “Creating a Role.” The many books on Stanislavski are no substitution for his originals.

The first book, ”An Actor Prepares,” is the fundamental text from which Stanislavski’s System, or more popularly, though less accurately, The Method, is derived. Concepts explained in this volume not only form the basis of The Method, but also inform to a very large degree the teachings of his American followers (who started under Stanislavski’s students who founded the American Laboratory Theatre in 1924), including the greats Stella Adler and Sanford Meisner. One concept adopted by the Americans was the “magic if,” a concept that helps the actor develop his or her imagination when considering responses to circumstances encountered in approaching a role. Other concepts more unique to The Method, and more commonly known include “emotion memory,” also known to many as “sense memory.”