a little Rilke…
Posted in Uncategorized on April 26th, 2011 by Andrew…never hurts.
“What tightens into survival is already inert.”
the real value
Posted in Uncategorized on April 25th, 2011 by Andrew
“The real value [of the exercises]“, Grotowski insisted, “lies in your not being able to do them.” –An Acrobat of the Heart, A Physical Approach to Acting Inspired by the Work of Jerzy Grotowski, Stephen Wangh
the right work
Posted in Uncategorized on April 23rd, 2011 by AndrewWhen I was at the Drama School, I watched as actors were cast in one or two School productions, and then often did a Yale Cabaret show after hours. This was on top of a battery of classes. So everyone stayed very busy.
And because everyone stayed very busy, everyone felt very virtuous about how busy they were, and how hard they were working. They felt certain that because they were working so hard, their work must be good.
In reality, it seldom worked out that way.
They may have built stamina and endurance, but in the meantime, I saw a good deal of mediocre work happen at that illustrious institution. People were stretched too thin, and so they couldn’t really do justice to anything. And if you ask me, many of them liked it that way. It gave them the perfect means to avoid actually having to look squarely at anything, and ask themselves what it would take to really do something well. Instead of just giving what they felt like they could and hoping for the best.
One of the great experiences I had at the Drama School was three semesters as assistant to master acting teacher and director Evan Yionoulis. I remember Evan and I discussing this issue, in a slightly different context. We were talking about students in the class who buried themselves in work, but were not actually working productively. The key, she said, is doing “the right work.”
Feeling busy doesn’t mean your time is well spent. Not at all. Sometimes, though, slowing down and paying real attention is just too frightening to contemplate.
How you like me NOW?
Posted in Uncategorized on April 20th, 2011 by AndrewWelcome to the brand spanking new Mother of Invention Blog, now hosted here, on my own domain, utteracting.com, and using WordPress. I am told that WordPress is the choice of Serious Bloggers everywhere; can you feel how much more Serious I’ve gotten in the last 24 hours? Seriously, though, a Search Guru has assured me that the benefits I will reap from the search engines by hosting my blog on my own domain guarantee that I will live happily ever after in the lap of luxury.
When you say it’s gonna happen now, when exactly do you mean?
Friends and Family Night Pics
Posted in March 2011, friends and family night on April 19th, 2011 by AndrewThese are some pics from the last LA Friends and Family Night, shot by the incomparable Eric Ulbrich:
(Click to see enlarged version)
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