KNOWING

All of our lives we wait for those moments, those few moments, maybe five of them, when the clouds part, the air becomes still, and finally we KNOW.

http://www.theactingcorps.com

ACTING WISDOM

When you create a character, always find an object of some kind, that the character likes or that means something to the character. When I played Treplev, I always carried an old Russian babushka doll in my pocket…

http://www.theactingcorps.com

HUMILITY

In every great performance there is one component, which is not the result of superior training, intellect, or even talent, if such a thing exists. It is simply the presence of humility.

http://www.theactingcorps.com

HELP

Hungry in Bucharest and knocking on a locked restaurant door, a man comes to the door and mimes at me through the glass that the restaurant is closed. Still, I mime back, would you open the door? With the universal “locking” gesture and a shrug of his shoulders, the man lets me know there is no key. Looking for an answer from the stray dog standing next to me in the snow, the dog answers “I can’t help you, but how about a snack?” I want to very badly demand compassion from both of these inaccessible creatures, but then I remember that this is Bucharest, a city of people and animals victimized and terrorized by every empire to traipse through Eastern Europe, from the Romans to the Soviets - they are not about to start exhibiting any sort of compassion for yet another stranger.

http://www.theactingcorps.com

ONCE AGAIN

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The more adversity life presents the artist, the more he learns that art is the only solution.

http://www.theactingcorps.com/

MEANING

We artists suffer from an obsession with meaning. We do, and we are drawn to whoever or whatever promises to deliver. As a matter of fact, our hunger is so great, our obsession is so deeply rooted in existential trauma that the promise of meaning doesn’t even have to be that well packaged. The cheapest, most lurid, and meaningless advertisement will do - we will go there not for what is promised, but for what we can project upon the promise.

http://www.theactingcorps.com

THE ART OF GIVING

Some actors are insatiable. If left unchecked their ravenous hunger for love will try to diminish everyone around them, and it still won’t be enough. If this applies to you, feed yourself humility, generosity to others, and the creative process. You may not get what you think you want, but you will get what you need.

www.theactingcorps.com