Write at least 1 paragraph (4 sentences or more) responding to 1
of the questions below. Then write at least 1 paragraph responding to
another student's response to 1 of the questions.
Questions from Chapter 18:
1.
"As an aristocrat you understand the tradition of handing down. Do you have something handed down from your grandmother? If so, you understand that what is handed down is respected and cherished. In the case of an aristocrat, what's handed down is social position, a sense of esthetics and morality. From what's handed down you derive a sense that you're not alone." Describe a time when you felt your inheritance as an actor. (For example when I was the lead in "The Comedy of Errors" I took my first time doing Shakespeare very seriously. I knew that these words were hundreds of years old and have been performed hundreds of times by amazing actors. I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure that I mastered that role.)
2.
"The resentful man is neither sincere nor honest nor straightforward. His mind loves hiding places, secret paths and back doors. Everything hidden impresses him as his security, his comfort. He knows waiting. He knows self-deprecation, self-humiliation." Describe a character you have played or would like to play that demonstrates these qualities.
3.
"Actors are aristocrats of the mind! And have been for well over 2,000 years!" Explain what Stella Adler means by this.
3) I think that Stella Adler refers to actors as aristocrats because we have the ability to do something that has been done for "over 2,000 years". We hold that tradition. It is the heirloom that she refers to in question 1 above. Acting is something special that we must take seriously and treat respectfully because we are not just representing the director or the writer, we are representing years of acting. Adler is saying that acting can't be treated lightly. As actors we must focus on keeping a culture that has been passed down for many many years.
ReplyDeleteI agree, but I actually take a slightly different angle on this - I think acting is a tradition, but I don't think our job is to handle it with respect and seriousness. I think our job is simply to act and be truthful and to change something in the audience's mindset or reveal some fundamental truth, and to do that successfully, we have to take it seriously. And when it's done correctly, a respect is created for it. Basically, I don't think we aim for respecting the tradition - I think we aim for simply doing it, and as a side effect of doing it at the highest level, respect and tradition are created.
Delete1. After I watched the movie "Noises Off!" I felt the need to live up to that actress' performance. She performed it so well and I wanted to do it up to that caliber. At the same time, I knew that this play was something that had been performed any times, and this play was also something that was respected as really good farce. I mean...Neil Simmon has his own theater on Broadway, so do be doing a play by him was amazing to me. I didn't want to not do the character justice, especially since Canalia casted me in a part that I wasn't sure I wanted to play.
ReplyDeleteI was nervous with "Noises Off" as well. I felt like we did a good job, but I didn't feel I lived up to the suave that was portrayed by Frederick in the movie. However, I feel we did well in our parts AND knocked it out of the park with our VERY physical comedy. The play was meant to entertain and we did it.
DeleteIt's a lot of pressure to perform to everyones expectations. On one side you need/want to respect the way it was performed and if anything meet or go above the standards they set. On the other hand there is no way you can give the same performance because your a different person. Although I agree it's good to keep the tradition and respect sometimes it's good to have your own rake on a character.
DeleteI like to kinda ignore the expectations of others at some points. And only set expectations for myself. Simply because if you do that, then you can only fail yourself, and when you have expectations for yourself, you will push yourself harder to do better so that you can do maybe even better, than what you expected in the first place.
DeleteMelanie- Neil Simon is the man, isn't he? Like performing something that was written by him makes you feel good. It makes you feel connected. I'm at the point where I feel like I can connect with anyone in theatre, and that's something amazing to me.
DeleteWanting to do a characer justice is one of those tough roads for an actor. Especially if it's a character you love. I try not to compare myself to the roles before me too much, because I often don't want to be JUST like the person before me. Take a few things here and there, but after that, just try and listen to the script. Does that make sense? Listen to what the script wants you to do. If you enjoyed yourself on stage, and created a Belinda, you did the character justice in my eyes.
3. We are carrying a tradition and profession that has been mastered and understood by hundreds of thousands of people before us. There have been certain standards that are understood without saying, certain ethos and a certain respect for many different things that come with being part of this culture. It is not our 'duty' to carry on this 'tradition,' it's not that we have to represent ourselves in a certain way because it would demean acting as it has been done for thousands of years, but instead that we have to represent ourselves in that way because once we really understand and appreciate the tradition associated - the form, the training, the mindset, everything about it - then we will become a part of that culture and will naturally do the things associated with it. By accepting the tradition and understanding it, we become a part of it. This is what Stella means. Acting is a tradition.
ReplyDelete1) When I played the Beast in "Beauty and the Beast", I knew what I had inherited a part that had been played thousands of times and it was a part that was hard for me to do. I knew that I would be unable to perform it the way it had classically done because I would not be big enough physically. However, there was a 1973 Spanish horror film where a smaller man performed the beast in a different way. I felt as though I had inherited the part from that movie and I knew I would have to respect the original portrayal while giving a nod to this adaptation.
ReplyDeleteI think the part of the Beast would be a challenge for anyone, but I think you were able to pull it off really well. I also liked how rather than lamenting on your size you did something about it. Research can almost always help because nobody has played any part the same. There are a thousand different varieties to every part.
Delete3. I think that we are aristocrats because the acting that we do is like having a hold on history, and keeping it going, moving it forward and teaching it in ways that teachers just cant do. We're simply more interesting than a history class.. I hope. We arn't telling stories of history, but rather, we are acting out peices of art, that many will or already do concider peices of history now, and for years to come.
ReplyDelete3. Here's how I look at it. Aristocrazy is of high class, right? I think what Stella means is that actors have been able to master the use of their minds, creating imagination and expressing it through acting for centuries. It's something we as actors can pride ourselves in. Our creativity. We have the privelage to be doing what so many have mastered before us. We are practicing an art of the mind. That art is creating an alternate reality. Oh goodness, the thought of it puts makes me feel high and mighty.
ReplyDelete3.) Time is an excellent judge of value. Things that worthless or unnecessary have been rehashed and sent through the machine hundreds of times with each new generation of human beings, and thankfully people are conscientious enough to not burn their bridges behind them and make the new kids touch the stove. The point is that as many problems as the human race has, clearly there are things that work about us. After cutting the fat away, there are still some choice institutions and concepts that work. Acting is 2000 years old because it works. People don't always know why or how, but for those of us interested (which I suppose that would be us) it is clear that there is a function and a value found in acting that has withstood the test of time. I believe that actors being "aristocrats of the mind" means we have this heritage that sets us apart from other people. This doesn't suggest some sort of superiority like the word aristocracy usually does, but it does suggest a sort of "setting apart" that only acting can provide due to its exploration into the human condition and its desire to communicate that to others. That's why "of the mind" is tagged on to the end, because socially, we are set apart from other professions, but mentally, we are set apart from the entire rest of the population. It doesn't even necessarily mean we're smart. We're just more inclined to deliberate thinking than others, and it prompts the desire to communicate it in a way that could fool people into actually learning something.
ReplyDeleteI almost think that actors and actresses, pick up the slack for some of the other people. When we act, we present ideas, themes and questions that have burned deep into humans' minds for, well, 2,000 years. Some people have forgotten to think about that stuff, and we hand it to them on a silver platter. Also, acting is universal. I just read an article about how the Globe Theater was going to take Hamlet around the world for it's 400th birthday (somewhere around there, at least). Ideas presented in theater transcend cultural lines, skin color, national identity. As actors, we're aristocrats of the mind because we took it upon ourselves to remind our fellow human beings of the big ideas. Sort of like the Giver, but with more color, and emotion, and sharing.
DeleteI like what Katie said about how actors present ideas that people seem to have forgotten or have chosen to ignore. I think that might also be why acting has lasted so long. Its like the human race needs these people to continue to push others to continually analyze and view life in different ways. Essentially I would say that actors are bards, you know, storytellers. We keep that tradition alive. As Keenan said obviously is works because acting is still here after 2000 years. I think people sometimes take acting and actors for granted, but when it comes down to it acting, and really art in general, has been given the task to keep those big ideas present in the world. That’s part of the aristocratic-ness that I think Stella is talking about.
Delete1. I felt inheritance, actually, exactly a week ago, at camp, during the candlelight ceremony. Particularly the part when the SSO's and board members were reading those passages. I felt the weight of a tradation that has spanned across 2,000 of history, of different eras. I am a thespian. I represent what one guy did 2,000 years ago when he stepped out from the chorus. It's an accumulation. And it's all accumulated to me and my generation. At that moment, I felt that I needed to stick to my standards, to stick to those, to represent myself and 2,000 year-old hobby. It felt incredibly heavy. Even heavier, since I'm the president. I'm responsible for whatever goes on this year, whatever successes and failures we have, and for safe-guarding the 2,000 year tradition that has made its way to IRHS, and making sure it continues the next year. I feel like a link in an old, long chain, and that, to me, is an immense inheritance.
ReplyDeleteI feel like being the last (or most recent) link in a 2,000 year old chain does present a certain amount of stress and pressure, but on top of that it's an enormous opportunity (which might have a hand in creating that pressure, but I think the pros exceed the cons.) It's the opportunity to set the world up for the next link, building a bridge that the next generation can cross so that on a universal scale, the art progresses. Making it something new and exciting without degrading it's heritage is something that is going to be difficult, but in the end game, extremely rewarding. And what's great about our particular choice in "hobby," "profession," "art" whatever you want to call it is that regardless of whether or not you want to take that opportunity to push the world into the future, IT'S FUN. But on the flip side of that, it's enjoyable qualities can force us to become complacent or content in where we stand, and that can force us to stagnate. That's fine for some people, but it isn't a substitute for greatness. So I suppose, in conclusion, the burden is great, but we just have to be strong enough to hold it up, and eventually toss it forward.
Delete1. I really felt my inheritance as an actor when I was chosen to play Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is an absolute classic, and Ebenezer Scrooge is one of the most famous fictional characters of all time. He's been portrayed by many talented and famous actors over the past several decades, including the likes of Patrick Stewart, George C. Scott Michael Horden, and several others. To be chosen to play such an iconic character was an honor. I made sure I played Scrooge as best I could, because to do anything less would be a disservice to the character.
ReplyDelete1. So for this entry I’m going to take it back to middle school when I played Belle in Beauty and the Beast. Of all the characters I have played so far Belle is definitely the one that I felt an inheritance to. She’s a character that everyone knows and adores and I knew that if I played her ‘wrong’ the audience would notice. It was also a big role for me to take on because there were going to be so many little kids attending the play and actually in the play. I felt like they would be looking up to me as one of the princesses at Disney land. I didn’t want to be the one to ruin their childhood experience (if I can be that dramatic about it). I remember trying to decide if I should remain in character after the play when little kids came up to me. In the end I did choose to remain the harmless Disney princess because in a way I thought it was my duty to keep the imagination of those little kids alive.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to iconic characters, Disney definitely has a line up of the most memorable and iconic characters out there. Characters like Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, Simba, Aladdin, Ariel, Belle, and countless others are still loved and adored by millions of people all over the world to this day. So when you're asked to play such a beloved character as Belle, of course you want to do your very best. Such a well loved character deserves the best performance you can give.
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