PROCESS AND TEXT

I'm an actor and a theatre director. I love watching my actors come away from the pages into their performance. As an actor it is tougher for me because I want to be word perfect. I over respect the script. You can't embody the text without being on your feet. While you are working the text into your being, you carry the text around. Then you start dropping it down all over the place. Some actors keep carrying it down their shirt or in their back pocket or up a sleeve or in their belt. This idea that you are not an actor unless you start rehearsal off text is a being inhibitor! They ain't kidding when they say "It's a mystery." Some keep their mystery to themselves, some are show offs, some only live when the audience shines on them. Demanding actors be "off script" at first blocking rehearsal seems inorganic and exclusive. There are all types of brilliant actors and they have many differing ways of reaching their performances. It can annoy you how they do it. You may feel they are not cooperating with the way you are working to fashion your performance or to fashion your show. But once you are actually in the performance with them, you will benefit from the energy and connection they have accessed in their own way. As a director I can appreciate a show that turns out even better than I anticipated.