Expert: Wanda Reinholdt - 3/29/2010

Question
Hello, there! First off, thanks for reading this; Performing is something I really enjoy doing and want to do for the rest of my life, but acting is not exactly my forte. I feel like I have a hard time separating from myself and becoming my character. I'm a junior in high school and got the role of Billy Lawlor in 42nd Street, and I was wondering if you had any specific advice on how I should take this character and make it into something good(something MORE than memorized lines). Anything you have is greatly appreciated, so thanks a ton! :D

Answer
David!  Great to hear from you.  :)  

This is a great question.  Let me see if I can assist you.  And congrats on getting a role.  :)

Often times, I hear that people think that we have better acting when we separate ourselves from our characters.  The truth of the matter is that acting is about someone who has lived, is living or could be living.  It is about life.  Whether we are playing a monster, an animal, a ficticious character in Narnia or a person, it is about a life.  

Would you say you know a little about life?  Would you say that there might be some things about this Billy that you could identify with (go through the script and find them)?  What are those things?  And what, for you, is totally foreign?  (Again always look in the script.)

I guess I want to encourage you to never separate yourself from the person you are playing.  You must be them.  If you are not them, you will not be able to communicate anything else but lines.  THAT is the magic of the stage - when our lives are brought to the character.  Sometimes the things we see in the character that we identify with can be ugly and that is not always fun.  But when allow ourselves to let that help us create, it is an incredible experience of empathy that actually can change us for life.  THAT is the magic of acting.

Once you understand what you yourself can relate to, what you cannot relate to needs to be researched or looked into further so that you understand it more.  That could mean some reading or it could mean just experimenting with ideas on the stage in rehearsal until you find something.  For e.g. if the person you are playing has got a phobia of some sort, you need to understand phobia.  If you don't have a phobia, then it is essential that you read up on the phobia he has.  On stage in rehearsal, you might want to experiment in the scenes with staying away from whatever he is afraid of or reacting to whatever it is he is afraid of.  

Finally, last but not least, once you have a really thorough grasp of who this person is (both what you identify with and what you had to research and try on stage in rehearsal) then it is essential that you study the script to figure out what this person wants in the story from their scene partner or partners.  Does it ever change?  If it does, what does he want then?  Use verbs - active verbs - e.g. blaming, voting out, coaxing, attracting, daring.

And finally, when you look at all the things that this person wants throughout the script/story, can you summarize them?  Is there an ultimate goal that this person has?  Again, use an active verb.  

If you do these things, you will become a much better actor.

Does this help you?

Wanda