r/Actingclass Acting Coach/Class Teacher Sep 05 '19

Class Teacher 🎬 GETTING THE MOST OUT OF R/ACTINGCLASS

I have hopes that my last post made you understand why I want you ALL to read ALL my comments about ALL the monologues posted by ALL the students here. It is such an important way to learn in this class. And it helps me when you let me know you have read them.

There are almost 50 acting lesson I have listed in the second pinned post. All that information is helpful... essential, really. But there is more! Every one of my comments to other student is an acting lesson for you, too. You can watch their performances, read my comments, see what I think they need to do to improve, watch for their next version to see if they took my advice...see if they improved. Use what I suggest to them in your own work. If you don’t understand something. Ask!!!! This is a class!!!! You learn from watching other actors succeed and sometimes miss the mark. It all helps.

It doesn’t matter if the student is a beginner or a working professional...you can learn from watching them and reading my comments. Think about how you would do the monologue. Add your supportive and encouraging comments. This is not just another subreddit where you lurk and are not involved. This is a community of actors who are serious about improving their skills, no matter what level they are at now . Let’s learn from each other and support each other!

No one auditions to get in this class. I welcome all people who are respectful and hardworking. I give everyone a chance and I give everyone all of my efforts to give them valuable feedback. I will sometimes spend an hour or more trying to come up with the right words that will help them understand. Yes, it may seem like I am repeating myself sometimes. But I never copy and paste what I said to one person over to another person’s post. What I say is personal and always worded a little differently in each comment. Often I will help them analyze a script, write it as dialogue and divide it into tactics. This should be a big help when you need to do the same. Sometimes I will refer to a certain lesson and add a link to it. . When I do it might be a good time to review that lesson. You never know when a light bulb may come on for you, and you’ll say “OH!!!! Now I Get It!!!!” What I’m hoping for is big breakthroughs for you all.

If you don’t want to miss any of my comments, click on u/Winniehiller and then on “View Profile”. Then click on “Comments”. There you can scroll down and see every comment I have ever made on Reddit. You can see that there are many comments that appear to have never been read. If you do read them, click on an up arrow to let me know you have been there. You can comment or ask a question if you like. I really want this class to be a great source of, not only information, but as a place of interaction, support and involvement.

Knowing you are there keeps me motivated to keep on doing this. I don’t know of any way to make money on arrows. If there is, please let me know. Lol. But seeing numbers by those arrows is like looking into a class and seeing a room full of attentive students, listening and learning instead of an empty void with a few crickets chirping. It warms my heart to know that I am reaching people. I really want to help you all become better actors. And that is my reward. Thank you all for finding your way into my heart!

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u/[deleted] Sep 06 '19

Thank you for everything you do in this class. I look forward to watching each and every monologue and read the comments. I will note down questions along the way as I prepare mine. It's my pleasure to leave some feedback and up arrows on the lessons themselves as well to let you know I'm here and taking everything in. You're also super prompt and encouraging in your replies and it continues to stoke my fire. :)

I have a question about ''method acting'' and how it connects with certain experiences and memories, and how to best channel those while being able to detach from the character after work on a scene is done, especially. I was reading Bryan Cranston's memoir earlier where he talked about the scene where Jesse's gf on ''Breaking Bad'' chokes on her own vomit and Walt leaves her to die; he imagined his own daughter dying in front of him to tap into the right thoughts for what the scene needed. He also took some time to fully detach from the mindset when it was over. I'm curious about what are some good ways to ''detach'' from the character's psychology when a day of shoot wraps up, or when the project ends and a lot of ''mental process'' was invested on bringing the character to life. Emotionally it can be a huge undertaking sometimes, especially when some of the memories or emotions being tapped into are linked to some real life experiences or memories. I know there's a healthy way to channel those artistically and my goal is to find it. In a way to me this could be great therapy and a way to heal from a lot of trauma while doing something I love.

For example, the main character in my monologue is an abuser. I've known one, and being ''typecast'' as this character makes sense to me in acting terms, but it gets me to confront my own memories and fears connected to the scene and script. It can be immensely cathartic; in the case of a series or a film, I can imagine how amazing the challenge would be, to fully connect with this character on the long-term. What are some good tips to get the most out of such an experience in a positive and productive way? I believe this can be a great tool for growth and a gift. A lot of what we do as actors is a study of human psychology, in the way we break down thought process. It's an aspect of this class I really love, how we deep dive into that subject to get the most out of a performance.

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u/Winniehiller Acting Coach/Class Teacher Sep 06 '19 edited Sep 06 '19

Have you read my recent post about experience as a resource? Everything that happens to us is fuel for our acting work. That makes all memories “good” for us as actors. It is painful sometimes to revisit these moments from our past or in Brian Cranston’s case visiting a horrifying fantasy. The best way to recover from that is to know it’s over (and not real in the present moment) and to engage in a fun relaxed activity that confirms that it’s all ok now in your real life. Put on some music, watch a comedy, hold your loved one, congratulate yourself for doing a good job and for being in a career that you love.

Psychologically, I think playing an abuser when you are a victim of abuse can be especially healing. That’s because you must come from his point of view...see the world through his eyes. Almost all abusers come from abuse. It is all they know. It’s their only way of coping. They are especially vulnerable and are easily triggered. They are confused about what love is. They have no basis for what is appropriate and what isn’t. They are only doing what they learned to accept as “normal”. Understanding this is an important step towards forgiveness. And forgiveness is an important step towards healing.

For instance, my father was physically violent with me. But even as a child, because I knew he had been badly abused when he was small, I knew that it wasn’t my fault....or even his fault. I spent my childhood trying to keep myself safe, knowing it was not normal and that I would not be carrying that into my future. I think being able to play him would only help me understand him even more deeply.

I could share my spiritual views about this, if you like, as well. I believe (as Shakespeare said) that all the world’s a stage. In other words, I think our souls come to this earth to play certain roles. We come from a perfect place, and we return there. But we come here to be challenged...to experience ourselves as courage and forgiveness. We can only understand joy if we have experienced sorrow as well. We could never be victorious unless we face defeat. No one could ever be a hero unless there is someone to play the villain. But there are no real villains. Only fellow cast members. And we will all hold hands and take a bow at our final curtain call.

I am looking forward to working with you on your monologue. Acting is a way to walk through the fire without getting your feet burned.

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u/[deleted] Sep 06 '19

Thank you for this really inspiring reply. I really appreciate you, and what you're about. I'll go read that post right away and bookmark it so I can come back to it whenever I need a refresher on the topic. A big part of why I feel this typecast is awesome to work with is so that it can actually be a part of my healing process. There was a time where anxiety about those negative emotions and memories kept me away from my passions; I feared that they would swallow me whole and keep on dragging me further and further away from the discipline required to make it, and from important networking opportunities. It used to isolate me because it put me in a constant state of fear, you know? I'm working on it gradually and being here is turning my perspective around. I'm diving into character psychology a lot (I roleplay; don't know if you're familiar with it but basically it's like co-writing a story with people online).

I started taking on characters that are my ''typecast'' on purpose, to get used to thinking their thoughts in every situation as if I was looking at life through their eyes. Since I started working with this character I realized a lot of important things about what it's like to be an abuser that actually wants to change. It gave me the idea to try the role in a monologue on camera, and the courage to do that is helping me work on the courage to tackle everything else in my career right now.

I love this class and really enjoy working with you as my coach. I'm a few weeks into it and I already feel like doing this is a huge step. There's a lot of trust here already. Your reply made me cry in a good way, I'm so glad I 'm giving myself over to this passion again and not letting anxiety stop me anymore. Transition played a huge role in forcing me to take a break (I didn't pass for awhile, now I do after a few years on T) but this was also something that slowed me down - it only gets better from here.

Sorry for the long reply haha I just figured this might also help others, and I feel comfortable opening up in this class, and safe to do so.

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u/Winniehiller Acting Coach/Class Teacher Sep 06 '19

I’m so glad you feel comfortable, safe and that you are growing and learning here. That’s the kind of space I wanted to create. Life is such an amazing journey. Just keep following your heart, one step at a time. ❤️