Imagination

Yesterday was the second class in a row that I didn't get to work. I haven't worked since I was slapped. But that's to be expected - there are a lot of people in the class and when we only get through two or three exercises in one class, that's only four to six people working each time. And I have worked a lot - both as the person with the activity and as the neighbor.

I was talking to a woman in the class after she had just worked, and I told her I was hoping her character would come in with a certain point of view. The one she brought in was good and it was a really interesting scene, but I had a different idea and I shared it. She said she thought about that, but since her actual perspective is the absolute opposite of my idea, she didn't think she would be able to get behind it enough to make the scene convincing. That bothered me.

Granted, this particular woman was out of town and missed a bunch of classes, so she hasn't gotten to see how ridiculous some of the set-ups and some of the neighbors have become. But she wants to be an actress, and she doesn't think she could get behind choices that she herself would never make? That would seem to indicate that she can only ever be cast as a character that is very close to who she actually is. And granted, she is beautiful and sweet and I'm sure there are plenty of roles in which she would do just fine, but still. I want to play characters. I want to play characters who are very different from who I am so that I can learn more about myself and about the world. Besides, when you play someone who is different from who you are, you get to exercise your imagination to try to figure out why you are completely behind this choice that your character is making that you would never in a million years make. Take some sci-fi show, for example. In my average, ordinary, every day life, I would probably never make the decision to go out in category 5 hurricane winds and rain in order to flip a switch to shoot a nuclear missile at a lake in order to clear things up. Nor would I ask anyone else to do so. But in the case of this particular small town that is about to be ripped apart by severe weather patterns, I have to go do that or everyone will die and I have to get 100% behind the choice to save the town at the risk of my own safety. And if the thought of thousands of people dying isn't enough, I have to imagine that one of them is my kid or my husband or my mom or whatever it would take to push me out that door to save the world. As an actor, I have to be able to do that. So why not practice in class? Make the choice you would never in a million years make and then find some way to justify it.

If for no other reason, then just because it's fun.