Current mood:	hyper
Entry tags:	acting, hollywood, star trek, underground theater

Scene Study With Walter Koenig
The reason I don't take acting classes at this phase in my life is that most often when I end up in one, they are generally geared toward the basic concepts behind the craft because the participants in such workshops tend to be anywhere from beginner to advanced. That isn't to say that returning to the basics isn't a good thing or useful but I end up getting very little out of these classes because I'm not being challenged as much as the newer actors. I think I learn more by the process of being cast and working in that environment.

Mister Koenig is everything you'd expect of an actor who has been doing his thing successfully for 50 years. He told the stories I hope for in these workshops from which I derive inspiration and mentoring. He talked about truth in acting rather than 'performing.' I've worked very hard since I started doing film to get away from highly theatrical acting and instead take on a natural style of working that is about creating truth from which the humor or tragedy comes rather than denoting it via affectation. It was an important thing to mention and I appreciated his insight into it. He also drove home the point that making distinct choices that have to fight against resistance or some other force to be realized is what makes good drama. I need to work on making interesting choices right off the bat in everything I do - particularly auditions. I know my cold reading and auditioning can be very weak.

I didn't get a lot of feedback save for a couple of adjustments and a positive response for having fulfilled all the needs of the scene well. (It's what always happens to me in scene studies for the past five years.) That makes me paranoid. It frustrates me too. I want to be pushed so I can grow. The only thing that freaked me out was being asked to improv our scene so that we got the scripts out of our hands and it was all emotion or reaction to the other person. I did shockingly well, though I have to say that I've spent three days on a movie that was all improvisation so I've been learning what makes improv good or bad. I remembered to drive the scene with my goal and the other actor kept his goal firmly in hand as well. I had a great time.

The only other remarkable part of the night was the very powerful, positive response to my work in the play I just did. The fact that it stayed with people for two weeks to the point of wanting to tell me how much they enjoyed it was so touching, particularly given the calibre of talent one of these people themselves displayed. It was refreshing and it felt very good. Part of the point of being an actor is achieving a level of truth that is so real and honest, it resonates with other people or affects them in some fashion. It means you did your job. And that's the kind of appreciation I want out of my career. I seem to be heading the right direction.

Life happens when you go out into the world and in Hollywood all of that human contact is what takes you to the places you need to be to get somewhere. I feel as if the needs of a successful evening were met.