TODAY: TEN TIMELY TIPS

Hello loyal readers! Today at Advice to the Players, some fast tips for actors of all ages. Hope you will enjoy them. Several of these have been used as blog posts all their own, just check the site.

• Act! All you can! Professional lessons are great, but, and I say this as an acting teacher, actual onstage time is better. Get all you can, especially in your early days.
• Be a professional, even as an amateur. Show up on time, and ready to work. Script in hand if needed, pencil at the ready.
• The script is your foundation. Learn your lines, then play with the underlying text.The sooner you can get them into memory, the sooner you can free up your brain to explore what you are saying.
• BREATH! At least 15-20 minutes a day of proper breathing, especially on show days especially just before a show, will do wonders for you.
• Save the drama for on stage. Avoid getting into backstage and offstage drama.
• Try not to bad mouth fellow actors. It is a small business in many ways, and your words will come back to haunt you.
• Remember to listen on stage. Focus, be an active listener, not just an actor waiting for a cue.
• Try not to take rejection from a role as a personal comment/.You just don't fit into one persons vision. Move ahead to the next audition.
• Show up. Life is filled with success, if you show up.
• Be nice. To fellow actors, stagehands, techies, staff, audience everyone. It makes you a better actor and a better person.

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J.T. Turner
The Actors Sensei
Acting and Speech Lessons for all Ages
jtturneractor@gmail.com

Advice to the Players Goes to the Movies!

Yes I go to the movies and you should too. All performers should make it a habit to attend works within the arts, movies, plays, concerts  art shows and more. Often, as a professional actor, I am challenged with getting to shows, as often I am in one myself and don't get a chance to see friends at work. But this year, as a part of my goals, I am going to see more art. Plays and musicals, but movies as well.

As a member of the Screen Actors Guild, I am fortunate to get to see films that are nominated for the SAG awards held in late January. One of the perks of being a Union member is I see films that are up for awards. These are sent to me in a few ways, "screeners" which is an actual DVD of the movie, often long before it is out on DVD, downloads on iTunes, which is new this year but seems to be a trend, and something called "Movie Cash" which is a voucher to go see a movie in a theater for free. All this great access to amazing acting on film reminds me of my work, and inspires me in my work.

Watching other actors act, seeing the choices they make, looking at how they approach a role is a great lesson for actors. And it makes good fodder for future use. Watching Natalie Portman's amazing performance in Black Swan is riveting, and could be an object lesson for what madness looks like. Could you use that sometime, perhaps as Ophelia or as Queen Margaret? Can Colin Firth's take on King George VI's stammering, his insecurity, his internal struggle feed your portrayal of Willie Loman or Claudius?

When cast in a role, I often watch films that are set in the same time frame, or by the same author, or in the same country or with the same accents. I don't copy other performances, I let my own talents use them as a springboard to where my character may go. I draw this personal way of attacking a role from the great actor Antony Sher, who will watch films, TV shows, make sketches, read books and do research to flesh out his characters. (His book, Year of the King, is one I re-read each year).

So fire up that DVD player, get some popcorn, and feast! Oh and sometimes go to the movies, in a movie theater. It is different experiencing work in a communal setting, a ritual in itself.

See you at the flickers. :)

                     THE ACTORS SENSEI

Sing for your supper.

I wanted to use this entry in Advice to the Playersi to give some advice to those of you that sing. Singing in concerts, recitals or on-stage, there is an important concept that I want you to bear in mind.

You are acting.

The difference between a singer with great technical skill,, and one that really "sells the song", is often simply a question of mindset. Of course I want you to hit the right notes, of course I want you to hold a note for a specific amount of time, but I also want you to answer some critical questions before you sing.

1) Who is singing? Yes, yes it is you, but who really sings this song? Young, old, married, single, a witch or a Princess? The more specific the image of this person, the easier it is to convey the song to the audience.

2) Why are they singing? A classic definition of a musical, is that the emotions the characters have become to intense that they must burst into song. What is that underlying intensity? Madly in love with someone? Angry? Desperate, alone? I always tell my actors to be sure and know why you are going on-stage, beyond it being a part in a show. What is it that your character has to say here and now.

3) Who are you singing to? Not just the audience, be sure you have a very specific group and setting in mind. If you sing Happy Birthday to your best friend, it has a certain tone and color. If you sing it to a aging, frail parent, it will change the delivery, even though the notes are the same. And singing it to someone you really don't like, again a total change in the song.

Let us consider a song that most of you know. In Les Miserables, the musical, Jean Val Jean sings a great song entitled "Who Am I" If you listen to the Colm Wilkinson recording, you can hear the thought process and change he goes through. It starts off reflective, self questioning. The character, a convict who is hiding his true identity wonders who he has become in denying his actual self. Then at the end of the song, he admits to a court full of people who he actually is. Different sound, a sound of release, no more hiding the truth. And more open, as he is now not asking himself who he is, but telling others who he is. It is a great example of character, purpose and audience.

So whether you are a singer who acts or an actors who sings, remember to make acting a part of the equation.

J.T. Turner
The Actors Sensei

Do Your Homework!

     You may recall in my last Blog post, I mentioned a favorite book of mine called Year of the King, by Antony Sher. I love this book, re-read it annually, and think it one of the best books on an actors journey to the stage. I had the honor of seeing Mr. Sher on stage in London years ago, and found him riveting.When his production of Primo came to New York a few years ago, I was there to watch a master ply his trade. He appears in several films, including playing the doctor in Shakespeare In Love, but the screen only gives you a hint of his brilliance.

There are two things I want to pass on to you that I have learned from Mr. Sher.One is his research. When he was cast as the hunchback, Richard III, he went to various doctors, hospitals and clinics, learning all he could about "hunchbacks". What causes the deformity, how do people move with it. He also studied famous murderers, since in the Shakespeare play Richard is a murderer. (He was not a murderer in real life, and as a card carrying member of the Richard the III Society, I am quick to say Shakespeare was writing brilliant fiction in his work). Sher read about murderers, watched movies about them and got a sense of them, seeing what he could use on stage. He also watched movies and videos about predators, sharks, lions, tigers, since Richard is portrayed as a predator, and read about spiders, as Richard is called one. And, as an artist, he kept a sketch book about the things he saw.

My point here is that he looked at the character, and did homework about how to portray him. If you are in a light, fluffy community theater musical maybe you won't need research to the extent Sher does it. But when you are in a drama, period piece, classic play, his style may be of great benefit to you in creating a role. I was cast as Dr. Carrasco in Man of LaMancha years ago. He is a secondary character who starts off not liking Cervantes nor the imaginary play he wants to put on. He eventually destroys Don Quixote with the truth.   I borrowed an idea from Sher and thought about what animal he was like. I decided on a panther, sleek, dangerous, watching, powerful, a predator ready to pounce. With those ideas as background, my onstage characterization of the Doctor took new and interesting turns, and best of all made the experience more fun for me.

Say you are cast as Julius Caesar. While we should always study the text/script itself, you might also Google "Julius Caesar" to learn more about him, read some historical books about him, watch episodes of "Rome" to get a flavor for the times and political situations during his life.Or perhaps you are cast as Peter Pan. Reading the original book would be good homework, learning more about the author, and perhaps watch a action movie or two with swordplay and pirates to get you in the mood for the role.


The second idea I take from Sher is keeping a diary. The Year of the King is simply his acting diary from the time he was cast till he portrayed Richard on stage.I starting keeping an acting diary as well. It is not nearly as good as his, but it allows me to write thoughts about shows, experiences on the stage, ideas about creating a character.It gives me a venue to return to and see how I approached things, and remind myself of the many journeys to the stage I have had. Looking at how I did things for a certain show in the past may give me new ideas, or remind me of an approach that worked.

So this Blogs advice is to do your homework, and keep a performing diary. It will make your journey fuller and more rewarding. Because if it isn't fun, why bother?

J.T. Turner
The Actor's Sensei

Coaching, classes and audition preparation for all ages.

I have mad skills!

One of the delights of being an actor is that you get to play. Pretending like you did as a young child is an actors lot in life. But along with that sense of play needs to come another child-like quality, learning.

A good actor is an actor who never stops learning. Not just acting classes, although those are great, not just new shows, parts and directors, those are awesome as well. But the pursuit of new skills, interests and hobbies all make for a better person and a better actor.

I like to play with weapons.

Swords, knives, axes, quarterstaffs, and guns. Just on stage mind you, I don't carry real weapons around. But my training with various weapons has served me well over the years, it gets me cast in shows that need some swordplay, and also gets me hired to choreograph stage combat. More recently, I have been studying Spanish. I am far from expert, but I do have enough to get me cast recently for some voice over work in Spanish. (It also helps when I travel to Guatemala to volunteer, which I do a few times a year).

We have all read about actors who, when cast in a role, learn a new skill. Michelle Pfeiffer, when cast as Batwoman, was taught to use a whip by Anthony DeLongis (one of my own teachers, who also taught Harrison Ford in the most recent Indiana Jones movie). She does a great job in the scene where she whips the heads off dummies in a department store. Boxing, accents, playing chess, juggling, and dancing are a few skills that come to mind for various films and stars. Now a film star has the luxury of hiring a trainer and working intensively on a new skill. But even a casual, community theater actor can and should learn new skills. Not only may it come in handy in being cast in a show or film, but just the act of learning new things will keep you fresh.

Learning needs to be a lifelong endeavor. Studying and applying new thoughts and skills will make you a better actor, by being a better person. Learn to play poker, play chess, dance, take singing lessons, try fishing, a new language, study a topic, become an expert in tea, take up an instument, pursuit a passion. Acting is the ideal excuse to embrace new things.

What would you like to learn?

J.T. Turner
The Actor's Sensei