Acting student: In regards to character, things are still a little fuzzy. For instance, playing a prostitute who’s grown up on the streets vs. playing a housewife. They are both being played by ME, yet I’d think each would have different emotional reactions to a same situation…?

David Kagen: This takes practice to really understand it. But… ALL of the imaginary circumstances will determine how you behave. That is, the circumstances of having or choosing to be a prostitute are different than the circumstances of having or choosing to be a housewife. And those circumstances affect YOU differently; make you a different person and therefore a different “character.” Too often playing a “character” results in acting it from outside and objectively, rather than putting yourself in the circumstances which gets you to act it from your insides and subjectively. This is what Meisner means when he says that, “Acting is living truthfully in the imaginary circumstances.” You put yourself in the circumstances; ALL the circumstances.

Acting student: In regards to cold readings, particularly the first time through, I always seem to have to warm up, because I feel like I’m suppose to start neutral, so I don’t take things in the scene as personal as I could.

David Kagen: Yes, we hear this about starting neutral a lot. That’s not what we want you to do. Start responding subjectively with your personal responses. Your personal responses are shaped by everything you’re experienced and everything you’ve felt in your life up to moment you do your scene. Don’t start in neutral.

Copyright David Kagen 2009
All rights reserved

You embark upon a voyage of discovery in training to provide the impetus and opportunity to initially unleash your talent or to further refine it. The best of the training centers also guide you from strong expressive impulses toward the discovery of the true meaning of your gift. You will be thrust into an exploratory process which will afford you and image of your acting instrument and the power it is capable of realizing.

Experimentation is what training is all about and you should lunge into it with daring determination. With an “Anything goes!” attitude, you will perceive what you need and also what you already have. Your acting instrument will be strengthened by the recognition that your talent is becoming superior to anything you thought it could become.

A teacher cannot always give you quick solutions, but can make you aware of your strengths and shortcomings.

If you embrace acting as a profession, then you must invest the same energy in professional development required by other occupations. IT IS A DELUSION TO THINK THAT NO SPECIAL TRAINING IS NEEDED TO ACT. HARDLY ANYONE WILL HIRE AN INEXPERIENCED ACTOR.

Athletes train rigorously; why shouldn’t actors? After a succession of athletic meets, top athletes return to a period of training and improve their skills before the next cycle of competition. They have the capacity to grow even while enjoying being at the top. This kid of discipline will make a gymnast train twenty hours a week for ten to fifteen years or will prevent dancers from letting an entire week go by with out practice. Let there be no doubt about it; champs work hard. The bottom line is that you can only expect it get out of life what you put into it.

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