Acting for Singers, or "How I learned to love group therapy"

So I'm in this acting class. Basically, the teacher (who is awesome) helps me, as a singing actor, discover what my strengths and weaknesses are on stage. The strengths are pointed out, and then quickly 'put away.' That is, they are already strong, so they don't need to be practiced. The weak areas are then drawn out into the open, and I am forced to work on them week in and week out. It is the equivalent of having a really really blistered sunburn and having someone slap it really really hard. Over and over and over. But eventually, it heals, and you realize that the pain didn't kill you like you thought it would.


The class is comprised of about a dozen performers. We meet for 4-4.5 hours every Tuesday in a nifty little playhouse in the theater district. We are of mixed gender, race and upbringing. Yet, we are all so human. One person learns to be vulnerable, while another works on being manipulative. We all have our walls and we all have emotions that are second nature to us.

The thing with acting is, especially in a scene that makes us feel uncomfortable, is that the brain doesn't know that it's fake. It still feels real and scary. But, with practice, your brain and body get to realize that they are not in mortal danger. For example: it is hard for me to play really vulnerable roles. I think that this is because I am 1. not used to it and 2. It is an area in my personal life that I don't let too many people see. Therefore, to have to open my heart and guts up on stage, literally makes me feel like I am going to die. It can be that painful...or at least, used to feel that painful. It is an acting color that I am getting better at accessing.

What makes good actors? I think that good 'acting' happens when an actor acknowledges the part of them that is part of their character. I mean, as humans, we are capable of any and every emotion and action that is in any play, movie, song or tale. Why is Anthony Hopkins sooo convincing, scary and creepy as Hannibal Lector? It is because he has found, deep down, the part of himself that enjoys being a cannibal. We all have access to all of these emotions...and we all have the capacity to enjoy them all. That's what makes good acting, is being able to access these. Because of our lives, upbringings, experiences, some emotions are just easier to call up than others. But, in reality, they are all there.

I love playing 'mad' or 'crazy' people. Drunken fortune tellers, old maids, and greedy aunts come easy to me. What is difficult is someone who, in reality, is closer to my own self. Why? Because my brain can't tell the difference between my life and the life on stage. Not yet, anyways. But the times, they are a changin'.