Prologue

(Originally Posted on February 23, 2012)

So I am beginning this Blog on a bit of a dare or actually I should say a ‘challenge’ from my BFF’s

Ferrell Marshall (http://ferrellmarshall.com –http://ferrellscommunity.wordpress.com), Cindy Yantis (www.cindyyantis.com  – Thought Changer) and  Nancy Nyman & Heather McNama@Two Girls Unleashed (www.twogirlsunleashed.com) as they know me too well since I LOVE a good challenge.  This blog is to be on the craft of acting because they seem to think I have something to say. 

So or rather hence, ACTCRAFT begins…

Not professing to be a writer – although I have dabbled here and there and have my share of stories (anybody who has lived… well… let’s say over a quarter-of-a century, should have something to say, and if you don’t, well – that is a topic for a therapist) anyway, like all stories, we should begin at the beginning since I have been asked the following questions time and time again – over and over – as I’m sure you all have – “What made you decide to become an actress?"  "When/How did you start?"  "What was the first thing you ever did?”  “How old were you when you started?” And in answer to all of those questions in a nutshell, I have to borrow a phrase from Lady Gaga “I was born this way hey, I was born this way hey, I’m on the right track baby, I was born this waaay yeah” - which is actually the truth.  My mother used to tell me it started in the womb – she and my dad knew there was something ‘different’ about this one – the 5th of 5 children – their “Little Soldier” as I was termed since the doctors told my mom I wouldn’t be born. I was what was referred to as a ‘change of life’ baby – we certainly proved them wrong!  I didn’t cry as a baby I’ve been told (don’t worry, I have since made up for it) and I used to sit for hours and watch people.  My parents said they couldn’t wait for me to speak because I always looked as if I was on the brink of conversation.  “Look Mama", as I now tilt my head toward Heaven where my lovely mother is holding vigil, “I’m finally talking!”

I have been through probably every type/method of acting class imaginable – in one form or another.  I have been through “re-birthing”, I worked as an animal, I have substituted, I have “as if’d”, written pages and pages of biographies, personalized objects, thought about my dead grandfather in his coffin, sense-memoried everything from tasting gin on a sweltering hot day in New Orleans to smelling sweet cherry blossoms on the mall in Washington D.C., vocalized, breathed, repeated, psychologically gestured, analyzed, Improv-ed, Viewpoint-ed,  Meisner-ed, Stanislavski-ed, Adler-ed, Hagen-ed, Boleslavsky-ed, Grotowski-ed, Strasberg-ed, Rodenburg-ed, Spolin-ed, Alexander-ed, Chekhov-ed, Jehlinger-ed, Linklater-ed, and Moss-ed.  And you know what, they are ALL VALID!  Each has their own take/spin/exorcise but like all religions, when it comes right down to it, we all want the same thing.  To get to the Truth.  So I hope you will join me on this journey. I don’t know where we’re going and I certainly have no idea where we’ll end up but isn’t that the point – or rather the ‘fun’ and ‘magic’ of it all?  We can only know the first moment – the rest is about opening our minds and hearts – showing up and being fully present – and see where it take us…

ACTCRAFT is in honor of

Margaret Clair Johnson nee Ballinger
(Who once said to her daughter as she greeted her after her opening night performance as ‘Shelby‘ in STEEL MAGNOLIAS, “I don’t care if you have to starve, don’t ever give up acting”…)