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Risk taking for Actors

Question:

Bill…I don’t know where you went off to, but I have a question for you…you alluded to some acting exercises that you knew of, once… Thanks…they are probably exercises I know, but new ideas are fresh ideas and are always welcome. Fire away! Cheers, heidi

Response:

Bill…I don’t know where you went off to, but I have a question for you…you alluded to some acting exercises that you knew of, once… Thanks…they are probably exercises I know, but new ideas are fresh ideas and are always welcome. Fire away! Cheers, heidi

I meant to get back to you earlier, Heidi.  My problem is that half of my library is boxed in the basement while I install new bookshelves in my house. Included in the stuff which is temporarily unavailable are many titles which I used in my experimental theatre era of the 60s and 70s.  This was a time in which many theatre artists were beginning to experiment with western and eastern philosophies as applications to actor training and rehearsal technique.  I spent as much time taking workshops and master classes at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, as I did taking acting classes in New York.  I recall doing physical trust games and meditation exercises with Alan Watts, the metaphysical philosopher on Pacific beaches in which up to half the students turned out to be actors. Yoga and tai chi figured into out actor centering exercises for voice and movement (at the same time I was studying with Arthur Lessac, Kristen Linklater and Cicely berry). I also studied with a theatre teacher who has a psychology degree in bioenergetics analysis.    To some degree, years later, I still use some of these exercises whether the emphasis is on building trust (or ensemble), enhancing communication skills or freeing freeing emotions. One of these days, I’ll open the boxes, dust off the tests and put those titles back into circulation and maybe even take the time to create an annotated bibliography. But I should point out that not all those texts were originally written for actors, they are, rather, works in which specific acting acting exercises can be designed. But, to give you some direction, I’ll offer a few titles of theatre and theatre related books (which are in my "accessible library" and which I currently use. The "mother of all theatre books" which provide hundreds of theatre games useful in actor training is Viola Spolin’s "Improvisation for the Theatre"  (There is a website for all the texts written by Viola Spolin, her prot

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