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problem for actress here

Question:

Hi everyone! Well, I have this serious problem in my acting class. Whenever I am asked or suppose to cry in a scene, I get a block and I cannot feel one thing. I try to cry, but it just won’t come out. I try to "face my truth" but I feel like I am forcing to face it and I am not really facing it. I try too hard to feel, and I end up not feeling a thing. I know that I have tears inside me but they just won’t come out. It is very frustrating to me and I would like any advice I can get. Thanks!

Response:

Way to clean up: Hi everyone! Well, I have this serious problem in my acting class. Whenever I am asked or suppose to cry in a scene, I get a block and I cannot feel one thing. I try to cry, but it just won’t come out. I try to "face my truth" but I feel like I am forcing to face it and I am not really facing it. I try too hard to feel, and I end up not feeling a thing. I know that I have tears inside me but they just won’t come out. It is very frustrating to me and I would like any advice I can get. Thanks!

Sure. The solution is really quite simple, yet devastatingly hard. You’re looking for results, when you should be in the process. This is class, after all, and no one is demanding results. What you might think about doing is focusing on the given circumstances and what you in your own life have cried over. For example, crying for joy is a very different "read" on stage than crying for anger or mourning. But as you know, not every sad thing makes us cry, and not everything that makes us angry and frustrated makes us cry. And believe me, you won’t cry every time on cue if you do a run for any length of time. What you need to do (and this is where "truth" comes in) is pay respect to what your character is undergoing. Doesn’t matter whether she cries or not. All it matters is that it is real, and appropriate for the situation. Once you’ve buried yourself in the given circumstances, you’ll relax. Once you’ve relaxed, you’ll find yourself crying. :) What mode of instruction are you learning under? Tao te Carl "It takes a village to have an idiot." – Carl (c) 2003

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Way to clean up: Hi everyone! Well, I have this serious problem in my acting class. Whenever I am asked or suppose to cry in a scene, I get a block and I cannot feel one thing. I try to cry, but it just won’t come out. I try to "face my truth" but I feel like I am forcing to face it and I am not really facing it. I try too hard to feel, and I end up not feeling a thing. I know that I have tears inside me but they just won’t come out. It is very frustrating to me and I would like any advice I can get. Thanks! Sure. The solution is really quite simple, yet devastatingly hard. You’re looking for results, when you should be in the process. This is class, after all, and no one is demanding results. What you might think about doing is focusing on the given circumstances and what you in your own life have cried over. For example, crying for joy is a very different "read" on stage than crying for anger or mourning. But as you know, not every sad thing makes us cry, and not everything that makes us angry and frustrated makes us cry. And believe me, you won’t cry every time on cue if you do a run for any length of time. What you need to do (and this is where "truth" comes in) is pay respect to what your character is undergoing. Doesn’t matter whether she cries or not. All it matters is that it is real, and appropriate for the situation. Once you’ve buried yourself in the given circumstances, you’ll relax. Once you’ve relaxed, you’ll find yourself crying. :) What mode of instruction are you learning under? Tao te Carl "It takes a village to have an idiot." – Carl (c) 2003

Well, I am learning under the Meisner technique. Your absolutely right that I’m thinking about crying to much and it doesn’t happen. I am in the result, when I should be in the process. Yes, when I cry in real life, it just happens and it doesn’t happen because I’m thinking about crying. I find it hard to concentrate on the process because I always focus on the result. I really hope that I get over this problem. I know that it’s holding me back and I’m scared that i’ll never get through this. But your right with your advice Carl and that really helped me a lot! Thanks so much!

Response:

Plus, how many times have you seen people cry REAL tears in movies and snot comes out of their nostrils as well – I mean, doesn’t it gross YOU out, too? It does me.

Blair Witch Project, anyone?

Response:

I read this thread with interest because tears don’t always come on cue for me either. Of course one is better if one "feels" the part, is "in" the character, etc.etc.etc. but technique is important too, because one must be able to reproduce the scene over and over again. I think it’s unimportant if real tears flow or not. There is so much else a person does when distressed, apart from shedding tears – the trembly lips, the facial grimace, the wobbly/wailing/thickened voice, the tilted head, the whole body language, the gaspy breathing, the sniffs, the wiping away of (perhaps invisible) tears, that whether or not actual DROPS OF FLUID are coming out of the eyes is unimportant. Plus, how many times have you seen people cry REAL tears in movies and snot comes out of their nostrils as well – I mean, doesn’t it gross YOU out, too? It does me. Plus, how mentally healthy is it to have to whip yourself up into a frenzy again and again and again just to produce a few glistening tears  - which REAL people in REAL life wipe away at once, anyway – only movie actors who are showing off let each tear delicately roll down, face turned towards the camera so that we can all see they can cry on camera… who needs that! And for Starmaker, who says chicks always fake everything: Two guys are talking. First guy:  "D’ya know why women fake orgasms?" Second guy: "No, why?" First guy:  "Because they think we care!" Both guys:  "Haw Haw Haw!" Roundtable http://villakreuzbuch.s5.com

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi everyone! Well, I have this serious problem in my acting class. Whenever I am asked or suppose to cry in a scene, I get a block and I cannot feel one thing. I try to cry, but it just won’t come out. I try to "face my truth" but I feel like I am forcing to face it and I am not really facing it. I try too hard to feel, and I end up not feeling a thing. I know that I have tears inside me but they just won’t come out. It is very frustrating to me and I would like any advice I can get. Thanks! Much depends on exactly what kind of training you are taking.  Does you coach identify his/her methodology as aligned with Stanislavski, Sanford Meisner, Uta Hagen, Lee Strasberg? You cannot force emotions.  I discovered this years ago when studying with a coach who claimed to be teaching "affective memory", and it took me a couple of years of reading Lee Strasberg’s writing to discover that the coach didn’t have a clue about what he was doing.  He verbally stressed that we should "be in the moment" and "become the character" and "feel the character’s feelings", but he lacked the tools and exercises and the perception to help actors access their own past emotional experiences. So, I left "the method" behind, even though I have many actor friends who have studied at either the NY or LA The Actors Studio and do phenomenal work.  My main mentor for many years was Robert Lewis (author, director, actor, coach) from whom I learned Stanislavski’s Method of Physical Actions.  (I also studied with Stella Adler, Uta Hagen and recently have been team-teaching with a Meisner coach.) These techniques demonstrate that emotions are a result of other "points of concentration."  I repeat, emotions are NOT the things we do on stage or in front of the camera, rather they are the response to other stimuli.  In his post, Carl stressed that you need to explore the given circumstances of the character (and the character’s relationships with other characters in the play or screenplay.)  And through script analysis and exercises and improvisations, you begin to make choices: action and activities (sometimes called psychophysical actions); obstacles presented by other characters which interfere with your objectives;  you character’s use of the five senses (sight, taste, tough, smell and hearing). And if you arrange all the elements correctly, you will begin to feel the emotional life of the character, drawing from your own level of empathy. I have to add that some folks have a low capacity for empathy, and they tend to become very technical actors who rely on tricks of voice/speech/movement and body language to "emulate" emotion. There are technical actors and there are intuitive actors. And one thing you need to decide is which you are, and then plan your next acting class accordingly. As Carl advises, don’t feel that there is something wrong with you, or that you’re not getting.  Your problem might be that you’re studying with an inept acting coach.  And in the meantime, take the time to enjoy the process and the journey. Break a leg, Bill

Thanks everyone!! All of this advice is very helpful. Yes, I just truly have to be just in my character and not in my head thinking about it. I really have to just stay in the moment rather than focusing on the next moment. That is absolutely right that I have to not "create" and just be. Sometimes, I admit that I am scared of my own feelings and afraid to be vulnerable to others but at the same time I love the feeling of just exposing everything! Acting is like a drug and I’m addicted to it. But yeah, I’m going to print all of this. Your also right in just enjoying the process in the journey. I shouldn’t be stressed out so much. Thanks for your input everyone =)

Response:

Hi everyone! Well, I have this serious problem in my acting class. Whenever I am asked or suppose to cry in a scene, I get a block and I cannot feel one thing. I try to cry, but it just won’t come out. I try to "face my truth" but I feel like I am forcing to face it and I am not really facing it. I try too hard to feel, and I end up not feeling a thing. I know that I have tears inside me but they just won’t come out. It is very frustrating to me and I would like any advice I can get. Thanks!

Much depends on exactly what kind of training you are taking.  Does you coach identify his/her methodology as aligned with Stanislavski, Sanford Meisner, Uta Hagen, Lee Strasberg? You cannot force emotions.  I discovered this years ago when studying with a coach who claimed to be teaching "affective memory", and it took me a couple of years of reading Lee Strasberg’s writing to discover that the coach didn’t have a clue about what he was doing.  He verbally stressed that we should "be in the moment" and "become the character" and "feel the character’s feelings", but he lacked the tools and exercises and the perception to help actors access their own past emotional experiences. So, I left "the method" behind, even though I have many actor friends who have studied at either the NY or LA The Actors Studio and do phenomenal work.  My main mentor for many years was Robert Lewis (author, director, actor, coach) from whom I learned Stanislavski’s Method of Physical Actions.  (I also studied with Stella Adler, Uta Hagen and recently have been team-teaching with a Meisner coach.) These techniques demonstrate that emotions are a result of other "points of concentration."  I repeat, emotions are NOT the things we do on stage or in front of the camera, rather they are the response to other stimuli.  In his post, Carl stressed that you need to explore the given circumstances of the character (and the character’s relationships with other characters in the play or screenplay.)  And through script analysis and exercises and improvisations, you begin to make choices: action and activities (sometimes called psychophysical actions); obstacles presented by other characters which interfere with your objectives;  you character’s use of the five senses (sight, taste, tough, smell and hearing). And if you arrange all the elements correctly, you will begin to feel the emotional life of the character, drawing from your own level of empathy. I have to add that some folks have a low capacity for empathy, and they tend to become very technical actors who rely on tricks of voice/speech/movement and body language to "emulate" emotion. There are technical actors and there are intuitive actors. And one thing you need to decide is which you are, and then plan your next acting class accordingly. As Carl advises, don’t feel that there is something wrong with you, or that you’re not getting.  Your problem might be that you’re studying with an inept acting coach.  And in the meantime, take the time to enjoy the process and the journey. Break a leg, Bill

Response:

Hi everyone! Well, I have this serious problem in my acting class. Whenever I am asked or suppose to cry in a scene, I get a block and I cannot feel one thing. I try to cry, but it just won’t come out. I try to "face my truth" but I feel like I am forcing to face it and I am not really facing it. I try too hard to feel, and I end up not feeling a thing. I know that I have tears inside me but they just won’t come out. It is very frustrating to me and I would like any advice I can get. Thanks!

I’m not an actor so I don’t understand what the problem is, but can you not simply take a hankerchief and hide a squirting bottle and squirt water in your eyes? Maybe you want to mix it with a solution to make your eyes red. But to me, being a good actor is *convincing* others that you’re really crying, but I could be wrong. The Starmaker Besides, you chicks fake it all the time!

Response:

Way to clean up: Well, I am learning under the Meisner technique. Your absolutely right that I’m thinking about crying to much and it doesn’t happen. I am in the result, when I should be in the process. Yes, when I cry in real life, it just happens and it doesn’t happen because I’m thinking about crying. I find it hard to concentrate on the process because I always focus on the result. I really hope that I get over this problem. I know that it’s holding me back and I’m scared that i’ll never get through this. But your right with your advice Carl and that really helped me a lot! Thanks so much!

Yer welcome. At the risk of being too "new age-y", you have to fight hard to remain in the now, and of course, that means in acting, fighting for what you want. Once your attention is focused there, the emotional life of the character will begin to rise to the surface easily. Tao te Carl "It takes a village to have an idiot." – Carl (c) 2003

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