The Value of an Actor - Believe it or not, we think we're important

The recent tuition increase is hot topic on the College of Charleston campus in South Carolina. The state has decreased their annual funding and we, the students, are paying. The president of the College, governor of South Carolina and passionate faculty and students are advocating that the price of education be reduced. Arguments are tearing up the campus. Bulletins are being posted. Opinions are being published. But have students been lost in this idea and forgotten how to truly "value" their education?

Today I was enlightened. Big surprise yeah I know.

***
It was one of those days that started at 6:00am as usual. A day consisting of; a short desk shift at the front of my Residence Hall where I work, an encore performance in a scene for my Acting class, 2 midterms and an on-call shift that evening. A strenous day in the life of an average college student.

I had prepared for the classes and exams that day but was not prepared for the knowledge I would gain.


After eating a hearty breakfast to "feed" my energy levels, I proceeded to my Acting class. 6 students, my professor and his tag-along daughter who had the flu, watched 4 duet scenes that had been previously shown to the class a few weeks prior. After the performances my teacher huddled us into a circle in folding black chairs, a commonality within the class, and asked us how we think we did.


I was the first to speak up and claim that my partner and mine's scene didn't seem "connected" today, mostly my issue. He wasn't understanding and I blamed my fumbled words on lack of sleep. Another student chimed in and said that the scenes seemed "dryer" today than they did in the previous performances, noting the point that they didnt' seem as entertaining. My teacher responded fabulously!


He said something along these lines:
Acting is a generous sort of practice. As actors we generously allow a character to inhabit our bodies for the time constraitns of the performance. Acting is an unselfish loaning.


My professor elaborated and told me that:
...as actors we must put aside our personal motives to make room for the motives of the character. This is the only way that the message will be clear. As a character, you want something, and you want it bad. To be successful in showing this to the other characters with you on stage, you have to focus solely on that motive. Everything else is unimportant in that point in time.


It made sense! For goodness sakes, I was stressed! I had 2 midterms and an early morning desk shift, I wasn't the most clear-headed person going into that performance. I was selfish with my motives and it was interpreted into the character I was playing that afternoon. The audience was more unaware than I thought, but when stuck in my own mind, I realized I did not give my character, 35-year-old, lesbian, dressmaker the time she deserved to "inhabit my body".


We began a discussion on empathetics and how majorly important it is for a good actor to be empathetic. My ability to act isn't defined as proper skills, it can be elaborated as that, but its the ability that I have to put myself in someone else's shoes. Not just show them sympathy but, for however long, be able to relate to them and feel what they feel.


I made a comment within the circle that this idea applies to everyday life and could be the reason the world can seem so messed up. If everyone was an actor (that is if everyone was successful at empathizing) we'd have a better understanding of one another. A student made a comment that "The philosophy classes are over there." And I understood her point. Some interpretations are meant to be spoken only inside one's brain.


As a corporate communications major, with a theatre minor, I applied this discussion to my every day life. This ability I have to "be someone else" is key in a world that says you have to make everyone happy. Often I choose to "pay it forward". I consider myself an optimistic, energetic student. To relay my personality to someone else, in terms of positivity,  can better their contentment, even for one short moment.


I'm not advocating acting classes or to never be yourself. Understanding isn't just listening but living. Actors live in a character and characters live in an actor. Often times this can be dangerous, but beneficial nonetheless in empathizing with copious amounts of people and within those encounters.

***

My enlightenment was simple. But effective.

I learned something today.

I was able to positively answer the inevitable question of  "How was school today?" It might have taken longer for me to respond, but any other answer than the one you just read would have underestimated my knowledge retention for October 15, 2010.

The value I place on today is of high-ranking. If students, faculty and people in general were to place value on their increased information capactiy for one day, the monetary cost of an education would seem peripheral to their goal of an education. Learning isn't a test you take and do well on, or do poorly on, its what you make of information you are given and the registration of it's value.