Reflection Four of my Facebook contributions (found here).
Another amazing summer has flown by! It’s always an eye opening experience to work so intensively with an array of passionate students, all of whom have different levels of experience with the Method. For Company members, who train side by side with artists just entering the program, the fresh perspective of new students helps to “keep us honest.” They bring up questions that can challenge us and also help us clarify concepts and exercises we’ve come to take for granted. Read More
Reflection Three of my Facebook contributions (found here).
Over the past few weeks we’ve been focusing on transitions–the space between acting beats–and I have to say, I’m once again amazed how easy they are to overlook (even after 9 years of working in the studio, I’m still discovering deeper and deeper layers of understanding)! Kari always reminds us that our tendency is to be “action oriented,” and since turning our attention to transitions, it became clearer than ever how true that is! It’s ironic that transition time is so easily forgotten when you consider how vital it is. When I allow myself to just take the time I need, there’s absolutely nothing like it! I had the pleasure of working with a long-term colleague during an improvisational structure in class, and one of the reasons I felt our work was so satisfying for both us and the audience was because we respected and embraced our own and each others’ transitions. There were moments we worked ourselves into dramatic situations that had come to a rest, and by keeping those moments alive and letting them resonate, we gave ourselves time to size up both where we were and what the audience needed next. By specifically focusing on this transition time we were able to see options that we would have otherwise overlooked. It’s moments like these in the studio that hammer in the truth that “theatre lives in the transitions.” Read More
Reflection Two of my Facebook contributions (found here).
Theatre is storytelling. And one of my favorite things about training at the Margolis Method Center is that we get to make theatre every day. Every exercise we are confronted with challenges us in some aspect of technique to hone our craft as theatre artists. Our training approaches the craft of acting like a diamond—a whole entity with many facets—and on any given day we explore a single facets as part of the greater whole. Even when focusing on a singular concept, we never lose focus of the actor’s primary need: to tell a story. Read More
What follows is an introduction as well as my first reflection for a series of reflections I’m doing for the Margolis Method Center’s Facebook page. Expect more to come!
Greetings Facebookers! My name is J, Hanson, and I’m pleased to be composing a series of reflections on training here with the Margolis Method Center in beautiful Barryville, NY. I will be writing about my personal challenges and breakthroughs in the studio as well as those of the group at large, and I would be thrilled if folks would pipe in with their own thoughts on the morsels I bring up. But first, a brief personal history.