Reset

Okay, time for feedback.
[King Lear Mourns Cordelia's Death, via wikimedia]

A friend sent me an article: "How Actors Create Emotions." I'm always fascinated by how quickly SPs reset between encounters. No matter what kind of encounter we have with a student, when they return for feedback we are ourselves again. Or, in cases where there is no feedback, the next student comes in and we start all over again. We are the same but different up to 20 times a day.

Not all SPs are actors. I am, and I love the depression cases, the bad news cases, the uncomfortable cases, the angry patient cases. But each of them takes its toll. In my case, the louder and more energetic the patient, the harder it is for me to sustain. But other SPs feel tired and lethargic after a day of being a depressed patient.

The author compares two approaches to modern theatre: "Strasberg was much more interested in actors working from their real lives and real pain, whereas Meisner thought that was "psychotherapy and had no place in acting.""

I guess I've always leaned in the Strasberg direction; I've never been been a Meisner fan. In fact, one of the things I very much value about SP work is how it allows me to discover things about myself. As I do, I can give better feedback to students about how to help me feel safer and more respected as a patient. 

So the more I put into the role, the more insight I can develop for students. But allowing for self-analysis and feedback helps keep the roles from becoming too true for me. From the article: "In art you have to be responsive. Things have to get in so that they can get out, and you can’t live the way you do your art or you’d be wounded every second.” SP work is better than live theatre in this way precisely because you get the chance to reset yourself. In theatre, repeating the same script with the same actors for 6+ weeks can wear the emotional groove deeper with each rehearsal and performance. But to be a good SP I need to respond to what a particular student is giving me at a particular moment, so every student is a new opportunity for exploration and discovery.