MARK J RICHMAN

... I have ever received as an actor is that the audience doesn't have the script.

I have watched so many actors stumble over lines, trying to be word perfect, when they should be concentrating on the inner work and the motivations of the characters they portray.  I have been guilty of this as a younger actor.  I don't even remember who gave me this advice, but, I am grateful for it.

This does not mean actors should not do the memorization... far from it... but, truly finding the truth of the character in yourself is far more important than saying the lines perfectly.  On the other extreme, I have also known actors who have learned their lines as a story, so they know what needs to happen, but they disrespect the work of the writer/playwright.  There is a balance.

It all boils down to one concept: DO THE WORK.

Linework has to happen (this includes knowing the lines of your scene partners).  Character and play breakdown need to happen.  Deep character work can't truly happen until the rest is done.  Once all this is done, you can give the greatest gift an actor can give... you can be a generous and giving castmate to your fellow actors.

A lot has happened since I last posted on this blog and I should start with the fill in information before starting back up again.  I moved from Orlando, FL to Albuquerque, NM.  This was to get more into film and TV.

Before leaving Orlando, I filmed a commercial for Disney, which was very fun and exciting.  After settling in my new home, my first gig was live Shakespeare in the park.  Of course, the pandemic hit and nobody really worked in this industry for a bit.  But, life is cyclic, so a semblance of normalcy returned.

I also found an agent in this region of the country.  My southeast agent dropped me because I was no longer a local.  She then sold the agency, and the new agent resigned me.

Life is quieter, but I am learning and growing.  I look forward to talking to whoever reads this again soon.

There are different schools of thought on actor training.  One advocates complete immersion into a character, another for finding what already in your being relates to the character you are playing, and so on and so on.

I tend to follow a hybrid approach, which has developed over the last 3+ decades of performing.  When I started, I used what I now refer to the Jack Nicholson school of acting.  I played myself playing the character.  In the end, what you saw on stage or screen was a variation of the actor creating the character.  In the Renaissance Faire world, it worked.

As I moved to the stage, I realized that this would no longer work.  So, I learned to watch people.  At first, I just watched how people walked, and generally moved their bodies.  Then, I learned to understand how various base instincts and motivations affected movement.

Now, I sit and watch people.  A lot of actors, especially character actors, do.  I watch the springy step of youth and the unsure step of both extreme youth and age.  I watch whether a person leads with their head, their chest, their crotch...  Do they slouch, stand ramrod straight, hunch their shoulders?  Do they smile, frown, or keep a neutral face?

Mixing all that with a study of the character's motivations, it is my hope that now I can create deep characters that take the material to new levels.

I have been helping a friend work on his cat cafe so he can finally get it open.  I am not getting paid, well, not traditionally paid.  I will have unlimited cat time when he finally opens.  I consider this payment enough.

Some would say that I will be cheating on my parrots, but I did have cats before I had them.  Besides, sometimes you just need to belly scritch a creature that purrs.  So, I will work on stuff at the cafe so this will happen.

Tomorrow, I will audition for Universal again.  I don't know why I submitted, but I still feel like I have something to finish there.  I am currently playing with two different monologues.  They work for different shows in the park.  I suppose I need to decide which one I want more.

Now, I need sleep.

Today is one of those days where I feel like I am writing just to keep the blog going.  It is probably true.  A writer writes.  Not everything is a gem.

Sometimes, you just need to clear the crap out of your head.  Stream of conciousness writing can do that.  So, that is what I do when I need clarity.

I am making big changes to my life right now, so a lot of crap is bubbling to the surface.  It is a normal part of the process.  And to be sure, it is a process.

You don't just change.  You decide to change and then, hopefully, you develop a plan for that change.  Your brain will fight you the entire way.  Why?  The brain is a lazy jerk.

Change is hard.  It is much easier for the brain to remain on a steady, unchanging, course.  That, however, is just not conducive to living a good life.  We talk about fighting against inertia.  The brain is what creates that inertia.  So, we must fight against the consistency of our lives.

Right now, I am living in fear.  But, the fear is the uncharted change I am creating within myself.  I can live with that fear as I am working hard to conquer the emotion to move forward.

Right now, this makes sense to me.  Tomorrow, it may not.  I won't delete the post.  I feel like I have moved some of the crap out of my head right now.