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MFA: THE PARENTING EDITION EPISODE 9 SHOW NOTES
Episode title: Welcome to the Jungle
Episode summary: How physically expressive are we in our bodies? What stories can people devise from our physicality? What do actors do to help them take on the physical characteristics of another person? What do we gain by being able to “walk in someone else’s shoes”?
Each of us has a story. A full life overflowing with glorious adventures, tragic loses, heroic acts of bravery, unthinkable suffering and quiet moments of stillness. Those stories live in our body. When we’re able to observe ourselves and others with curiosity instead of judgement we open our capacity for empathy and compassion. We become curious learners, which is where learning comes from – pure curiosity. As we learn to become more genuinely curious we model that for our children.
Previously on MFA
A Streetcar Named Desire
The Animal Exercise
Angelica Interlude
This Week’s Exercise
A Short Story Before We Go:
The Raise a Glass Series:
Episode transcript: See full transcript below.
Spread a Beautiful Act of Kindness:
Sources that inspired this episode or random tidbits of knowledge:
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Full Transcript
Mom: Angelica, can you say hello?
Angelica: Hello! Hello?
Mom: How are you today?
Angelica: I doing well…how are you?
Mom: Well, I’m doing well also. (she laughs)
Welcome to MFA: The Parenting Edition, I’m Taisha Cameron. These lessons from the theatre for raising ourselves and our kids came about when I realized my MFA in acting trained me for life as a mommy better than life as a full-time actor. Today’s episode is part five in our 7-part series on the Method and we’ll be exploring the animal exercise. We’ll explore some challenging questions, I’ll share some stories, and then we’ll end our episode with the Raise a Glass Series. So, without further ado, this is MFA.
Previously on MFA: The Parenting Edition
We reinforced the importance of personal hygiene so, take a bath. We explored the inhibitions and blocks we create keeping us from living truthfully. We learned how the overall-sensation exercise can benefit even the lives of nonthespians. We gave praise and homage to the late actor Ron Leibman for his legacy in theatre and as a teacher. We raised a glass to living fantastically and authentically.
Now you’re all caught up…of course if all of that meant nothing to you, you should probably go back and listen to episode eight.
Quote: “Don’t – don’t – hang back with the brutes!” Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire
Episode Nine – Welcome to the Jungle
Question – How physically expressive are we in our bodies? What stories can people devise from our physicality? What do actors do to help them take on the physical characteristics of another person? What do we gain by being able to “walk in someone else’s shoes”?
Wolf, mouse, chicken, catty, scaredy-cat, sex kitten, tomcat, lucky duck, odd duck, fox, sly-fox, foxy, vixen, hawk, hawkish, dove, beast. This type of zoomorphic imagery, when used to describe a human’s appearance or behavior, creates an immediate picture in our mind of a particular kind of person.
A Streetcar Named Desire
Marlon Brando. What else can I say except Marlon Fucking Brando.
Quick history of A Streetcar Named Desire:
On December 3, 1947 Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, debuted at the Barrymore Theatre in New York City. Thirty-three years later on that day I was born…that’s inconsequential for today’s topic, just a fun fact. Moving on. The original cast starred Jessica Tandy as Blanche DuBois, Kim Hunter as Stella Kowalski (Blanche’s sister), Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski and Karl Malden as Mitch and was directed by Elia Kazan. In 1951 the same cast, minus Tandy who was replaced by Vivien Leigh after playing the role of Blanche in a London production, reprised their Broadway roles in the film adaptation also directed by Elia Kazan. And it is this iconic film I’m sure most people are familiar with. The one major difference between the film and stage play – the ending, whether Stella chooses to stay with Stanley or take her new baby and get the hell out. Leigh, Hunter and Malden all won Academy Awards for their work in the film and Brando was nominated though he didn’t win. The story delves into themes of fantasy vs reality especially regarding appearances, sexual desires, gender stereotypes of masculinity and physicality and femininity and dependency. And this study of character physicality is where today’s episode connects.
“Meat!”
This is his first time the audience hears his voice and witnesses his presence on stage. He shouts this while tossing a blood covered package to his wife. Stanley Kowalski. From the beginning we see a character that is more animalistic than human. In scene two his sister-in-law, Blanche DuBois, says he’s “a bit on the primitive side.” Scene three, shoves his brutal force at us as we witness him rip Stella’s radio from the mantel, send it soaring out the window to the street below when he loses his hand in that night’s poker game. Stella’s response is to scream at him, “drunk-drunk-animal thing, you!” He then beats the shit out of her in front of everyone in the apartment. This scene culminates with his infamous primal scream of her name (which in the stage directions are described – with heaven-splitting violence). She returns to him and they have what I’m sure is the most brutally passionate and dysfunctional sex ever. Act 1 ends with Blanche desperately working to convince Stella she must leave him. She says, “A man like that is someone to go out with-once-twice-three times when the devil is in you.” “There’s something downright – bestial – about him!” “He acts like an animal, has an animal’s habits! Eats like one, moves like one, talks like one! There’s even something – sub-human – something not quite to the stage of humanity yet! Yes – something – ape-like about him…” and she continues this monologue describing life with Stanly the Ape.
Her imagery (bestial, primitive, ape-like) shows us how Stanley moves through the world. The fact she would even mention him being a man you go out with once, twice, or a few times when the devil is in you is one of the indications Blanche may herself be attracted to Stanley’s animal magnetism. This is just to show that we all walk around the world with a distinct energy that can be felt by others. Every single person on this earth has unique movement patterns, mannerisms and gestures. We carry ourselves in ways that reflect our upbringing, our opinions and value systems, our confidence or lack thereof, our experience of the world.
Brando was a student of Stella Adler’s and studied at the Actor’s Studio, then run by Lee Strasberg. He would’ve studied all the exercises we’ve dissected the last few weeks and so much more. The story goes that in order to flesh out the beastly animal magnetism of the role, Brando studied the movement of gorillas. Now if you’ve seen this film or any film or photo of Brando in his prime, you know animal magnetism was just part of his DNA. But how respectful and resourceful as an artist to delve into the full physical nature of a character to truly understand their way of thinking and living through the world.
The Animal Exercise
The animal exercise is designed to assist an actor’s journey into a role by putting the focus on physical characterization. No sense memory work just pure observation. First, select an animal to study, preferably one you can observe in the flesh but if that’s not possible the internet is your friend; thank you National Geographic. Next, observe your animal. What are its movement patterns? What are the characteristics of how it gets around? Where does it hold its energy? Is there a difference to how a male or female of this species will move? If so, can you observe those differences? How does it eat? How does it rest its body or sleep? How does it move to hunt or scavenge for food? What is the environment that it lives in? How does it communicate to other’s?
After observing their behavior, time to try it on. Begin imitating the movements you witnessed. You’ll probably feel ridiculous if using your body in imaginative ways like this is not something you’re used to. Allowing ourselves to study the way other beings navigate and investigate this planet broadens our level of respect for all living things. Be as detailed as possible in accurately moving like this animal, yes, that probably means getting down on the floor and finding a new center of gravity.
The next thing an actor will do during this exercise is to get their animal up on its feet. How would your animal transition from the way they stand to the way a human stands? How can you move around, talk, and so on? How can you become human with animal characteristics?
This is how an actor can use this tool for a role. In our everyday lives, though, we can still use this. We’ll talk more about that after this.
*Angelica Interlude
The sing-song gibberish of a 3 year-old.
This Weeks Exercise:
Welcome to the Jungle!
You can do the animal exercise by yourself or make it a fun imaginative play family activity. Woo!!!
First select an animal. The ideal, again, is to observe this animal in real time in real life, however, the internet is a great research tool (when used wisely) so use it if you must. Have your kids select the animal they want to be (if they’re too young this may be a good way to start introducing animals to them). Get outside and watch a squirrel, go to the zoo, see what catches your kid’s interest.
After a lengthy observation period, start moving around like the animal. Take a good amount of time to move through your environment as this animal. How would they get on the couch? How would they eat? How would they give love, cuddles and hugs? What sounds do they make? How do they communicate?
Once you’re done exploring, it’s time to stand your animal up. How can they move around now on two feet? What would shift for them once they were becoming human?
If your kids had fun with this ask them if they’d like to name their character and write a little bio, a backstory. They can journal about the experience or draw a picture of their animal. I mean, this type of imaginative play has no limits and has no rules. There’s no sensory work to do or emotional stuff to feel, although if you or your kids feel silly and inhibited doing this, that is something to examine and find out why.
Now if you know there is no way in hell you will ever be brave enough to do this either on your own or with your kids you can try this instead. Observe some animals, a few different species. We live in a community with a huge lake so we see ducks, geese, iguanas, lizards, turtles, herrons and other wildlife on the regular. Whether you live in the woods or in the city you can find an animal to observe. The next time you’re at the supermarket or taking a walk in your neighborhood watch how the people around you move and see if you can identify that movement from any of the animals you observed. Now, this is not a way to poke fun at people and amuse yourself at their expense but to observe the differences in how we all carry ourselves. Where do people hold their energy? What’s the quality of their movement? Do they have a heavy grounded to the earth ape-like quality like Stanley Kowalski or do they flit above the ground with a bird-like quality like Blanche DuBois? As we watch people move through life we start to create stories about their world. We get curious about their lives. We may even feel like trying that movement on ourselves. Explore imitating the way people’s mannerisms and movement patterns feel in your own body from a place of child-like curiosity. That curiosity, when felt genuinely, can lead us to develop more empathy for the lives of other people.
So lovelies, I’ll ask you again
How physically expressive are we in our bodies?
What stories can people devise from our physicality?
What do we gain by being able to “walk in someone else’s shoes”?
The animal exercise is a tool for getting out of our head and into our body, stretching our imagination, strengthening our observation skills and heightening our capacity for creativity and understanding of something or someone different from ourselves. Each of us has a story. A full life overflowing with glorious adventures, tragic loses, heroic acts of bravery, unthinkable suffering and quiet moments of stillness. Those stories live in our body. When we’re able to observe ourselves and others with curiosity instead of judgement we open our capacity for empathy and compassion. We become curious learners, which is where learning comes from – pure curiosity. As we learn to become more genuinely curious we model that for our children. But to be honest, if we really just take a moment and observe them, that’s something they can teach us.
A Short Story Before We Go
“Who’s next?”
“I’ll go.” A girl in a white t-shirt and long blue gym shorts rocked up from the floor and lumbered up to face the group. There were about twelve other people sprawled on the floor in front of her plus the lady with the red scarf and notepad sitting in a rolling chair. The group stared back at her with a pulsing curiosity. They were interested, and there was something…primal in the air. All of their collective energy seemed too grand and earthy for such a nondescript enclosed space.
“Well hi,” smiled the lady in the chair.
“Hi everyone.” Joey waved a long gangly arm at the people around her. Everyone smiled and laughed.
“I’m so glad you joined us today. Can you tell us your name?”
“My name’s Joey.”
“And Joey can you tell us a little about yourself. Are you a boy or a girl? How old are you?”
“Well I’m 17 and I’m, well, I’m a girl, I was born a girl but I, I’m, I don’t know that I always feel that way though…”.
“Ok. What do you enjoy doing?”
Joey’s voice filled with excitement as she told the group of her love of basketball and her hopes to continue playing when she went off to college. Her arms hung heavily at her sides and she swayed ever so slightly left and right. The lady in the chair kindly kept asking Joey questions to which she politely answered. She talked about how much she loved her family and adventures, like rock climbing and tree climbing. She talked about her love of all fruits and that no meal was complete without a side of juicy ripe fruits, preferably with whipped cream…she’d even take fruit snacks if no real fruits were available. When she became excited the group combusted into fits of laughter because Joey would bellow out a high pitch guffaw and cup her hands together and clap while telling her story. After a while of standing she sank down in a squat with her bum low enough to the ground it almost touched, her arms flopped in front of her, backs of her hands and knuckles on the floor. All her movements were weighted yet energetic, there was power behind them. She opened up about things that scared her like the abuse being done to the environment and cats (not just big cats like tigers, even kittens are evil in her book). Finally, she got so comfortable sitting all the way down on the floor with one knee up and her arm draped over it. The room was alive with a buzzing sense of alertness. Joey could feel herself becoming more and more comfortable the longer she spoke with the group. But before she knew her time came to an end.
“Is there anything else you’d like to share with us today Joey?” asked the lady wearing the red scarf.
“Umm…nope…,” she said smacking the top of her head with her hand. Everyone smiled and gave her a warm laugh as she rolled herself to her original spot back with the rest of the group. “This was fun,” she added once she was settled.
“Who’s next?”
Joey was my character that came out of my animal exercise in school. A lot of details were added in this retelling partly because I don’t remember all the original details from that experience. In Joey’s original creation, though, she definitely was questioning her gender identity, loved basketball and I did remember a lot more of her physicality so most of that was the same from my experience. While I didn’t intend to create a character that was questioning their gender identity it seemed to happen that way. Part of it could’ve been that I was being non-committal as an actor and you have to be specific and make decisions, but I remember feeling torn as I was going through the exploration. Something about this character was saying to keep that confusion, so I did. It’s difficult sometimes to trust the inspiration that comes up when you start to work on a role, especially with physicality. Being aware of your own inhibitions and finding ways to break through them is crucial to creating a full life of a character. The trust it takes to get to the truth of a character is the same trust it takes for us to face our own truth. My challenge in life has always been getting out of my own way, in learning to trust myself. What I’ve been realizing at this point in my life’s journey is how much choosing the life of an actor, or creative person, and also becoming a mother has made me face the darkest areas of myself. And from that darkness comes light and that is where I wish to stay. Would you like to join me there?
Raise A Glass Series
The Raise a Glass Series is a space for reflection and gratitude centered around the topic of the day and inspired by lyrics from Hamilton the Musical.
“They delighted and distracted him, Martha Washington named her feral tomcat after him, that’s true.”
But it’s not. Martha Washington never had a cat in which she named Alexander Hamilton. And if you don’t know, now you know. This example of a feral tomcat is such a great example of animal characteristics an actor can grab hold of to help develop the physical life of a role. We get such a strong image of this guy on the hunt for sexual prey in a wild almost savage way. How does a guy like that move, where does his energy lie? Our bodies tell stories. As an actor, I love watching people and then trying to imitate their movements. I create stories in my head all the time of the life a person might be living to walk the way they do or use the gestures or mannerisms they use. Can my stories be totally off base from the persons real life? Absolutely. In most cases I’ll never know. But everyone has a life worth examining. I keep my creativity alive as an artist observing the world around me. I keep my hope for humanity getting kinder alive when I make the choice to not judge a person but to try and understand their being. All of our understanding isn’t going to come from intellectualizing, it’s going to come from observing, feeling and being present.
Let’s raise a glass to observing people and our environment with child-like curiosity, wonder and amazement at the beauty all around us.
That’s all for today guys and dolls. Thank you so much for joining me for another episode. As always, I hope this brings some joy into your day so your light can shine brighter.
Next week we’ll take our sixth exploration into Lee Strasberg’s Method, with the emotional memory exercise, which is I’m sure what most people have been waiting for. As always you’ll find out more about this exercise and other nerdy theatre links on the MFA website, which is in the show notes below.
Also, if you are on Instagram so am I. You can find me @mfaparentingedition and give me a follow.
If you enjoyed this episode and want to show your support please spread a beautiful act of kindness by rating it if your listening on Apple podcasts and leaving a kind review if you feel so inclined, and telling at least one person about the show and that they can find it wherever they listen to their podcasts. And always, thank you to those who have rated the show and left a beautiful review – I appreciate you.
Again, thank you and I’ll see you on the other side
Mom: Angelica, can you say good-bye?
Angelica: Good-bye, good-bye.
Mom: Thank you.
Angelica: Thank you.
Episode title: Welcome to the Jungle
Episode summary: How physically expressive are we in our bodies? What stories can people devise from our physicality? What do actors do to help them take on the physical characteristics of another person? What do we gain by being able to “walk in someone else’s shoes”?
Each of us has a story. A full life overflowing with glorious adventures, tragic loses, heroic acts of bravery, unthinkable suffering and quiet moments of stillness. Those stories live in our body. When we’re able to observe ourselves and others with curiosity instead of judgement we open our capacity for empathy and compassion. We become curious learners, which is where learning comes from – pure curiosity. As we learn to become more genuinely curious we model that for our children.
Previously on MFA
- Recap of episode 8 (listen here)
A Streetcar Named Desire
- Quick history of Streetcar
- Stanley Kowalsi the Ape
- Marlon Brando and the animal exercise
The Animal Exercise
- What it is and how it’s done
- Physical characterization in our everyday lives
Angelica Interlude
- The sing-song gibberish of a 3 year-old
This Week’s Exercise
- Do the animal exercise solo or with your family as part of fun imaginative play time
- What to do instead if you know there is no way in hell you will ever attempt this
A Short Story Before We Go:
- Joey the Orangutan – my character from the animal exercise
The Raise a Glass Series:
- The Raise a Glass Series is a space for reflection and gratitude centered around the topic of the day and inspired by lyrics from Hamilton the Musical.
- Today’s lyrics – “They delighted and distracted with, Martha Washington named her feral tomcat after him. That’s true! ~ Aaron Burr & Alexander Hamilton
Episode transcript: See full transcript below.
Spread a Beautiful Act of Kindness:
- Rate the podcast (and leave a kind review if you feel so inclined)
- Tell one person you know you enjoyed this podcast and they should check it out
Sources that inspired this episode or random tidbits of knowledge:
- “Steell-haaaaa!!!” Stanley Kowalski
- “I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers” Blanche DuBois [end scene]
- The Human Animal: Beastly Names for People
- A Streetcar Named Desire (imdb page)
- On This Day – A Streetcar Named Desire
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Full Transcript
Mom: Angelica, can you say hello?
Angelica: Hello! Hello?
Mom: How are you today?
Angelica: I doing well…how are you?
Mom: Well, I’m doing well also. (she laughs)
Welcome to MFA: The Parenting Edition, I’m Taisha Cameron. These lessons from the theatre for raising ourselves and our kids came about when I realized my MFA in acting trained me for life as a mommy better than life as a full-time actor. Today’s episode is part five in our 7-part series on the Method and we’ll be exploring the animal exercise. We’ll explore some challenging questions, I’ll share some stories, and then we’ll end our episode with the Raise a Glass Series. So, without further ado, this is MFA.
Previously on MFA: The Parenting Edition
We reinforced the importance of personal hygiene so, take a bath. We explored the inhibitions and blocks we create keeping us from living truthfully. We learned how the overall-sensation exercise can benefit even the lives of nonthespians. We gave praise and homage to the late actor Ron Leibman for his legacy in theatre and as a teacher. We raised a glass to living fantastically and authentically.
Now you’re all caught up…of course if all of that meant nothing to you, you should probably go back and listen to episode eight.
Quote: “Don’t – don’t – hang back with the brutes!” Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire
Episode Nine – Welcome to the Jungle
Question – How physically expressive are we in our bodies? What stories can people devise from our physicality? What do actors do to help them take on the physical characteristics of another person? What do we gain by being able to “walk in someone else’s shoes”?
Wolf, mouse, chicken, catty, scaredy-cat, sex kitten, tomcat, lucky duck, odd duck, fox, sly-fox, foxy, vixen, hawk, hawkish, dove, beast. This type of zoomorphic imagery, when used to describe a human’s appearance or behavior, creates an immediate picture in our mind of a particular kind of person.
A Streetcar Named Desire
Marlon Brando. What else can I say except Marlon Fucking Brando.
Quick history of A Streetcar Named Desire:
On December 3, 1947 Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, debuted at the Barrymore Theatre in New York City. Thirty-three years later on that day I was born…that’s inconsequential for today’s topic, just a fun fact. Moving on. The original cast starred Jessica Tandy as Blanche DuBois, Kim Hunter as Stella Kowalski (Blanche’s sister), Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski and Karl Malden as Mitch and was directed by Elia Kazan. In 1951 the same cast, minus Tandy who was replaced by Vivien Leigh after playing the role of Blanche in a London production, reprised their Broadway roles in the film adaptation also directed by Elia Kazan. And it is this iconic film I’m sure most people are familiar with. The one major difference between the film and stage play – the ending, whether Stella chooses to stay with Stanley or take her new baby and get the hell out. Leigh, Hunter and Malden all won Academy Awards for their work in the film and Brando was nominated though he didn’t win. The story delves into themes of fantasy vs reality especially regarding appearances, sexual desires, gender stereotypes of masculinity and physicality and femininity and dependency. And this study of character physicality is where today’s episode connects.
“Meat!”
This is his first time the audience hears his voice and witnesses his presence on stage. He shouts this while tossing a blood covered package to his wife. Stanley Kowalski. From the beginning we see a character that is more animalistic than human. In scene two his sister-in-law, Blanche DuBois, says he’s “a bit on the primitive side.” Scene three, shoves his brutal force at us as we witness him rip Stella’s radio from the mantel, send it soaring out the window to the street below when he loses his hand in that night’s poker game. Stella’s response is to scream at him, “drunk-drunk-animal thing, you!” He then beats the shit out of her in front of everyone in the apartment. This scene culminates with his infamous primal scream of her name (which in the stage directions are described – with heaven-splitting violence). She returns to him and they have what I’m sure is the most brutally passionate and dysfunctional sex ever. Act 1 ends with Blanche desperately working to convince Stella she must leave him. She says, “A man like that is someone to go out with-once-twice-three times when the devil is in you.” “There’s something downright – bestial – about him!” “He acts like an animal, has an animal’s habits! Eats like one, moves like one, talks like one! There’s even something – sub-human – something not quite to the stage of humanity yet! Yes – something – ape-like about him…” and she continues this monologue describing life with Stanly the Ape.
Her imagery (bestial, primitive, ape-like) shows us how Stanley moves through the world. The fact she would even mention him being a man you go out with once, twice, or a few times when the devil is in you is one of the indications Blanche may herself be attracted to Stanley’s animal magnetism. This is just to show that we all walk around the world with a distinct energy that can be felt by others. Every single person on this earth has unique movement patterns, mannerisms and gestures. We carry ourselves in ways that reflect our upbringing, our opinions and value systems, our confidence or lack thereof, our experience of the world.
Brando was a student of Stella Adler’s and studied at the Actor’s Studio, then run by Lee Strasberg. He would’ve studied all the exercises we’ve dissected the last few weeks and so much more. The story goes that in order to flesh out the beastly animal magnetism of the role, Brando studied the movement of gorillas. Now if you’ve seen this film or any film or photo of Brando in his prime, you know animal magnetism was just part of his DNA. But how respectful and resourceful as an artist to delve into the full physical nature of a character to truly understand their way of thinking and living through the world.
The Animal Exercise
The animal exercise is designed to assist an actor’s journey into a role by putting the focus on physical characterization. No sense memory work just pure observation. First, select an animal to study, preferably one you can observe in the flesh but if that’s not possible the internet is your friend; thank you National Geographic. Next, observe your animal. What are its movement patterns? What are the characteristics of how it gets around? Where does it hold its energy? Is there a difference to how a male or female of this species will move? If so, can you observe those differences? How does it eat? How does it rest its body or sleep? How does it move to hunt or scavenge for food? What is the environment that it lives in? How does it communicate to other’s?
After observing their behavior, time to try it on. Begin imitating the movements you witnessed. You’ll probably feel ridiculous if using your body in imaginative ways like this is not something you’re used to. Allowing ourselves to study the way other beings navigate and investigate this planet broadens our level of respect for all living things. Be as detailed as possible in accurately moving like this animal, yes, that probably means getting down on the floor and finding a new center of gravity.
The next thing an actor will do during this exercise is to get their animal up on its feet. How would your animal transition from the way they stand to the way a human stands? How can you move around, talk, and so on? How can you become human with animal characteristics?
This is how an actor can use this tool for a role. In our everyday lives, though, we can still use this. We’ll talk more about that after this.
*Angelica Interlude
The sing-song gibberish of a 3 year-old.
This Weeks Exercise:
Welcome to the Jungle!
You can do the animal exercise by yourself or make it a fun imaginative play family activity. Woo!!!
First select an animal. The ideal, again, is to observe this animal in real time in real life, however, the internet is a great research tool (when used wisely) so use it if you must. Have your kids select the animal they want to be (if they’re too young this may be a good way to start introducing animals to them). Get outside and watch a squirrel, go to the zoo, see what catches your kid’s interest.
After a lengthy observation period, start moving around like the animal. Take a good amount of time to move through your environment as this animal. How would they get on the couch? How would they eat? How would they give love, cuddles and hugs? What sounds do they make? How do they communicate?
Once you’re done exploring, it’s time to stand your animal up. How can they move around now on two feet? What would shift for them once they were becoming human?
If your kids had fun with this ask them if they’d like to name their character and write a little bio, a backstory. They can journal about the experience or draw a picture of their animal. I mean, this type of imaginative play has no limits and has no rules. There’s no sensory work to do or emotional stuff to feel, although if you or your kids feel silly and inhibited doing this, that is something to examine and find out why.
Now if you know there is no way in hell you will ever be brave enough to do this either on your own or with your kids you can try this instead. Observe some animals, a few different species. We live in a community with a huge lake so we see ducks, geese, iguanas, lizards, turtles, herrons and other wildlife on the regular. Whether you live in the woods or in the city you can find an animal to observe. The next time you’re at the supermarket or taking a walk in your neighborhood watch how the people around you move and see if you can identify that movement from any of the animals you observed. Now, this is not a way to poke fun at people and amuse yourself at their expense but to observe the differences in how we all carry ourselves. Where do people hold their energy? What’s the quality of their movement? Do they have a heavy grounded to the earth ape-like quality like Stanley Kowalski or do they flit above the ground with a bird-like quality like Blanche DuBois? As we watch people move through life we start to create stories about their world. We get curious about their lives. We may even feel like trying that movement on ourselves. Explore imitating the way people’s mannerisms and movement patterns feel in your own body from a place of child-like curiosity. That curiosity, when felt genuinely, can lead us to develop more empathy for the lives of other people.
So lovelies, I’ll ask you again
How physically expressive are we in our bodies?
What stories can people devise from our physicality?
What do we gain by being able to “walk in someone else’s shoes”?
The animal exercise is a tool for getting out of our head and into our body, stretching our imagination, strengthening our observation skills and heightening our capacity for creativity and understanding of something or someone different from ourselves. Each of us has a story. A full life overflowing with glorious adventures, tragic loses, heroic acts of bravery, unthinkable suffering and quiet moments of stillness. Those stories live in our body. When we’re able to observe ourselves and others with curiosity instead of judgement we open our capacity for empathy and compassion. We become curious learners, which is where learning comes from – pure curiosity. As we learn to become more genuinely curious we model that for our children. But to be honest, if we really just take a moment and observe them, that’s something they can teach us.
A Short Story Before We Go
“Who’s next?”
“I’ll go.” A girl in a white t-shirt and long blue gym shorts rocked up from the floor and lumbered up to face the group. There were about twelve other people sprawled on the floor in front of her plus the lady with the red scarf and notepad sitting in a rolling chair. The group stared back at her with a pulsing curiosity. They were interested, and there was something…primal in the air. All of their collective energy seemed too grand and earthy for such a nondescript enclosed space.
“Well hi,” smiled the lady in the chair.
“Hi everyone.” Joey waved a long gangly arm at the people around her. Everyone smiled and laughed.
“I’m so glad you joined us today. Can you tell us your name?”
“My name’s Joey.”
“And Joey can you tell us a little about yourself. Are you a boy or a girl? How old are you?”
“Well I’m 17 and I’m, well, I’m a girl, I was born a girl but I, I’m, I don’t know that I always feel that way though…”.
“Ok. What do you enjoy doing?”
Joey’s voice filled with excitement as she told the group of her love of basketball and her hopes to continue playing when she went off to college. Her arms hung heavily at her sides and she swayed ever so slightly left and right. The lady in the chair kindly kept asking Joey questions to which she politely answered. She talked about how much she loved her family and adventures, like rock climbing and tree climbing. She talked about her love of all fruits and that no meal was complete without a side of juicy ripe fruits, preferably with whipped cream…she’d even take fruit snacks if no real fruits were available. When she became excited the group combusted into fits of laughter because Joey would bellow out a high pitch guffaw and cup her hands together and clap while telling her story. After a while of standing she sank down in a squat with her bum low enough to the ground it almost touched, her arms flopped in front of her, backs of her hands and knuckles on the floor. All her movements were weighted yet energetic, there was power behind them. She opened up about things that scared her like the abuse being done to the environment and cats (not just big cats like tigers, even kittens are evil in her book). Finally, she got so comfortable sitting all the way down on the floor with one knee up and her arm draped over it. The room was alive with a buzzing sense of alertness. Joey could feel herself becoming more and more comfortable the longer she spoke with the group. But before she knew her time came to an end.
“Is there anything else you’d like to share with us today Joey?” asked the lady wearing the red scarf.
“Umm…nope…,” she said smacking the top of her head with her hand. Everyone smiled and gave her a warm laugh as she rolled herself to her original spot back with the rest of the group. “This was fun,” she added once she was settled.
“Who’s next?”
Joey was my character that came out of my animal exercise in school. A lot of details were added in this retelling partly because I don’t remember all the original details from that experience. In Joey’s original creation, though, she definitely was questioning her gender identity, loved basketball and I did remember a lot more of her physicality so most of that was the same from my experience. While I didn’t intend to create a character that was questioning their gender identity it seemed to happen that way. Part of it could’ve been that I was being non-committal as an actor and you have to be specific and make decisions, but I remember feeling torn as I was going through the exploration. Something about this character was saying to keep that confusion, so I did. It’s difficult sometimes to trust the inspiration that comes up when you start to work on a role, especially with physicality. Being aware of your own inhibitions and finding ways to break through them is crucial to creating a full life of a character. The trust it takes to get to the truth of a character is the same trust it takes for us to face our own truth. My challenge in life has always been getting out of my own way, in learning to trust myself. What I’ve been realizing at this point in my life’s journey is how much choosing the life of an actor, or creative person, and also becoming a mother has made me face the darkest areas of myself. And from that darkness comes light and that is where I wish to stay. Would you like to join me there?
Raise A Glass Series
The Raise a Glass Series is a space for reflection and gratitude centered around the topic of the day and inspired by lyrics from Hamilton the Musical.
“They delighted and distracted him, Martha Washington named her feral tomcat after him, that’s true.”
But it’s not. Martha Washington never had a cat in which she named Alexander Hamilton. And if you don’t know, now you know. This example of a feral tomcat is such a great example of animal characteristics an actor can grab hold of to help develop the physical life of a role. We get such a strong image of this guy on the hunt for sexual prey in a wild almost savage way. How does a guy like that move, where does his energy lie? Our bodies tell stories. As an actor, I love watching people and then trying to imitate their movements. I create stories in my head all the time of the life a person might be living to walk the way they do or use the gestures or mannerisms they use. Can my stories be totally off base from the persons real life? Absolutely. In most cases I’ll never know. But everyone has a life worth examining. I keep my creativity alive as an artist observing the world around me. I keep my hope for humanity getting kinder alive when I make the choice to not judge a person but to try and understand their being. All of our understanding isn’t going to come from intellectualizing, it’s going to come from observing, feeling and being present.
Let’s raise a glass to observing people and our environment with child-like curiosity, wonder and amazement at the beauty all around us.
That’s all for today guys and dolls. Thank you so much for joining me for another episode. As always, I hope this brings some joy into your day so your light can shine brighter.
Next week we’ll take our sixth exploration into Lee Strasberg’s Method, with the emotional memory exercise, which is I’m sure what most people have been waiting for. As always you’ll find out more about this exercise and other nerdy theatre links on the MFA website, which is in the show notes below.
Also, if you are on Instagram so am I. You can find me @mfaparentingedition and give me a follow.
If you enjoyed this episode and want to show your support please spread a beautiful act of kindness by rating it if your listening on Apple podcasts and leaving a kind review if you feel so inclined, and telling at least one person about the show and that they can find it wherever they listen to their podcasts. And always, thank you to those who have rated the show and left a beautiful review – I appreciate you.
Again, thank you and I’ll see you on the other side
Mom: Angelica, can you say good-bye?
Angelica: Good-bye, good-bye.
Mom: Thank you.
Angelica: Thank you.