Their ACTOR’S CRAFT – What Speakers need to know.

In an Actors’ Studio interview, Ralph Fiennes said that in his audition for RADA he was told not to make it happen but to let it happen. And that that advice changed his work.

• Here are many ways of saying it, so it might sink in. Because when I first heard “get out of your own way”, “leave yourself alone” at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, I didn’t get it.

What does it really mean? How do you go about learning to do this?

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LET IT HAPPEN. Don’t make it happen.

• All your attention has to be on the person/audience you are speaking to – totally. Making eye communication – not eye contact – is what matters here. That means listening to what you are getting from your partner/audience and adjusting accordingly.

• You have to give yourself over to revealing yourself (it communicates your humanity and what you and the audience have in common).

GIVE UP ON PERFECTION – It is the enemy of great.

• You really have to STOP directing yourself. You need to stop anticipating, judging, watching, and comparing.

And it can’t be stressed enough. YOU NEED TO BE VERY PRESENT – much more than you are in every day life. Ask any actor or athlete. If they wander for a second from the “scene” or the “ball” and what is happening around them, they miss a beat and the audience, fellow players/actors know and everything is way off.

• TRUST, trust, trust yourself and your instincts, no matter how “wrong” they seem in your mind. Your judgmental mind doesn’t belong in the scene. Your intuition, heart and instincts belong there. Marlon Brando in “Last Tango in Paris” laughs when his father dies. It makes complete sense when you see it. TRUST.

• AND MOST IMPORTANT – Remember it’s not about you – it’s about the story, the gift you are giving, the audience you are giving it to.

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Frank Langella, Theatre and Film Star

“I do what works. I believe that acting is a wilderness and that just as you reach a clearing, feeling safe and secure, it’s time to march back into the wilderness. I subscribe to no method, no school, no approach. Providing an actor can speak, move, read English, and memorize, the rest is up for grabs.

There are, of course, certain basics. You must own your lines as you own your own toes. You must know what they mean and you must mean them when you say them. But, that done, the mystery of acting will remain your lifetime companion.

I have learned most from audiences, too often ignored by actors, as if somehow doing it for them is contrary to the truth of their art. Audiences have to hear you, they have to understand you, and they must be moved to laughter or tears by what you do. It is their comfort actors must consider – their pleasure. Actors send life across the footlights and audiences send back the reward.

It is, of course, not as simple as all that. If it were, anyone could do it, and anyone can’t. You need breath, stamina, skill and talent. The first three you can acquire, the latter you can’t. If you are blessed with talent, respect it and cherish it.

Young actors should, early on, rid themselves of the notion that there is a “right” way to act. There is only what works and, in order to come close to what works each night, an actor cannot burden himself with anything that does not result in the truth of the moment, and in the communication of that truth to his audience.

There is much to learn from the investigation of all theories, all styles of acting, and all approaches. But after he absorbs all he needs, the actor must be ready to forget it. He must take a deep breath, call upon his stamina and skill, trust in his talent and go out there and be.

All else is a wilderness in which the actor must happily wander.”

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TWO ACTORS AND THE MOON

From The Invisible Actor by Yoshi Oida

“In the Kabuki theatre, there is a gesture which indicates ‘looking at the moon’, where the actor points into the sky with his index finger. One actor, who was very talented, performed this gesture with grace and elegance. The audience thought: “Oh, his movement is so beautiful!” They enjoyed the beauty of his performance, and the technical mastery he displayed.

Another actor made the same gesture, pointing at the moon. The audience didn’t notice whether or not he moved elegantly; they simple saw the moon.”

Your audience wants to see the moon, the message, the experience, not you.

* * *

Barbara Kite is an executive speaking and professional acting coach, director and actress in Portland Oregon. www.barbarakite.com

Where To Start ?

You want to make major advances in your Speaking or Acting or in your Life.

Where do you start?

With ACTING SKILLS.  Seriously.  I want to share something special I do with all my clients.

The Comfortable Exercise below is the first major step towards Great Speaking and Acting Skills and Great Living that I give to everyone of my speaking clients and actors.

You must experience this process for yourself to truly understand what it takes to be even better in what you do and who you are.  It is the minimum required for interacting, connecting, reaching and empathizing with others.

I’ve had people say “Oh, I do that every day in my job any way.”  And then they make a lame attempt at it.

It truly is important to commit to this process completely.

So I say to you, – you have NEVER done THIS before!   Not the way you need to in order to soak it into your body, your soul and your emotions.

Because it requires full and total concentration and focus – the kind you’ve never used before and you’ll only be able to cover a fraction of it on this first attempt. You see, it requires a life time of practice to really understand.

For example, the “PRESENT” you have to BE is not the casual kind where you give only part of your attention to something. It has to be ALL OF YOU in THIS MOMENT, in your physical surroundings, in your body, in your senses, in your breath.

So I give you this assignment hoping you understand that it requires a depth of commitment and being you’ve never entered before. Because if you have, you would already be well on your way to being an amazing actor or speaker or artist. Because if you have, you’ll be grateful for this opportunity to do this again and again and again.

---

The Comfortable Exercise

For 24 HOURS make EVERYONE you come in contact with, feel “comfortable” – not happy – but comfortable. Be clear about what that means.

You must be clear what “comfortable” means to you and to them.

Therefore, keep close watch to see that what you are saying and doing is making people comfortable. If it is not making them “comfortable”, try something different.

You must be PRESENT, FOCUSED, LISTENING ON ALL LEVELS OF YOUR BEING, ADJUSTING TO WHAT YOU RECEIVE FROM THE PERSON, TAKING YOUR TIME AND PUTTING YOURSELF IN THEIR SHOES.

This is your objective for 24 hours. You may not tell them what you are doing.

AND WHEN YOU FINISH THIS ASSIGNMENT, I HAVE ONLY ONE QUESTION. WHAT DID YOU LEARN?

*Great Speakers and Acting Skills Workshop Portland Oregon Nov 6, 2009

GREAT SPEAKERS AND ACTING SKILLS WORKSHOP

 

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER, DEVON ALLEN,

 

 EXPERT VOCAL COACH WILL BE TALKING ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUR VOICE AND HOW TO BEST USE IT.

 

Speakers with Authenticity and Acting Skills always have the EDGE.

  SPEAKING   is like a  performance –   

                      you need heightened energy,

             authenticity

                                                      and   great story telling skills

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 I challenge you to try something distinctly NEW and more fully embrace untapped areas of your IMAGINATION, creativity, authenticity and power through COMMUNICATION coaching (media/public speaking/ presentation) BY AN EXPERT(30 yrs of training and experience) IN HER FIELD WHO GUARANTEES RESULTS.After over 30  years of experience teaching acting, I have learned a truth -you are far more creative, COURAGEOUS and capable than you can possibly imagine, and I can prove it.bmkite@aol.com  503-423-7437

 ************************************ 

GREAT SPEAKERS AND ACTING SKILLS WORKSHOP

 

 

FIVE HOURS

 

 WORK ON SPEECHES,

 

INTRODUCTION TO ACTING SKILLS

NEEDED FOR PUBLIC SPEAKING SUCCESS.

 

 

FRIDAY, November 6, 2009

 

 

10 am to 4 pm (1/2 hr break)

 

 

300.00 PER  PARTICIPANT

 

 

LIMITED TO 6 PARTICIPANTS ONLY!!

 

 

PERSONAL ATTENTION TO YOUR NEEDS WILL BE EMPHASIZED!

 

 (see www.barbarakite.com for more information)

 

 

UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL

 

 

September 7, 2009

 

 

 You can learn a lot about the fine art of public speaking from Barbara Kite.

 

In doing my LinkedIn research on the topic, I came across Barbara’s website and blog. Her blending of acting techniques into the coaching mix is a piece that I found intriguing.

 

I walked away from our initial telephone conversation with some practical tips that I could apply immediately to my keynote preparation.      

 

  She is a highly skilled orator and well-studied thespian with keen insight into the process of engaging an audience.       I recommend Barbara to anyone wishing to take their public speaking and their communication in general to the next level.”

J.D. Gershbein

 

Barbara Kite is an Executive Speaking Coach and Professional Acting Coach as well as  Keynote Speaker in Portland Oregon www.barbarakite.com

*The basis of all good speaking – EASE

David Mamet’s famous dictum offers us a great way to discover ease in our work. “invent nothing, deny nothing, accept everything”.

Do not push, do not try to hard, do not invent.

 But be open, be vulnerable, be willing to see and seize opportunities that arise, do not deny what happens or what you feel.

Denying will lead to inner stress and outer manifestations of tension.

Go with The Flow.

Lastly accept everything, decide what is within your control and what is not. Focus on those things that you have power to change and influence and you will be happier and more at ease with yourself.

from Mark Westbrook’s Acting Blog http://acting-blog.com/

Barbara Kite is an executive speaking coach and a professional acting coach in Portland ORegon.

*SHAKE it up

How about  a change of perspective? 

My Acting Coach would say you need to get their attention, shock them and change their perspective.

And although this clip doesn’t shock, I found it reminded me that I’m playing it safe and moved me to remember that in America we avoid the big emotions.  What else do we stay away from?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gQ31m4Yt0s&feature=related

Chavela Vargas – La Llorona (Video Clip)

Just another reminder through art, that I need to daily shake myself out of my every dayness.

Just another reminder that as a speaker, I need to challange myself.  A reminder that I’m not using all of me to succeed in my work .

Barbara Kite is an executive speaking coach and a professional acting coach, as well as a keynot speaker, based in Portland Oregon. www.barbarakite.com

*Why I prefer the messy speech over the perfect one

I specifically used the word “messy” because it goes beyond “imperfect” and connotes allowing more freedom than most of us allow ourselves. 

 

I know the clients I work with need a lot of coaching to let go of the need to be perfect, not to fail, not to look foolish.  It reqiures quite a bit of encouraging for them to  be  even marginally messy.    

I once worked with who kept trying to be perfect in their speech and therefore were constantly checking and watching to see if they were or not, thus, taking the attention away from the audience and the topic. That means the energry is going away from the audience. This ends up with the losing the audience.   

The messy speech usually ends up not being messy when given by the “need to be perfect” speaker because they know the subject matter backwards and although they are afraid they will freeze, look foolish or lose their place, they need to be coaxed into realizing they won’t.   They’ll just sound authentic AS IF THEY ARE GIVING THIS SPEECH FOR THE FIRST TIME which is what every actor knows as the key to a fresh., engaging, authentic performance every night.  

And don’t kid yourself your speech is a performance – it requires authenticy, heightened energry and great story telling skills JUST like actors do.     

Letting go is the key to great acting and great speaking. Perfect the speech and then let it go. Screw up, fail. You can always include what you’ve forgotten later.

 

Don’t sacrafice connection, authenticity, humanity for perfection. The latter is never memorable.

see www.bmkite.wordpress.com
for more information about speaking and actng skills.

*PERFECT your speaking skills – Practice these daily

You need to practice to improve and to keep yourself  properly tuned and prepared.

Listed below is some basic daily work you can do to keep yourself in top shape.

1) remind Yourself it’s not about you by rededication to your cause 

(SEE “It’s not about you – the gift and the fear”)

https://bmkite.wordpress.com/2009/04/

2) do vocal work  – so important to keep your instrument golden

(SEE “The Voice and the Speaker”)

 https://bmkite.wordpress.com/2009/06/18/the-voice-and-the-speaker/

3) fine tune the all important  stories (sense memory)

(SEE “Sense Memory: Making Stories vivid and memorable”) https://bmkite.wordpress.com/2009/05/19/sense-memory-making-stories-vivid-and-memorable/

4) practice relaxation techniques perfecting your warm up

(SEE “Professional Actors Warm Up Before they go on”) https://bmkite.wordpress.com/2009/06/08/professional-actors-warm-up-before-they-go-on/

Barbara Kite is a professional acting coach and executive speaking coach based in Portland Oregon www.barbarakite.com

 

*3 vocal tips actors use for speaking

The first one is rarely addressed.

ENERGY – which is so needed in speakers these days.  Do you speak to an audience the way you speak in your daily life, with friends and colleagues, occupying a very small energy space?  You won’t draw people in.

Instead try filling  the room you are speaking in,  with your energy.  How do you do that?  It’s not about being louder.  It’s about being present.  It’s about imagining that you are covering your body over the whole area and make yourself  bigger.  Give all of you to the audience.

The second one is BREATHING.  Breathing before you speaking and speaking on the breath (not holding it – please).  Breathing before every couple of sentences.  It will center your voice and your energy bringing it down to your abdomen – the source of your energry and voice.

The third is SLOW DOWN.  Too many speakers don’t give an audience time to absorb what they have just said and rush forward with the next thought, thinking they are leaving too much empty space.  Pauses are your friends.  And remember give each word it’s total value.  Last night I had an actor in class who grouped his words togther  –  I’mvery  happy  toseeyouagain.  Give each word value and say the whole word.  Of course it helps if someone is guiding you.  Habits are hard to break.

Oh and just a suggestion – take an acting class.

Barbara Kite is an executive speaking coach and professional acting coach as well as a professional actress and director.  www.barbarakite.com

*Workshop – Great Speakers with Acting Skills

 great speakers with acting

 skills workshop

 

speak with the training received

 by professional actors

 

3294 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

PORTLAND, OREGON

MONEY RETURNED IF NOT SATISFIED AT END OF WORKSHOP 

visit web site www.barbarakite.com

OR

BLOG www.bmkite.wordpress.com

FIVE and a half HOURS,          SEVEN PARTICIPANTS

WORK ON SPEECHES,

INTRODUCTION TO ACTING SKILLS & VOCAL SKILLS 

FOR PUBLIC SPEAKING SUCCESS.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

10 AM TO 4 PM (1/2 HR BREAK)

$250.00 PER  PARTICIPANT

15% discount for early registration – before September 1, 2009

 

speaking is like performing – it requires, authenticity, heightened energy and great story telling tools,

Speaking requires heightened reality and that means you have to focus, be prepared, be passionate, be authentic, be present and be electric.

 

Where do you go to practice successful new techniques with a supportive coach who is an expert in her field – the person who can help you become truly authentic and compelling in your presentations and daily communications, the person who can give you the individual support and the unique acting tools you need to become a powerful speaker? 

 

 

You can’t practice new techniques in front of your superiors or co-workers or customers or audience! 

AND REMEMBER: – “CLIENTS DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH YOU KNOW, UNTIL THEY KNOW HOW MUCH YOU CARE.”  Authentic communication lets them see the real you and the real passion you have. 

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“Barbara’s skill and generosity of spirit are evident in both her teaching style and casual conversation. She offers a great model of being open-hearted and spontaneous that is very inspiring. With her encouragement, I was able to address a large professional group, and hold the audience’s attention for a full-day training, feeling confident and relaxed.”“Barbara’s workshop helped me focus my presentation and pace myself very effectively. Her attitude about public speaking as a natural extension of our own personality and genuineness is refreshing and enjoyable! I heartily recommend work with Barbara for anyone who would like better skills and more fun out of speaking to groups.” 

Kate McNulty LCSW
(503) 295-6265
katemcn@comcast.net
www.Portland-Counseling.com *******************************************************************************************************

“Thank you so much for your coaching! What I got from your workshop was to be ‘present’ but not in a formal way, but in a more authentic way. And secondly, being myself and remembering that I had a ‘gift’ was also important—you were right, I knew more about the topic than they did and I knew something that could help them!”  

Sarah Seeland, formerly with Vesta Corporation 

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“Your workshop has given me a new awareness of the quality of a presentation. I learned that a presentation is not about you but about giving the information that you have and visualizing the information that is delivered. It was deeper than that and it is in fact hard to put into words. Thank you.”

 

 

Marie- Pierre Hasne (OHSU Research Scientist) Biochemistry & Molecular Biology 

You can have Authenticity and Power in your Public Speaking  

by learning and practicing Acting Skills. 

*Smart speakers know the PRIMITIVE DYNAMIC of the voice: the music your instrument can create to move an audience

FROM ABOUT.COM: SHAKESPEARE

Lyn Darnley Photo © RSC / Ellie KurttzSponsored Links Shakespeare Theater Tony Award-Winning Festival in OR. 

Lyn Darnley is Head of Text, Voice and Artist Development at the RSC, and initially worked in the theater as an actor and as a broadcaster and television presenter.  

Smart communicators aren’t afraid of iambic pentameter because they know the primitive dynamic of voice. 

What does that mean?  It means really good speakers realize that their voice has levels, and movement much like music.  And can affect an audience in the same way music can. 

Exceptional speakers know that the voice is an instrument that needs tuning and proper playing and constant attention.

Here is an excerpt from one of the most respected vocal coaches in the world.  There is much to learn.

“We go into rehearsals and work as part of the creative team supporting the director and actors by allowing them to explore these physical and aural dynamics of language. I think that language is becoming very cerebral and we are now separating ourselves from its primitive dynamic. Today, we tend to ask “what does that word mean?” rather than “what does that word do to us when we speak or hear it?”

The power of the spoken word is something that goes back to the Greeks and Romans in an age before technology. The most powerful thing is the spoken word. So my work is about going back and looking at the real visceral energy of language and what its prime purpose is. And that requires a fair amount of dexterity and physical technique because we’re much less engaged with language now. Speech is less engaged. We don’t speak with the same muscularity, energy or dynamic like people did before there was a visual back up for communication.

 Spoken language is primarily a vibration capable of physically impacting upon us in the same way music does.

So, Shakespeare’s language conveys much more than its literal meaning because it’s layered with sound, dynamic, explosion – language is actually very violent.

The sound and rhythm of Shakespeare’s language helps create his characters. You can physically feel it when consonants collide or when vowels are open, long, short or squeezed.

The English language is naturally full of rhythm, full of stressed and unstressed sounds. Iambic pentameter is simply an unstressed sound followed by a stressed one repeated five times. It’s very close to the natural rhythm of the English language, so it works very well. Ten beats coincides nicely with the length of a thought. But Shakespeare becomes really exciting when you break that iambic pentameter rhythm. The energy in performance comes from when you go against the iambic. You don’t need to study iambic pentameter – you just need to feel it, which will come naturally from speaking and listening to the text.

I think that the most important thing is to speak Shakespeare, not read it. This is because you need to get it into your body. The words need to affect you through the sound and through the muscular activity in the mouth. The words can’t do that on the page!”

Barbara Kite is an executive speaking coach and professional acting coach as well as a professional actress and director.  www.barbarakite.com