Training the 21st Century Actor"

There were no directors in ancient Greek theatre; nor were there directors in Shakespeare's England or Moliere's France. Back then, it was the actor/playwright who did the story telling. The job description we know today as "director" evolved in the 20th century, primarily in the United States. Unfortunately, as story telling authority has shifted into the hands of directors, actors have increasingly become paints in the director's palette. While not exactly a zero-sum game, this evolution of authority from the actor to the director has definitely signaled some artistic disempowerment of the actor. In the typical stage production or movie, tribute is paid to a process of collaboration between all the parties involved -- actors, writers, director -- but it really is the director's vision that dominates. There is much more involved in the casting process than locating actors who are "right for the role". The director is not only casting for type and technical strength, but is bringing to life his or her vision of how the play ought to go. From the start -- beginning with the first production meetings -- the director considers how the story ought to be seen by an audience. From the start, the director -- not the actor or the writer -- is the de facto story teller. Indeed, this is why we have the word "auteur". “I did it ALL…MY way!” (Boo!)

I'm intrigued by a single recurring question: What will be the role of the artist in this new century? What precisely is the 21st Century entertainer being trained to do? I am convinced that the 21st Century artist is poised for re- vitalization and that the Internet will play an important role in the process. Sharon M. Carnicke, Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Theatre at the University of California, wrote a remarkable book in 1998 entitled "Stanislavsky in Focus" (Harwood Academic Publishers). It is a must-read for actors, a keeper for the bookshelf. In it, Ms. Carnicke skillfully draws the line between acting theory as practiced by Constantin Stanislavsky, and "method" as practiced by Lee Strasberg of the Actor's Studio. Stanislavsky's focus always was on the actor as the primary story telling artist. Strasberg's Method oriented the actor to himself and his own emotions rather than the audience, leaving the story telling function up to the director. I Think Sanford Meisner had the best idea when he pointed back toward the writer’s intent in the script. I think that’s a starting point for the 21st Century actor. I add: Know yourself completely, be willing to show yourself warts and all as an entertainer… BUT also include writer’s intent, director’s intent and the chemistry of your fellow cast-mates. Most of all, the 21 st century artist needs to know the business of show-business! Understand the artistic and real-world needs of each and every production onstage AND off!

The career track of most professions is clear. If you want to be an accountant, you enter a CPA program and emerge as an accountant. If you want to be a doctor, an airplane pilot or a schoolteacher, same thing. But acting? The actor today is learning how to read a script and say the lines believably. He's learning how to be a color in somebody else's palette! In the United States -- an entertainer, (especially actors,) who wants to make enough money from his profession to support a family must act on television, which is a sales medium, not an artistic medium. The purpose of television shows is to deliver good-humored consumers to the commercials. Television is an appendage of and commercial for U.S. consumerism. I'm not suggesting that it is wrong or less than honorable to act on television, but I am bemoaning the lack of options that face today's actor. I want to see entertainers re-energized as storytellers and shamans. I want to see the 21st Century actor join hands with his ancestors in ancient Greece. The Internet, coupled with digital film making, offers a brand new arena in which stories can be told. The learning curve for participation is not steep, nor is it expensive. The Internet puts personal expression within reach of every person. Cyberspace, yet a medium for , amusing or informative web sites and commerce, has the potential to host a new kind of theater -- one that plays to a global audience. You can see a glimmer of the future by visiting web sites such as AtomFilms.com and iFilm.Com. If Shakespeare himself were around today, I think he would be logged on and wired up. We are living in exciting times at the start of the 21st Century. If entertainers can be trained to be storytellers once again, and if they can orient to a global audience, we may very well be participating in a seismic shift of artistry in the world of theater.