The Emotional Preparation - Engaging With Imaginary Possibilities
Have you ever heard the phrase “Mind Over Matter”? What our minds determine to be true of our reality psychologically can, in fact, alter how our bodies react chemically in the short-term and in the long-run. In short, our outlook on the world is so closely tied to our bodies’ well-being that we can alter how it responds over time.
The University of Michigan’s Healthwise Staff writes, “Research shows [what our brains] produce depends in part on [our] thoughts, feelings, and expectations. If you're sick but you have hope and a positive attitude and you believe that you'll get better, your brain is likely to produce chemicals that will boost your body's healing power. Negative thoughts and emotions can keep your brain from producing some of the chemicals that help your body heal… But your thoughts and state of mind are resources you can use to get better.”
So how does this connect to our acting?
When it comes to emotionally charged scene-work, we as actors are expected to come into a scenario with the same level of emotional honesty that the situation is calling for and be able to react truthfully under the imaginary circumstances. This also means our bodies must react along with it as naturally as if we are personally experiencing the situation (with genuine tears, laughter, frustration, etc.).
If our character is coming in to a scene after just learning that their young child was killed earlier in the day—we need to be willing to commit fully to engaging in this emotional journey with the same intensity and impulsiveness we naturally would be. The actors that fearlessly dive into the depths of this type of despair and honestly feel that emotion usually are the ones who color a scene in ways that those who try to “show” their feelings cannot begin to duplicate or imagine. However, how to approach this type of intense material is where many acting techniques and philosophies separate and differ.
There are many actors that chose to tackle this type of material by reliving in their minds personal experiences to act as a substitution, which, in theory, works. As long as the memory is personal, the effect should be so strong that it will cause a visceral reaction to occur. Yet, engaging in these types of traumatic scenarios too frequently can cause as much damage physically to the body as they can psychologically if relived and thought of too frequently.
What separates the Meisner Technique from others techniques when approaching this material is the belief that we should not use our past experiences and memories in order to create a healthier engagement with heavy material. This idea roots from the notion that we either will become too overwhelmed by some of our worst memories to the point where we do not want to emotionally engage with our past every performance, or we become so numb to our past experiences that we no longer feel as much as we previously did when first using certain memories.
What is incredible is our mind’s ability to fully engage and latch-on to whatever we BELIEVE to be our reality, even if it is not genuinely happening. In fact, our imagination and the IDEA of what is possible can replicate as visceral of a reaction as if we truly experiencing it. For example, have you ever talked to yourself before something nerve-wracking and imagined in detail every aspect of how you wanted an event to turn out? We can hear the conversations, see the details, and even imagine how things smell and feel to the touch in those situations.
These daydreams and visualizations are powerful tools for actors. If we have the ability to imagine something that is personal to us in an alternate reality, we have the ability to be affected by them on a personal and meaningful level. The key here is that because these daydreams are not our actual reality, they are not concrete and can be molded based on what is genuinely affecting us in our real lives. This allows us to keep changing the daydreams to work for us in our scene work and allows us to step-out of the emotion involved in the imaginary circumstance once a scene is over.
It should be noted that this belief in the imaginary daydream is a skill that must be practiced and requires as much attention and work as other skills within the Meisner Technique. In fact, most studios and schools will not teach this Emotional Preparation until a student has learned to live presently, has proven their ability to listen and respond, and is able to work through obstacles and high stakes because of the demands this type of preparation requires. Once someone has learned to Emotionally Prepare in the technique, we continue to build upon this skillset the rest of their Meisner Career.
Our imaginations are an actor’s paintbrush and our emotional reactions to the imaginary circumstances are the colors used to paint the scene.
By Diana Frankhauser
Do you want to develop the skills necessary to begin practicing Emotional Preparation? Come check out our Virtual Meisner classes at the Houde School of Acting. All of our May seats went quickly, so please do not miss your opportunity to join us in June!
https://www.houdeschoolofacting.com/online-registration
Healthwise Staff. “Mind-Body Wellness.” University of Michigan Medicine, Healthwise, Incorporated, 31 Aug. 2020, www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/mente.