the bare character - exposing our true self

Early in my career I discovered that unless I cleared the paths of connection from any preconceived ideas, feelings, intentions … and achieve what I call the Bare Character or Bare State of mind, I would be blind and unable to find the Points of Connection with others. Actors call it “being in the moment”, I call it “exposing our true self”.

grotowski’s holy actor

“Ours is not a deductive method of collecting skills. Here everything is concentrated on the “ripening” of the actor which is expressed by a tension towards the extreme, by a complete stripping down, by the laying bare of one’s own intimity - all this without the least trace of egotism or self-enjoyment. The actor makes a total gift of himself. This is a technique of the “trance” and of the integration of all the actor’s psychic and bodily powers which emerge from the most intimate layers of his being and his instinct, springing forth in a sort of “trans-lumination.” - Jerzy Grotowski