Honest vs. Too Personal
While living in Montreal I had the opportunity to assist - as a casting director - several general auditions hosted by The Quebec Drama Federation. I saw hundreds of actors audition for the many casting directors, agents and so forth. I had held and continue holding auditions for my own projects throughout the years but, I guess since I wasn’t there to really cast anybody but just to watch the auditions, I learned many valuable lessons which I was sure to pass on to my acting students. One thing that became evident to me from the start … actors usually mistake honesty and vulnerability with being too personal.
As an artist, I have always pursued honesty in my work and as I have grown and transcended creatively, I have become less concerned about social limitations and strived to be myself without excuses or self-imposed boundaries.
In my virtual play: Becoming a Rose, I shared a video of what I called my Sacred Secret Photo Sessions … a sample of a private ritual I often perform but that no one had ever seen. I suppose it doesn’t get any more personal than that but … the first word coming out of an old friend was … I appreciate the honesty in the work. As I contemplate sharing more of my secret and sacred world with you on the Absolute Creative Space, I remind myself and share with you the findings about honesty vs. too personal I gathered from my acting coaching sessions.
In simple words … the big difference between being too personal and being honest are what I called “the points of connection” or finding that in our work - monologue, scene, photographs, etc. - that is shared by others or that makes our “personal experience” into a “collective experience”. The most common mistake I found actors made was that they did exactly the opposite and … not to bash anyone … they actually enjoyed a little too much making it about them. So … what’s exactly the problem with doing so … that most people don’t want to intrude or pry into other people’s personal affairs or tragedies so … the casting director would “disconnect” him/herself from your monologue and the audience of your play would do the same as saying … that’s not my problem or my experience.
No … not everyone take private pictures of him/herself in secret or have lived whatever experience or situation you might present to them in your monologue, play, etc. but … there’s something in your intention, motivation or even the reason why you picked that particular piece that is part of a “collective experience” … a point of connection.
Jean Genet has always been a big influence and inspiration in my work. When I first discover his plays, I was immediately drawn by them. At that time I had no idea why the experience of a person who could not be more different from me and whose world I could not even conceive resonated so much with me. After reading most of his work through the years, working on some of his plays and “technique” and devising Becoming a Rose - which was inspired by his work - I finally grasped … and tried to share with the audience of my play … what is the “point of connection”. To put it in the words of another artist - “To create one’s own world takes courage” - Georgia O’Keeffe. It is also “courage” what connects my “honest” work with other people … they either admire it, appreciate it, wish they had it or see their own courage reflected … it has nothing to do with the actual work but the courage it takes to be myself in front of them.
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