There’s a lot of talk about the importance of a “balanced” life. In a highest-highs and lowest-lows kind of addiction, this concept seems about as far off as nirvana. Balance can be foreign to actors because our “all or nothing” attitudes help drive us. I say, let us embrace our nature, throwing out a concept of balance and adopting one of fullness. Step 11 is about breathing the fire of our acting passion into the rest of our life.
The first step toward having a 3-D world is by putting down the 2-D gadgets. When used responsibly, technology can be a wonderful learning and marketing tool; when abused, it is the isolating and desensitizing destruction of your time and talents.
Let’s get old-school with some Uta Hagen. If you know “Respect for Acting” (as you most definitely should), then you’re familiar with chapters like “Sense Memory,” “The Five Senses,” “Outdoors,” and “The Conditioning Forces.” Hagen describes talent as “an amalgam of high sensitivity, easy vulnerability, high sensory equipment, a vivid imagination, a grip on reality, and the desire to make oneself heard and seen.” You won’t do much honing
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