The Checklist by Milton Katselas

April 19, 2017 0






Checklist


What follows here is referred to by the students in class as "The Checklist".  It has evolved over my years of teaching as a series of tools any actor can use to help approach their work on a scene. A very successful actress who has been a student of mine for a long time insists she uses this checklist on every gig she gets.  It is not strictly necessary to dwell upon the entire checklist every time you work--any one of the tools may be the one that unlocks a scene for you.
--Milton Katselas, Acting Class,Take a Seat

1. What is the event?
What's going on in this scene? Not the theme. Just what's going on. Have I experienced anything like that? Yeah. And how did I behave? Some ideas there. Okay.

2. Evaluation
Am I on fire? Are the choices hot enough, alive? This scene is loaded. The stakes are high. Am I ready for that, or do I need to assume the position? Okay.

3. Behavior
What am I doing physically in this scene? I can't allow myself just to sit here and say lines. What else can I do to be more alive? Push-ups? Clean the room? Put on makeup? Okay.

4. Physical/Emotional State
Am I drunk? Enough? Do I feel sexy? Am I drugged, in pain? Or am I supposed to be feeling great? Just had good food, feeling exhilarated? Am I really nailing this? And is the state consistent throughout the scene? Is it cold the entire time? Or do I warm up during the scene? How do my emotions vary in the scene? I've got to figure that out specifically. Okay.

5. What happened before the scene?
Did I just finish the New York Marathon? Did I just get fired? Is it raining outside? So am I wet? Out of breath from the stairs? And how does that change now that the scene has begun? Am I tracking that clearly and logically? Okay.

6. Creative Hiding
Can I play part of the scene into the tablecloth? Weep into it? Play with my hat as I woo her? Or play the sunset instead of her eyes? Can I be freer through fiddling with the scarf? Okay.

7. Be a person
Am I like an actor on a stage or am I like a person? My character is a person. Is my behavior coming from the real life of the character? Am I just trying to be emotional, or am I a person trying to control their emotions, as on the six-o'clock news? Okay.

8. Inner and Outer Life "The Cover"
Play the clown for her and pretend the pain inside is nothing? Or play the pain more and less charm? Get more personal and specific with inner turmoil? I know I'll lose her-- feel that? Or play more the social, easy behavior and attitude and let the inner pop out later, surprise myself and them? I need to ensure I'm not "playing the cover" without anything cooking underneath. Okay.

9. Who's the author?
Who wrote this? Woody Allen? Bertolt Brecht? Tennesse Williams? What is this author after? What is his or her specific point of view on life? What is her style? What is his sense of humor? What other works are there by the author? Have I read them for clues? Okay.

10. Improvisation
I'll pretend I'm going to marry Ophelia, and we'll improvise my proposal and see where that takes us. Shakespeare's language is tough-- let me say it in my own words for a while, then get back to the Bard. Let's improvise the first night of our honeymoon, see what that does for the scene. Or just be silent for a while, let hte scene be within us. Loose and easy, don't push for the scene. Okay.

11. Humor
Am I using humor? People use humor all the time to deal with hardship-- am I doing that? Is it too much to suddenly act lIke Noel Coward, as Brando did at the end of Last Tango in Paris? Cover that pain with a put-on, humorous. English accent? Joking with her? Yeah, that can work. All the great performances have humor, they have charm, they have irony. Okay.

12. Trust
So I believe in my choices? Am I having fun? Am I confident in what I'm doing? I know it will be there, I will make it be there. I've got my choices. I understand this guy. Let's go. Okay.

13. Being Personal
Am I personally involved in this scene? Am I telling the right story? Being personal doesn't mean I decide the character is from my hometown. This needs to cost me something: My emotional involvement.

14. Pathology
How sick is this character? How compulsive? Am I giving in to the violence? I have some seed of this in my life. Use it. Expand on it. Remember, he will do anything to possess her. Okay.

15. Objectives
The character wants to be king, don't deny it. Do I want it enough? I know what it means to want something. Go for it. Remember, at any cost, he wants to seduce her, so am I doing all I can to get her? Caution is not my friend. Okay.

16. Specifics
Is this my Hamlet, personal and specific? Do I have the father? Is he real to me? The image of my mother in bed with my uncle-- do I have that? It's late at night. Do I have the specific feeling of late at night; not tired, but hyper? The choice of Hamlet's angry explosion, do I have that nailed? Really? Okay.

17. Use of Objects
Am I using physical objects to connect myself with this environment? Maybe some of my own personal objects will make me more comfortable. Or how about one that has more emotional value for me? Yeah, let me use one of those. Any inner objects I can think of that will help me connect with moments in the scene? Okay.

18. Arbitrary Choices
Kazan says, "Character is revealed through contradiction." What inner struggle is my character going through that might be revealed through an arbitrary choice? Some kind of illogical choice that actually fits the truth of this guy? Okay.

19. Moment to Moment: Belief
Can this scene be tracked? Am I responding to things moment to moment? Am I really listening, taking the time to respond as a person would? Am I discovering each moment as it happens? The more I experience, the more I'll believe, and the more I believe, the more I'll experience. Okay.

20. Moment to Moment: Alternatives
The script says my character leaves his wife. But have I explored the opposite? That he stays? Maybe he tries to stay, but at the last second he can't. Real people go through tough decision making before choosing the way to go. So as an actor, I need to go through that process, even though the final action has been determined by the author. I have to participate in the process. That needs to be part of my performance. Okay.




amazing lighting for under €150

April 19, 2017 0



If you follow me on Instagram (and why wouldn't you? everyone loves pics of things I want to buy interspersed with the occasional "fml" post showing my kids destroying my house right? It's @makedoanddiy by the way) you might have seen the gorgeous new pendant light currently bringing a bit of glamour to my kitchen. 

Gorgeous isn't it?! I'm really in love with it, and get this...it was €52!!!! Yep, that's correct, absolute bargain. 

Click here to read the rest of this post »
Biodata Sarada Uchiha

Biodata Sarada Uchiha

April 10, 2017 0
Hasil gambar untuk sarada

Latar Belakang dan Kepribadian Sarada Uchiha


Sarada Uchiha adalah anak dari sahabat Naruto Sasuke Uchiha dan Sakura Haruno, dia adalah keturunan Uchia pertama setelah pembantaiyan besar-besaran Clan Uchiha. Sarada adalah Ninja Wanita Konoichi keturunan Clan Uchiha, siswa akademi ninja Konohagakure dan angota tim Konohamaru. Sarada Uchiha dibesarkan oleh Ibunya Sakura Haruno sendiri, karena Sasuke ayah Sarada harus menjalankan tugas ninja jangka panjang untuk mengetahui apa rencana dari Kaguya Otsutsuki dengan meninggalkan desa Konohagakure.

Sarada Uchiha benar-benar mewarisi sifat dan kepribadian dari kedua orangtuanya, terutama sifat dari ibunya yang menganggap rendah dan membenci para pembuat onar, dia juga tidak segan-segan untuk mengkritik secara terus terang dengan ungkapan yang ceplas-ceplos seperti hanya yang dimiliki ibunya "Shannarō!" (しゃーんなろー). Sifat lain yang di warisi dari ayahnya Sasuke, sifat dimana dia tidak mudah mengakui atau pun menjawab orang-orang tertentu, dia juga lebih suka menyendiri dan tidak mudah memuji orang lain meskipun itu pantas mendapatkan sebuah pujian.

Di masa kecilnya tidak seperti kedua orangtuanya sarada memiliki sifat yang baik. Dia tidak pernah terlalu percaya diri, tidak terobsesi dengan anak laki-laki, namun sederhana dan memperlakukan teman-teman sekelasnya baik, terutama temannya Chōchō Akimichi dan anak Hokage 7 Boruto, yang semasa muda orang tua mereka juga satu tim di Tim tujuh.

Sarada tipe orang yang memiliki rasa ingin tahu yang tinggi, dengan terus membuntuti dan mengamati Boruto Uzumaki keliling desa, meskipun dia menganggap Boruto merupakan orang yang sangat menjengkelkan. Sarada memiliki pemikiran yang kritis dan analisis yang baik, dia menilai bahwa Boruto dan dirinya memiliki kepribadian yang sama, keinginan yang sama untuk menghabiskan lebih banyak waktu bersama ayahnya, perasaan ingin berbagi bersama ayahnya. Dia pun sempat mengungkapkan kerinduan dan perasaan ini kepada ibunya, berbagi ikatan yang kuat terhadap ayahnya untuk berkumpul bersama ayah dan ibunya.

Meski Sarada menganggap Boruto anak yang menjengkelkan, sarada tetap menikmati hubungan anak dan ayah diatara Boruto dan Naruto, dimana sarada juga memiliki mimpi yang sama dan harapan yang sama bahwa hubungannya dan ayahnya akan serupa. Itu terlihat dimana dia begitu peduli terhadap ayahnya, dengan selalu mendengarkan nasehat dan cerita Naruto bagaiman dia mewarisi sifat baik dari ayahnya, Sasuke. Meski saat bertemu dengan ayahnya dia harus menangis karena tidak dianggap, dingin dan acuh takacuh terhadapnya. Namun dia masih tetap peduli terhadap ayahnya terlihat ketika ayahnya melindunginya dari serangan Shin Uchiha.

Kebiasaan Berpikir kritis yang dimiliki Sarada membuatnya sering mempertanyakan nilai dan makna menjadi seorang ninja karena ayahnya telah "pergi" dengan menjadi seorang ninja. Dia pun menanyakan keabsahan pernikahan kedua orang tuanya setelah mengetahui foto pernikahan mereka ternyata palsu, di salah satu foto itu dia menemukan gambar ayahnya bersama dengan Suigetsu Hōzuki, Jugo dan Karin yang juga memakai kacamata seperti dia, kacamata yang tidak dimiliki oleh kedua orangtuanya.

Melihat kenytaan itu dia pun mejadi Emosional, karena kelahirannya tidak di ungkapkan dan di manipulasi oleh kedua orangtuanya. Sarada bahkan memuji ninja medis sebagai "yang terbaik" dalam "menyembunyikan sesuatu", meskipun ibunya sendiri adalah ninja medis. ketika dia mengetahui ibunya juga mengetahui apa yang ayahnya lakukan dia tampak sangat marah bahwa ibunya telah menyimpan rahasia yang begitu lama.

Melihat manipulasi itu Sarada bersama Suigetsu diam-diam memasuki laboratorium/persembunyian Orochimaru untuk melihat kecocokan antara dirinya dan karin dengan melakukan tes DNA, hasilnya DNA mereka memiliki kesama, melihat kenyatan itu sarada pun semakin marah dan menganggap ibu biologisnya adalah karin karena terbukti kecocokan DNA Karin dan Sarada, menambah kenyataan bahwa orangtuanya tak satupun hadir di sebagian besar kehidupan masa kecilnya, sementara dia percaya bahwa dia dan Sakura tidak memiliki hubungan apapun.

Dalam kemarahnya itu Naruto hadir dan menasehati sarada, bahwa ikatan biolagis tak melulu penting, karena ikatan cinta antara Sakura ibunya adalah nyata pentingnya, mengingatkan dia bagaimana ayah dan ibunya Sakura mengajarinya untuk merangkak, berjalan dan selalu mengurusinya saat dia sakit. membuatnya menyadari bahwa sakuralah ibu biologisnya dan yang terpenting adalah ikatan yang terjalin di antara mereka.

Sarada mampu membangkitkan Sharingan karena antisipasi bertemu ayahnya dengannya. Meskipun marah pada Sakura dan Sasuke saat jelas mengetahui identitas sebenarnya dari ibu kandungnya, Sarada, tidak menjadi korban Kutukan Kebencian dan relatif wajar bila dibandingkan dengan Sasuke ketika ia masih muda yang dengan kebencian mencari kebenaran akan pembantaiyan Clan Uchiha. Setelah percakapannya dengan Naruto, Sarada menemukan tujuannya untuk menjadi Hokage.

Masih belum begitu jelas cerita kelahiran Sarada. kelahiran Sarada Uchiha juga masih menjadi misteri, seperti yang Shizune katakan kepada Sarada bahwa tidak ada seorang pun yang mengetahui tentang waktu tempat dan kelahirannya. Bahkan semua orang di rumah sakit pun juga tidak mengetahui apa-apa tentang kelahirannya. Dan bagaimana bisa DNA Sarada dan Karin mempunyai kesamaan, dan bagaimana latar belakang kehidupanya bersam Ibunya Sakura. Kita tunggu kejelasanya.

Penampilan


Sarada adalah gadis kecil yang memiliki kulit bagus dan terang, rambut hitam lurus sebahu dengan bagian-bagian di sisi kiri dahinya tidak diselip seperti bagian kananya yang diselip ke telinga. Dia mewarisi mata dan warna rambut Sasuke. Sarada memakai kacamata merah, Karin. Rambutnya bergaya seperti Mebuki Haruno nenek dari pihak ibu.Bentuk matanya mirip dengan Sakura juga bentuk wajahnya.

Pakaiannya terdiri dari jaket merah muda di atas rompi kuning dan dibawahnya memakai kemeja putih berkerah tinggi dengan dasi merah, dengan sandal shinobi hitam. Pada Naruto Gaiden, Sarada memakai qipao tanpa lengan merah, mirip dengan pakaian kedua ibunya, (satu-satunya perbedaan adalah lambang Uchiha di punggung), sepasang celana pendek berwarna terang dan penghangat lengan panjang ungu, mirip dengan pakaian pertama ayahnya. Dia juga memakai pelindung dahi Konoha di sekitar dahinya. Dia juga memakai pelindung dahi Konoha sekitar dahinya dengan poninya yang tergantung di atas.

Kemampuan 

Tingkat yang tepat dari kemampuannya tidak diketahui, tetapi Chōchō Akimichi menyatakan bahwa Sarada harusnya bisa lulus ujian kelulusan dengan mudah karena garis keturunannya. Dia juga bisa sendirian mengalahkan puluhan klon Shin dengan pukulan tunggal, dan menghancurkan area sekelilingnya.

Kecakapan fisik

Dari pelatihan dengan ibunya, Sarada tampaknya lebih memilih bertarung pada jarak dekat dan pertarungan tangan ke tangan, gaya bertarungnya terutama mengandalkan tinjunya. Seperti Sakura, Sarada terbukti sangat berbahaya dalam jarak dekat; dia menunjukkan hal ini dengan menggunakan Tumbukan Ceri Mekar untuk memusnahkan pasukan kecil dari klon Shin. Dia memiliki kelincahan tingkat tinggi untuk usianya, dapat menghindari salah satu senjata klon Shin dengan mudah sebelum ia membangunkan Sharingan. Dia juga telah menunjukkan reflek yang cepat, mampu mencegat serangan dari makhluk milik Shin ​​sebelum bisa menangkap dia. Dengan Sharingannya, refleksnya meningkat ke titik di mana ia bisa menghindari Mangekyō Sharingan senjata dengan mudah.

Kecakapan dan Pengendalian Chakra 

Yang berasal dari warisan Uchiha, Sarada memiliki chakra ekstrim dan kuat. Seperti ibunya Sakura, Sarada memiliki kontrol Chakra yang sangat mengesankan bahkan di usia muda. Dengan demikian, dia bisa mengontrol dan melepaskannya dari satu titik di tubuhnya dengan waktu yang tepat, yang menyerupai kekuatan Super. Dengan demikian melalui tinjunya, dia bisa melepaskannya sebagai kekuatan yang luar biasa yang mampu menghancurkan daerah sekelilingnya.

Sharingan

Sarada mampu mewujudkan Sharingan pada usia yang sangat muda, dengan pengalaman bertemu ayahnya memacu kebangkitannya. Sharingannya memiliki satu tomoe di setiap mata. Ini memberinya kemampuan untuk mengamati dan membedakan aliran chakra, memprediksi dan gerakan dan meniru teknik, dan melihat melalui ilusi.
Hasil gambar untuk sarada

Sarada Uchiha Keturunan Petama Sasuke
(Uchiha Sarada, うちはサラダ)


Penampilan Pertama
 
  • Manga: Bab# 700
  • Film: Boruto: Naruto the Movie
  • Permainan: Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4
  • Tampil di: Manga, Permainan, Film

Pengisi Suara
 
  • Jepang: Kokoro Kikuchi

Pribadi

  • Jenis Kelamin: Perempuan
  • Usia: 11
  • Tinggi: 147 cm
  • Afiliasi: Konohagakure
  • Tim: Tim Konohamaru
  • Klan:Klan Uchiha
  • Kekkei Genkai: Sharingan Triple Sharingan

Tingkatan

  • Tingkatan Ninja: Genin

Keluarga

  • Fugaku Uchiha (Kakek)
  • Mikoto Uchiha (Nenek)
  • Sasuke Uchiha (Ayah)
  • Itachi Uchiha (Paman)
  • Kizashi Haruno (Kakek)
  • Mebuki Haruno (Nenek)
  • Sakura Haruno (Ibu)

Jurus/Tehnik

  • Peningkatan Kekuatan Chakra
  • Penghancuran Tanah Raksasa
Hal yang Bisa Anda Lakukan Ketika Sahabat Divonis Positif HIV

Hal yang Bisa Anda Lakukan Ketika Sahabat Divonis Positif HIV

April 09, 2017 0
Apabila teman Anda positif HIV, mereka mungkin sering merasa gelisah, cemas, ketakutan, dan terkucilkan. Sebagai sahabat, inilah saatnya Anda menjadi seorang yang sangat mereka percayai untuk menjadi tempat mereka bersandar di kala terpuruk. Namun perlu cara yang tepat untuk menolongnya, agar mereka tidak merasa tersakiti atau jadi semakin terpuruk kondisinya. Berikut adalah beberapa langkah yang bisa Anda terapkan untuk membantu teman yang positif HIV agar merasa lebih baik.

Ingatlah bahwa kerahasiaan sangatlah penting

Teman Anda telah menceritakan penyakitnya kepada Anda, ini berarti mereka sangat mempercayai Anda. Mereka dapat juga memberi tahu Anda siapa saja yang mereka telah beri tahu. Teman Anda adalah satu-satunya orang yang dapat memilih kapan dan siapa saja yang perlu tahu tentang kondisi mereka, sehingga Anda bertanggung jawab untuk menjaganya sebagai rahasia.

Faktanya, HIV masih mendapatkan label negatif di mata masyarakat karena minimnya pengetahuan mereka terhadap penyakit ini. Karena itu, Anda perlu membahas dengan teman Anda lebih dulu apabila Anda ingin membicarakannya dengan teman lain. Membocorkan rahasia tanpa sepengetahuan si punya informasi sama saja Anda mengkhianati pertemanan Anda berdua, dan ini bisa berdampak besar pada perkembangan penyakitnya.

Selalu siap sedia di sisinya

Menghadapi HIV dapat membuat teman Anda tertekan, yang berkontribusi terhadap gejolak emosi pada tahap awal diagnosis. Inilah saatnya untuk Anda selalu berada di sisi teman Anda. Anda dapat membantunya fokus pada hal-hal positif, berikan pemahaman bahwa HIV sudah bukan lagi dianggap sebagai hukuman mati. Walau tidak ada obat mujarab penyembuh penyakit, namun HIV dapat dikelola dengan baik. Anda dapat menunjukkan kepedulian dan kasih sayang Anda kepada mereka, agar mereka mengetahui bahwa penyakit mereka tidak mengubah penilaian Anda terhadap mereka. Banjir pengertian dan perhatian dari teman baik dapat sangat mendukung mereka.

Tawarkan dukungan yang spesifik

Semakin spesifik hal yang dapat Anda tawarkan, semakin baik. Anda dapat membantu membawakan tugas kuliah ke rumah mereka apabila mereka tidak masuk sekolah untuk mengunjungi rumah sakit. Apabila teman Anda diharuskan untuk rawat inap di rumah sakit, Anda dapat membantu mereka tetap berhubungan dengan teman sekelas melalui situs jejaring sosial. Apabila Anda mengunjungi teman Anda, jangan lupa membawakan buku cerita, DVD komedi, mainan kecil, makanan, atau apapun yang Anda rasa dapat membuat teman Anda tertawa.

Bantu teman Anda mengatasi stress

Wajar apabila teman Anda merasa tidak percaya diri dan tidak ingin teman-teman lain mengetahui tentang penyakitnya, yang mengakibatkan stress. Stress dapat berdampak buruk pada sistem imun dan menyebabkan masalah seperti kegelisahan dan depresi. Anda dapat menawarkan diri untuk menjadi tempat berkeluh kesah. Jika Anda melihat mereka tenggelam dalam stress, jangan ragu untuk mengulurkan tangan demi membantunya mengatasi masalah; tanyakan perasaannya sejauh ini tentang kondisi yang ia hadapi. Sebisa mungkin hindari topik yang sekiranya membuat suasana tidak nyaman.

Teman Anda yang positif HIV tidak hanya perlu menyesuaikan diri terhadap perubahan besar dalam tubuhnya, namun juga memerangi kejadian traumatis dalam hidupnya. Jika Anda tahu apa yang perlu dilakukan sebagai sahabat yang suportif, Anda dapat menolong teman Anda lebih dari yang Anda bayangkan!

Growing up with coach Susan Batson

April 09, 2017 0




The acting coach who played the most significant role in my life is Susan Batson. I began working with her in 1979, I was 14 years old. I used to take the bus or the subway from Hell’s Kitchen to the Upper West Side. She lived in an apartment with two floors, the door opened onto the top floor, which was very small, had a kitchenette, wood floor and a spiral staircase that went to where the bedrooms were. Her son Carl was down there from time to time and on occasion would poke his head up from somewhere on the spiral stairs, asking Susan for something.

I did not know Susan’s story, but I knew that she worked very hard and I felt that if I wanted to work with her I needed to match her or try. This meant black coffee was always on the small stove. She smoked then, one cigarette after another. I think one thing she responded to was that I spoke with gut-level honesty. We drank black coffee and worked for hours.

I was a working actor by 14, a member of SAG, AFTRA and EQUITY. I brought audition after audition to Susan and we broke them down. I learned how to break down a script into beats and actions from Susan. Her script technique was largely influenced by Harold Clurman, whom she had worked with. Once we broke down the material, I got on my feet in that small space and dove in. Then she gave me adjustments. She was selfless with her time, she gave me whatever I needed, and then she refused to charge me a penny. She was known back then for giving away her time, and it would take her many years to change; today, a one hour session with Susan is over $500.  But as a teenager I decided never to leave without atleast giving her something and the most immediate need she had. I would go to 72nd Street and buy her a carton of cigarettes, return to her door and place them in her hand. Years later I would pay her back in a more significant and long lasting way.

While I attended the High School of Performing Arts on 46thStreet, I returned to Susan’s apartment again and again to work on jobs that I booked, auditions that I hoped to book and to grow and evolve as an actor.  We had a shorthand way of working and we went deeper and deeper into the work. She held classes off and on. I remember once she gave me a scene from American Buffalo and the other actors in the class were all older than I was, they started tearing at me, they felt I didn’t have the junkie “in.” Susan stopped their attack and she started to speak to them about how to give notes. She talked about my age, about the gut-level commitment I was bringing and told them to appreciate what they were seeing. She knew that I came from a difficult childhood and that acting was saving me, keeping me afloat and giving me hope. She asked me questions about my choices and we discussed where I needed to go.

It was also at 16 that I got a call from Susan asking me if I could step into a Huck Finn scene with an actress who was auditioning for the Actors Studio in a week. I remember our first rehearsal was on a Sunday night in the main space at the Studio and no one else was there. It was my first time in there and it was the perfect setting. I looked around and vowed to myself to return. 

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Charles "Chuck" Gordon asked me if I wanted to stage manage a play he had written and would direct. Susan Batson was starring in it. We rehearsed in a space above the Police Department on 54th Street and 9th Avenue. I decided to tape record every rehearsal so I had capture everything Chuck said. He liked to talk and his talks were profound. We spent weeks in rehearsal. I watched Susan start to create her character, working from sensation and erupting in a version of a Louis Armstrong playing his trumpet, but from the soul. The entire rehearsal process was like a workshop for me, and in fact, that is all that it was, because the work ended when rehearsals ended. I do not remember why, but I believe it had to do with Chuck. But watching Susan work the process of character creation has never left me. 

At 17 I got an audition for the Broadway production of John Pielmier’s play, “The Boys of Winter.” I arrived at Susan’s early. I was in full Vietnam era military uniform with weighted backpack. There was a great Army/ Navy shop on 42nd Street off 9th Avenue. I walked everywhere and was hot and my uniform was sweaty by the time I got to Susan’s. She opened the door and immediately accepted my clothes, my state of mind and my world. I was in character and she knew how to work with me. Strangers would stare or glare at me. Susan automatically knew. She always knew.

At twenty I auditioned for the Studio and was accepted. A french documentary was filming me and the only other actor accepted that year- Burt Young. Being a member of the Studio allows me a place to work and to watch others work. 

When I was 23 I was in Los Angeles and I got a job on a show called “thirtysomething.” Susan was in New York. There was no internet. I would FEDEX my pages to her and we would work by phone. She broke everything down for me and gave me strong choices. When the first episode aired, my character made a splash. The Network offered me more episodes and later offered me another show to star in.

Susan taught me history. She never gave a lecture about it, she didn’t have to. Susan was and is history, and she is more relevant today than ever.  As an actress she had first worked with Uta Hagen, then Harold Clurman, then her time as an actress working at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg, and then he had her teach for him. The magic stardust of her work followed her when she entered a room. You could sense it, practically see it.

Susan taught me professionalism and a work ethic. The work came first. Serve the work. If you are feeling something, make it available to the work. You have a life problem, make it available to the character. You don’t make it all about you, you always make it about the work. Give it to the work. Anything I told Susan was for her to help me use in my work. It would have been a sign of amateurism to insist that I was most important and that my complaints or issues were the point of what we were doing.
Instead it was like my instrument was a garden and by making all I had available to the work, something could and would grow from there.

Somewhere along the line, she quit smoking. I had already been paying her real money for years by then. What frustrated me most was that it seemed no one knew about Susan. Now, she had worked with Lily Tomlin for years, and loads of New York actors as well. But I wanted Susan to be known as the genius she is. Until that could happen, she was the best kept secret. There was nothing I could do on my own to assist in that way. The time wasn’t right.

When I was 30, I got a call from my manager. I was living in L.A. and my manager was also managing Nicole Kidman. My manager said Nicole and her then-husband Tom Cruise were looking for a “real” acting coach. They were going to make a film with Stanley Kubrick.

My manager said he didn’t know any coaches and he needed the real deal asap.  I knew that Susan would be shocked by getting a call from Nicole. I knew that Nicole would have her mind blown to meet and work with Susan. 

Susan went to London with Nicole and Tom. To this day Nicole and Susan work together on every project Nicole has. Susan started working with Juliet Binoche and more and more celebrities- Oprah, Chris Rock, Common, Zac Ephron, Kim Kardashian, Naomi Campbell, Sean Combs and more.





The universe had come together and all at once I had been in the right place to give back to Susan- she is no longer a secret. Susan and Carl have worked so very hard to build what they have: their studio and their brand. Susan is one of the greatest acting coaches alive.




 There was a time when I was in L.A., teaching for Susan and she came out there. I used to pick her up every morning in my brother’s little 4 cylinder manual shift Nissan pickup. We would drive from where Sunset starts in Santa Monica and take it all to way to Hollywood. Each morning I would ask her acting questions, I rarely had the chance anymore to simply ask acting questions and I filled our time this way. What did she think about this, what did she think about that. There we were, the same two that started in 1979 working and talking, we were older now, but it was us again. I loved that time.

Once I saw another teacher take a class from Susan and then teach her technique in his studio and he called it his. I was furious. I was about to contact him when Susan said to me, “This art is infinite. There is room for him and for all of us in this art.”  She wasn’t petty, she was focused on serving the work. She continues to teach me lessons. And Carl, her son has helped me through so much, always in the art. Carl is a master teacher and he has always felt like a brother to me.

I did a scene at the Studio in L.A.  Martin Landau and Mark Rydell were moderating. The scene before ours had gone terribly wrong. I was outside the door, so I didn't see it. But you could hear that something was wrong. By the time we were allowed in to set up, we got ready and let her rip. The Studio suddenly filled up, the floor was full of actors ready to watch. There was little room to move and I knew I would have to deal with them on my exit out the front door. Our scene ignited and we lived the relationship and the world of the playwright, it was a great feeling. Afterwards, Martin Landau said "This is the kind of work we should be seeing at the Studio." 
It meant a great deal to me. The culture of the Studio is something I learned how to take part in primarily because of Susan's teachings. She continues to offer these teachings and she is at the top of her game. 


If you get to work with Susan or Carl, you will never forget it. It's been 38 years since I first got the chance. 



Carl Ford and Susan Batson











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