Theater Without a Stage

America’s Only Classical Theater Duo / Drama Reduced to its Essence
Directed by Lynn Sampson

The Job of the Actor

The professional actor’s unique ability is to bring about in himself emotional states which belong not to him but to his character. One can sense the gap between the actor himself and the state he is portraying with varying degrees of skill. In the hands of a true artist, everything can seem natural.

If one assumes that gestures from everyday life are more real than those used in opera or in ballet, one would be mistaken. Hyper-realism is a convention that can seem just as artificial as grand opera. Every style can appear “phony”.  The job of the performer is to make any style ‘natural.’ ‘Natural’ means that the moment something happens there is no analysis, no comment — it just rings true. — Peter Brook, The Open Door, Thoughts on Acting and Theatre