It seems like once you take that big step towards achieving your goals, a huge barrier comes between you and your success. And that can take many forms from self-doubt to the unknown pressures you may put on yourself to achieve those dreams. But the question remains: as an actor, how do you handle that sort of pressure?
D. L. White, an award winning filmmaker, who has worked in the film and television industry for nearly 20 years, has been asked this question before by aspiring actors who are attempting to make their mark in the industry.
His advice is to stop thinking about it. The creative process is a delicate thing, and you’re only going about disrupting the flow of your craft by stressing about things you cannot control, while focusing on what you can improve with rehearsals, research, memorization, preparation, and performance, will produce better and more effective results.
White writes that the more you try to control your craft, the more likely you will come across straining the creative process. Simply by letting go, and giving your talent leeway to breathe and grow, you will eventually learn and grow from it also.
White gives the example in his article for Actingreality.com of an absurdist play, a form of theater he is not all too familiar with, but where he finds the structured formatting stifling. Only during the more authentic moments of the production, where the actors’ emotions happened to slip through did the play really speak to him.
By the end of the performance, White was surprised to find that the things that stood out to him the most were these rare and spontaneous moments of emotion. The human connection that he felt through the player’s acting drew him closer to the scene and dialogue. What also lured him was the authenticity of the moment. By being real, the player was actually able to elicit a truer gift than any contrived monologue has ever done.
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