My final class under the tutelage of Ellen Jacoby was everything I needed it to be. Of course, it had lessons and notes on technique, but her philosophy on the mindset actors should have left me with so much to think about going forward. Ellen's focus for this class would focus on three elements.
● Positivity
● Believability ● Control
If you end up taking a class with Ellen, the first bullet point will become abundantly clear as a cornerstone of her teachings. Without the right mindset, you can never achieve any level of control or believability with the craft. One way Ellen drove home that we can have more control is to understand that you are not the character. This may sound confusing to any preconceived notions you have about acting, but she explains that we make the character. You create everything about them from the information you have. If you have an entire script, this process becomes more fleshed out as you have much more context. However, even when you practice a short scene, it is beneficial to put in that same work. If there is not much to go off in the script you are working from, take advantage of that freedom and form the background you feel the character would get the most out of. Take chances when they present themselves, it's how you'll grow.
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My final class was once again a scene with one partner, and a major focus was on variation in emotion. We understand that characters change throughout a story, but oftentimes there can be a major emotional shift in the same line. As young actors, we worry about mistakes with line memorization, but that can lead to bland performances. For example, the scene we were working with had one character becoming increasingly more frustrated. This means you can't start at a level 10, because where would you go when the character finally breaks? You have to start with powerful, yet contained emotions, and then build to a climax. If our attention is placed too highly on memorization, you may sound monotone throughout the performance. And trust me, a bad performance with someone taking chances and acting truthfully will always be better than an accurate boring performance. We are not in the business of boring.
Finally, I want to circle back and focus on Ellen's comments she's made through my four weeks with her that I do not want any reader to be confused with. When Ellen talks about focusing on a scene or the emotions before the dialogue, I don't want any of you to think that not memorizing