My Process
The Psychophysical Voice
What is process in a vacuum? What is the relationship between body, voice, and mind? How do different techniques and approaches combine to constructively strengthen and empower the performer?
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These are the questions that guide me as I explore what my individual process is. So often, process is rushed to create a product, which inhibits the avenues of exploration. I am discovering that my process is nonlinear and needs the time and space to be embodied. This is how I work as an artist: I need the opportunity to experiment with the “beautiful grotesque”, to fail, to get back up, and to pivot. Working with an intellectual approach has its merits, but I find that it stagnates my process after a while. Embodying the technique propels my process forward.
My Experience with the Michael Chekhov Technique
I received my actor's certification from The Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium (GLMCC) through Kent State University in 2023 after three years of training. I find the Chekhov Technique very intuitive, rooted in physical Gestures (manifestations of the character’s inner Will) derived from Archetypes (fundamental patterns of human behavior). The possibilities that open up with the Sensations of movement are immediate and overwhelming, and the body helps me understand intuitively what those Sensations mean without having to arduously articulate them into words. It allows me to explore uninhibitedly with the Feeling Center rather than with the constrictive and judgmental Thinking Center.
My Experience with Voice & Speech Techniques
As a student at Muhlenberg College, I studied Kristin Linklater's approach to Voice & Speech under Professor Jessie Dean. I am interested in the guttural, primordial sounds that reside deep within me; these sounds tend to be much freer than what I actually produce. I am investigating how to keep the freeness of those sounds while shaping them and inheriting Qualities using psychophysical tools.
The Project
I wrote a grant for submission to The Faculty Development and Scholarship Committee though Muhlenberg College, resulting in the awarding of $3,000 to fund this research. This allowed me to spend eight weeks in my own theatrical playground exploring and applying technique, culminating in a final performance of The Catastrophist by Lauren Gunderson.
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I continue to explore what process is and what resonates best with me. Sanford Meisner once said it takes twenty years for an actor to form instincts from principles and ideas. Though I am relatively early in my study of acting, this experience helps to chisel my own process that will lead to inspired, truthful art.
Photo credit: Lizard Foley