I have never had any formal training as an actor beyond high school drama classes and the experience I have gained under the mentoring of some fabulous directors over the years. I never studied Stanislavski or Adler. I am not "method", the classic "What's my motivation?" style. If I had to name my style, it would be "in the moment" I try, when I am onstage, to be "in the moment" always! Acting is pretending, pretending to be someone else, somewhere else. I think about my character. Who is she? What does she like? How does she sound? How would she feel? in this moment. By being in that moment, every action and sometimes, more importantly, reaction are consistent and real. If I create that real moment, then the audience isn't watching me act, they are experiencing that moment with me. I have created a world, and I have invited them into it. The more real the world is for me, the more they feel they are a part of it.
Right now, I am playing the part of an adoring fan, Louise Seger, in Barksdale Hanover Tavern's "Always, Patsy Cline" This role is nothing but moments because except for a very few lines to "Patsy" and the band members, everything I say is directed to the audience. It needs to be real or I am sure the audience would soon bore of the long conversations I have with them. The character of "Louise" creates a world for the audience out of her memories of her friendship with Patsy Cline. She makes it quite clear how enamoured she is with Patsy and her music. At the end of the show, Louise shares with the audience the moment when she heard the news that Patsy Cline had died in a airplane crash. It is a sweet, tender moment. Most of Louise's lines in the show are fun and illicit laughter. This particular time is a side that the audience has not been allowed to see of Louise.
Barksdale Hanover Tavern is an extremely intimate theater. This plays well for this kind of show. In this particular production, after my "Louise" shares this news with the audience, I have been directed to step off of the stage and in the aisle as we all look at a solo mic, spotlighted in the center of the stage, and listen to the last notes of "How Great Thou Art". Last week as I stepped off of the stage and into the aisle, as I stood there in the dark of the theater, I felt the hand of the woman sitting in the front row on the aisle slip into mine and give it a gentle squeeze as if to say, "It's all right, Louise. I miss Patsy too. It's okay to be sad. I'm here with you." She held my hand until it was time for me to step back up on the stage. In all my years of acting, I have had many moments. I have never experienced one quite like that. It was so special to me, and one I am sure I will not soon forget. It reminds me, once again, why I do this, why I have always wanted to do this, and why I will continue to do this as long as my mind and body will let me.
