I believe that the theatre is an arena where we learn about who we are.

 

Whether you want to get a better understanding of yourself or change the world, the theatre will elate and elevate your consciousness.  The repetition and investigation of scripts through rehearsal allow us to explore humanity and our world in an objective and safe environment.  Public performances, however, have the potential to change many lives and the world as well know it.  Those who are inside of the play and those who are witnessing the play grow together.  This is as much a physical, emotional and spiritual experience as it is a mental one.

 

I believe that acting is living in the moment — becoming more present and conscious than we are in our everyday lives.  Concentration is key.  I believe we learn how to live our lives more fully through this study.  This comes from the detail of the work and knowing the function of our part within the whole.  I have found recently “Skimming the Surface” is becoming acceptable and expected on stage as our culture gets reduced to branding, sound bites, generic images quickly flashing by on a screen or a “tweet” to be forgotten the second after if appears.  I fear we are losing the depth of the human experience and being left only with the anxiety that remains from trying to hang on to what we can.  Rehearsal times continues to get cut shorter and product is wanted faster than it can be generated.  If the new generation of actors does not learn in class  (where time can be taken to truly imbed skill and detail into their craft, make mistakes as well as take time to grow as people), they will not get what they need from the professional world.  Time has become a commodity instead of a germination period for creation and growth.  This is why I feel compelled to teach and pass on what I have learned from my master teachers and from my own experience.  Techniques, skills and exercises to develop understanding, detail and thought.  “Flinging the spaghetti on the wall” can be a useful way to begin something, but it is becoming a final product, then discarded.  I would like to participate in nurturing this new generation to find their own voice through a deeper understanding of the world, its history, the importance of story telling and how it contributes to their own self-discovery.  Then share that discovery with an audience.  Let their choices come from an informed, sound base and create work that has the potential to last or become a lasting memory.

 

Because each artist has he is or her own unique voice and relationship to the material, it is my job as a teacher to help each student find their own path after learning basic skills.  It is my job to present as many possibilities as I can to illuminate the texts and provide a structure to enable the students to develop specific skills necessary for the work at hand.  Since I was trained both in the United States and Britain, I have several different methods of analyzing text.  I also spent some of my childhood behind the Iron Curtain and was influenced by Eastern European theatre.  I always start with the words and see what they open up and where they lead.  The basics could include text analysis, research, body/mind awareness, sensory, spacial and endurance exercises and most importantly encouraging the students to open doors to different worlds.  Investigate different ways of thinking and feeling.  In this day and age of information at our fingertips, the world is accessible in so many ways.  How do we sift through he clutter and find what we are looking for?  Artists create because they have the drive to understand and find meaning the world and their lives.

 

The power of ensemble and collaboration are the great strengths of the live theatre and I respect, appreciate and welcome different opinions, expertise and aesthetics.  I believe in the power of a group of artists striving to achieve one vision.  I am a huge fan of team teaching.  It works extremely well when you are trying to show the students how to put all their skills together.  It emulates the professional setting when time is of the essence and notes start to come flying at you all at once.  It also demonstrates the unified front of their teachers striving to bring out the best in them.  The relationships created during their university experience are ones that will last a lifetime.  Their fellow classmates and sometimes teachers will become their professional peers.  I have certainly maintained personal as well as artistic relationships and collaborations with my former classmates, fellow students, fellow teachers and former teachers.

Finally, I would stress that imagination is crucial, risk essential and failure eventually inevitable. We learn, grow and evolve from setting the stakes high. This is why it is important to create a safe place for the students to expand their skill set and express themselves.  Let them see what works, what doesn’t work, why and where do we go from here.  The searching is what is important.  I certainly do not have all the answers, nor will they.  It’s OK.  It’s about the work and the motivation behind the work.  

A life in the arts is a life worth living.

Corliss Preston