Alan Arkin and Seth Michael May, a dialogue

ALAN WOLF ARKIN and Seth Michael May, a dialogue.


SMM-Alan, can I interview you for my students? For my acting Coach blog...I don't know how to answer these questions, people are shooting at me... cause I haven't experienced enough of these things to observe them. My reaction is Whoa... because it is... But that's not gonna help them, like your stories and workshops do

AA - I'll be happy to do an interview, but I'm not sure what I have to say is going to delight much of anyone. How do you want to do it?
If they don't delight anyone...

SMM They can go Fornicate w themselves, or what they can dream up for themselves. Ostrich, Donkey… I heard a story about someone with a chicken once….. I guess we write back and forth... I send the question and you send the answer? So what do you see that working actors have in common is the big question, it seems...

AA- What do I see that working actors have in common?All I can think of is the desire to work. Why they're working, what their motives are, where they hope to end up, what kind of work they want to do... That will vary, of course from actor to actor.


SMM- What's the type of actor you most like to act alongside with? I know you mentioned to me once about how focused Duvall was when you worked with him in Seven Percent Solution...


AA-Flexibility. The ability to relate to others. On occasion, when an actor is auditioning and there is a reader there with him, I'll see an actor move his chair upstage intentionally to draw the attention to himself and away from his reading partner.....that's an actor I don't want to work with. To me acting is a team sport, always has been, always will be

SMM-Nice,

When you've directed, what have you looked for in an actor?

AA-I like to work with actors who have a twinkle in their eye. Who know no matter how serious the work is , that's its ultimately a game and that one has to have a good time while doing it.

SMM- First thing you think when I say the word audition? What's the best way for an actor to deal with the audition part of the job?

AA-I advise actor by and large to treat auditions as a different job from that of actually working on a script. I think they should present their most interesting, secure self, particularly when they dont have a bead on the part. It is crucial not to look for love or help from the casting director, the producer or the director. Most of the time they dont know what the hell they want and are looking for you to tell them what they want. Be strong, find a way to feel secure.
Can you share some of the tips or tricks you've used to feel secure? I'm know actors who will be like, yeah, but he's Alan Arkin...

AA-Yes, supposedly, I'm "ALAN ARKIN." But I wasn't "ALAN ARKIN" when I was auditioning. In the days when I was auditioning, I was alan arkin. I had to use the same tools to feel comfortable that all actors are supposed to have after a year or two in acting school. That shouldnt be news. Have an action. AFFECT THE PERSON YOU'RE READING WITH. LISTEN. Get your mind off what the casting director might or might not be thinking. Dont go in there to please anyone. Give yourself a five minute piece of time that you'll remember.

SMM-Can you give an example of the most fun for yourself you've had in an audition?

AA - I had fun with all my auditions once I started doing the things I outlined in the last blog.

SMM-Do you recall the first time you had fun at an audition, then?

AA-Vaguely

SMM-Can you elaborate... I know you didn't want to audition for The Russians are Coming.

AA-Seth, my friend, I'm not moved to talk about much. You've got to come up with stuff, not me. This was your idea, not mine. If you don't have any questions for me lets forget about the next few I had promised. Its all fine. I have no particular rant and I'm not going to ask my own question. I haven't got the energy

SMM-What’s your way of a approaching a part? What type of training has helped you get the most?

AA-Its an impossible question to answer, Seth. Whatever technique I have has seeped into my bones now and I dont spend much time referring to it any more. I either get sparked when I read a script or I dont. If I do, I know how to do it. If I dont, I pass. On the rare occasion where I take something that I dont spark to, I churn and twist around inside myself until something comes floating up out of the bog and tells me what to do. As to the second part of your question, everything feeds on everything else. My improv work at Second City was hugely important, it felt as if I crammed twenty years of training into two years.....I worked with a great teacher in LA when I was in my teens, who himself had worked with Stanislavski......and in the final analysis, its all training. All the time. Your whole life is training. Each part you play is training for your life and the next part you play. Each moment of your life is training for the next moment of your life

SMM-If there's one piece of advice you could give an actor today what would it be?


AA-This is a tough time in the country. Usually when there's a serious economic downturn there is a rise in audiences for film, theater, etc. It’s not the case now and no one knows why. The educated guess is that since people don’t have money for these things, they're using free tv more, as well as the kiosks that rent movies for a buck a day. In addition, actors are prone to voodoo thinking. That if you have your mind off your career for one minute it will go down the drain. They think calling their agent ten times a day is part of their acting work; they think that reading the trades over and over is part of the work, they think sitting and waiting for the phone to ring is part of the work; they think that sitting in coffee houses and yakking about acting for hours is part of the work; the truth is that none of these things are part of the work. Its time wasting voodoo. Its crucial to remember what people in the EASTERN part of the world know, and that is you are not your work. Acting is something you do. It is not something you are. Explore what you are. Who you are. Know yourself. Find interests that could lead to making a living that have fluid hours so that you can continue to look for acting work if your emotional life tells you that you must try to act. But remember that everything you do, every interest that you have or take on will feed your acting ability. The bigger, broader person you are will make you a bigger broader actor. Simultaneously it will keep you from being a love slave to the profession. It will allow you to approach auditions and also the parts you get with a sense of joy instead of terror. And it will also make you a happier, saner person. Guaranteed.

SMM-Sounds like a good way to end this one...

Alan Wolf Arkin is in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Seth Michael May is in New York City, New York.

and can be reached via http://www.actingonimpulse.org/

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Burgess, the Pigeon

So I haven't been blogging because, My mind is not very clear. Lack of sleep because I'm compassionately taking care of a baby pigeon (a fledgling) that fell on my shoe and now began trying to feed off it... So, using a dropper and baby bird formula this going well. I also give it Bach's Rescue Remedy flower therapy which is 2% booze from flowers... seems to be happy.

Burgess is probably the most well fed (as far as nutrition) in NYC. Burg, has eaten Kashi instant cereal, Baby bird formula (made for designer birds), Blueberries, and Fiber one, a long with a large amount of green vibrance powder mixed with Vita Coconut water. I feed him every 3 hours. I can't wait till I don't have to hand feed, and can pick up food on his own, and he can fly away... He's still pinfeather's in places... Full flight feathers in others...

One wonders what it would be like to play someone who only takes his food if it's syringed into his mouth or have his blueberries put one by one in his craw so he can swallow them. But won't eat on his own... It's a great character study since with his wings down and crossed he looks like a member of the English royal family who never uses his hands and keeps them across his back. Prince Phillip was renown for this, so much that Michael Caine imitated this in ZULU. This was Caine's first film, and he had never played upper class. So he saw Royals don't use their hands, things are handed to them. Worried about how he would come off, he used to sneak in to read the producer's notes... about his performance... until he read "please fire Michael Caine, The actor doesn't know what to do with his hands." - Read his Biography, it's quite brilliant.

So English Royal Family, Pigeons... Where am I going? Oh!

I always loved Benny Hill's Monologue called BIRDS AND BEE'S

I'd reached the age of fourteen and I hadn't started courting,

And my mum was getting worried about me.

She said, "Dad, it's time you told him all about the birds and bees,"

He said, "The birds and bees," and sat me on his knee.

He said, "Now, remember Uncle Joe and that picnic a while ago,

How he went off into the woods with Auntie Pat?

And how I chased O'Reily's daughter and what happened when I caught her?"

I said, "Yeah," he said, "Well birds and bees does that.

"Dad works very hard indeed, well he got ten kids to feed,

Well ten and seven ninths to be precise.

And we all wear hand-me-downs, and as I am the youngest,

And the others are all girls,

it ain't very nice.

Dad said, "It's time that you got wed,"

I said, "I'd rather drop down dead,"

He said, "Now how about old Maude from Ikely down?"

I said, "Maude? Not bloody likely, she's been out by half the chaps in Ikely,

"He said, "Well Ikely's really quite a little town.

"He said, "You've got to get a wife, you can't go on enjoying life,

Or folks with think you're strange and start to frown."

I said to him, "Look, why should I buy a book?

When there's a thriving, lending library in the town."

One day I found a friend, he was up by Badgers End,

A little pigeon fell down by my feet.

His feathers was flecked with red and at first I thought he was dead,

Then I knelt and I felt his little heart still beat.

I cupped him in my hands and I ran home to my mum,

And she said, "Son, I'm as proud of you as I can be.

You're thoughtful and you're kind, and you've got a gentle mind,

And that will do a treat for your old father's tea.

I said, "You shall not touch my bird,"

and without another word,

I took him in my room and I shut the door,

And then I bathed and I warmed him and I nursed him back to health,

'Cause you see, I'd never really had a friend before.

I taught him little tricks,

like playing dead and picking up sticks,

And the village girls, they brought bird seed every day. Oo!

"Dad, you can't come in," I'd shout,

"Or my birdie will fly out,

"But of course I let the village girls all stay.

Well there was Mable from the stable, and Mary from the dairy,

We had a visit by our beauty queen.

And that great big Betty Mavery, and she's got her own aviary,

She's got the biggest parakeets I've ever seen.

Dad said, "You ought to let him go,"

and Mum, she said, "Oh no,You just want to get some shooting practice in.

"But the vicar said, "My son, it really isn't done,

And to lock up a wild thing, that's a sin."

One morning when it was all still,

I took him up to Badgers Hill,

I lost the only little friend I had that day.

Not a word I said, I just kissed his little head,

And I opened my hands and I watched him fly away.

He circled up and 'round, and then he settled on the ground,

And off he went straight up to the sky.

And then I looked and I could see he was flying back to me,

And then he swooped and he pooped right in my eye.

I thought, "That's bloody rude!" and, "Cor, there's gratitude!"

And, "I hope they never cross a pigeon with a cow!"

And Dad said, "Here, there's I see a caper,

I'll go get a bit of paper,

I said, "Don't be daft, he's miles away by now!"

Dad said, "I know you lost a friend, but it's really not the end,

You'll be married and have a family of your own quite soon.

"Well I never said a word, but you see, that little bird

Has lured eighteen little ravers up to my room!

(Spoken as he leaves stage) So if anyone's got a spare cockatoo or an old crow they don't want,I'd be very much obliged, because you know, I could put them to good use.

PS - Benny Hill did a killer imitation of Michael Caine after they worked together in the Italian Job (the original)

ON AUDITIONING- Part I

If you don't audition well... you can learn how.
But if keep ignoring the problem... you are creating a habit.
This habit you are creating or developing is to become even better at ignoring the problem...

Everything you do more then one time is creating a habit...

Good or bad. It's a habit.

Focus on how your sitting in your chair right now... I bet you almost never do that... And by just focusing on it right now, you probably adjusted to a better more comfortable posture.

Go back and read that again...

You're exercising something... HABIT MUSCLES !

We just made a habit together!

The word habit is a bad word these days. And that's a little sad.
Even "good habit" sounds almost like an oxymoron in today's day and age.

What about "GREAT HABIT ?"

John has a great habit, of making sure he smells good when he comes to set. In fact, I would say John's habit is so well developed, that I can't think of a time when I can remember John not smelling good. Come to think of it, all of John's girlfriends tell me the thing they love about John is how amazing he smells.

You're starting to think this story is a tad weird right?

That's because we assume if someone is exceptional at something like that, then he's got a mental disorder, "a habit": John got put on a drug for OCD and he's stopped worrying about the way he smells. It's great. John smells like dirty laundry and Mott Street on a freakishly hot day all the time now! I'm so glad, John became normal. And we get to hang out all the time now too... because John doesn't have any girlfriends... they noticed his breath smelled like fisherman's warf at low tide! Isn't that super, John kicked his habit!!!

So what is my point? If you know that you don't audition well... your going to have a problem. And it's probably going to lead to frustration... And if you don't confront that, then you're (as I said before) creating a habit... And it's a very status quo comfortable habit because most people think it's ok...

THE HABIT OF IGNORING A PROBLEM IS NOT OK, ESPECIALLY IF THE PROBLEM IS IN RELATION TO YOUR OWN PERSON.

INT. READER'S GUT - RIGHT NOW

FRUSTRATION:

LISTEN TO ME. I DON'T LIKE THIS, SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE. I WANT TO STOP FEELING FRUSTRATED.

Sounds like the begining of a great story to me... In the movie in your head who is playing the character of FRUSTRATION? I'm casting someone sexy, someone who can play someone powerful in a unique way, vulnerable but not at all victimly. Someone who stands out from the crowd.

More in part II ...

In the meantime...

http://actingonimpulse.org/images/Seth_Article.jpg

Great books to keep you in the creative waters

The War of Art by Steven PressfieldWhat keeps so many of us from doing what we long to do? Why is there a naysayer within? How can we avoid the roadblocks of any creative endeavor—be it starting up a dream business venture, writing a novel, or painting a masterpiece?The War of Art identifies the enemy that every one of us must face, outlines a battle plan to conquer this internal foe, then pinpoints just how to achieve the greatest success.The War of Art emphasizes the resolve needed to recognize and overcome the obstacles of ambition and then effectively shows how to reach the highest level of creative discipline. Think of it as tough love . . . for yourself.http://www.stevenpressfield.com/the-war-of-art/

And:Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg Alan (Arkin) told me Natalie's book was the best book on Improvisation that was never written about Improvisation in '99. I read it whenever I'm blocked. And even my skeptic of a mother loves it... and now she's writing and seeing the world differently with a much more loving curiousity- Seth MichaelWriting Down The BonesFreeing The Writer Within(Shambhala, 1986)The book that started a revolution in the way people think about writing, now available in both standard and pocket size."The secret of creativity, Natalie Goldberg makes clear, is to subtract rules for writing, not add them....Proof that she knows what she's talking about is abundant in her own sentences. They flow with speed and grace and accuracy and simplicity....It's the simple style of a Zen archer who looks like he's not even aiming, yet sends arrow after arrow to the bull's eye, time after time."Robert Pirsig, author of "Zen in the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" http://www.nataliegoldberg.com/books.html

Best books on Acting and Improvisation

Best Books on Acting and Improvisation
How to Stop Acting - By Harold Guskin

Improvise - Scene from the Inside Out - Mick Napier

Both these books are very anti-establishment, which I personally like. I feel they both contain advice on some of the best ways to get out of the "being an actor/improviser" mindset and start "being an artist who captures attention" mindset.

These are not books for those that want to do everything by the book, march to the beat of other people's drums, or be a policeman for the "rules of improvisation," or "an acting method or system".

These books best serve the individual. The Artist who knows they are unique, or longs to be unique and struggles with that idea. And, I believe that a true individual is vital to society and for change to happen.

You don't have to do it by fighting the system, you can do it just by doing what you want to do and letting the ripples go out as they may.

"Follow your bliss" - Joseph Campbell

Character's listen through the filter of their Point of View

A lot of people talk about listening in terms of acting. And listening is very important. But no one listens to EVERYTHING.

But here's an example from an Autobiography of how people listen through a P.O.V. Like a filter on a lense, Barrowcliffe reveals how he saw something that wasn't there. Character's often listen this way.

I can only think that I had a highly developed ability to see only what I wanted to see.

I recently reread A Wizard of Earthsea and realized that I'd made an similar oversight in that, despite reading the book six times before, I'd been completely oblivious to the fact that the central character in that was dark skinned as well. The text clearly says so. My preferred mythology was Celtic, cold mountain tops, ancient magic drawn from stone circles, callow youths made old beyond their years by the knowledge that they had to bear, and pale ladies of the mist-filled glades. So that's what I imagined, ignoring Ursala K. Le Guin's explicit, inventive, clear description of a world based on a sort of early Mediterranean/African Culture.

I often think of this when I see people talking about how you "get through" to teenagers. I think the answer is: you can't. They are so immersed in a way that you can't even guess at. They're seeing things that you don't see and missing things that you feel are obvious. It's not far off from feeling enchanted.

- The Elfish Gene, Dungeons and Dragons and Growing up Strange, a memoir by Mark Barrowcliffe

Thing's I've said in the ongoing class...

The disease is always fear, but we only treat the symptoms
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Don't say the question, look for the answers in the scene...physically... Emotionally... Do something to find an answer... Instead of asking, "why are there so many flies in here?" Do something about the flies, kill them, open a window, put up fly paper, ... get your partner to help... if he doesn't how does that make you feel?
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It's not what you say, it's what you convey.
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That thing I do is 'cause of you. That thing you do is 'cause of me. - Not a great way to live your life, but it will lock you into your partner and their behavior everytime.

BACKSTAGE READER'S CHOICE AWARD: FAVORITE IMPROVISATION CLASS/TEACHER

Dear Dramaturgs, Drama Queens, lovers of Drama in general,

I really want to thank Bryan for being my biz partner since 2005.
And my great friend for long before that. A better creative and more loving soul can't be found outside the realm of family.

And Jason for taking over when times got rough.

For all the clients, and all the love, For all the teachers, who taught us something, at anytime.

For those who supported us silently and those with praise, For those that referred others,

All who helped us to go forward and maybe didn't know it,

To my mentors in Improvisation: Jeff Wirth, Alan Arkin, and the late, inspired Gloria Maddox,

To Captain Daniel T. Kaspar, USMC for teaching me the meaning of courage,
And to my wonderful sister,My caring and supportive mother,

And my father, the boldest man there ever was:
S.A.M., Stan "the Man" Alan May

Abundant Points of View to everyone,

Seth Michael

BACKSTAGE READER'S CHOICE 2010 Favorite Improv Class/Teacher: RUNNER UP: Seth Michael May & Bryan Radkte, Acting on Impulse, (917) 805-9899; info@actingonimpulse.org.

"Seth has taught me how to apply the art of improv to my acting." — Jennifer Seeger
"Fun!" — Madeleine James