Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Acting Classes in Los Angeles- Creating Personas

By Kirk Baltz


When it comes to acting, great abilities cannot be formed overnight. Training with acting coaches or participation in acting classes can help actors to acquire much needed skills to aid them in improving in their craft. One of the most necessary and yet difficult components of great acting is learning to rip past the facade that covers the actors themselves and the characters they create to reveal the true identities within.

Each person and character alike is multi-faceted as opposed to being one-dimensional and static. These facets include the inherent insecurities and fears that are integral in forming our personalities, the persona that we adopt to conceal these vulnerabilities, as well as the tragic flaw. Training with an acting coach can both aid the actor in discovering these dimensions in himself as well as allow him to utilize these personal traits to create very real characters.

According to the works of Carl Jung, humans form their exterior or public personas as a means of exuding a feeling of strength and stability to the world so as to conceal weaknesses buried within. This persona is exemplified in all areas of our lives, from how we move to the way we speak and interact with others. Like real people, characters also have public personas making it necessary for acting classes to teach actors how to use themselves to develop these facades.

There is no question that an individual's vulnerabilities are often buried deep beneath the surface, making the public persona seem like the dominant characteristic. However, the core of a person lies in their innate strengths, fears, and issues that travel with us from childhood into adulthood. Acting workshops are quite helpful in training students to come to grips with these important facets of their being, allowing them to create very real characters.

That which affects us in childhood remains a part of our lives until the day we die, whether we allow it to surface or not. Both actors and the characters they create form their public personas as a means of defending themselves from these insecurities. Covering up these vulnerabilities under a shield of stability is our means of appearing strong rather than helpless to others.

The mark of a great actor is his or her ability to dig past both their own and their character's public persona to the actual person within. The best coaches will aid their students in both uncovering and portraying the inner workings of the human condition.

All persons in the audience, like the actor and the character, have both a personal core as well as a public persona they have created to protect it. Presenting a character of similar dimensions is sure to create a bond between the audience and the story being told. Being able to create characters such as these is what separates the average actor from the exceptional.




About the Author:



No comments: