The (unwieldy) story prompt for this week went something like this:
Tell the story of your first transgression — either when you transgressed or when someone transgressed against you. Tell us the story of when you crossed that invisible line into a different kind of existence … Or tell us the story of when someone crossed a line with you, when they transgressed against you, in a way that changed your life. Tell us a story of when you first began to construct the mask of transgression.
As you construct your story, you must follow these commandments:
- Your Story Shalt Have an AUDIENCE. Who is it? Who are they? Why do you want them to hear this story? What do you want them to feel? What will you consider about this audience to make your story land the way you want it to? (For example, how would the way you tell a story to your beloved grandparent be different from how you tell your parole officer?) What would you add or exclude for each audience? How would your language — and your body language — change for each? Decide who your audience is and think about them when you’re creating your story.
- Your Story Shalt Have a SETTING. You need to paint a picture — with words and by how you embody and express yourself (i.e., act) within that setting — to bring the setting to life. Whether you grew up in the projects, or in a foster home, or in a leafy suburb, you need to communicate to the audience not just what that place looks like, but what it feels like and what it means. Your audience may have grown up in a place like that, too, but they don’t know it the way you know it! They didn’t experience it the way you did. They didn’t feel how you felt there. Bring us into your world.
- Your Story Shalt Have CHARACTERS and you have to bring them to life, both through your speech and by embodying and expressing (acting) those characters.
- Your Story Shalt Have a BEGINNING, a MIDDLE, and an END. This is called the arc or trajectory of your story. Where does it start, where is the turning point, and where does it end? (Pro-tip: figure out your ending first so you know where you’re headed.)
- Related to #4: Thou Shalt Not Tell Your WHOLE story. Your story doesn’t start at your first childhood memory and end with this moment right now, here, on stage! You have to choose one story at a time.
- Related to # 5: Thou Shalt Trust Your Audience. Your story doesn’t start with an explanation of what we’re about to hear. Your story doesn’t end with you telling us the point of the story you just told. Drop us into your world, tell your story, and get the hell out! Trust us to ponder your story’s meaning(s) in our own way.
- Related to #6: Thou Shalt SHOW But Not TELL. This means, allow your audience to experience your story through action, through your words (and the deeper meanings beneath those words, i.e., “subtext”), through your gestures, and by bringing other characters to life on stage (acting). Theater is an art form of now. Words come from your brain. But on stage, the way you capture your audience is by connecting with them on levels including but also deeper than the intellectual. The stage allows you to put your full humanity to work in service to your story. How? By enrolling your body and your emotions, and having them communicate things beyond the power of mere words. Don’t just tell us what happened, show us, using your body, including your very expressive face. Don’t just tell us how you felt, show us those feelings through your acting. We have many tools beyond words at our disposal. Use the fullness of your humanity to bring your audience into your experience‚ right! now! (Pro-tip: Experiment with telling the story in the present tense rather than the past tense. Tell it as if it’s happening now.)
- Your Story Shalt Have a POINT and a POINT OF VIEW. You are trying to communicate something beyond the details of the story itself. What is it? How can you communicate that without “telling” us (See #7)? You are also trying to communicate how you feel about or relate to the story you’re telling (and how you feel in relation to the setting and the other characters). How can you express your point of view without explaining it to us? (Again: see #7.)
- Thou Shalt Be SPECIFIC! In everything mentioned above, be specific. The more specific and detailed your story is, the more deeply connected your audience will be. But read #2, #3, #7, and #8 closely. Specific doesn’t just mean using a lot of fancy adverbs and adjectives. You are on stage. Be specific in your words, in your body, and in your emotions. (Pro-tip: After you’ve crafted your story, tell it again without speaking. Rehearse the story using only your body — including your very expressive face! — and your emotions.)
- Your Story Shall Not Be an editorial. Or as my wise brother, Ryan, says, “Don’t should on me!” Your story is not your opinions. It’s not a list of facts. It’s not a rant. Thou shalt not to tell the audience what they should know, what they should understand, or what they should be doing. Yes, you have a point of view, but that POV needs to come across through the story.
- Thou Shalt Consciously Choose Every Single Moment. The great American acting teacher, Stella Adler, says, “Your art is your choice.” Every movement you make, every facial expression, and every word must be chosen… by you! To choose is to be specific. We talked about The Godfather the other night. A different director makes different choices that Francis Ford Coppola did, and the film is very different. A different actor makes choices that are different from the ones Al Pacino made, and the film is very different. Think about how specific the choices are in the film. Every camera angle was chosen. Every piece of costuming was chosen. Every glance, every line of dialogue. Nothing is left to chance. And if you rehearse the story 10 times, the choices are the same 10 times out of 10…
- And suddenly, a cry arises from the people, “But teacher, what about improvisation? What about being in the moment? What about allowing something spontaneous to happen?!”
- And the old teacher says, “In good time, my children, all in good time. You can’t improvise until your foundation, your technique, is rock solid. Trust me that the greatest improviser of jazz knows every scale and has practiced each one for years… and probably still practices them every day! Follow the commandments above, rehearse until you get bored of what you’re doing and then rehearse again. Be able to tell your story on autopilot. Know every word, every gesture, and movement. Perform it 20 times in the exact same way so that version #20 is a more refined version of #1. And when you get to that point, you’ll discover new things in that story. You’ll feel new things. Your own story will reveal even deeper meanings than you knew of when you created it. And when — and only when! — you are rock solid in your foundation, when the story is in you, when you can tell it without even thinking, when you can turn the mind off and still tell your story, then — and only then! — can you truly be in the moment and see what happens. And that, my children, will be an awesome and powerful day!”
- And finally, Thou Shalt Turn to Dust After 3 MINUTES! The choices you make are limited by the rules above, and especially by your time constraint. Therefore, cut the fat and get to the meat! Choose wisely!
Now go forth and tell your story!