An evolving process

The process an actor uses to accomplish their role is as unique and living as the actor themselves. There is no single best practice – no objectively right way to achieve performance because the results of an actor’s work are as subjective as the method used to produce them. Moreover, practical elements of the actor’s process will inevitably shift in efficacy, becoming less potent as they are used. In the actor’s workshop, the usefulness of tools changes with their user’s personality.

For this reason, it can be difficult – even discouraging – for the actor who seeks to develop their process to find a method by which their creative goals can be reliably achieved.

This thesis is written under the assertion that the only ‘complete’ acting process is one that embraces constant revision, retirement, and revisitation – that the perpetual search for a better acting method is an indispensable element of having one.

Told from a personal point of view, this document constitutes a ‘snapshot’ of the author’s acting process at the time of their graduation from the University of Iowa – including discussion of creative techniques, tastes, and challenges. The goal of this text is not to prescribe an optimal guide to success for aspiring actors, nor to warn them away from unproductive practices – but rather to offer the recommendation that this process, at this time, worked for this author, and may therefore be worth a period of consideration.

The duration of that period is left to the reader – as it is to the author themselves.