Once a year, the women on my mom's side of the family get together.in some remote cabin somewhere in the South, usually Georgia or Tennessee. My skills of observation are always on high alert during these three to five day trips of spiritual renewal and Titus 2. I observe these incredible women of faith because I crave their hand-me-down wisdom so I can to apply it to my life in order to be a better follower of Christ, wife, and mother. They have no idea how much some of the words they've said on these trips have been ingrained in my mind. I'll never forget a couple of years ago when my second cousin Beth who is a counselor in Nashville looked at me and said "Let's just do right now right now." What a novel thought! And it changed me for the better from that point on. These women help me once a year with a shot in the arm that moves me a little farther from Martha and a little closer to Mary.
As actors, we have an incredible opportunity to use our skills of observation to better our own lives as well as thousands of others but pointing them towards Christ! What a privilege!
Richie explains the benefits well:
"It helps a student of the theatre to notice everything unusual and out of the ordinary in every day life. It builds his memory, his storage memory, with all visible manifestations of the human spirit . . . It opens his eyes to the full extent in appreciation of different personalities and values in people and works of art . . . in the theatre, we have to re-create life . . . we are obliged to notice the material with which we work . . . We shop in life every day and choose the most suitable things for every night that we spend in the theatre . . . The actor who has his gift of observation dulled and inactive will appear in wornout dress on a gala occasion. As a rule, I believe that inspiration is the result of hard work, but the only thing which can stimulate inspiration in an actor is constant and keen observation of every day of his life. "p. 106-108
Questions:
What have you observed this week that could be material for a possible story or character?
Any ideas for elements to create for Youtube or sermon spice?
2 comments:
I am constantly amazed at office politics and how people react to situations depending on who is in the room at the time and what title they have.
I recently participated in a conference call with representatives from one of our suppliers. This supplier is unable to provide enough of a product to us in time for some product testing we need to do.
When discussing with the supplier how much product was required, the senior ranking person from our company stated a quantity far and away greater than what we actually needed. Innocently, I said something about the fact that maybe this quantity was greater than what we needed. No one in the room agreed with me so I dropped it. A day later when asking about the logic behind the number provided I was told by the Project Manager (a lower ranking individual) that I was right and the quantity was not needed. No one had the courage to tell our senior manager that was the case so the supplier, who was having trouble making parts at all, was further discouraged with an unreasonable and unattainable target. I guess we prefer to "play the game" rather than give ourselves the best chance at solving the problem at hand!!
Ugh!!!
One of the reasons I love "Seinfeld" is this very reason. The characters observe something about someone and make a whole show about it. They usually say the things we think but would never actually say...for instance, the "ugly baby" episode.
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