Thoughts on Acting, From a Playwright (Skins and Shoes)

I have always loved the phrase "Walk a mile in another man (or woman's, that's right: woman equality) shoes". However, many people prefer the original Atticus Finch quote from To Kill A Mockingbird "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." I prefer shoes to skin because with shoes there is something to fill in. You can build a person up by the tiniest of details. For example, I can deduce from the worn out dance shoes in my mothers closet that she used to like to dance, but they are old and shoved into the back of a closet, so I know that she no longer dancers or does so rather rarely. I can tell that when she does go out, she has a lot of fun because they tips are scuffed and the back of the heel is beginning to tare. This tells me that she is,or was, a party-er, but is now living a calmer life in the middle of NJ. Just by her shoes I can deduce all of that. It might not be true, but it certainly makes a character. Simple things like shoes are paintbrushes to an artist. It is a tool that allows us  Now, skin on the other hand, leaves no room for artistry. It is already adjusted too--- it is layer upon layer of complexity. true it is beautiful to ware---but it is impossible to get out of. You must literally skin yourself alive to remove yourself from it. With shoes, you can slip them on and off again. Change the color. Adjust the height. Add sparkles or scuffs or polka dots. You can even choose to be barefoot in the sand---

Skin is wall. A wall that seals you off from the world. A shoe is just a cover. It can be removed.

I like to think of acting in that way. Skins and shoes.

A good actor can wear all types of clothing and make a character around it. They "art" by making their characters snakes. They can create and build a strong skin and then easily shed it. Because the skin is not real.
The minute that the skin hardens like a shell and sticks and stings to your body---there is no longer a character. There is no longer an art. There is no long an actor.

It is a fine line of art and insanity that an actor must walk everyday. That is what makes their job so beautifully dangerous and alluring. I think, personally and professionally, once an actor is lost in a character they lose the right to be called an actor. There is no art in tormenting yourself by becoming someone else in such a literal sense.

I think the over analyzation that it takes to "take on" someone's skin is rather---- alarming. I think there is a line in the sand that many people don't see when it comes to physiology and art. I don't think it should be crossed. It shouldn't even be danced upon--- but rather around.

I don't like looking too close over the edge---because I know that I like to jump at the chances I get. I know that I would fall, easily and I would hit hard.

I guess that is why I'm not an actor. So I cannot personally say or prescribe what to do when it comes to character---however, as an observer and as an artist--- I think there is a time for risks, and that is at the roulette table and not at your mental stability.

I understand that every artist has the need  to dig deep to find something underneath. Some metaphor. Some underlying theme and message about humanity and ourselves....

but sometimes... a poem is just a poem. Sometimes a play is just a play.

Sometimes a skin is just a skin, and a shoe is just a shoe.

I think it is a dangerous water that one treads when art becomes an obsession. Art should be look at, but not scrutinized. Skimmed but not searched. Fantasized but not probed.
A poem by Bill Collins really sums up my opinion on not only acting and psychology, but art in general:

I ask them to take a poem   

and hold it up to the light   

like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem   

and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem’s room   

and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski   

across the surface of a poem

waving at the author’s name on the shore.

But all they want to do

is tie the poem to a chair with rope   

and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose   

to find out what it really means.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/how-actors-create-emotions-a-problematic-psychology/284291/