READ THESE BOOKS TO BECOME A GREAT ACTOR!

Welcome back to the pod. I’m Mike Dreyden Figueroa and this Unscripted and Unrehearsed, where I share my take on events of the day, things that I’ve seen, heard and experienced.

This week I’m discussing my journey as an actor and the books that have formed me.  Starting off with reviewing the week. Worst Super Bowl in History. THE HALF TIME SHOW and revenue numbers over the past five years thanks to a post by Team Puerto Ricoo on Instagram. Toñita makes an appearance. The metaphor message to his younger self. FBI raided Georgia elections. What you can do to get prepared by election day. James Van Der Bek and Chadwick Boseman. Plus the International Toy Fair Kicked off this weekend at The Jacob Javitz Center

TOPIC 1: Questions I get all the time… Why become an actor? What kind of actor are you? Where did you study?

TOPIC 2: What makes a great actor? What is acting? Meisner said: “It takes twenty years”. Reading, Cultural, Travel, Drinking, Eating.

TOPIC 3: Read these books…
* By Uta Hagen: Respect for Acting and Challenge for the Actor.
* By Sanford Meisner: Sanford Meisner on Acting
* By Stanislavski: An Actor Prepares
* By Ivana Chubbuck: Power of the Actor
* By Seth Barrish: An Actors Companion

NOW YOU TELL ME:
* Have you thought about getting into acting?
* Would you like to take a class?
* Do you even care… No judgements.

UNTIL NEXT TIME:
* If you made it this far… Thank you!
* Drop a Comedy and Tragedy 🎭 emoji in the comments.
* Remember like, share and subscribe.
    * If you’re watching, hit that bell icon.
    * If you’re listening, rates are great, downloads is better.

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Head over to my Patreon for more of this episode like which actors inspire me and my favorite acting books are.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So you want to be an actor and you don't know where to start? Well, I got six books that are going to set you on your journey. Welcome back to the pod, everybody. I'm Mike Draden Figaroa, and this is Unscripted and Unrehearsed, where I give you my take on things that I've experienced, seen, heard in this last week. And boy, we got a lot to go over. So I I don't know why I brain farted there for a second, but um I wanted to talk about acting and uh answer a lot of questions that I get and uh find out for myself as well why I do it. I know why I do it, but um I wanted to answer these questions and um you know some people are granted with um immense talent, but case in point, you know, recent recent stars that have been made. Um Connor Story, Hudson Williams, uh, but there are a lot of very talented people who just you you don't know where this came from. It's and it and it it's inspiring, right? Okay. Um but we can learn these skills through practice, repetition, reading, um, understanding our our lived experience, bringing that to the work in character development and and finding yourself in the character and finding the character in yourself, because sometimes parts of a character you're playing you would never see yourself doing, saying, experiencing. Um can be scary, it can be exhilarating. And I think that's part of the reason why I like it. Um but it will definitely take you 20 years to become a great actor. And we're gonna get into that, but first Benito Ball was the shit, man. First of all, let me start here. That was literally the worst Super Bowl ever, and I'm not talking about the performance, I'm talking about the plays. Now, don't get me wrong. It was a good game. I mean, people it was a game, but it was the worst fucking game. I mean, it was two strongly defense defensive teams. Their defense was top-notch. I guess it's part of the reason why they got to the Super Bowl. But each of their offenses were it left me wondering, like, what is happening here? So okay. Every every play the Patriots made, and I was rooting for the Patriots because you know, East Coast, uh every play they were making was quickly defeated. The the sacks, the the amount of sacks I I didn't seen anything like that in years. I haven't seen anything like that in years. And from what I understand, I think the I forgot his name. He was a rookie, brand new, out of college, big star in school, I suppose. Um Super Bowl debut? Okay. Um, did he choke? No, he did not choke, but they were quick. The friggin' Seahawks were quick, and they nailed his ass too many times for my like I hate getting sacked. Getting sacked is like getting slapped and having your pocket picked and then slapped again. That's so aggressive. I'm sorry. No, it was terrible, and I felt for the kid, and I was like, oh, this is not gonna end well. Um and I think that by the time they started scoring, it was the damage was done. It was there was no coming back. Well, anything happens in the I mean unless it's like a miracle, and I've seen miracles happen, but unless it's a real, real miracle uh sorry, I got distracted by a an uh reminder. Um unless it's a really I don't know where miracle plays in the fourth quarter never never amount to anything good. So I felt bad. I mean, I was really hoping for the Patriots to win. But I mean, what the first that what this was uh uh a repeat for both of them meeting at the Super Bowl? That's fun, you know. Rivalries, we love rivalries, right? Um and of course, you know, I the last time the Seahawks got to the Super Bowl was so many years ago. You know, hey, the it's like rolling the dice, you never know who's gonna do what and where and what have you. Um side note in sports, Ike Hernandez is going back to the Dodgers. Great, I love this for the for the culture for the puertoriqueños, um, para los boricuas, but um, I was hoping it would end up a Yankee. Oh my god. But I don't think I think he distests the Yankees, if I'm not mistaken. I could be wrong there. I don't know. Um, the halftime show. Listen, the numbers are in and it's irrefutable. And thanks to Team Puerto Rico with two O's at the end on Instagram, these are the numbers. Um, and I'm gonna put a picture right there for you to see. In the last five years, Shakira, which had Bad Bunny as a feature performer 2020, 103 million. 2021, the weekend brought in 96.7 million. I think views, if I'm not mistaken. Uh 2022, 103.4 million views, MM. 2023, that was 2022, 2020, uh 121 million, and that was Rihanna. Usher brought in for 2024 123.4 million, Kendrick Lamar last year's 133.5 million, and that fucking show was off the hook. It went viral, and it was months. We were still replaying and revisiting, and all the shade and the drama. It was brilliantly done. He's a great performer. My favorite part of that was Serena Williams, FYI. Um Bad Bunny 2026, 135 million.4 views. Now, the only critique I will give of his performance was I wanted people to hear the lyrics the way we hear the lyrics in the album when we're playing it. His he sounded like he was muffled and he had marbles in his mouth, and um he was moving around so much, I you know, I think he was out of breath. The the clarity of the lyrics and the message behind it. I mean, we know, we get it, we we understand. I wanted the world to so this way, if they did pop in some some um uh what do you call that? No, shoot. It'll come to me in a second. Um, words on the screens for them to read. Uh they would understand and get to get get an idea of what he was saying. But it it that just that brought me down. I did, I did, I did not like that. But I loved everything else about it. The what I the people in the bushes costumes, that was great. I saw a behind-the-scenes making of like the the the prepare the preparation for the show, and I think because of the astro turf and uh it's how delicate it is, they couldn't have a lot of heavy-weighted stuff on there. So they thought, what could we do? So they hired like what was it, two or three hundred people to do this? Um to dress them up and do that. That's according to them. There's other um reasons. I think somewhere someone said that it was like uh an om an an homage to the people who worked the sugar canes. I think it I think the other reason was because it they had to be practical and they had to be quick and moving then something heavy and with all those sugar canes could not be moved real quick on and off and moving around. But it was cool. The the people posting them coming out to set up and they're like, what is this? was very funny. Um, so yeah, that's my own real real critique of the performance. The um the if you know you know stuff was great. Like uh how many times have we been at family functions and you're tired and you fall asleep on the the line of chairs that's like in the back of the room or on the side, just to conk out because there's nowhere else to lay down. The um, you know, the the power going out, and people have talked about this already. Um the pidagua stands. If you don't know, Pidagua is shaved ice. And in the summertime in Williamsburg, every corner had a Piragua guy. And uh, you know, he had this metal shaver and you take a big block of ice and just shave it. It's like shh sh and it's always six shooks. And then you would take it into the um into the cup. It was like a cone, a white cone, and then you put it like this, and then tap it on the thing, and then tap together, and then you pick your flavoring. It's like sugar water. I mean, it's the worst fucking thing you could have. So the Maringo was my favorite. My anything red was my sister's favorite. If it was blue, I had that once in a while. Um, and it was like 25 cents or 50 cents. Um, no, it was 50 cents because if you went to the Coquito stand, which was like coconut um um icy shaved from a container, that was 25 cents because the piaguas are always more expensive. And he was like, oh, you had chain, you had money. If you went to the video store to play video games and you had a piragua, you had dollars. So um, yeah, so the piragua stand, and then the the taco truck was uh that guy from um LA who's got his taco um stand. And then of course Tonita was there, and that that made me scream because I'm gonna get emotional. Um Tonita has this little social club on Grand Street in Williamsburg around the corner and down the block from where my grandmother used to live. She's been there for years. Since I was a little kid, she's been there. She owns the building, she's never selling. And throughout the gentrification and evolution that Williamsburg has become where the disgust that I feel knowing that there's an Hermes store there and all these high-end hoity-toity unnecessary stores that have destroyed the neighborhood, she's still there. Offering up food that I only get when I go around the corner to the Spanish restaurant that reminds me of my grandmother's cooking. Um I uh she was there. And I fucking screamed. And they had built out the facade of uh of the store and the the gate that comes down is just like a little window. She handed him a tagito, a drink, and a shot, and they did I don't know. I don't know if it was a real shot. If it was a real shot, right on, it would be great. Um, so yeah, you can link to her Instagram in the show notes uh and check it out, and and you can see you know a little part of me and in my neighborhood where I grew up. Um so and just as a reminder, Williamsburg or Greenpoint are twin neighborhoods. Um they overlap together. Um families overlapped in both neighborhoods, uh connected by McCarran Park, if as far as I'm concerned, because I guess that was the major border in the Meeker Avenue and the BQE, um the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. Uh I loved Lady Gaga's performance. Uh that was kind of cool. I mean, I like that song that I thought that was uh a weekend song or something, but I like that song a lot. Um, but her dance, she had a little bit of sway, you know. She she her dancing salsa with um with uh Bad Bunny was very sweet. I loved it. Um anybody can learn salsa is and it's the way you learn salsa is not just the steps, is you let the music inhabit your soul. Because once you hear the kongas and then you hear the rhythm and then the um I don't know what in how how to name the instruments uh that you rake uh on a metal thing, it's kind of like a washing board, maybe. Um, when you feel that enter you, your body takes over. And uh even me being half white, being exposed to it for the first time, uh Saddasan and Menenge, I just came alive. Like I never thought. Um so yeah. Uh I thought it was great. Her her dancing was great. Herself, you know, she sort of lost the beat there for a second, but she would quickly recover. And the dancing behind her, the those musicians behind her uh really added to that. Um and I think and I I because you know at the at the Grammys when she leaned over, there's a uh uh a clip of her leaning over to him and saying, I love you. And then when he turns around, he's like, Oh my god, it was her. Um I wonder if they knew then that this was happening. I'm sure they did, but I think he was surprised that she was there. Uh the I loved Ricky Martin being there. That was so cool. Because okay, so I I've known about, not known him, but I've known about Ricky Martin from the Menudo days, and I've I've always been a fan of Menudo from, you know, like you know, young kids loving the Beatles, you know, you like Menudo. And uh Ricky Martin was the youngest one. Um I had my crushes, yes, of course. But he's of all of them, he's really gone on to become an international musician. Um Grammy winning all of that. Um but his experience was you'll only you can only sing in English to be accepted by English speakers, which and I think that him telling um Bad Bunny that you know sticking to your to your roots and all that has been a blessing and something to that effect. Um but seeing him there and singing in Spanish um was great. Because he was always told, as I said, that um you'll only be a star if you sing in English. But his albums contained Spanish, and there were Spanish versions of songs and you know, little sprinkling up there. But the message I think because Benito stuck from beginning to end every lyric, every moment in Spanish of his album is where the power is. And um, yeah, he he applauded him for that. And I guess the two most famous modern uh Puerto Rican uh musicians is uh Bad Bunny and um and Ricky Martin. I think before them, uh Hector Lavoe, his music is still makes me vibrate. Yeah. Hector Lavoe. Um and I became a fan of his through uh I saw a play at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in Chel in uh Hill's Kitchen. Uh King Maktoa Hector Lavo is like, who killed Hector Lavo? And um the majority of the play was in Spanish and was brilliant. Um, the music was amazing, and the guy playing him was a spinning image of him. It was shocking how much he looked like him. Um so yeah. Super Bowl was great, that was a great part of it. Um, could have been better. The game. Um such a jock. I was like, fuck, it's terrible. All right, so I started this part off because um what had happened earlier with the FBI going to Georgia and raiding the Board of Elections there and taking documents in, etc. etc. But uh Friday, I think it was uh Congress not the Senate, but Congress passed the SAVE Act, which pretty much has forced or is going to force people right. How can I explain this? Because it's like in my head, but I want to be precise here. It's gonna turn Election Day sideways because the new requirements as far as identification, if it passes, is gonna be ridiculous. And when I say ridiculous, I'm saying if you're married and you took your husband's name, you can't vote because you can't prove your identity because it's different on your documents. That's one. If you're a new voter, like you know, you just turned 18 and you have, you know, maybe your selective service card or you you don't have a real ID or anything like that, you can't vote because you can't prove your identity. A birth certificate will not suffice. You if you have a passport, great. How do you get a passport nowadays? You need a birth certificate and your social security card, I believe, still. But what if you don't have those? You can't get those without a passport. They've made this so insane. Let me catch a breath. In the process of me getting my driver's license to become a real ID driver's license, I had to, and this was during quarantine, okay. I had to, first of all, it costs a lot of money. I had to get a new birth certificate because my birth certificate, when I went to renew my driver's license, was so old and so tattered they wouldn't accept it. And it wasn't like in pieces, it was just very old. It had the original, you know, 1960s, you know, embossment on it. And, you know, it was old because I'm old. Um, I had to get a new one. That took a while, and I think it cost me a few bucks. And then to get a new Social Security card, I had to send in my birth certificate. They didn't want a copy of it, they wanted the birth certificate. All right, here I go. I'm putting my birth certificate that I just got in the mail to Social Security office and wait for them both to come back. Took weeks. I'm like, off, I just screwed myself here. Then finally that came. And of course, you could renew. Normally you can't, but you could renew online for your uh passport. Since I already had one, renewing is easy. If you don't have one, it's a lot harder. Uh with all that said, uh, this is what I want you guys to do. Um, especially if you're a woman and you just got married. If you're a man and you just got married and you took your wife's name, people, get your documents now. Make sure, first of all, log online, make sure your your voter registration is up to date, your address is up to date, your date of birth, all of that. All of your info is up to date. Then get your your if you're if it's time to renew your driver's license or whatever, if even if it's not, just contact the DMV, get a new one with your new address or your name on it, correct. Then get your passport, do all of this. They're gonna drag it out or whatever, but we what? We've got it's nine months until election day, right? So nine? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine months. It can be done. We have a little bit of savings, just handle this because I it's with all the all the games they're gonna try to play during this next few months. We need to be ready for it. Um I think New York State has provisions and and want to be accurate because I don't want false information out there. If I'm not mistaken, New York State is prepared for all of this and you should have an easy time getting it. I think the only getting your information correct and seeing if it is. The only hurdle I can see is getting your your passport, because that's federal. So there's that. So get that. Uh what else? Passport, um, update the address. Do all of that now. Um the saddest news though, uh, James Vanderbeek passing away, Dawson Creek star. Um, and I I don't want to take away from his passing, but uh a few years ago, Chad Chadwick Bozeman died of the same uh disease. He was 41, 42. Uh James James Vanderbeek was 48. He would have been 49 this year. Um both of them tragic deaths too soon. Two talented people. Um what I wanted to say was, uh like I said, not to take away from one or the other, but um, we have to understand that what happens is when an a non-melanated person experiences something, the world shifts. Research, funding, fundraisers, all of that. When a person of color goes through something like this, there's a big sadness and a boo-hoo for a few, and then we move on. Um I think the way the world is now, we need to all be I I try to be cognizant of all of us as a people, as a race, human race, to lift each other up and support each other in our trials and tribulations, I suppose. I think I think I'm getting my message out. I just think that we should all be aware that all of us are experiencing something or another, and we should all be. Here for each other. And then something more lighthearted. The uh International Toy Fair kicked off at uh the International Toy Fair. Sometimes I mar I mumble and garble. And the international toy fair kicked off this weekend, uh, yesterday at the Jacob Jacobs, the Jacob Javitz Center. Oh my god. Uh it's gonna run from uh Saturday to Tuesday. And uh the link is below. You can go and see what new. I think Hasbro's got some new stuff coming out. And uh yeah, so if you're into toys, uh that's the thing. So, okay. Why here's one of the questions I get, I have gotten, I need a coffee infusion, excuse me. Is why why did I want to be an actor? And I I've mentioned this uh before many times in different ways, um, I suppose. And I was madly obsessedly, obsessively in love with Michael J. Fox. Um as Alex B. Keaton. Let's just say that. And then I became, you know, like an Uber fan. Everything he did, everything he he I even became a Canucks fan just because he's from Vancouver. Um I wanted to hang out with Alex B. Keaton. I wanted to be in this part of Ohio. I wanted to know everything, you know, I just wanted to be his, you know, his buddy, his friend. Um, and it was very weird. But then, you know, I understood that this was not real life. I understood this is not real people, but I'm like, how does somebody get to do that? Like, how does where do where would I begin? So I asked my mother and I said, Hey Ma, how do people get to be on TV? And she said, Well, you should ask your uncle Pablo because he makes films. Wait, what? Uh nobody told me this. What he makes what do you mean he makes films? Call him. So long story short, um, I sat down with him and he said to me, What do you know about acting? And I'm like, nothing. I don't I you know, I see people on TV, I wanna I want to be on TV. So you want to be on TV, you want to be famous, or you want to be an actor? And I didn't understand the difference at the time. And I was 17 years old, 16, 17. I'm like, I just want to do what they're doing. It's like, oh, okay. So the brilliant man that he is, and uh I'll put a picture of us here. This is right before he passed away from COVID. Um I he took me to see my first play. Uh, I believe it was at the booth theater. If I'm not mistaken, it was called As Is. Um was about, you know, the AIDS epidemic and crisis uh before the normal heart came out, and it was very heavy for a 17-year-old to um, I think. But you know, I was I was me, and my you know, my mother was like, he's just yeah, see, he's a smart kid. It was a lot, and I think uh he was I think my uncle also was trying to figure me out, but this is what I remember from the moment we sat down. I was at the edge of my seat just waiting for everything to happen. And then when I saw what was unfolding in front of me, I wanted to get up. It was at the booth, if I'm not mistaken, I could be wrong. Um I'm gonna have to look that up now. Uh I found myself on the edge of the edge of my seat. Uh and he kept having to like pull me back. And um we're doing this in real time, folks, okay. Um, as is the play. And YC. Let's see what happens. It was at the Lyceum. It was at the Lyceum. Schubert House, look at that. 1985. That's when I saw the year. I was 16 when he took me to see it. Okay, I was 16. Um, I don't think it was at the booth. Anyway, uh, so he took me to see my first play, and I was enthralled. I was on the edge of my seat. I wanted to get up there, he was kept calling me back to the watch, and uh it was quite an experience. So then he says to me, Come come over over the weekend uh so we could talk some more. So um I went to uh I went to his place, we sat down, and we talked, and um he talked to me about um uh Stanislavsky, he talked to me about um acting in general, uh, he talked to me about Tennessee Williams. Uh I think it was his favorite author, if I'm thinking about it now. Um he wanted to give me an understanding and a knowledge of writing that he thought was the pinnacle, right? Um and then he registered me to take uh well, first he took me to audit a class at HB Studio, which was an improv class. And I think he knew that a lot of your uh freedom when you're performing comes from improv improvisation. And sometimes you just do something because you know you're you're moved to do it whether the the the lines or your your the lines in the story provokes you to do these things. And sometimes it could be a disaster and sometimes it could be brilliant. Um, for instance, the kissing scene with uh Ilya and Shane at the end of their hookup in the stairwell, that was all improvised at the very end. Uh the kiss and all the close-up. That was all improvised. Uh, there was a couple of other ones. Um, I've seen stuff that happened in plays that I've worked in in um in the last 10 years, uh, where I'm like, oh shit, that was that's not you know normal. That's not usual. They would improvise something and it would just work. Um sometimes it would be because somebody blew a line or they skipped over something. I don't know. It could be any combination of things. So he took me there, and then the bug bit me. So he registered me for improv classes, and then I took scene study classes. I started reading plays, and he gave me uh a scene from T and Sympathy that I worked on with him in his living room. Um and I and I'm recalling right now, once I was very nervous, and I knew my lines. Um but him playing the father in the scene to my kid hiding the dress behind the sofa or whatever. For those of you who know the play know the scene. Uh, the way he came at me was very oh I I don't know if he said anything, but the way he came at me was very reminiscent to the first time my father ever physically punished me, and it scared the shit out of me. And the way he came at me, I freaked out, and I just responded with the lines. And the look in his face, I'll never forget the look on his face when he saw what I did, thinks solidified for himself that I have a talent, and um that he really tried hard to get me to focus on it. Again, being a dumb teenager, I didn't realize the opportunities that were being offered to me then. With that said, and no regrets, um, I've really worked hard to get to where I am now in my own personal uh uh pride in my my work, in my body of work. So I wanted to be with Alex Pekin, I wanted to be on Family Ties, and then I realized because I was into soap operas, oh my god, I could be on soap operas, and I found out three of them were shot in New York, guiding light, as the world turns, and what was another one? Well, those were my two favorites, and I would see these people periodically when I was working at the library on the subway because they would be going to the studio uptown. Um I was obsessed with uh The Young and the Restless, too. I wanted, but that was a California. Um, I like that show a lot. So then I'm asked also, what kind of actor are you? Are you a stage actor or are you a film actor? And listen, acting is living truthfully in imaginary circumstances. So I mean, every day we're acting. So uh you're you're playing, I don't know, you're playing a video game. You're you're acting because you're playing this character in this game, and you have a goal and you're you're you're having an experience, and your your reactions to all of that is somewhat acting. Um you're you're on the subway and you're trying to be intimidating because you don't want people to, you know, fuck with you. You're acting. Uh sometimes when you're with coworkers and you you the one you don't like the most, but you just want to make peace and you just, you know, you you're chill, you're acting. Um when you want to get away with something from your significant other or your parents, you're acting. Uh it's just living truthfully in an imaginary circumstance. And we're gonna talk more about that in a second. Um me, I am I've done both, I've experienced both. I would say I have a love of the stage. Only because you can rehearse and do and be repetitive and shoot a scene different ways and for film. Uh, and once you got the right thing, if you're happy with it, you can move on to the next and you know, stitch it together. For the stage, it's you never know what's gonna happen. You it just it's magical every single time. It's different every single time. You may be saying the same things, a few shows may be the same, you know, everybody hit their marks, they hit the right inflections, all of that, and then out of nowhere, something different might happen. And it's like, oh, let's go. Or you're like, uh oh, uh, how do I save this? How do I say, you know, you jump in and all of your senses are alive. Your hearing, your vision, your taste, you feel, you taste it in your mouth, your body is shaking, you're you're alive. And it's one of the most exhilarating feelings ever. Um, I've performed at La Mama Cafe. I've uh performed uh at the WoW Cafe, I've performed at the Gay Center for their center stage performances in the youth program. I've performed at school events where we're telling stories to help kids, you know, who are dealing with all kinds of issues. Um telling our story. Um, I did get one uh I was doing a a scene with uh my friend George where he was breaking my heart, dumping me, or something like that. And we're trying to tell this story and the reaction from everyone, even even their vocalizations, that was kind of that was the weirdest experience because kids will if you've been around kids, kids will be like, oh shit, whoa, damn, that's fucked up, you know, like and we have to like stay in it doing all of that. Um we got we got a lot of I got a lot of sympathy, he got a lot of hate, but they loved our performance. And uh a lot of kids, I think we may have um ignited something in their their interest in in acting. And and I also get asked, uh, where have I studied acting? Uh, like I said, HB Studios, my first and first love of acting. I just recently finished uh one, two, three semesters uh with my original improv teacher. Um she didn't remember me, but um I I reminded her. Um and uh two really incredible teachers, and I I really want to get back there, but it's so expensive. Um uh with Mirror Repertory Company, and I I got connected with them with my friend Mo because he was taking like weekly classes with uh Sabra Jones, and um she was married to I don't want to name drop. Anyway, um she was really really great. She was a great actress. Um and also classes here and there just to stay sharp and and and do stuff because it's like it's like going to the gym or exercising or whatever. The the when you don't flex and exercise these muscles, you get stagnant. So and I think that's part of the reason why I took classes at HB because I was doing a lot of prep work, but I wasn't actually doing the work. And I wanted, you know, I could sit here and read plays, but I I function better if I'm doing something opposite someone else. Oh, I also took act classes with um primary stages. Uh that was a very uh enlightening and fulfilling experience because when we started classes there, because I had to audition for that one. Um wow, that was great. I I completely forgot that. I this was like right before quarantine. Uh November, I applied and they asked me to prepare a monologue and they gave me a scene to work on. Uh, and I had like two weeks to prepare. So I went and um the woman who was supposed to do my my audition was out six, so someone else filled in. I did not realize this was the director of the program. I just thought it was just someone else filling in. And uh I found that out later when I went to go pay the first installment of the tuition, and I'm sitting at her desk and I see her plaque, and I'm like, it hit me. I'm like, oh shit. And what was really cool was uh I had one point of view for this scene, and you know, I didn't I try not to be solid in it because you know, you need anything, it's once you're working with someone, it's very fluid. Uh, you take your cues and you know, you fit their physical mannerisms and you play with that. Um, and I didn't she enjoyed that. She's like, I think this is let's okay, let's she gave me a note, let's try it something different. I'm like, okay. And her assistant that was sitting next to us, I could see her like just staring like intently, and I'm like, oh my God, why is she staring so hard? I just let it go. Um, went to the restroom, came back, and we did the scene. And she's just looked at me and she's like, I think this is the program for you. Let me go get the paperwork and we'll start you off. I'm like, okay, great. I was really excited. I'm like, okay. And I was saying I had this thought in the back of my head. I'm not gonna share, but I'm like, okay, yeah. Here we go. Uh the girl, the assistant looked at me, she's like, Can I ask you a question? I said, sure. She's like, How did you do that? And I said, Do what? She's like, You were two different people. I've never seen anybody do that before. To be honest with you, when I know I'm experiencing something that I'm doing my best, I don't remember it at all. I it's black. Like, I start and then I'm out. I don't remember anything. So I looked at her, I'm like, I honestly can't tell you. And I just wish I could tell you. I honestly can't tell you. I don't remember. I just I don't remember. Uh so yes, uh primary stages, which I'm so sad that the they've they've evolved into something else now, only because because of quarantine, they had to close down the school, and and uh a lot of it is virtual. Um, they're still affiliated with Cherry Lane and uh 59 East 59. Uh but yeah, that's where these those are the answers to the most common questions I get. Um so what makes a great actor? I don't know. I know what I see when I see someone, and I'm like, holy shit, Connor Story, for instance. What the fuck? I've seen some of the stuff that they've that's surfacing from when he before he got he did rivalry. I'm like, the dude learned French for a French film. He learned Russian for this show. He's done all these incredible, he's they had he auditioned for and got this uh the part, that small part in uh The Joker. It turns out that the uh well, I'm not gonna blow it for for you, but and there's another thing that's coming out with him. He is a chameleon, and it is wonderful and inspiring to see. Um uh what else makes a great actor? I don't know. Study, preparation. Well, what and I'm I don't like to quote her as much as before, but it's something Oprah has said, and I've tried to remember this. I think luck is preparation meeting the moment of opportunity, right? Something to that effect, right? Uh just being prepared, understanding, reading. Um uh it was Meisner who said it'll take you 20 years to become a great actor. And I when I read that when I was 17, I'm like, Jesus Christ, I don't, I don't have 20, I don't want to wait 20 years to be an actor. But what he was saying is in those 20 years, what will make you a great actor, he wasn't saying you can't be an actor until then. What will make you a great actor is your life experience, cultural experiences, tastes of food, drinks, um, family experience, every all of these sensory experiences, everything culminating where you can draw upon these memories, these feelings, these moments, and apply them as if it's happening now in front of you, and bringing all of that that you have inside of you, that experience to that moment in living truthfully in that moment. That is what I think will make a great actor. Um, I think reading plays will make you a great actor. If you are reading a story, for instance, if you're reading the heated rivalry stories, and if you can imagine yourself as one of these characters, you're acting. If you're and not like saying the lines in a particular way or um inflection, just imagining yourself in this story, you're acting. Uh, if you find yourself all of a sudden just walking down you go, Hollander, you're acting. Um, if you're reciting uh your favorite Star Wars scene or what have you, you're acting. You know, even if you're just goofing off, if this is stuff that that excites you, you're acting. Committing, I I guess committing yourself to I don't I think committing yourself to it because acting is not remembering a bunch of words and then just saying them all willy-nilly. There's a whole lot going on. There's the relationship between the characters, the relationship, your relationships, as in your life. So you're getting dressed, you're going to work, your significant other just broke the coffee pot, you're not getting coffee. All of that's going on in your body right there. You're taking when you leave and you go to work, you're bringing that with you. Nobody knows, but you're bringing that with you. Your moment before was, I didn't get my fucking coffee because this idiot broke the fucking coffee pot. Now I gotta go spend money at Starbucks because I don't have$10 for a fucking lots of all of that. And then you bring that energy with you, and someone's, you know, I I just need to, I don't have time for you right now. I haven't had my coffee. That moment before is coming through. Like, oh my god, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bother you. I may have just, you know, nutshelled all of that together and crumpled it up, but that's part of it. That's what acting is. Finding out, and it can be anything because none of that is written, none of that is real except for you as the actor bringing this character to life. For instance, um, the scene is you're visiting your parents, and you haven't come out, and you're about to come out, because what they don't know is you've just been outed and you want to prepare them. All of those emotions and feelings, and in that you're it's in you, and you're trying to find the words on how to prepare them, one, yourself to come out, and whatever that's gonna, you know, unleash upon you from your parents or your family, um, and try to find strength in that, right? The moment before is there now, and what's gonna where and and then where are you going after that? You could be sitting down on the sofa and having a loving conversation, or you could be running for your life if your dad is that kind of dad, or you could be sorry, uh, or you could be uh just leaving because they really don't have the words for you right now, or even your mom, your mom might be the mean one who's not understanding. You're in that your next where you're going is you know part of all of that. All of these things are part of what I think make a great actor when you're working on on them. And there's more to this, and I think will become clear once once I go over it, which is now because you can learn all of these things in the list of books that I'm about. to to share with you. I'm emotional right now because this is something that I love. I've I've loved it since I was a kid and I wish I was far more um ahead in this career and and made different choices in the past. Not from regret but out of fear because I when when I'm comfortable I'm I okay this is coming out wrong. Alright so auditioning scares the hell out of me. Well it used to it it doesn't scare me anymore. So a lot of times I didn't go for things because of the audition process. I could I could pre-prepare it and do a performance and be all of that if knowing everyone and being comfortable in the situation I know them they know me they know judgments I don't feel like they're being I'm being judged but walking into cold into an audition room reading opposite someone in the past scared me. It didn't scare me anymore after the primary stages experience because and I'll tell you why uh we were sitting down at a table doing this scene together as if we were in a restaurant and I'd found out oh my comfort find my comfort spot how I'm standing or how I'm not standing is usually in the character once I find out in the character there's no fear anymore. Anyway I digress um these books my camera's shaking these books are gonna help you if you're if you're serious about or just curious about I need my glasses for this oh I got a message uh so by Udahagen uh respect for acting and you want to read this book because it it builds a grounding and an honest approach to to your craft um it emphasizes truthfulness and uh the physicality realism uh helping actors break break habits of artificial and uh I'm sorry let me let me rephrase that it helps actors break the habits of artificiality and instead works from can I read I can't read and I lost my place uh works from human behavior real human behavior and then there's uh uh challenge for the actor also by Udahagen um I love this one the most um because it it it it's a it's rigorous exercises where you do different steps first of all is destination there's um um in the moment um exercises and basically it's uh through rigorous exercises this book teaches you how to investigate your character's wants needs actions and uh in a disciplinary way in a disciplined way um and it encourages independence you uh you learn to to uh solve acting problems on the fly that's real good uh Sanford Meisner uh Meisner on acting um it teaches you and it trains you to respond instinctively in moments rather than pre-thinking or pre-performing so a lot of times I mean and and I've I've done this myself where I'm like all right so we're gonna do this we're gonna do that I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do that and then it's the wrong thing at the wrong time and it's not especially when something doesn't go the way you planned and you gotta improvise the his book will help you get past that. And the repetition exercises are part of what make are at the core of of his book whereas I'm wearing a blue hoodie. You're wearing a blue hoodie I'm wearing a blue hoodie I'm wearing a blue hoodie check out my blue hoodie you're wearing a blue hoodie I'm butchering that but it's that kind of back and forth you would have with someone uh Stanislavsky um the actor prepares that is one of the most legendary books you can start with if you'd like um a lot of the teachers that came like uh Meisner um uh shoot I'm gonna butcher their names I forget them um Stella Adler uh Uda Hagen um Lee Strasberg all of these folks who started uh studied with him went to Russia and studied and came back and started their own um uh companies and then uh diverged off into their own teaching styles came from this um core uh teachings and um his book will teach you the uh fun foundational concepts like objective given circumstances and emotional memory and I think that's where a lot of uh actors like for instance um I want to say Bradley Cooper I think he's talked about this being uh maybe not him I think it was um De Niro saying your emotional memories help to bring out the the the your connection to the character and what he may be experiencing something to that effect um and the book shows you thoughtful preparation and leads to freedom on the stage and uh uh and on camera uh Ivana Chubik I found this book by accident I don't remember how but it's the power of the actor and it's a combination that I mean she has a 12 step tech 12 step technique on how to uh to help actors um understand why their characters do what they do and it's very fascinating um it's i i feel like that book in combination with the challenge for the actor will make you a very well-rounded prepared actor once you get the text in your head and you understand the subtext you can understand it will help you find the the subtext which is why your character does what they do um I highly recommend that one and the challenge of the actor um and uh it helps you to uh access uh real emotional truth that will help now this I came across accidentally this guy was on the subway he was reading this book um by Seth Barish called an actor's companion and it's little anecdotes that you can that he's he remarks about um for scene study and text analysis and audition prep uh script breakdown it's all in there and different little things that you can do to help you get get ready um and he connects theory with uh actionable tools that you can use immediately in class uh rehearsing and auditions as well so those are the six books so I'm gonna repeat them for you uh starting with uh Uda Hagen they are uh respect for acting the very first acting book I ever read and a challenge for the actor uh you want Sanford Meisner's uh Sanford Meisner on acting you want uh an actor prepares by Stanislavski uh the power of the actor by Ivana Chubuck um and uh an actor's companion by Seth Barish um also I think what would make a great actor is reading everything you need to read newspapers you need to read magazines you need to read comic books you need to read uh plays you need to read I don't know everything read everything even your own notes sometimes something might jump out at you like oh that's interesting why did I write that keep a journal because if you're if you're writing get the noise out of your head first of all the all the distraction doubt blah blah blah I just keep that and then when if you go back and read your journal you can find something that will inspire you and make you make you pretty good um go to different restaurants try something different try so and this is another lesson when my uncle asked me once I never really had pesto before and I never had homemade pesto until my uncle made it and he's like would you like pesto on your pasta? I'm like I don't like that he's like have you ever had pesto and I'm like no he's like well how do you know if you haven't you don't like it if you haven't tasted it I'm like oh yeah you're right so I tasted pesto and I liked his pesto so ever since then I like pesto homemade by the way travel hey you don't have to spend a lot of money to go somewhere I mean take the bus to Boston and walk around Boston for a while go see the Liberty Bell go go to I think that's in Philly actually um go to Philly if you and I'm talking about east coast people if you're on the west coast listen go go I don't know go down to Baja go down to um if you're in LA go to Palm Springs go go to um I don't know I was only in LA for three months and I don't know what's around there um go to San Francisco if you can I know that's not a not an expensive trip um if you're in Chicago go go up to Canada go to uh go s go I don't know get out of your your immediate area um yeah so I hope this was helpful for you and um you liked it if it you know I mean you tell me I want to know have you ever thought about being an actor what what is it about acting that you thought you might want to experience um would you would you like to take a class there's lots of ways to take a class uh highly recommend HB Studio uh a lot of them are in the evenings there's I go to playbill.com and look for classes or you can google or search somehow acting classes um some are expensive some are not try it uh also acting is movement so if you take a dance class or something that teaches movement that's worth it too why not all right until next time folks uh if you made it this far uh draw I'd love it I really would love it if you would drop the comedy and tragedy emoji it's the acting emoji that has a smiling mask and a sad mask that's comedy and tragedy drop that in the comments below um and let me know you know which of these books you're gonna go check out for you can get them all I believe all of them at the drama bookshop on 39th Street off of 8th Avenue was the 38th it's on 38th Street now right they moved 30th wait 39th Street off 8th between 7th eighth more twelfth eighth more towards 8th google it um so yeah if you found anything helpful in this episode please hit that like button share follow ring the bell so we can get updates on the next one hey listen um do me a favor after you liked and followed and shared all of this I want you to head over to my Patreon for a special uh bonus portion of this I'm gonna talk about my two favorite books and a couple of two extra resources that you might want to consider if you're gonna pursue acting. And I think you're gonna like that. And I'm trying to stay ads free. So uh follow me on Buzz Sprout. That's where the audio version of this pod is and of course the Patreon page um you're gonna get early access to a bunch of stuff that I'm doing um shout outs you could be get behind the scenes stuff that I'm working on and trying to finagle because I'm only here by myself. And um I'm preparing a live video chat uh once a month so everyone who signs up for that you you get the invite and the link and we can sit here and chit chat about everything and anything. It doesn't matter maybe something specific that we want to chat um about. So yeah do that. Oh I'm gonna talk about my uh the the actors who inspire me too you want to tune in over there it's very important to me anyway. Again thanks for being here I love you be safe get your docs in order I'll see you soon