The goal of the actor

I'll go in this order:

- the goal of life
- the goal of theatre
- the goal of the actor

1. LIFE
The goal of life is to live well and die well. Take the whole journey -- seed to plant to tree to flower to fruit to withering to death. The flowering is your Gift. The fruit is what you become when you fully surrender to and follow your Gift.

2. THEATRE
- The purpose of theatre is to heal the world, by creating a living source of integrity-in-action.
- The work of theatre is to grow the people in it toward maximum human, artistic, and spiritual potential.
- The measure of theatre is the quality of performances we create.
- The price of theatre is lifeforce; deep work requires your whole self.
- The lesson of theatre is ethics -- correct relationship to all beings and Nature.

Theatre is metaphor. You can't work at the metalevel without becoming more aware. Theatre is thus a crucible for increasing and heightening human awareness. It's fractal: you're working on all your levels at once.

3. ACTOR
The goal of the actor is to become clear god-putty. To become infinitely supple human material, so the Spirit and Story can move through you as perfectly as any impulse of Nature.

I am an ensemble-theatre director. I have been lucky to be around two master ensembles - Leonid Anisimov's Vladivostok Chamber Drama Theatre in Russia (before they broke up); and Eugenio Barba's Odin Teatret, in Denmark. They were both led by visionaries, had a longterm group of master actors, and were what I would call brilliant groups.

Have you heard that saying, "Brilliant individuals, dumb group"? Well, these were "Regular individuals, brilliant group". Or rather, regular individuals who had gradually dissolved their masks & fears to become clear and supple and Talented and thus were no longer regular at all. "Infinite individuals, infinite group" is what those ensembles had become.

"Each Odin actor is a universe." -- Eugenio Barba.

These actors all had the same quality. It is a softness, a human responsiveness. They walk partly in the mortal world, partly in the spirit world, and always in the ethics. They instantly sense any tear or violation in the energy or ethics in the room. They are like one big heart, a telepathic mind-heart. They laugh. They are silent. They can move at a full run without disturbing the air. Even when doing the hardest, angriest things, they stay soft. They are completely translucent and as unknowable as the moon. They are always working, themselves, and working as an organism of the group. They are connected to everything, all the time. They are luminous. They are ordinary. They have impeccable ethics. They are fantastically skillful. They cast off lying long ago. They are always seeking greater truth. They are clear god-putty. The older they get, the better they get. The 50- and 60-year-olds are amazing, and the 20- and 30-year-olds revere them.

I would also say, there are as many routes to that space as there are actors. I am a catalyst director. Like Leonid and Eugenio, I'm good at creating the space and conditions in which people tend to drop away masks and become more and more themselves. So that's my route, and I tend to attract actors who want to work that way.

"There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground." -- Rumi

The task of the actor is divine play. The actor must be a master of the craft, so they are free to be a child in the art. They must play well with others. Your scene partner is your gateway to the divine. Never be alone on stage. Be in relation to the table, the floor; to the Eye of God, which Tadashi Suzuki says is just above and beyond the audience, and is who we are really playing for.

To be an actor is to experience the infinite. Every human is infinite in their Mystery. The actor gets to enter that Mystery, and go forever. An actor always knows the character better than anyone. Better than the playwright, better than god. To be an actor is to take the big ride. Each character you play IS the ride... and will open parts of you you never knew existed. The more, and more ethically, you work, the more infinite you become.

Plus, it's fun. Acting is the funnest, most absorbing thing there is, if that's your Gift. It uses every particle of you -- mind, body, wit, and soul.

I have seen great actors in many realms -- in improv theatre, dance-theatre, opera, ballet, television, film, ensemble theatre, traditional theatre, commedia dell' arte, even children acting.

Go for whatever form you love the most. It will take you all the way. Every one of those paths needs genius actors.

When Leonid first brought his company of 30 to Seattle, he said, "I have brought 25 good actors, 4 great ones, and 1 genius." The company nodded. It was not news to them, it was fact.

Zeami, the director from the 1100s who founded Noh Theatre in Japan, wrote a famous passage describing the whole life cycle of the actor. He tells what the actor's Gift and Task are at age 5, 20, 30, 40, 60, 80. He could describe seed to leaf to flower to fruit.

I wrote recently that the actor's task is "To transubstantiate, ignite, burn to ash." That's just a fiery way to say, "Wake up, grow up, serve well, die well."

How will you know if you're there? It will be turning you inside out, it will seem miraculous and ordinary at the same time, you'll be doing it with perfect frequency for you (likely every day), and you will feel as if you are in the most perfect spot in the universe.