The Philosophy of Ease or The Path of Most Accetance

I want to introduce a (possibly) counter-intuitive concept—the Path of Most Acceptance.

Part of the reason why novice performers don’t master their lines is because it has been equated with being the “hard part” of acting. It is an atrocious, necessary evil that we try to get over with a soon as possible so the director or stage managers don’t yell at us.

YOU. (Shrugging innocently.) Besides, the lines aren’t that important anyway, right?

ME. (Piercing.) Don’t you dare let the writer hear you say that!

It is helpful to change your attitude toward line memorization. My goal is to have it be something you look forward to.

Think about it like this...

...you’ve been giving the opportunity to perform, and these words are a big part of what you need to express.

My professor always reminded me that speech is an action, and so you need to get those actions ready to work.

The "Off-booked" approach to acting encourages line memorization to be more like meditation than banging your head against the text.

You Actionable Verbs:

Meditate before your start memorizing lines. Lying on your back with your script in hand and letting the words rain down on your skull.

Listen to soothing music. I find Baroque music is especially helpful when trying to download text by Shakespeare. Plus, it makes you feel fancy.

Lean into it. It must be done, if you want to get cast again, so accept it. That, Grasshopper, is The Path to Most Acceptance.