Resilience vs. Resistance
I was recently reminded of how actors need to remain resilient in the face of what one of my students called "resistance". Here's the email he sent to me:
Resistance kicked the shit out of me today. A role in an indie that i was all fired up for. 4 pages of monologues I got so late yesterday I didn't even have time to think about meeting with you on em. Went in the a.m., felt prepared, then let every unexpected, tiny thing in that room totally sack me for a loss. So frustrating. I've been having so many great rides home of late, then this f&%ker sneaks in. Rats. Just needed to vent to someone who SO gets the process. thanks for reading :] onward and upward!!!!
Resistance is a great name for it and I love the fact my wonderful student has given it a name. Doing that means it doesn't live in some mysterious, "what's happening to me?!" kind of place.
It's a great lesson. No matter how prepared or skilled you are these things will happen. The strength of an actor lies not in the ability to conduct a soul destroying post-mortem, endlessly analyzing why it happened, spending days wringing hands wondering what it all means; strength lies in simply recognising it, accepting it and moving the hell on. Ensuring there is no residue from these experiences in your next casting or audition is what matters. Go in to succeed, don't apologize, don't ask permission and tell your story.
