About Fame

When I started acting, I really wanted to be famous. Big city, bright lights, all those flash bulbs, all the awards. It wasn't the money, although that would have been nice. It was the fame. I didn't want to die with no one knowing who I was.

Is this you? Do you want to become famous someday as a world-class actor? Is your church theatrical adventure just a stepping stone to your Hollywood career? Here are some thoughts that might help you in your quest.

Fame Is Where You Find It
I was famous in high school. Not outside the school, mind you, but everyone inside knew who I was, and had seen or knew about my stage work. I was famous. I was famous in college for my radio work. I wasn't a campus icon, but I was famous at the radio station. I was famous in the voice-over crowd in Hollywood for awhile. Have you heard my voice? Then I'm not that famous! I was famous in the community theater circuit here in Ventura County. I'm famous at my church. The point is that fame comes in many shapes and sizes.

You performance should engender applause and recognition. I'm not sure those two things don't qualify as fame.

Fame is Fleeting
I suffered a stroke while performing in community theater. I went from being an oft-requested actor to a liability in the space of just one Saturday morning. My fame changed from being a great romantic comedian to the guy who had the stroke. I'm not in the least bitter...but it's a great example of how quickly fame can drift away!

You Can Be Anything You Want...
I have a relative who is a rather famous actress. She told me once that you can be anything you want, as long as you are willing to forgo being everything else. In your pursuit of fame, make certain to keep your eyes, and your heart, open for the many opportunities life will bring you.

99.99999999 Percent of All the People Who Ever Lived...
...went to their graves unknown. We live in a age where celebrity is worshipped and idolized. But it is only this age. Think of the uncountable billions of people who have lived and died without their name ever having been written down. If you have appeared on stage, you are light years ahead of them already!
This thought, too, took the pressure off me in my pursuit. The number of famous people is so small, so chimerical, that failing to attain it is not a crime. It's a statistic!

Love the Art
Finally, ultimately, don't pursue acting if you are seeking fame. Pursue acting because it makes you feel alive, because it frees your soul, because it teaches you about yourself and the people around you. Pursue acting because it is an art, and, in performing, you are giving back to the audience. Pursue it because you can create a work of art that lasts only as long as the words are spoken, because God has given you this spectacular gift. Pursue acting because, in that moment when you've connected with the house, and your character's problems weigh heavily in the audience's heart, and you could hear a pin drop in your dramatic pause...in that moment, with the bright lights, and the settling dust, and the audience spellbound, you are famous.

Acting 101

Advice for New Actors

Acting is one of the best things you can do with your life. It frees your soul, opens your eyes, and brings you a confidence you would never have thought possible. You’ll learn about yourself and your world, you’ll learn about others, and you’ll teach others a new way of looking at the world. And it’s fun, too.

There are some basic things you should know when you start out, things that, if you don’t know them, make you look like a yokel. Here are some tips:

ACTING IS STORYTELLING- The purpose of drama is to tell a story. Each character has a story to tell, and all of the character stories weave together to complete the story of the play. Your job as an actor is to help your character tell his story. That’s your whole job. That’s it.

ACTING IS BELIEVING- When you sign on as an actor in a scene, you’ve signed up to tell the story through the eyes of your character. You will find your acting career much easier if you believe what the author wrote for your character. Believe that the character has a life, and that the things that happen to him have meaning. Let those events have meaning to you. Perhaps another character calls your character a bigot. How should your character react? How would you react if someone called you a bigot? That’s a start. Now add in your character’s background and temperament, and you’ll have an honest reaction. When you believe in your character, the audience will believe it, too. It’s a golden moment when the audience stops seeing actors and sees only characters.

IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU- One of the best parts about working with actors is that you’re all in the same boat. Even though everybody comes from a different background and brings in different experiences, you’re all there for the same goal; to tell that story. Now, there are good actors and bad actors. The bad ones are the actors that are worried about themselves, about how they sound or how they look or how everybody’s thinking about them. Bad actor. Bad. The good actor is focused on what the character is trying to say, what will bring that message out, on feeling what the character feels. In Acting 101 we leave ourselves and our petty woes at the door. Instead of worrying whether or not people are staring at you, worry instead about feeling what the character you’re reading feels. Worry about helping your character tell his story.

IT’S ABOUT THE ENSEMBLE – To be cast in a piece is to join a team. Just as your character fulfills a specific duty in the story of the play, you, too, fulfill a specific purpose in the cast. No member of the team should be there for anything more than telling the story the author has written. When you join the cast, then, do your very best at all times to be helpful, to be focused, and to help the team succeed.

BE GENEROUS – Acting is hard work. What makes it hard is the level to which you expose your feelings. When we talk about acting honestly, it can sometimes be hard to reach down and display your honest feelings for everyone else to see. You open yourself up to potential ridicule, and that’s hard. As a good team member, remember that every other actor in the piece is feeling exactly the same. Be magnanimous towards them and their exposed feelings. Some deep emotions can make actors cry. When their scene is over, have respect for the feelings they shared with you. Be gentle, and be generous.

BE BOLD - If the director tells you to read a line, read it like you mean it. Even though you are just reading, don’t be afraid to mean what you are saying.

BE LOUD - As an actor, not everyone is going to like you. Nobody will like you if they can’t hear you. You might be tall, you might be gorgeous, but if they can’t hear you, you might as well be part of the set.

USE YOUR UPSTAGE HAND - Here are some basic terms. Picture yourself standing in the middle of the stage, looking out at the audience. Your left hand points to stage left, your right hand to stage right. If you walk toward the audience, you cross downstage. If you back away from the audience, you cross upstage. Stuff behind you is upstage of you. Stuff you can see, if you’re facing the audience like I told you, is downstage of you. SO, when you are facing across the stage and must wave to somebody, use the arm that is farthest from the audience, your upstage arm. If you use your downstage arm, you’ll block your face. It seems dopey, but it’s true that audiences don’t react well to an actor who blocks himself. The same is true of your hair. Your emotions play out on your face. If the audience can’t see your face, they miss your emotions. They don’t believe you. You might as well be part of the set. So, pin your lovely tresses back and show your face.

A truism: use of the downstage arm makes you look like a rube.

MOVE WITH PURPOSE- In the real world, most people don’t drift about. They go to the door, they go to the cabinet, they stand up, they sit down. They do it all with purpose. When you are playing your character, make sure you move with purpose. If, for example, your character is supposed to leave but gets called back by another character just at the last moment, don’t be ready to be called back. Be ready to leave the stage…that’s what the character was intending to do, so that’s what you should do. Believe me, the actor will stop you in time. If he doesn’t…hey, that’s why they call it live theater!

REACH INSIDE - As a director, it just floors me when an actor asks me what they should look like when their character is supposed to be mad. What do you look like when you’re mad? What are the attributes of being mad? Your blood pulses, your body tenses, your movements become sharp and definite, and maybe your voice quavers. Why would your character do something different?

LEARN YOUR CUES – You know you need to learn your lines. That’s a “well duh”. But learning your cues is equally important. It’s the only way you’ll know when to say your lines. Learning your cues at the same time as learning your lines will help cement your lines in your heart, because, most often, your cues help you with the intention in your lines.

FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS - You know that acting is not about you. You know to move with purpose and use your upstage hand and be loud. So, what else should you do? Focus on being your character. Focus on being part of the team. And focus on being honest.

Finally, have fun. That's the point, isn't it? Relax, and have a good time. You're going to learn a lot about yourself!

Writing Evangelical Drama

In writing for my church, I’ve been asked to write many, many evangelical pieces. The purpose of Christian drama is to reach the lost, and what better way to reach them than with a theater piece that invites them in? But evangelical drama is a double-edged sword. Unless your piece is truly an outreach piece, it will most likely be performed in front of a congregation that’s already heard the Word. Here are some ways I’ve found that might help you in crafting your next evangelical drama.

TARGET YOUR AUDIENCE – For whom are you writing your piece? The congregation or an outreach program? What message are you trying to deliver? I’m often looking for ways to show the impact of the Christian life on the average person. Even though I’ll have a specific message to deliver, my underlying motive is to never stop trying to reach the lost, to evangelize.

BE REAL – The purpose of your piece will determine the setting. The more realistic your setting, the clearer your message will be. Your goal is help the audience focus on your message. Your challenge is to deliver your message in new and innovative ways. Always make certain that the circumstances of your piece are realistic enough that the audience can take it seriously. This doesn’t mean that you can’t put your characters in exotic locations…just make that they are realistic exotic locations. I’m working on a piece right now that takes place in the cockpit of C-47 during World War II. It’s taken a huge amount of research to get the setting, the language, and the intentions of the characters right, but I know the audience will expect a realistic piece.

Your character’s development must follow a realistic track, too. Most folks don’t receive the Good News and find themselves instantly saved. It takes a while, it takes thought, and it takes growth. Give your characters time to reveal these emotions realistically.

BE SUBTLE – Until I found the Lord, I wouldn’t go into a church to save my soul (literally). On the one hand, churches seemed scary and closed off to me. On the other, the people in the church seemed to belong to some sort of club. I can’t remember how many church people told me I had to believe in the Lord. It took my sister’s simple logic to get me to let down my barriers and open my heart. Remember that this is how the lost might view the church, too. Hitting them over the head with your evangelical message won’t work, because the lost tend to tune out overt evangelism. Your piece, too, will be more effective if you approach the subject indirectly, allowing the audience to complete the evangelistic picture.

Your congregation will reject an overt message, too. I know this because I’ve written many of them, and they have consistently flopped. They already know the evangelical message. Instead, I look for ways that my characters find different circumstances in which to witness to the lost. Even though a church drama may be preaching to the choir, there are still many messages you can give them that will help them in their mission field.

LOOK FOR GROWTH – An alcoholic won’t stop drinking until he’s hit bottom. A drug addict won’t seek help until he’s realized that he’s helpless. A lost soul doesn’t accept the Lord until he realizes his earthly existence is futile. The alcoholic and the drug addict begin to grow when they realize that they’ve hit their bottoms. Your protagonist, too, will be believable when he turns a corner and has an opportunity to grow.

At the same time, non-growth can be very powerful. There’s a sadness about a character that refuses to see the truth that everyone else can see. That sadness can be a powerful dramatic tool you can use to drive a point home. Although your character doesn’t see the point of the piece, his failure to see it can drive the point home poignantly for the audience.

FINALLY, AVOID FAIRY TALE ENDINGS – They simply don’t play out for the audience. The Christian message is one of hope. The audience won’t buy a piece in which the character accepts the Lord and suddenly finds her rent paid, her car fixed, and a new promotion at the office. But a guy who finds all the world against him, who hears the Word, and who realizes that he can brave the storm as long as he’s got the Lord’s word in his heart…THAT the audience will buy. That’s the piece that will deliver the Christian message with honest and realism. And, that’s the piece that will touch the heart of the lost soul sitting in your church.

Touching the hearts of the lost. Isn’t that what evangelism is about in the first place?

Writing for Multigenerational Audiences

If your church is like mine, it has two services; one traditional and one contemporary. At our church, the average age is comfortably above 50 in the traditional service, and comfortably below that in the contemporary. While this works great for the pastor, who can modify his message for each group, and for the choir, which can sing different songs, it makes producing dramas that must be effective for each group extremely difficult.

As a writer, I’ve often found that a piece that hits with the older audience will miss the younger set, and vice versa. Here are some ways that I’ve found to make each piece speak successfully to each group.

Begin with the Message

In Christian drama, each piece is designed to highlight a specific message. Let that message be your mission, your raison d’être. Compare each character against the message – does he fit? Is he telling the story? If not, chop him out or change him. In sketches, there’s no time for loose characters. That’s not a multigenerational thing. It’s just good writing.

The other rule of good writing is always the same, too: resolve a conflict. I recently judged a high school competition where each student wrote and performed his own piece. A stunning little actress played a piece called “The News” about a revolutionary war era bride whose husband had been called to war and was ultimately killed. It was well acted, but booooring. There was no problem to be resolved, which made it stunningly un-engaging. Make sure your characters have a problem to resolve. Their resolution should be your message.

I’ve found that the older generation relates to stories about honor and honesty, community spirit, and “doing the right thing.” The younger group responds better to stories about relationships, societal pressures, and personal responsibility. There is a very wide gap between the two.

Think of how the message affects each generation. Unless you are six years old, chances are pretty high that you are a member of one of them. Couch the message in terms that appeal to you. Then look at it through the eyes of the other generation. Will they get it?

Don’t be afraid to stretch the message to make it fit both groups. Say that the message is “love one another.” You could do a striking piece about a father/son situation, or a punker and an old lady stuck at a bus stop. There is love to be shown in each piece, and your message, although different in circumstance, is the same for each. Your job is to tell the story. You can bend it however you wish!

Mix Your Generations

The surest way to get the attention of each generation is to make sure each is represented in your piece. A piece about two elderly gentlemen may play with the older set, but could go right past the younger. An older gentleman sharing advice with a younger man, however, will more likely affect both groups.

There is a great source of humor in mixing the generations, too. Each group likes to laugh at themselves, and has to put up with the foibles of the other. That’s meaty stuff, there. Old people can never hear, and young people are self-absorbed. Play on those circumstances and you’ll have a sure fire hit!

I often find the message is most effective to both groups when the young and old discover it together. It is important to deliver the message subtly, of course. Nobody in real life says “I get it! We’ve got to love one another!” It just doesn’t happen like that. But when the punker and the old lady find a common truth, you’ll find that the moment will ring true for both audiences.

Don’t Forget the Rule of Threes

Comedy is comedy, whether it’s for octogenarians or teens. Don’t forget your basic rule of comedy – think in threes. Little joke, little joke, BIG joke. Set up, set up, Smack! Watch sitcoms and count the laughs – professional writers write in sets of three. Three is an ancient, mystic number. I’m pretty sure those ancient mystics wrote their skits in sets of three, too!

Find the Truth

My sister-in-law is a famous actress. I was speaking with one of her colleagues the other night, who told me my sister-in-law won’t consider a part ready to play until she’s drilled through to the very truth of the piece. Her performances are always breathtaking because she shows the deep truth inside her characters.

As a writer, your job is to bring truth to your characters. Actors should play their lines from their heart rather than from their minds. Your job is to put that heart into the characters in the first place. Your characters must be in realistic circumstances, and must react reasonably.

The conflict to be resolved, by which your message is delivered, needs to be realistic as well Your characters need to make discoveries along the way, and their reactions need to be realistic.

Once you’ve written your piece, have members of each group read it with you. Listen carefully to their reactions. Then, pester ‘em with questions about the message, about how your characters react, about whether the piece has meaning for them or not. Their reactions will guide you in writing accurately.

Finally, Write with Love

Regardless of the message, people really do love one another. That love can be expressed with friendship, loving gestures, anger, hurting, even hatred. But, deep down, people really do have a genuine regard for one another. It’s why we don’t run over each other.

Your piece needs to reflect that regard, because that is truly how we behave. Even in a piece where the characters hate one another, it is that lack of regard that makes for honesty, and for good drama.

Regardless of the generation, a piece will have meaning if it centers on a realistic conflict, features realistic characters, and, most of all, reflects the love people have for one another.