GUY FROMAGE
Keeping a journal, making an actor How private writing can make you better on stage By Lissa Tyler Renaud
A
S A YOUNG ACTOR, I never asked why there was a relationship between keeping an acting journal and being an interesting actor; for me, it was just a fact. I felt sure that when I saw an actor keeping a journal, I was seeing a “serious” actor—someone who was
really crazy about theatre, someone who was burning to be good. Indeed, the actor I saw intently writing or sketching in a journal—whether between acting classes or outside a professional rehearsal hall—was invariably the one who seemed the most
focused and creatively engaged on stage, as well. Without asking why this would be so, I was completely captivated by the idea of having such a journal myself. I was convinced that the journal was one important key to richness as an actor. MARCH 2003 • DRAMATICS
My favorite introduction to keeping a journal is from The Face of Creation, by the painter and poet David Wiley: Vade mecum means “go with me” and was the term used to describe an allpurpose ready reference carried by students and others in the days when Latin was the language of learning. The modern version of such a book, which we would probably call a journal, might contain quotations, titles, names and addresses, travel descriptions, thoughts, dreams, ideas, poems, letters, unusual words, drawings, information that might or might not be useful. If such a journal is kept long enough it becomes an autobiographical document of sorts, a record of what the writer was doing and thinking at various times, and it may accordingly be used as a mnemonic device, even to the extent of dredging up elusive sensations and experiences not mentioned in the book.
Early on, then, it was enough that I felt like I was becoming a better actor by keeping my vade mecum. As a teacher, though, I have wanted to know why my students who have kept the best journals have also been the most interesting actors. I have not yet seen an exception to this. Rather, I have seen a consistent correlation between an actor who writes effectively and one who performs effectively. I have not been surprised to hear this same observation from teachers and professional actors around the country. And over a few decades, I have seen a wide range of reasons that this is so.
10 reasons for keeping a journal There are many aspects of keeping a journal that help promote creativity in actors. Here are ten of them. 1. Being alone. The field of acting has a wonderfully social aspect to it, and rehearsal periods are important times for forming professional and personal friendships. At the same time, the actor does most of his or her preparation work alone—for example, reading and working with the script, going over rehearsal notes, planning DRAMATICS • MARCH 2003
for the coming rehearsal, and warming up the body and voice. Keeping a journal is a good way to get comfortable being alone with your thoughts. 2. Learning discipline and patience. How we keep our journal is often mirrored in how we prepare for rehearsals. Keeping a journal gives us a chance to regularize our habits, to practice returning repeatedly to the same task, each time bringing something new of ourselves to the work. We need to find productive ways of settling ourselves down when we are restless, and of renewing our patience when we are frustrated or out of ideas. Successful approaches to the journal will also serve you well in rehearsal.
It’s not clear why good journal-keepers make good actors, but it’s true.
3. Getting organized. Classes and rehearsals both give us an enormous amount of information in a short time. Afterwards, we need to sort through our own impressions, associations, observations and ideas for what we’d like to try next, as well as responses from others. A journal is an excellent place for this sorting. It gives an actor confidence to go into rehearsal having spent time beforehand bringing order to a jumble of thoughts and feelings. 4. Learning to articulate our thoughts. Writing in a journal requires us to decide how we want to say something—to translate general thoughts into specific ones, to make choices about our subject matter,
about how to explain or describe something, how to tell the story of something, to expand or edit our ideas, to decide which details are important, which less so. All of these skills are profoundly related to acting, and what we do alone to practice these skills will no doubt translate into our scene preparation. 5. Communicating. Acting is one of the “communication arts,” and the journal is a good place to prime the fundamental impulse to communicate our thoughts. This communication is the link between our private and our public selves—our solitary preparation and our work with our colleagues—and it needs to be strong. We can use our journals to clarify what we want to communicate to colleagues as well as to audiences. This will create a basis for articulating in rehearsal what works or doesn’t work for us as an actor, and for asking clearly for what we need in order to thrive creatively in the work. 6. Capturing elusive thought. A journal gives you a central place to write down those great ideas that come in flashes and then try to get away. We may find creative solutions when we are doing something completely unrelated to the problem itself. We may solve a puzzle in a dream or see something that fills in a blank that has stumped us. Don’t let these inspirations escape! Let your journal be a repository for these treasures. 7. Appreciating language. Writing in a journal gives us a chance to enjoy choosing words, using unusual language, finding the perfect turn of phrase. We take time to feel the power and humor of different words—their meanings and their sounds—and this heightened experience of language then informs our approach to any dramatic text. 8. Appreciating writing. When we write, we become sensitive to writing by other people. We experience first-hand the process that a writer goes through. Understanding the writer’s process is one of the greatest responsibilities and pleasures of the actor. 9. Training for a sustained effort. To become an actor, you will need to
be able to stay focused on training and gaining performance experience over a long period of time. Acting is not something one learns quickly. Keeping a journal is a good way to develop your taste for doing things over a long period of time. A journal is not something one develops in, say, four weeks, or three months. A journal grows with you. You create a relationship with it that lasts for years. 10. Making connections. A journal is a good place to start seeing relationships between things. These may be connections between people you see on the street and people in the play you are working on, or between the color of your bedroom and a piece of music on the radio. Part of an actor’s job is to make a lot of parts seem like a whole, so writing down how things are the same—and different—is excellent practice. With time, you may even find a connection between being a good writer and being a good actor!
Some ideas for how to keep a journal When you come to the how of keeping a journal, there are a few important guidelines to remember. Personalize it. Bottom line: the journal is yours. It is a companion; make it one you would like to spend time with. Decorating the cover is a good way to start. Decide whether you’d like to write on a schedule (for example, every day for fifteen minutes; every Friday for an hour). Or keep it handy for writing in as soon as something occurs to you. Name it. Decide what you would like to call it. Do you like the word “journal”? Perhaps yours is a record book or a training log or a work diary. Name it whatever you like. Choose the format. If it is big, you can keep it longer; if it is small, you can carry it more easily. Lined paper may be neater for text; unlined may encourage more drawing. A bound book might last longer; a binder makes it easy to add and remove pages. Experiment. Keep it focused. Keep the contents related to your training, and to acting, the arts and the creative process. It may
overlap sometimes with your personal diary, but its purpose is always to further your theatre work. Keep it legible. Many of my students tell me that years later their journals from class saved them time and money when they were working professionally. Make sure you can read your writing and decipher your spelling. Cherish the gluestick. Leave room in your journal for scrapbook items: theatre tickets, fabric swatches, poems or quotes you might cut out, letters you write to actors you admire (the letters you send and those you don’t), photographs, memorabilia—even things you write when you are not near your journal. Don’t forget that you can change your mind whenever you want. Do it all one way for a while, then try other ways. Just as with acting, what inspires you may change over time; and, as with acting, if you know exactly how you work and feel confident that your process is just right—it may be time for a change. David Wiley, who introduced us to the idea of vade mecum above, concluded that passage by saying: “I want to acknowledge my indebtedness to the notebook I have kept all these years… it has led me into some very unusual adventures.” There are many splendid reasons to keep an acting journal but the most important one is that it will make you happy. It is a special kind of happiness that comes from documenting your rich thoughts and experience. Mysterious but true: your journal will lead you into some very unusual adventures. Lissa Tyler Renaud, a director and awardwinning actor, is program director and teacher of InterArts Training for Acting, Voice and Movement in Oakland, California (www.interarts-training.org).
MARCH 2003 • DRAMATICS