The Bias of Acting Technique

Aug 11

By April Sigman-Marx

Are the teachings of Stanislavski and his offshoots the best approach to acting technique? Many acting training programs and teachers, it seems, would answer yes, as they offer Stanislavski-based techniques as the standard approach to creating natural performance. However, therein lies the problem: the word “natural”. What is natural and who decides what it constitutes and what it does not?

Naturalism: A Eurocentric movement that began in the 1800’s rooted in the depiction of subjects in their natural habit and social milieu, increased in popularity with the rise of photography and eventually film. This movement contributed greatly to realism in theatre and the psychological realist performance approach of portraying a character’s inner life on stage in a natural manner. Influencing all aspects of theatre from design to dialog and narrative structure—but are these structures, inner lives, habitats and social milieu “natural” to all people or simply those whose society and language emulate western norms?

Webster dictionary defines natural as:
1: based on an inherent sense of right and wrong natural justice
2a: being in accordance with or determined by nature; natural impulses
2b: having or constituting a classification based on features existing in nature

By using the word “natural”, we present an idea that there is a prescribed right and a wrong way to perform. This is reinforced in critical responses to performance such as: I did not believe they were really … (fill in the blank.) this plainly puts performances into good or bad categories. Of course, no performer wants to be deemed as “bad”, so they make adjustments and begin to mold themselves in the image of the “good”; but in whose image are they molding? If Stanislavski is considered the father of modern acting, is it his image that we are modeling? The image of a white, Russian man excludes the experience of approximately 69% of the people who might train as an actor in the United States. How can this large percentage of performers-in-training “naturally” mold themselves into an image completely outside of their own experience?

Impossible? No. Biased? Absolutely.

Even the approach itself is slanted to benefit the few versus the whole. Stanislavski’s technique values an intellectual approach with a focus on action that is projected outward (traits ascribed as masculine and highly valued in western colonialism). Add to this the tear-them-down-to-build-them-up method commonly utilized in teaching acting technique– which further isolates students who are already dealing with the trauma of being broken down by systematic and institutionalized biases– and the fact that this is often crammed into a semester (3.5 month) or academic year (7 month) timeline, and the end result is that students often leave more traumatized without a concrete understanding of how to implement consistent performance technique. We are asking students to be vulnerable and trust, but how can they trust when we aren’t trusting them to create their own timelines or making space for them to bring all of themselves into the room? How can we ask acting students to fully embody a character without fully embodying themselves?

Students who identify as BIPOC, LGBTQIA and female/femme/ non-binary, etc. are coming to the work fundamentally disadvantaged. For so long, they have been asked to make the adjustment to the perspective of the 31%, but a shift is taking place, in large part thanks to the recent Black Lives Matter movement. Training programs and teachers are moving from unconscious incompetence into conscious incompetence; asking ourselves how can we do better? How can we de-center performance training to encompass more people?

Now, I am not saying we should throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak, as Stanislavski’s technique undeniably has its merits. Instead, we should acknowledge the origins of this technique and the limits presented by this singular view, while expanding our practices to encompass a wider perspective. Presenting this type of transparency within the classroom builds a deeper understanding that this is one method, from one place, rather than a singular authority. This will open students up to both the possibilities and limitations of this particular technique while cultivating curiosity about practices from other regions and cultures while creating ownership of their personal approach to their performance practice.

More transparency in the work overall will have a lasting effect on our students, both in creating more inclusive training practices and in giving our students autonomy over their own understanding of their work and unique artistry. But transparency alone will not fix the ongoing harmful bias in our training, we must all commit to seeking better practices.

It is imperative that we examine and trouble the language used within the technique and within our own vernacular that indicate white spaces and subtly push students into limiting practices such as code switching. We (educators) must educate ourselves in performance origins and history beyond the western practices that were offered as a singular truth within the performance training of our youth. We must search out experts and pay them to train us in recognizing bias and opportunities to build equity within the work. We must broaden the cannon utilized in our teachings to include works by artists who identify as BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, female/femme, non-binary and non-western.

I certainly do not have the answers to the questions posed within this essay, as I too am sitting in conscious incompetence, but I am willing to step in the proverbial poop while building a deeper understanding and competency in this area. It will be uncomfortable, I will fail beautifully, learn from my mistakes and then, do better. I believe it is imperative for all of us who teach, perform and study performance to be asking ourselves and those around us these questions. So, my question to you is: Are you willing to step in the poop?

Here are some helpful resources to explore during the search:

Books:

Ain’t I a Woman: Black Woman and Feminism by: Bell Hooks

Decolonizing Trauma Work: Indigenous Stories and Strategies by Renee Linklater

Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive by Julia Serano

How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi

I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Diversity Regimes: Why Talk Is Not Enough to Fix Racial Inequality at Universities (The American Campus) by: James M. Thomas

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by: Maya Angelou

Sister Outsider by: Audre Lorde

Black Acting Methods by: Sharrell D. Luckett with Tia M. Shaffer

A Chicago Black woman owned book store to buy from: Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery. If you would like to support other BIPOC owned bookstores in your local area, check for one here.

https://lithub.com/you-can-order-today-from-these-black-owned-independent-bookstores/

Training:

Black Acting Methods Studio:

https://www.blackactingmethods.com/about

Conscious Theatre Training, Nicole Brewer ART

https://www.nicolembrewer.com

Race Forward

https://www.raceforward.org

Diversity.edu

https://diversityedu.com

Art Equity

https://www.artequity.org