Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2010, Page 68
The study of Karin in The Touch involved getting to know her complexities: her emotions,
thoughts, what she says, what she doesn‘t say her current situation, manner, movement,
family, background, community, socio-economic status, interests, relationships, stated and
unstated needs and goals, dreams, aspects of her inner life, and so on. It also required an
empathic connection with the character, putting oneself in her place, thinking and feeling as
she does and embodying her character: Have I had a life experience—trauma, loss,
accomplishment, and so on—similar to hers? How did I feel? How was I affected? Absent
such particular trauma, can I empathically relate through other trauma of my own? How
would I be affected if this were to happen to me? Such ―character study‖ involved pondering
the character and her relationships, asking ―why,‖ or ―where did this motivation come
from?‖ What precedes the speech? What thoughts exist between the spoken words? Is there
an unspoken message in the subtext? What is the logical intent of the writer, to be gleaned
from all the information within the story? Does the character resemble any person in my life
that I know, including myself? If so, can I imitate and modify that behavior and see if it fits
the character? I might research a topic the writer brings up… perhaps the history or
geography of the place of action or a book, philosophy, or current event to which the
character refers.
I loved the freedom and spontaneity of the process, and the relationship with the actor with
whom I was working. The locus of control was within me and it was acknowledged that I
could succeed. Rehearsing was challenging and rewarding… Peggy encouraged us to do so
in any situation—whether it be walking on the streets of Beverly Hills or alongside the
ocean, having a luscious salad at the Old World restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, setting up
our scene at the Loft late at night (we all had keys), or meeting at each others‘ homes.
Different places brought out unexpected discoveries that supported not only the character
work but our understanding of ourselves, a process enjoyable and exciting, also difficult and
painful at times.
Performance of the part was the culmination of all the work and study that had gone before
to embody the character in the here-and-now. I worked with whatever I confronted without
an option to leave. It was incredibly rewarding, challenging, and exciting.
In sensory work, we created our own space on stage, alone for an hour, with the rest of the
actors and Peggy looking on. Our intent was to take ourselves back to a room from our
childhood, placing available props where they belonged: our bed, table, chair, any imagined
object. By concentrating, we could ―see,‖ ―feel,‖ ―smell,‖ ―hear‖ a special doll, parent, or
event and stay with it, following it wherever it took us and re-living it through these sense
memories.
Another example involved about eight of us sitting on stage for at least 20 minutes,
imagining we were sitting in the sun, aware of whatever thoughts or feelings emerged. On a
cold winter morning, I remember first experiencing the sensation of being cold then,
through focus, I felt warmer and more relaxed. After a time, the heat began to feel
uncomfortable, so I shifted in my seat and finally removed a jacket. Then a pleasurable
memory emerged, but I became bored and irritated with the heat! It required getting up
and moving around to find some ―shade‖ or relief, but there was no escape from or
avoidance of the situation until Peggy said to end. This sensory work contrasted with the
―spiritual exercises‖ in Eckankar in significant ways. For example, Eckankar‘s exercises were
deemed successful only if our subjective experience conformed to how the ―master‖
described it should be, and if our goal was to transcend the illusion of the physical world.
The sensory work at the Loft challenged us to work through any situation we encountered,
spontaneously responding with idiosyncratic thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations. Our
focus was here-and-now, on stage, authentically relating to ourselves and others with the
specific goal of doing the best work we could.
The study of Karin in The Touch involved getting to know her complexities: her emotions,
thoughts, what she says, what she doesn‘t say her current situation, manner, movement,
family, background, community, socio-economic status, interests, relationships, stated and
unstated needs and goals, dreams, aspects of her inner life, and so on. It also required an
empathic connection with the character, putting oneself in her place, thinking and feeling as
she does and embodying her character: Have I had a life experience—trauma, loss,
accomplishment, and so on—similar to hers? How did I feel? How was I affected? Absent
such particular trauma, can I empathically relate through other trauma of my own? How
would I be affected if this were to happen to me? Such ―character study‖ involved pondering
the character and her relationships, asking ―why,‖ or ―where did this motivation come
from?‖ What precedes the speech? What thoughts exist between the spoken words? Is there
an unspoken message in the subtext? What is the logical intent of the writer, to be gleaned
from all the information within the story? Does the character resemble any person in my life
that I know, including myself? If so, can I imitate and modify that behavior and see if it fits
the character? I might research a topic the writer brings up… perhaps the history or
geography of the place of action or a book, philosophy, or current event to which the
character refers.
I loved the freedom and spontaneity of the process, and the relationship with the actor with
whom I was working. The locus of control was within me and it was acknowledged that I
could succeed. Rehearsing was challenging and rewarding… Peggy encouraged us to do so
in any situation—whether it be walking on the streets of Beverly Hills or alongside the
ocean, having a luscious salad at the Old World restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, setting up
our scene at the Loft late at night (we all had keys), or meeting at each others‘ homes.
Different places brought out unexpected discoveries that supported not only the character
work but our understanding of ourselves, a process enjoyable and exciting, also difficult and
painful at times.
Performance of the part was the culmination of all the work and study that had gone before
to embody the character in the here-and-now. I worked with whatever I confronted without
an option to leave. It was incredibly rewarding, challenging, and exciting.
In sensory work, we created our own space on stage, alone for an hour, with the rest of the
actors and Peggy looking on. Our intent was to take ourselves back to a room from our
childhood, placing available props where they belonged: our bed, table, chair, any imagined
object. By concentrating, we could ―see,‖ ―feel,‖ ―smell,‖ ―hear‖ a special doll, parent, or
event and stay with it, following it wherever it took us and re-living it through these sense
memories.
Another example involved about eight of us sitting on stage for at least 20 minutes,
imagining we were sitting in the sun, aware of whatever thoughts or feelings emerged. On a
cold winter morning, I remember first experiencing the sensation of being cold then,
through focus, I felt warmer and more relaxed. After a time, the heat began to feel
uncomfortable, so I shifted in my seat and finally removed a jacket. Then a pleasurable
memory emerged, but I became bored and irritated with the heat! It required getting up
and moving around to find some ―shade‖ or relief, but there was no escape from or
avoidance of the situation until Peggy said to end. This sensory work contrasted with the
―spiritual exercises‖ in Eckankar in significant ways. For example, Eckankar‘s exercises were
deemed successful only if our subjective experience conformed to how the ―master‖
described it should be, and if our goal was to transcend the illusion of the physical world.
The sensory work at the Loft challenged us to work through any situation we encountered,
spontaneously responding with idiosyncratic thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations. Our
focus was here-and-now, on stage, authentically relating to ourselves and others with the
specific goal of doing the best work we could.
