ON ACTING: Repeating the Past

The past is dead; a good acor learns to live in the present.

The actor reviewed his tape of his class scene: "It was dull," he said. And then, to explain: "I was in my head." "What were you doing there?" I asked. He said: "Trying to duplicated last night's work." (Which, I agreed, was wonderful.) I admonished him: "What was wonderful about last night's work is that you were not trying to duplicate the prior night's work."

Acting is creation, not replication.

Or: 'Strive to repeat the past; you lose the present.'