ON ACTING: Working for A Bad Director

A student asked me one time how to solve the problem of working for a director, who, in the audition process, was asking her for fake acting. The director was from the representational school of acting. How should she handle the director’s requests when all her inclinations and training are aimed toward emotional truth is performance? I said: “Don’t work for that director.” The actor stared at me. I stared back; then said: “Would you sign on as a member of the crew where the captain thinks the world is flat? She’ll lead you off the edge of the world.”

Creating a fake performance to please a misguided director is dangerous to long term acting health. No matter how much money a misguided director is willing to pay you, no matter how badly you need the job--for money or even for ego-boosting reasons-- working for a bad director is like accepting a lousy date to get a free meal: even if the meal tastes good at first, you eventually wind up with long-term indigestion.