ON ACTING: TEN PREPARATION REQUIREMENTS OF A GOOD ACTOR: or, A FINAL CHECKLIST BEFORE PERFORMANCE

Is my voice and body 'warmed up'? Do I know my lines? Have I set my blocking? (Audience Witnessing Requirements)

Am I ready to convince the other characters in the scene with me that "I'm right, they're wrong?" (Commitment to Objective.)

Do I realize I can only achieve my goals through convincing the other person (s) to agree with me? (Interdependent)

Will I try to make the achievement of my goal short and brief while at the same time paradoxically emotionally prepared for a long scene in the conflict so requires? (Honest)

Is my opponent (s) before me a real person, with eyes, nose, hair, voice, not just the 'character'? Am I willing to let that real person(s) to make me feel by really looking at and listening to them? (Real)

Is the scene, and the achievement of my goal, always important? (Intensity)

Am I prepared for a wide range of emotional responses and tactics as I emotionally, verbally and physically respond to others? (Variety)

Have I willing/prepared to live the scene at a profound level of emotional reactions? (Complexity)

Am I prepared to live the scene with 'beats and transitions', 'build' and 'character development' (personal change from beginning to end)? (Structure)

Am I prepared to be smooth and elegant, do only what is physically and verbally sufficient to the character's tasks of convincing the other characters, and not wasting unnecessary energy on dealing with my own actor's insecurity and desire to 'act'? (Elegance)

When the scene starts, have I forgotten all my personal acting tasks and desires, and am ready to confine myself to the action tasks of me as the-actor-as-character? (Kill the Actor)

Now: live/perform.