The Actor’s Big Three

“Concentration was as much a capacity as it was a state to Stanislavski, and, as Orthodox mystics and yogis agreed, it could be trained through exercises. Take a coin and put it on a table. This is your object of attention. Eventually, these objects will not need to be tangible. Anything you focus on, real or imagined, literal or conceptual, is an object. But back to the coin. Sit, relax, breathe. Explore the coin. What year was it minted? Is there dirt on it? Little imperfections? See where it has been worn smooth, where the green of zinc or oxidized metal becomes visible. Explore the coin so closely that you could describe it down to the tiniest detail from memory.” – book, The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act by Isaac Butler

As first detailed by Stanislavski and then later developed and expanded into more exercises by teachers such as Strasberg, Adler and Meisner, there are three big tools the actor can and should be working on at all times…

Relaxation.

Imagination.

Concentration.

So simple in concept, yet so difficult to do. Especially as adults.

But the more you develop and hone these tools, the more your acting will look effortless. Which should always be the goal.