2020 has finally come to a close and one thing the tumultuous year has taught us is that… WE ABSOLUTELY LOVE OUR CRAFT. If you’re an actor and you feel the same way, here are three habits you should have for 2021.
1. Never Stop Practicing
As an actor, our body is our instrument. We use our voice and our muscles to depict an abstract image at any given point in time during a performance. Much like an athlete. So, it is important to eradicate all assumptions that to be an actor you have to be born with that natural ability and that is all there is to it. No. As an actor, you have to practice. And ideally, not just when you have upcoming performances, but as often as you can.
You don’t see Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi just stretching before playing a game. They train for months before a season starts, and even outside of official training, they incorporate little exercises into their daily lives.
Take an acting workshop and pick up some exercises you can carry out on your own. Or routinely attend acting workshops that are available in your vicinity. There are plenty of acting techniques that would be good to add to your arsenal or refresh yourself on.
A good by-product of this is that you get to meet people that could vertically and horizontally expand your circles. You’ll never know, your acting instructor could refer you to some calls should the need arise, and the peers that you keep in touch with will be there to support productions that you are in.
We have two advanced workshops and an acting workshop for beginners coming up in January that you should check out.
This brings me to the next habit...
2. Support One Another
We cannot stress the importance of this enough. Growth starts from within, so support one another by not only going to watch your peers in shows. Support one another by also telling your friends about the shows that your peers are in and telling your friends to tell their friends. Support one another by taking part in collaborations that you deem useful to you and that you can commit to.
When it is your turn to seek help, your peers will return the favor.
On that note, we have Village collaborations every other month and are always looking for actors interested in being added to our pool. Being added to our pool means we will reach out to you first to ask your interest in certain roles for future Village showcases.
3. Watch, Observe, Learn
You can’t be an actor and not have read a play or watched a classic. Watching productions, local and international, allows you to pick up on new ideas and learn from how your peers executed them. This knowledge will help greatly in future auditions since you’ve already seen how certain scenes and characters were depicted and you can then take what applies to your audition and improve it accordingly.
To be discerning is to have participated in.
While you’re here, you might be interested in our Christmas Online Play Showcase or past shows available to watch online.
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That’s it. We reckon these three habits are very applicable and we hope you decide to add at least one of them to your goals for 2021. We look forward to working with you if you do decide to join our pool of actors for our upcoming Village collaborations! Happy New Year!