Back To The Future

t the end of the year, it's common to look back and work to sum up where we've been. Frankly, this writer prefers at the end of the year to look forward. Where are we going? The problem with the future is distinguishing between hope (on the one hand) and prediction based on a sensible consideration of current conditions (on the other). For example, each year I pray for world peace in the year ahead. Nevertheless some idiot or idiots decide that the only way to get through the year is with senseless murder. Consequently I'm left with the same hope year after year. (If anyone wants to give up on slaughter and give peace a chance, I'll very willingly find a new prayer. I'll manage.)

Whither theatre? Whither the art and craft of acting? Will the actor be replaced by some nebulous thing called "technology?"

Some people in the business worry about advances made in computer technology that allow for evermore control over the precise image seen on the screen and heard by the ear. Some go so far to worry that directors will give up on live actors and use only figures that exist solely for the screen. And this is supposed to happen in the future? A mouse and a rabbit swiftly come to mind as "performers" who exist solely on the screen, have never drawn a paycheck, and represent two major world-wide entertainment conglomerates. Has SAG ever gotten a penny of dues from Mickey? It's doubtful. As we've seen, some directors have enjoyed working solely with these "non-human" characters and other directors have enjoyed working with all-too-human actors. Some directors, like George Lucas, like to mix and match the "real" and the "created." This writer tends to think that the future will largely resemble the past in this regard.

But what of the art and craft of acting? This question is more puzzling.

The 20^th Century saw the introduction of a major influx of ideas about what an actor ought to be able to do. According to Stanislavsky, the actor ought to be an artist who shows the truth of the human spirit. According to pedagogues such as Meyerhold and Copeau, the actor ought to be almost an acrobat of the soul. According to Brecht, the actor ought to help make the audience think as well as feel. And there are the ideas of Artaud, Tadashi Suzuki, Grotowski, and every other director and teacher of the century. Even as the new century starts growing we're still working out the ideas of the last century.

The future of acting will include challenges to current thinking. We will finally move into the future as an art when we start challenging the ideas of the past, testing the ideas to see what truly works, what premises actually hold true regardless of time, place, ethnicity, culture, or other influences. We will move into the future when out of those challenges we find the voice that binds the actor with the audience.

The future of acting is not only tied to actors and directors but to playwrights as well. We will move into the future as actors when a new Shakespeare, a new Chekhov, a new O'Neill takes the existing conventions of theatre and plays and re-molds those conventions in totally new ways that grab audiences and still transform old conventions into something completely new and fresh.

The future of acting also involves a new search into the world of our minds and bodies and the interaction of mind and body. (Indeed even this mentioning of these elements as separate may seem extraordinarily odd in the future.) Scientists are just now starting to begin to understand how the brain functions. Heretofore, much of human exploration has involved the search of physical geography. Now exploration also moves in the inner-world of humans. Scientists are now just starting to begin the search for how the brain works as a physical system within the human body. Over the course of our new century we're likely to learn much about how unified our mind and body are as physical systems. Although I'd like to believe that part of our essential selves or "souls" are in some way intangible, it seems likely that the unity of our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and bodies will become clearer over the coming decades. This will allow actors the opportunity to understand their craft better and continue to develop their art.

And what's the hope for the future of actors? The hope is that actors find a voice that connects with such vitality with audiences that people flock in huge numbers to experience this art live and in person. Well, it's a dream.

In the meantime, maybe I can find a job working as Mickey's valet?

Nathan Thomas has earned his
   living as a touring actor, Artistic Director, director
   stage manager, designer, composer, and pianist
   He has a Ph.D. in Theatre and is a member of
   the theatre faculty of Centenary College

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