Let's talk about the times when our characters monologue about a past memory or event. We know these kind of pieces - where our character vents for a large chunk of text. Often times, as actors we can get lost in nostalgia. Or it can feel as if our entire focus is on ourselves and our emotional connection to the event or memory.
But I'd like to challenge that. I don't think these stories have anything to do with us - they are actually about our scene partner. If we make the monologue about our experience - it becomes inactive. We stop fighting for something we need from out scene partner - and we loose the stakes. We get lost in reliving the memory - and we loose sense of why the heck we are saying all this in the first place. I'd like to offer - we are sharing this story for a deeper purpose: to affect our scene partner - and get them to DO something right now, in this moment.
This story isn't about ourselves reveling in what we experienced in the past - rather - this story is a vehicle that we use to get our objective. We are using this story as a tactical tool - as a way to affect THEM.
Additionally - this is less about our emotional experience at the time of the event - and more about discovering something new - now that you are sharing these words out loud (likely) for the first time. Often - in unpacking a past event- we are transformed. Our perspective in the telling of this story actually reshapes our experience of it. In that way - we are still thinking as we speak, making discoveries, and most importantly - finding things in the present moment.
Anytime we are working on a script with a long stretch of text describing a memory or story - I would like to encourage you to ask these questions:
Why am I sharing this story right now?
How am I using this story to affect my scene partner?
How does sharing this story, help me get what I want in this moment?
What do I discover in the telling of this story?
How am I different by the end of this story, than I was when before I shared this story?
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