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Thursday, December 10, 2009

Communion

Every actor loathes the idea of performing to an empty house and even worse a non-responsive house.  Often times during a performance you can feel the audience's attention.  Whether you are performing a drama or a comedy you can feel it.  In an intense dramatic scene, the audience's gaze can be felt on your neck and the air is sucked out of the room.  In a comedy, there is the audience's laugh.  But when the house is empty or an audience isn't responding it is like a bug repeatedly flying into a window.   You just want to pull your hair out.  Theatre is a communion, says Stanislavsky, originally it's a celebration in honor of Dionysus and in the modern era it is an exchange of humanity.  The ideas and emotions are presented to the audience and without an audience to present our gift to, there is no purpose.  The theater is hollow without an audience.  You are the final collaborator; your attention is all we desire. 

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