SAG ELECTION RESULTS
The moderate faction won. Actor Ken Howard is the new SAG president. What this means is that the Guild may not be quite as eager to go on strike as it was under the previous regime. Personally, I think this is a positive development, just as long as Howard and his team are not limp noodles. It is a good idea not to strike right now, but it will be a mortal error for the union to roll over and beg. Actors and producers still remain on opposite sides of the bargaining table. There must be a non-zero sum agreement in order to move forward. So far, it doesn't appear that anybody in Screen Actors Guild leadership, including Ken Howard, is doing what needs to be done to empower actors in a digital age. Our new Guild president is a bright man and an experienced actor, but he got to where he is by climbing the ladder in a non-digital environment. The single best action SAG could take right now would be to retain a couple of certifiable internet wizards who have some idea of where things are technologically going to be eight or ten years from now. For sure, the actor's workplace is not going to look anything like what it does today.

TERRIFIC BOOK ON STYLE
Style for Actors: A Handbook for Moving Beyond Realism, by Robert Barton (Routledge, $35.95, ISBN: 978-0-415-48573-9) is an unusual - and I would say, essential - reference for any actor who aspires to act in the classics. The author ingeniously guides the reader into Greek, Elizabethan, Restoration and even Georgian style by asking the kind of questions that actors like to answer. What did the world look like back then? What did things look and sound like? How did women wear their hair? What kind of clothes did they wear, and why? What body parts were most exposed, and why? Generously illustrated and easy to read, this is a useful addition to your library. Highly recommended.

CHICAGO SCENE STUDY
The scene study workshop meets at The Acting Studio, 10 West Hubbard Street #2E, in the Loop. That is located half a block west of Hubbard and State streets. Hours are 7-10:30 on Thursday nights. It is free to audit once, and you can start at any time. Tuition is $135 per 4-week month.

PRIVATE COACHING
I am available for private coaching in Chicago. $75 per hour.

ACTING FOR ANIMATORS WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
Oct 23-24 Taiwan, SOFA Studio
Oct 27- 31 Beijing, China Aniwow! Festival
Nov 14 Sunnyvale, Calif. Cogswell Polytechnical College
Feb 5-8 Teesside, England, Animex Festival

CRAFT NOTES
Pursuing Objectives
You can't learn how to act by reading a book, not even one by Stanislavsky, Meisner, Adler or Hagen. How-to acting books make for interesting reading, but a cerebral understanding of acting is not going to do the trick. You learn the art and craft of acting by actually getting up on stage and doing it, the same way you learn how to ride a bicycle or fly an airplane. Acting is a hands-on, direct experience kind of thing, which is why doing it is thrilling and frightening simultaneously. You learn how to swim by jumping into the deep water, not by messing around in the wading pool.

Having said that, I am now going to try to explain what an "objective" is and why it is important to you as an actor. When you are acting in a scene, you should have an objective 100 percent of the time. Think of it as a destination or a task that you want to accomplish. An objective should be provable. If you want to fly to London, getting to London would be your objective, and you would know whether you got there or not. An objective should not be vague. "I want to be a happy person" is an admirable sentiment, but it is not a viable objective for an actor in a scene because happiness is too subjective to measure. Will any of us ever get to a place in life where we figure we have achieved the apex of personal happiness? I don't think so. But let's say, for the sake of argument, that having a family might be a significant ingredient to your happiness formula. If so, then getting pregnant would be a good objective. Unless you aren't married yet, in which case a better objective would be to get a date.

One problem I have noticed is that acting teachers are not consistent in the way they (we) use the word "objective". I recently read the manuscript for a new text on acting, written by an experienced actor, and he talked about how you should "play your objective". That isn't correct. You play an action in pursuit of an objective. Getting to London is the objective; buying a ticket on British Airways is an action in pursuit of that objective. Packing your clothes for the trip is an action in pursuit of that objective. Taking a taxi to the airport is an action in pursuit of that objective. You may have countless actions, one after the other, all in pursuit of the same objective. The idea is that you pursue the objective until you either achieve it, or until another objective takes its place. Your pilot has to land your airplane in the Hudson River? The heck with London, now you just want to get ashore without getting your laptop or Kindle wet. That is your new objective.

This would be a good time to review the craft notes from last month's newsletter. I wrote about how actors use conflict differently than normal people do. Action in pursuit of an objective is part of the equation of acting, but you need conflict (obstacle) in order to make the equation theatrical. You play an action in pursuit of an objective while overcoming an obstacle. Theatrical reality is not the same thing as regular reality. Regular reality is what you get at the spa or the mall. Theatrical reality has structure, form. Ideally, a director should be able to freeze frame actors on stage and ask each one what he is doing. The actor should be able to answer in theatrical terms - action, objective, and obstacle. This is, however, easier said than done. If stopped mid-performance and asked that question, an actor might reply for example, "I am listening to Leslie." "What's your objective?" "To hear what he has to say." Sigh .... To hear what the other character has to say is not a viable objective. Listening is an action, but the conversation between this fellow and Leslie presumably has some point to it. Words are just a tool, and acting has very little to do with words in the first place. "Why are you listening to Leslie?" "Okay, I want him to admit that he has been secretly dating my girlfriend." Bingo! That would be a viable objective. Either he will tell you, or he won't. See what I mean?

All of which brings us back to my original point. You can't learn how to act by reading a book. Now that you thoroughly understand what an objective is in acting, you need to get on a stage and start playing scenes. Soon enough, you will discover that it is not enough to just be truthful and natural and spontaneous. You are going to have to pursue objectives. With actions. While overcoming obstacles. Take it to the bank.

Until Next Month . . . Be Safe!