06 Dec Trauma–Free Acting
The beauty of a watching a good acting performance is that you can live vicariously through the character being played on the screen. A good performance allows you to “feel” what the character is feeling: the tension, the anger, the melancholy, the desperation, the joy, or the fear. What you may be surprised to know is that many of these epic; sometimes award-winning performances were shaped by pain: a pain that was distilled into the role to make the character’s emotions more authentic. Many times it works; creating an arresting performance by taking a particularly traumatic image or event in the actor’s life (real or imaginary) and using it to fuel their portrayal. However, the process leaves many actors uncomfortable and psychologically scarred; with many feeling depressed, dejected, and upset.
But what if you could bring out your best performance without having to bring up any pain? Is trauma-free acting really possible? Most acting schools would say no; as most of them rely on affective memory and “method” acting. However; you aren’t the character you’re playing, so imbuing your character with your personal experiences and feelings might not be the best way to inform your performance. Top Hollywood celebrity acting Coach Brad Heller can teach you how to evoke the proper emotion for a scene without having to recall and imagine traumatic events using a “non-method acting” approach he developed from the work of his mentor, Acting Coach Don Richardson. Brad explains it this way:
“After literally hundreds of thousands of wasted dollars and hours spent on crappy acting classes across the country, I found that the most effective way to evoke emotion was not taught to me in any university, but nearly 20 years ago in L.A. by the late Don Richardson, my acting mentor.
Don completely changed my outlook on acting and made it fun again. I discovered that it’s possible to get emotional without having to think of anything personal.”
Watch Brad Explain the foundations of the “non-method acting approach” in this video:
The Heller Approach Acting Studio’s group acting classes are very popular; and have helped many actors such as Taylor Blackburn, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Masi Oka with their portrayals. In fact, they have been voted as the Best Acting Classes in Los Angeles. You can attend regular acting classes, or learn acting via SKYPE.