On Acting – Intro

As someone who aspires to be an actor one day (in truth I see myself as an actor already, it’s just a matter of getting training under my belt, and a job), I’m very excited about the potential acting/acting training holds for changing the individual, and for changing the world – and thus for solving depression.

Here’s an excerpt of an email I sent to my team a few weeks ago, when the idea first took root in my mind (it was a very rough idea then, and remains so now):

“Hey guys,



So I've been reading a lot of acting books lately, and I'm getting really excited about the prospect of ACTING TRAINING becoming a mainstream cure for depression.



As an actor, you identify with the need of the character you want to portray, then use your body as the instrument to portray the motions appropriate to this need. In doing so, you must utterly remove yourself from everyday reality and learn to lose yourself in the real life dream you are creating as an actor. You become hyperaware of your body and mind and you learn to master them.



What better way to train oneself to escape the mental loops and mind traps of depressive thinking? And to weld that with taking concrete action when you least feel like doing anything at all? And to build confidence and a sense of self-worth while doing so?



Actors who take their craft seriously realize that they are acting every second of every minute of every hour of their lives, and this type of mindset will provide a sort of constant vigilance for depressed people to guard against suicidal/negative thinking. And acting is all about physical and mental exchange with fellow actors - that will put a check on isolation (both physical and mental).



Just a thought - and an example of how something seemingly disparate could become extraordinarily relevant.”



Since then, the idea has only grown on me. I see enormous possibility. I intuitively see that acting is all about THINKING BIG, IMAGINING BIG, and most of all, ACTING BIG! This kind of mentality is exactly what‘s needed to help someone overcome depression.

And not only does acting hold enormous possibility – the products of acting (movies, plays, culture) wield enormous power for change too! For instance, check out this article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/world/middleeast/04iranfilms.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

In general, I think fame could be leveraged more effectively to create positive change in this world, beyond just publicity trips and charity concerts, etc. There must be a better business model to accomplish this, in a society where unfortunately fame’s the name of the game, to a very large degree. But that’s another discussion for another time…

With all of this in mind, I’ve decided to start a series of posts on Acting, of which this is the introductory post, where I will present my ideas for how acting training can help people overcome depression. Some of these ideas you may see in the section on Action, but others you will see here.

I’ve been accepted to a weekend program w/the Stella Adler Studio for Acting in NYC (8 hrs/day on Saturdays and Sundays), and I look forward to sharing with you some of the things I learn!

Check back in for more in the Acting series! My classes start January 16^th!

-David

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