“When a bone breaks…we know why the bone breaks…There is an event that literally is the cause of the bone breaking. And very often when we see someone that has broken his or her leg…or physically hurt him or herself…the common response is ‘Oh my God, are you OK?’ or ‘Oh my God, what happened?’…because we see someone physically in pain…we see someone that is struggling in the here and now moment with a visual wound. Well take a moment to think about that…That’s the ‘norm’…the empathetic part of us…the compassionate part of us…sees someone in pain and wants to know what were the events that led to that break. Well a lot of the time we forget about that awareness…emotionally. We see someone’s actions (the character) that may be broken, and we automatically judge the actions…We don’t really ask with a compassionate heart, ‘What were the series of events that led to that brokenness?’…because we’re just seeing the actions…and we’re not understanding…or not willing to understand…everything that led to that person executing those specific actions. The Why! We as actors‘s have an obligation to artistically connect to the painof what the character is going through…We have an obligation to artistically connect to the brokenness of the character as a means into his or her life…so we don’t get stuck in a world of judgment…so we are not blocked from inhabiting the character’s world with judgment…or resentment…or bitterness. We ask ourselves ‘Where did the break happen?…How did the break happen?…When did it happen?…What were the series events?…What were the relationships?…What were the circumstances that caused this human being to behave…or react…the way he she does?…How…with a compassionate heart…am I able to justify…whether the actions are right or wrong…why someone does what they do…And how now, can I justify how everything that this human being is doing…is trying to improve his or her existence…his or her life…moment to moment?…How did this person formulate the way they go through life…the way they function in their life…based on the relationships…the events…the circumstances…that they have experienced…and the defense mechanisms that they may have created because of all that…to get them through?…How are they searching for solace?…For peace?…For an improvement in their world…based on what they do?’… We have to remember that the way in is not through our judgment of the unmentionable. It is through our willingness to enter in with a compassionate understanding of the historical origin of one’s pain and suffering that has caused one to behave in unmentionable ways. Just like a broken leg, all ‘brokenness’ has its own story that caused the break!”
Click on this here to watch this masterclass lecture in its entirety.
Much Love, Mario
TAG ▫️SHARE ▫️COMMENT ⚪️For more information on MC² Actors Studio, MC²=Mario Campanaro’s Masterclass & Mario Campanaro For The Actor, please contact our administrative department at assistant.MC2@gmail.com or visit us at www.mariocampanaro.com
In this Masterclass lecture, we open class with a discussion about how life itself will always be the real Masterclass for the actor. Our craft is, always has been, and always will be formulated by life itself. I mean, what else would it be formulated by? Some may say we are storytellers, I say we are storylivers. We are intending to reveal the utmost truth within the story as service to the writer, all those willing to commune and witness that story, and the vast world of the human condtion. So why are we not turning to life itself to understand the work from its orignal source? Within life, in this here and now moment, lives all the answers to all the questions about understanding how people function and how we as actors can use that understanding for the life of our work if the desire to really understand and learn is present. Meaning, the hunger to understand married with a compassionateheart to understand and the intuition to see what may be hiding behind all things needs to be deeply vibrating within the actor’s mind, body and Spirit at all times. There needs to always be questions appearing within the actor’s mind and heart as he, she or they go through the journey of life so he, she or they can keep building that human vocabulary within his, her, or their instrument. It is by doing this, that we come to realize that within everyhuman life, there is a story that has formulated who that person is and how that person functions physically, mentally, emotionally and even spiritually. It even illuminates us into understanding our own center and how we move through this crazy ride called life. If we know this about all humans, why then would we not apply that sameknowledge to understanding and revealing character. When we really understand this fact, it becomes possible for the actor to leave any kind of personal judgment out of the equation so he, she or they can reveal character with all the respect that a specific character’s story is due. It can evenserve in understanding and respecting all those that surround your own life. We can read this or that book about acting or life, but the truth of the matter is that the craft of acting comes from the living, observing, and implementing what life itself has to teach us and offer us about the human condtion. And trust me, life has a delicous limitless rainbow of colors to teach and offer you as an artist. I happen to call it Mary Poppin’s purse. It has everything you need in it! It is crucial for the actor to keep searching for the craft as it will always be mirrored, justified, and validated by life itself. Look for the intentions of people. Look for how people listen. Look for how people behave based on the circumstances that they are in. Look for how people try to find their way out of obstacles. Look for how people try to better their life. Look for how circumstances stimulate people to behave a certain way. Look for how people love or hate and then really question, and I mean REALLY question, what the story may be behind all of it.It is gold for the actor! And you gotta learn to pull and even steal that gold from the very rich, limitless, abundant, and giving account of life! Andhey, the life info out there is free!So use it! By doing that part of the work, and it is just as important as figuring out an objective or learning your lines, it gives the actor a very high artistic standard to urge the actor to pursue and reveal only what is truthful in the work based on the circustances of the story that the writer has given. As a result, it obliterates “indication” and it debunks “shmacting” and your not trying to “pull one over on the audience“…who, whether you like to admit it or not, just so happens to know better…and truth be told…ya really can’t pull one over on them anyway. They are way to smart! Life serves as the actor’s guide in the life-long continuation of cultivating craft while also creating a high standard when it comes to being the very best crasftsperson and artist that he, she or they wants to be. So keep going and never settle for mediocrity or any generalizations in the quality of your artistry!
I hope you enjoy this lecture!
Much love, Mario
▫️ TAG ▫️SHARE ▫️COMMENT ⚪️For more information on Mario Campanaro For The Actor & MC²=Mario Campanaro’s Masterclass, please contact our administrative department at assistant.MC2@gmail.com or visit us at www.MarioCampanaro.com
▫️ TAG ▫️SHARE ▫️COMMENT ⚪️For more information on Mario Campanaro For The Actor & MC²=Mario Campanaro’s Masterclass, please contact our administrative department at assistant.MC2@gmail.com or visit us at www.MarioCampanaro.com
⚪️For more information on Mario Campanaro For The Actor & MC²=Mario Campanaro’s Masterclass, please contact our administrative department at assistant.MC2@gmail.com or visit us at www.MarioCampanaro.com (Click link in profile)
“Aren’t we all always trying to dissect what the Truth really is?…
It seems like there is always something standing in our way as we very seriously hunt for that one pure untainted revelation of what ‘is’…
But if we are always searching for the Truth, aren’t we are most likely missing it?…
I mean come on…
Since when is Truth interested in playing a game of hide and seek ready to jet as soon as we suspect its presence behind some closed door?…
Since when is the Truth a jester desiring to play cunning tricks in order to make us the fool?…
Since when is the Truth the jerk cutting us off or blind sighting us?…
Doesn’t it seem more likely that it is our addiction to the chaotic stories of our mind that keeps creating all theses illusory labyrinths to the Truth?…
Isn’t it our fixation on the way we think things should be or want them to be that is putting the blindfold over our eyes to what ‘is’?…
Here is the deal in my opinion…
The Truth does not need to be found…
The Truth is ever present in the pregnant gap of this moment…
To be poetic but also realistic…
It is vibrating loudly in the silence..
It is whispering silently in the loudness…
It is shining brightly in the darkness…
It is clarifying with shadows in the light…
It is simply there in all its complexity…
It is complexly there in all its simplicity…
It is there omnipresent…
It is there blatantly present…
But it is the blueprint of the unconscious mind married and obsessed with constant interpretation and influence that keeps blurring the lines of what actually ‘is’…
Have we ever contemplated that maybe it is not so damn complicated?…
Maybe there are no big secrets hiding out waiting to be revealed in this moment…
Maybe it is all just a little less mysterious than we are making it out to be…
Maybe it is not hidden under some rock or in some enlightened message from some psychic hotline…
Maybe we have to know that all those secrets, all that thick layered subtextual complex stuff that we are trying to uncover is just pure simplicity residing in the here and now moment…
Whatever that moment may be in relationship to whatever and whoever is part of that experienced moment…
Maybe that is the secret Truth waiting to be revealed…
Maybe the Truth is waiting patiently for us to wake up and stop sleepwalking in a dream based upon past experiences projecting into the now just so we can feel this artificial safety to predict what the future is going to be…
Maybe it is all simpler…
Why can’t we all try to just be a little simpler in our approach?…
Why can’t we just take it moment by moment as it all comes and possibly just find a way to enjoy it, or at the very least, be fully present?…
Ya know…
We live…
We breathe…
We eat and drink…
We eat and drink a lot…
We play…
We laugh…
We laugh a lot…
We trust…
We love…
We love a lot…
We distrust…
We hurt…
We hurt a lot…
We cry…
We cry a lot…
We get sick…
We get very sick…
We hope…
We will struggle…
We will struggle a lot…
We don’t not give up…
We overcome…
We overcome a lot…
We heal…
We trust again…
We learn…
We learn a lot…
We celebrate…
We help others suffering…
We hold on…
We let go…
We finally rest…
We go home…
We remember it was worth it…
We are grateful…
We are grateful for all of it…
Isn’t that the Truth?…
Isn’t the Truth right there in the experience itself?…
In the experience as it happens and unfolds?…
In all of that?…
Present…
Here and now…
Patiently waiting for our willingness to surrender to its embrace so it can awaken us from the cloudy confusing slumber of our individual dream state and experience the reason why we are all here…
“We have all heard the saying ‘There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.’
But is there?
Or is there just a big tunnel containing a series of events that asks us to try to cope with random or, for my spiritual folk, karmic circumstances to the best of our ability.
And though we want to believe that there will be some favorable outcome, the truth is that we don’t always get what we want.
We don’t always get what we need.
Sometimes Life happens and it can be pretty crummy.
Sometimes Life happens and it’s just heartbreaking.
Sometimes Life happens and it is unbearable.
And yet all the ironic financially stable gurus who are published by the finest publishers sell their theories of this or that new age trend.
Oh yeah….”and that through our suffering, we find the path to enlightenment”.
Am I guilty of that?
Probably.
Actually, yes I am.
Oh God, I just ate a piece of humble pie.
I have been known to try to alchemize reality to somehow see a silver lining…
To convince myself and others that there is some transformative code and within that magical transmutation of difficult circumstances, there is a remedy for the common good.
And sometimes there is.
Sometimes people make it through the most heinous of circumstances, and are blessed with a very special knowledge to help the collective achieve the transformation it is seeking.
But sometimes there is not.
And that is a hard pill to swallow, isn’t it?
Sometimes we see and/or are given information that we don’t want to see or know.
And sometimes we just need to get real about the state of things.
Life is not always a fairytale and 99% of the roles we will ever play will be about an individual doing all he or she can to improve his or her circumstances.
This is a fact of the human condition that we, as artists, must be open and willing to reveal about the struggles of the human experience which unfortunately includes human suffering.
Sometimes we need to blow out the candles, snuff out the incense, throw away the sage, chuck the oracle cards at the wall and really look, with our hearts, at tangible reality.
Sometimes the cards people are dealt are nowhere near the full house they had hoped.
Sometimes there is no house at all but a tunnel that echoes thoughts and questions in an earnest quest for Life’s greatest mysteries thus stimulating the creative process to express and hopefully come to terms with the human experience.
The artist must face unanswerable questions to suffering, greed, poverty, war, disease, trauma, lovelessness, abuse, darkness, addiction, evil, and even the newest pan epidemic, ‘narcism’?
Do I have the answers to any of these questions?
Hell no!
Not at all!
What do I know?…
I just work here.
But we have to be willing see the questions because they are there all around.
We have to be aware of them if we genuinely care about the state of humanity.
We cannot be scared to ask and confront these questions because it is the job that we signed up for.
Yet, no matter how much we may try…
No matter how hard we may dig…
We have to be willing to accept that there will always be unanswerable questions.
Life will always be in a state of flux and there will always be suffering somewhere in the world.
And you are probably reading this looking for some statement that illuminates the promised light at the end of the tunnel.
But that is just my point.
Sometimes there just isn’t and we, the artists, have to do our part in revealing the struggles humans go through in order to help bring awareness to these unanswered circumstances.
Otherwise it is just a tunnel and we are walking or even running through not knowing where it leads or what the meaning of all ‘it’ is.
The facts are…
Sometimes we are here with people who are good.
And sometimes we are here with people who are not so good.
Sometimes we are here with people living through compassion.
And sometimes we are here with people living through agenda.
Sometimes we walk with people who use troubling circumstances to help the greater good.
And sometimes we walk with people who choose to bank on it.
Sometimes we walk with trust.
And sometimes we have to walk with cautious discernment.
Sometimes people will walk with us to wherever the tunnel leads.
And sometimes they’ll just fade away.
Sometimes it will bring treasures.
And sometimes it will bring trauma.
Sometimes it will please.
And sometimes it will disappoint.
And within all those circumstances, the answer is…there is no answer.
It is what it is.
We don’t know why but we know it happens.
And while we live in a filtered world, creating the prettiest most perfected selfie, that hides any inkling of a ‘flaw’ sharing our abs and show biz smiles for some validation in the form of ‘likes’ on social media, we are ignoring the fact that we are not OK with what is.
We are not OK with the questions because we don’t want to face the answers.
We’re scared of the answers because we are not OK with anything that threatens the perfect little pretty picture that manufactures an artificial boost of dopamine or serotonin.
In fact, we don’t want to face the answers because we are not even OK with asking the questions anymore.
So we hold onto that theory of a light at the end of the tunnel without paying attention to the chaos that’s begging to be noticed.
We skip the most important step!
We are too busy numbing ourselves with artificial affirmations that prevent us from actually dealing with what is going on here and now.
We HAVE to be willing to face the reality of things, no matter how scary, no matter how unpleasant, no matter how dark.
This is our job as artists.
To see what others are not willing to see.
To face what others are not willing to face.
To step into the trenches and face the human condition, head on, mask free, in all its grit and glory.
Because that is what Life is.
A series of moments defined by grit and glory.
And if we are lucky, sometimes we will find ourselves somewhere in the middle.
I guess it’s just about allowing the questions and being OK with the answers whether they come with favorable or unfavorable echoes of a response…or even not at all.
Whatever the case, I encourage you to walk through this beautifully complicated Life tunnel without any expectations but with awareness and compassion.
Allow yourself the willingness to experience it for what it is in all its authenticity and then be willing to share that beautifully complicated authenticity through your work.”
1. By the nature of your birth, you have already be given EVERYTHING that you could ever possibly need to do something special with the Life you have been given.
2. As long as you are still breathing on this great big marble, you have also been given the necessary tools (internally and externally ) needed to persevere in overcoming any obstacles (internally and externally ) that you may consider standing in the way of you doing something special with the Life you have been given.
BONUS MATERIAL: You will come to realize that all that “stuff” that you have been through will become the most potent ingredients for you to do something special with the Life you have been given.
MORAL OF THE STORY: #HoldOn #Trust & #NeverGiveUp !
“We’re all doing what we can moment to moment to improve our lives and our Life experiences.
So we have to give ourselves a break from the pressure of appearing to have it all together.
Because nobody has it all together.
And no matter how hard you try, life is always going to throw a new curveball at you.
And all you can do is do the very best you can with what you have.
And learn from the experience.
And then the glory in that, is that you not only improve your life experience, but then you can use that experience of overcoming…use that experience of strife…and put it in your work.
So it no longer becomes “baggage”.
It becomes the diamond that you can use for the purpose of art.”
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