Julianne Nicholson Prefers the Direct Approach
Julianne Nicholson is most likely to turn to her coach, Sheila Gray, "when I'm working on a character who is very different from the person I am—in other words, when I'm trying to understand someone who thinks and reacts differently than I would." Material that "I don't initially connect with" would also lead Nicholson to work it through with her coach.
She starred in the Stephen King miniseries, "Storm of the Century," on ABC-TV. "I played a character who becomes possessed and clubs her boyfriend with a cane. Obviously, I've never killed anybody and I am certainly not prone to such reactions, so I wanted to work on calling up those kinds of emotional responses." Nicholson has also turned to coaching to prepare for important auditions.
She says that she did not routinely work out with a coach initially, but, after taking a basic acting exercise class with Gray over five years ago, followed by scene and "improv" classes, Nicholson decided to work with Gray individually. "I like the fact that she looks you right in the eye and is direct in her approach.
"I'll bring the sides that I'm working on," Nicholson explains. "We'll do a relaxation exercise. Then she'll ask me to speak my thoughts out, to go through my day. The purpose of that is to bring out any distracting feelings I might be carrying around with me without being consciously aware of them. If I'm tense about something that has happened that day, or have any other emotions that are very different from the ones I'll need to call upon, this sort of 'talking out' brings them to my attention. That helps me push them aside, so I can concentrate on the reactions I do want to call up. If you're feeling tense, for instance, you're not going to be able to easily get right into a romantic comedy scene."
Nicholson has found that this kind of preparatory work "taught me the importance of pinpointing feelings and reactions I'm carrying with me when I work on something on my own."
In her work with Gray, after Nicholson brings the day's emotional baggage to the surface in this fashion, she then does a cold reading. At that point, she and Gray begin to "pick the script apart. If she spots a weak area, she'll ask, 'What does this line mean to you?' and our intensive work begins."
Nicholson plays Jenny Shaw on Fox TV's "Ally McBeal," and has had roles on many other top television series, including NBC-TV's "The Others." She has also had top roles in the Paramount films "Passion of Mind" and "The Love Letter," Universal's "One True Thing," and several independent films, including the upcoming "I'm with Lucy," and "What Happened to Tully," which won the Audience Award for Best Picture at the 2000 GenArt Film Festival. Nicholson has done Off-Broadway theatrical work as well.
She stresses, "Every coach is different and every actor is different. If someone were to ask me for advice as to how to pick a coach and how to find what techniques might work best for him or her, I would suggest auditing classes with many different teachers and trying different coaches before settling on any one. Studying is a key part of acting.
"I promised myself that I would not stop pursuing acting for at least five years. I knew it would not happen right away, and not in one year. It takes time to develop your craft and it's important to always remember that. I know that I still have so much to learn."
That is why she has found working with someone with a "direct approach" geared to her immediate goals and needs well worth pursuing.
Esther Tolkoff
It's All in the Questions for Ty Treadway
Ty Treadway is best known to audiences these days as twin brothers Colin and Troy MacIver on the ABC-TV daytime drama, "One Life to Live." Needless to say, as with most "soap" characters, the brothers' stories are complex, with twists and turns galore. Treadway believes that his acting studies, and most especially his work with coach Sande Shurin, has helped him deliver a believable, realistic portrayal of the MacIver brothers, and of many other characters he has portrayed in other areas of his acting career.
He believes that taking classes and continuing to study is "part of an actor's job." Treadway points out that working with different partners on different kinds of scenes in class does more than strengthen one's acting skills. It prepares a performer for the realities of working life, where, for instance, one scene partner may be more in tune with your style than another.
Turning to a coach is a step further along the road beyond classes, he says, because of the intensive one-on-one nature of the work. Treadway has worked with several coaches over the years "when an important audition was coming up or when I felt I needed to do more work on a particular character."
He settled upon Shurin because he likes the "key questions" she asks. "The questions a coach throws at you tells you quickly whether or not that person can help you." He feels that coaches are directors as much as they are teachers. "Even when you're an experienced, working actor, there's so much to bear in mind that sometimes you can miss the forest for the trees."
Treadway has found that Shurin "treats an actor as an equal part in the process. I've run into some coaches whose approach is to tell you what to do. I find that Sande has helped me to actually become the character, to infuse myself into that character." He explains that she puts aside the text. "The lines will come later, in her view, and I find that, in fact, once you've really taken on that character, that work will come through even if you don't say the exact lines written, so long as you are conveying the sense of what is to be said." Treadway feels that "you know within 10 minutes if a coach is right for you. I suggest that actors who are considering working with a given coach take classes with that person first. If you find that his or her approach seems right for you, then pursue your studies with that person on a more individualized basis."
When he works with Shurin, for instance, she will initially ask such questions as what clothes a character would wear, and urge the actor to wear such clothes while preparing. "Let's say you're playing a banker," Treadway points out. "The moment you put on a suit and tie, rather than doing the preparatory work while you're wearing jeans, you start to stand differently, behave differently.
"Of course, that's only the very beginning of the work at hand. But everything else is a progression from that effort to become the character, rather than merely imitating the character."
Treadway started out as an accountant and computer systems engineer and, after winning the "Mr. Natural Pennsylvania" bodybuilding contest, headed for New York and began to study and to work in theatre, commercials, and modeling for GQ Magazine. He has had roles on the TV series "Ally McBeal" and "Just Shoot Me," and has appeared in several independent films. In addition to his ongoing work in "One Life to Live," he is co-producing and starring in the film "Or Forever Hold Your Piece," a dark comedy.
Treadway finds that with greater experience, there is less reason to turn to coaching sessions frequently. But he feels strongly that everything he learned when he did do so has stayed with him, and that he regularly applies the lessons he learned from the character work and give-and-take discussions that took place during coaching lessons. And there are still times when a particular audition or character calls for the kind of objective assessment he feels that a strong, involved coach such as Shurin provides.
E.T.
Josie de Guzman Wants Insights into a Character
"Security" seems to be a key motivation for Josie de Guzman in using an acting coach. About 15 years ago, she first went to Alice Spivak for help with an upcoming audition. She developed a relationship with Spivak, which, over the years, has included not only work on auditions, but preparation for roles in which she has already been cast.
At what point does she decide she needs coaching? "Unless it's something that is very, very simple, I usually go immediately. It just helps me feel secure. Everything is talked about and thought out, so that when I get to the audition, I know exactly what I'm doing."
The process for coaching is similar both for auditions and after she has gotten a role. "We go over the role and talk about insights into the character. Then I can come to the table with something. The director has his own take on things, but at least I'm coming in with things that I've thought out with my coach, as we've worked on it. It gives me a sense of security."
She doesn't automatically use a coach for everything she does. She didn't use a coach for her recent role of Marian in "The Music Man." For the role she did before that—"a Cuban role"—she used Spivak to work on the audition, but not after she got the part. "Once I got the role, I felt I knew the character very well. I felt secure with it."
De Guzman has been cast in Alan Ayckbourn's "House and Garden" at the Alley Theatre. She'll be playing a French movie star, a demanding role that includes a lot of physical comedy. "I want to work on that with Alice before I meet with the director and the cast. Alice will give me insights into the character as we go along, scene to scene to scene.
"And she'll help me find the character's motivation—what does the character want here, and what does the character want there! As we read the scenes, I will come up with my ideas. Alice will see what I'm doing instinctively, and help me bring myself into the character. She will make it clearer and cleaner."
The process of developing a fully realized role is not a one-way street. It is something the performer and the coach do together. Drawing on the personality, talents, and individuality of de Guzman, Spivak tries to meld those things into the role they are working on. "Alice will talk about the character's motivation, and how she sees the character. And then I will interpret and internalize what she tells me.
"The other day I was working on an audition for 'Max Bickford,' and Alice said, 'There are a couple of choices here. I think your instinct when you first read it was a good one, but it could also be done this way.' I ended up doing it kind of in between. I liked both ideas, so I mixed them, and it worked. She'll point out what I might do instinctually, and will also give me insight into what she thinks the character is like, and how the character would react in a moment or in a scene."
There is a psychology and a gestalt to a character that de Guzman sometimes finds hard to describe. And even after she and her coach decide how to interpret the role, that, of course, is not the final approach. "The director might then say, 'No, I want it in a different way.' And then I have to explore that. But when you're coming in with something already, it always adds to what the director wants. It doesn't get in the way—it really helps!"
Ira J. Bilowit
Patricia Velasquez Comes Alive with 'The Sound of Movement'
Patricia Velasquez—who starred as Egyptian Princess Anck-Su-Namum in "The Mummy" and as Meela in "The Mummy Returns," both blockbuster hits, and as Fidel Castro's wife, Mirta, in Showtime's film, "Fidel"—"highly recommends" working with coaches. She feels her work with coach Sheila Gray in New York and, before that, with Sandra and Greta Seacat (mother and daughter, with whom she worked separately) in Los Angeles, has provided emotional insight and a sense of direction that have proven to be invaluable.
But, she stresses, there is much to be gained from classes, too. "In classes, you interact with other actors. You can experiment with many different styles and approaches as you develop concentration, sense memory, and work on scenes and monologues. All of that has prepared me for working within the environment of a film set."
A coach, on the other hand, focuses on "your individual needs," and Velasquez has found that important in a whole different set of ways. "I am an Indian, a product of the Wayu group's culture in Western Venezuela. We were not allowed to express emotions openly, and so working with Sheila has been a major transformation for me. I went through a great deal to emerge from the poverty of that region. I learned there were a lot of emotions I had to deal with coming out of that experience. When I go home, I find I've become an icon, and so I feel a strong sense of responsibility. When Sheila and I explore a character together, we deal with these and many other emotions. She teaches me to be truthful and to feel in charge. I travel so much," says Velasquez, "that, thanks to my studies, I have learned to hit the points of expression more rapidly. That ability has grown, and I think personalized coaching definitely helped me in that way."
Velasquez began her performing career in Venezuela at age four as a dancer and in theatre. She rose to the star level as a "supermodel" in the U.S. and Europe before she turned to film, debuting in "Le Jaguar." She later performed in "Beowulf," "Committed," and the independent films "No Vacancy," "Eruption," and "San Benardo," among others. She will soon be seen on PBS in "American Family," co-starring with Edward James Olmos.
Still, her roots in dance have always stayed with her as a touchstone to her approach to acting "Every actor should study dance," Velasquez believes. "Work with movement is crucial to making the character become a part of you.
" 'The sound of movement' is an exercise Sheila has taught me that has been very important to me. I say 'ha!' and hit the wall and say out loud whatever I am feeling. I do that repeatedly. It helps build energy, releases the emotions that may be in my way or which I may want to apply to my character, and helps me to express ownership over the work I am doing."
She has worked with Gray many times before auditions. "Auditions are horrible," Velasquez says emphatically. "Sheila's coaching helps me become less stiff. To me, Sheila is a genius."
Before a coaching session, Velasquez sends Gray the sides they will be working on. "She will have already gone over them. I'll read them out loud a couple of times. Then we talk about the character, what the character is like, how the character relates to me, and how to make that character a part of me. The character must always become a part of you. We try a lot of substitutions. She can tell when I'm starting to connect with the character and encourages me in that direction. The voice, the movement, all start to become one—it all goes back to 'the sound of movement' idea. Then, while I'm reading, I'll suddenly find that as I do so, the character is coming out completely naturally and has become a part of me."
That moment of truth requires a great deal of work, and, as far as Velasquez is concerned, working one-on-one with a good coach can play a huge role in arriving at that moment in working on any given character.
E.T.
A Coach Makes Acting Exciting Again for Laurence Lau
Laurence Lau was well into his career doing "soaps" when he met Alice Spivak. After a long run on "All My Children," he took time off because he felt he had lost his "zest for acting" and had to rediscover it. He did nothing for about a year. "A friend recommended that I take Alice's scene study class, and all of a sudden I started having fun again. She showed me how to get excited about acting again."
That initial class led to an ongoing coaching relationship. Unlike many actors, Lau is not usually being coached for auditions. "I have a four-year contract on 'One Life To Live,' and I've been on the show about nine months. I usually get three or four scripts a week—sometimes two—and I'll take them to Alice and we'll read all the scenes for the whole week.
"She will give me a sense of where this character is currently going, and she will give me a sense of how to keep my character making the most effective, broad choices—in terms of his attitude toward other characters, in terms of not letting the wool be pulled over his eyes, in terms of not letting him come across as oblivious to the reality that's in front of him.
"In daytime drama, there's an underlife beneath the surface; Alice helps me sustain that! When I'm doing these scenes, I can think about things that are not on the pages, but which bleed through. I'm thinking about things other than what the dialogue is about. Alice gives me this broader perspective."
Lau says that it may sound corny, but he feels the writers have somehow picked up, subliminally, things about his character. He feels they have recognized that the character they have written for him is smarter and more aware than the dialogue might indicate. "Alice gives me the thoughts that I'm thinking about, and just by thinking them, it shades how I'm performing.
"I can sometimes get lost in the immediate details and forget the over-all backbone of the character. Alice keeps me from doing that, and actually makes it more fun for me, too. She gives me the broader arc to think about and to play. I feel more equipped, with a wider swath of understanding of the character, and of his actions and activities. I also get a reassurance that it's okay to have certain emotions, that it's perfectly all right to get angry here, or to pump things up there."
Occasionally, Lau does use a coach for auditions. "Most of my experience has been in TV and film. If I have an audition, I look at a role to see what the objective really is, to nail that down, and the choices I make are to try to get my objectives. Sometimes you make inappropriate choices if you get nervous about auditions, especially when you're in a time crunch. If I just got the sides, and the audition is tomorrow morning, I get nervous and don't make the most appropriate choices.
"If I have a week, I can let the organic choices come up, and most times, they're right on! But when I'm in a hurry, a coach is really important to me. The coach helps stimulate the appropriate choices, and steers you away from the inappropriate ones. If you've got a coach there, you get the feedback you need—especially with someone as great as Alice."
I.J.B.