I believe that every character in a play, with the exception of the very rarest, is out for themselves. They behave exactly according to the beliefs of my boss. They do everything for their own pleasure, to manipulate situations to their advantage, to manipulate other people to do their bidding, for no other reason than to help them satisfy their own needs, wants, and desires.

Actors are not the only people seeking intimacy. Everyone is seeking intimacy. But actors, and other performers, for that matter, are seeking intimacy in a very special way. They're not looking to control simply the person they happen to be talking to at any given moment. They seek an arranged situation in which they have the opportunity to control the attention of an entire group of people. And that group of people pays money to see them make the attempt.

I believe that is a cynic's description of theatre.

This is mine: Theatre is where people come to experience eternal truth.

Theatre sprang from ritual, and ritual sprang from the need to connect to the eternal, to the earth, the oceans, the sun, moon, stars, to nature eternal and entire. Interconnection was, at one time, a deeply embedded fact of life. Like any religion, theatre was a ritualized expression of people's need to experience the eternal. Of course, then they started to give prizes for it and ruined the whole damn thing.

Just kidding.

When I say that an actor has the greatest responsibility a person can shoulder, I'm not exaggerating. When you step on the stage, you are responsible for at least two human lives -- your own and your character's. In fact, you are your character, in the same way that you are yourself. But you're more than that as well. You are the priest. You are the vessel filled by the play. You are the conduit between the audience and the everlasting.

You are the shaman that plays the drum.

That's the theatre I'm looking for. I think it is worthy of awesome effort.

It begins and ends with the actor. The actor has an advantage over the priest. While the priest is stuck repeating the same old stories, the actor has hundreds of texts from which to choose. While the priest is confined to a prescribed space, we can create the space in which we perform. While the priest must be himself, we can be anyone we want to be.

Our advantages are great, but the priest has one that, at first glance, we can't match. He has ancient texts from which fanatic followers have sprung. He has a built-in audience. Has for years. Will have for years. He has God on his side.

What I'm most interested in is connection. The kind of work I'm suggesting you do is work you do on yourself, by yourself, without anyone's help. But finally, you still have to deal with that person sitting across from you. That other. Chances are excellent that the person you're acting with is someone that is approaching theatre in a cynical way. That other person's head is in the audience. How, exactly, are you going to take this plan you've made and go out and execute it when you have little idea of what this other person might do?

Well, what can you do? You can approach it cynically. You can focus entirely on yourself and your presentation, standing outside yourself and judging yourself, waiting for the other person to finish so you can say your line. You can match them, ego for ego. In fact, you probably can dominate them, given that you have technique on your side and the other actor most likely doesn't. But then what would you be? Another cynical actor. Another actor with her head in the audience.

Or you can do exactly what every other living human being on the face of the earth is doing. You can seek intimacy. Connection.

When I say to make a detailed plan, I mean exactly that. The plan I suggest you make allows you to walk on the stage with tremendous confidence. But that's not how we approach life. If the theatre is to be a true reflection of life -- of the truth not just about human beings, but of life -- an actor should not walk onto the stage feeling safe. If one thing is certain, it is that nothing is safe in this man's world. To be a true reflection of life, actors should not feel safe.

At this point I often say that when you walk on the stage, you should forget the plan. But I don't really mean that. Assume that the plan is there for your use. Don't worry about it, don't give your attention to it, don't even think about it. Go out onstage and try to do something to that other person. And when that other person speaks, listen. Don't think about what comes next. You don't know what comes next in life. You may have an expectation -- but again, the theatre and life are the same. See it?

If the theatre is to be a true reflection of life, the actor must seek intimacy in the same way as in life. It's that simple.

Now you could say the theatre isn't like life. After all, a bunch of people sit and watch you.

That's right.

The audience is one of the purest things about the theatre because the audience is there for the reason that the actors should be there, but usually are not. To experience eternal truth.

I can hear someone shouting, "Ah, what a bunch of crap. The audience just wants to be entertained."

Well, what could be more entertaining than experiencing eternal truth?

So how should the actor handle the audience? What should the actor's approach to the audience be? Same as always -- the same way as in life. In life, we are constantly being observed, and are observing. Sometimes, we even think of the people we're speaking to as our audience. (All the time?) Whoever's listening to us, or watching us -- they're our audience. Certainly, the theatre presents a much more formal arrangement than usual, but the theatre and life are the same.

Or should be.

Assuming that all of this is true -- and that's a big assumption, isn't it? -- that theatre is a direct link to eternal truth, to the possibility of exchange, intimacy, and connection, how can you trust that the person you're acting with will stay with you on the stage, keep his head out of the audience and be present with you, striving toward the possibility of an exchange, of intimacy, of connection? Just because you are -- and I'm not saying that you, dear reader, are, I doubt that you are, given how often I've actually seen truth in acting in the theatre -- just because you are, how can you know that the other person is doing the same? Think of it this way: How can you continue to go through life trusting that the person you're with at any given time is present with you, striving toward the possibility of an exchange, of intimacy, of connection?

If actors wish to be truthful in the theatre, to allow connection with the eternal, and to allow the audience the same, since that is exactly what they've come for, then actors must play for each other. The same way we play for each other in life.

Hey, give it a shot.

Something might happen.