Tell Me Who You Are exercise

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Tell Me Who You Are is an exercise from Sandra Seacat. I started training with her when I was 13. She was already coaching Jessica Lange and Mickey Rourke at the time. Sandra is very gentle and spiritual, as I have mentioned in class. 

 Tell Me Who You Are is there to help the actors find a way out of their head, particularly out of the rational and logical and analytical part of the brain (left brain) and into the heart, the creative, the place of the actor's truth. This exercise is also a way to drop out of the head and into impulse. Acting relies on our truthful impulses, but first we need a way out of our self-protective mind and all its controlling tricks. 

  The question is "Tell me who you are?" and for the sake of clarity and simplicity, this is the only question we will ask, without changing it in any way. The reliability and consistency of returning to this question allows the actor answering to know that this exercise is not chaos, it is not full of tricks, it is simply there for you- one moment at a time. 

 Answering the question: The actor is free and the actor is empowered in this exercise. No one puts a gun to your head, you are never giving your secret self away in order to please me or anyone. The answers will usually start out from the left brain. We say our name, we say what we do, we say who we are presenting ourselves to be on a daily basis. As these answers become exhausted, there may be frustration--put it into the exercise. Bring your truth. As you go further, you may start to deal with what you feel in the moment and any other feelings that have been kept down in your day to day existence. It's ultimately not about what you do, it's about who you are- identity is given a chance to speak. 

 This exercise can be done in 5 minutes, it can be done in 10 minutes, it is flexible. If you ever feel something comes up that you don't want to say out loud in the class, then say that. It's okay. "I'm feeling something but I don't want to talk about it." That's honest and you have a healthy boundary. 
I am not trying to trick you into revealing more than you feel safe doing. But I do want the willingness to spend that time open and honest in whatever way you can. You are always empowered in this work. 

 The goal is to get to your truth and to get to impulse as you feel it. Acting is experiential. If we are stuck in our head, we need to find a way out. We have our class warmup-- relaxation, and then the music and movement in the circle. These are ways we can get into our hearts and our bodies. We follow the impulses that arise in the circle.

TMWYA is another way to do this, a tool. It comes from a great teacher and is worth trying and learning. Then you are free to take it with you on your journey. 

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