Remembering Things Past: Emotional Memory Exercise

The idea and purpose of the Emotional Memory Exercise, as taught by Strasberg, is to enable you to consistently recapture and re-live a singular “once in a lifetime” event from the past, and regulate those generated feelings and sensations at will to rise to an explosive, theatrical moment. When you articulate and describe a conditioning event through a sense-by-sense exploration, the whole body is empowered to respond organically, giving way to spontaneous gestures expressive of the feelings you are recalling. You excavate traumatic or joyful memories that have shaped your worldview and relationships, and these can feed the creative process. When properly done the exercise is reliable and repeatable, and can function as a catharsis, turning your wounds or triumphs into a source of ammunition for your work. Strasberg insisted in class that the once-in-a-lifetime experience shouldn’t be a recent one, because the longer the powerful memory persists, the greater the likelihood that it will continue to be impactful for the rest of your life. You are also likely to have fully processed it. He advised his students to use an experience that’s at least seven years old. Using events that have happened more recently will usually be less reliable, and your response to them may still not be fully resolved. You won’t do the Emotional Memory Exercise until you’re proficient with the sensory work and grounded within yourself emotionally. You must do it correctly and with your teacher for the first time. Doing the exercise at home alone requires care and control to be able to stop the exercise at the first sign of a problem, such as becoming overwhelmed. Strasberg claimed that the Emotional Memory Exercise is your weapon for creating a complete reality on stage. As in all the exercises, should you get distracted or lose control, you go back to Relaxation, breathe, and then return to the exercise. It’s up to you to maintain the poise and self-control to activate the emotions and use them at will to adhere to the given circumstances of the play. That’s where the artistry lies, in exerting restraint. If the actor is out of control, the exercise becomes only an emotional indulgence and not what it’s designed for. You can’t ever let that happen, because those subjective feelings take over and you won’t be able to say lines, behave appropriately, or be ready for the next scene, where you may need to be expressing an entirely different value. You describe your experience in great sensory detail. But you don’t go through a who-did-what-and-to-whom narrative using conventional words, places, or names of objects. You may be shocked at how much you remember about the event and how memories can be teased out by approaching it through each of the senses. What you don’t remember about a traumatic event isn’t crucial, so don’t worry if the memory is vague or foggy. You can still use the memory by focusing on what sensory aspects you do remember. It’s the effort you make that’s needed to reveal the event and make contact with the emotion. Some feelings may be pushed down because they’re too painful for you. Your own emotions are important factors in your life that influence and control your behaviors and attitudes. Strasberg reminded us in class that an Emotional Memory used many times can lose its power. Therefore, it’s important as you progress with the work to have several Emotional Memories on hand to implement as needed. You select them for the purpose of having a wide variety of repeatable emotions which in performance are evoked invisibly, with ease and utilized as needed. You should start the Emotional Memory a few minutes before you need it in a scene. After you become proficient, you establish which conditioning objects are the triggers to work with. It isn’t necessary to create the entire event each time you use it, unless that helps you. #acting #actress #actresses #actor #actors #theatre #theater #studio #conservatory #conservatoire #masterclass #lesson #lessons #class #classes #education #history #theory #practice #improv #improvising #improvise #improvisation #adlib #creativity #creative #creator #creators #development #skill #skills #skilful #talent #genius #exercise #technique #art #craft #mastery #advanced #level #training #lecture #course #thespian #thespians #drama #action #film #cinema #stage #scene #miseenscene #blocking #relaxation #sensememory #sense #memory #emotional #emotionalmemory #feeling #sensation #animal #overall #characterisation #concentration #leestrasberg #strasberg #actorsstudio #stellaadler #adler #sanfordmeisner #meisner #robertlewis #stanislavski #stanislavsky #boleslavski #boleslavsky #ouspenskaya #ouspenskaia #teacher #teaching #teachings #teach #ivanachubbuck #ivana #chubbuck #utahagen #hagen #violaspolin #spolin #bertoltbrecht #brecht