Power of the Actor Ivana Chubbuck

THE POWER OF THE ACTOR THE CHUBBUCK TECHNIQUE: The 12-Step Acting Technique that will take you from script to a living, breathing, ynamic character! INTRODUCTION "very actor knows that iscovering an un erstan ing your personal pain is an inherent part of the acting process! This has been true since Stanislavski! The ifference between The #hubbuck Technique an those evelope in the past is that $ teach actors how to use their emotions not as an en result, but as a way to empower a goal! %y technique teaches actors how to win! $ teach actors how to win because this is what people o in real life& They go after what they want! $nteresting an ynamic people go after what they want in interesting an ynamic ways, creating greater emotion an intensity in reali'ing these goals! They o this subconsciously, whereas the actor must un erstan himself thoroughly an have the tools to break own a script in or er to make this interesting an ynamic behavior appear an feel like a subconscious process! The #hubbuck Technique stimulates this behavior, allowing for this natural an powerful human rive to be reali'e ! The #hubbuck Technique grew out of my own search to un erstan an overcome my own personal traumas ( particularly, how they impacte my acting an my life! $ ha no i ea how powerful an profoun this concept woul become! $ grew up with a istant- ysfunctional-workaholic father an a physically an emotionally abusive mother! $ evelope eep-seate aban onment issues an felt unworthy of being love ! $n essence, $ rose to the occasion of being iminishe ! As an a ult an an actress, $ took all my chil hoo an a olescent horrors an wallowe in them! $ was looking for sympathy an un erstan ing, which $ thought woul help relieve the suffering of my past! As any actor woul strive to be, $ was truly in touch with my emotional pain! )ut, $ began to won er, *To what en am $ feeling all of this+ ,ow o the feelings an emotions from my past shape my work as an actor+ ,ow o they shape who $ am as a person+ ,ow can these fracture , scattere an sometimes ivergent emotions be focuse to serve a character in a script+As a working actress, $ woul see so many actors that were truly re ging up eep, painful emotions, but whose work seeme self-in ulgent! $ reali'e that having eep an profoun feelings i n.t necessarily make me a eep an profoun person! $ saw that co ling one.s pain ( in life an on stage / creates almost the opposite effect! $t seems self-involve , self-pitying an weak, the key characteristics of a victim! 0ot the most compelling choice for an actor to make! $ began investigating how to put the legacy of emotions $ ha inherite to better, more effective use in my work! 1hen $ e2amine the lives of successful people, $ notice that they seeme to use their physical an emotional traumas as a stimulus, not to self-in ulgently suffer, but to inspire an rive their great achievements! $ suspecte that very same formula coul be applie to actors an their approach to their work! $ watche the great actors of our time an $ saw in their performances the same emotional rive to overcome a versity, an in fact, to use those very obstacles to necessitate achievement of a goal an win! $n their performances, great actors were instinctively mirroring the behavior an nature of great people! $ nee e to create a system that woul reflect an gui e this process! A system to replicate real, ynamic human behavior! A system that, once the actor committe to making fearless choices, woul gui e an empower the actor to use their own pain to win their character.s goal! A
1

system that woul also provi e a way to craft risky choices that woul allow an actor to break the rules an make new rules, inspiring e2ceptional work an characters! A system that woul create an emotionally heroic character rather than a victim! $ reali'e that an actor must i entify their character.s primal nee , goal, or 3)4"#T$5"! 1ith this 3)4"#T$5" in min , then the actor must fin the appropriate personal pain that can effectively rive this 3)4"#T$5"! After working with this i ea for a while, $ un erstoo that the pain must be powerful enough to inspire an actor to fearlessly commit to oing whatever it takes to 1$0 their 3)4"#T$5"! $f the emotions were not strong enough, then there wasn.t enough there to help the actor sustain their fight to win! )ut when the appropriate personal pain is paire with an 3)4"#T$5" it connects the actor to their character.s pre icament, making winning the 3)4"#T$5" real an necessary for them as a person, not 6ust as an actor playing a part! 3ver the past twenty-five years, $ have coache thousan s of actors on thousan s of parts in literally thousan s of movies, television shows an plays! These actors are a living 7an acting8 research lab for my acting technique! 3ften, $ have coache several actors au itioning for the same part in the same movie! $ have seen, first han , what works an what oesn.t! 3ver time, $ have i entifie the common enominators of what is most effective! 1hen $ woul see certain approaches succee again an again, $ woul evelop, e2plore, an refine them until they were easily repro ucible! 1hen my actors woul get parts, win great reviews an awar s, $ foun that it frequently came from using similar fun amental tools, all roote in basic human psychology an behavioral science! An actor who merely feels ten to turn his performance inwar an oes not energi'e or inspire himself or an au ience, whereas watching someone o anything an everything to overri e pain in an attempt to accomplish a goal or an 3)4"#T$5" puts an au ience on the e ge of their seats because the outcome becomes alive an unpre ictable! Taking action results in risk an therefore, an une2pecte 6ourney! $t.s not enough for an actor to be honest! $t.s the actor.s 6ob to make the kin of choices that motivate e2citing results! 9ou can paint a canvas using real oil paint, but if the final painting isn.t a compelling image, no one will want to look at it! This technique will teach you how to use your traumas, emotional pains, obsessions, travesties, nee s, esires an reams to fuel an rive your character.s achievement of a goal! 9ou.ll learn that the obstacles of your character.s life are not meant to be accepte but to be overcome, in heroic proportions! $n other wor s, my technique teaches actors how to win! Aristotle efine the struggle of the in ivi ual to win as the essence of all rama more than two thousan years ago! 3vercoming an winning against all the hur les an conflicts of life is what makes ynamic people! %artin :uther ;ing, 4r!, Stephen ,awking, Susan )! Anthony, 5irginia 1oolf, Albert "instein, )eethoven, %other Theresa, an 0elson %an ela all ha to overcome almost insurmountable struggles in their lives to achieve their goals! $n ee , the greater the obstacles an the more passion these people brought to overcoming their obstacles, the more profoun the achievement or contribution they ma e! They i n.t become ama'ing, accomplishe people in spite of their challenges, but because of them! These are qualities we want to uplicate in characteri'ations! $t.s much more captivating to watch someone try to win against the o s, than someone content to put up with life.s travails! A winner oesn.t have to actually win to be a winner / A winner tries to win, a loser accepts efeat! The better you know yourself, the better actor you.ll be! 9ou nee to un erstan what makes you tick, profoun ly an eeply! The 12 acting tools will help you to ig into your psyche, allowing for iscovery an a way to e2pose an channel all those won erful emons that we all have! 9our ark-si e, your traumas, your beliefs, your priorities, your fears, what rives your ego, what makes you feel shame an what initiates your pri e are your colors, your paints to raw with as an actor! The 12 tools: 1. OVERALL OBJECTIVE: 1hat oes your character want from
2

life more than anything+ <in ing what your character wants throughout the entire script! 2. SCENE OBJECTIVE: 1hat your character wants over the course of an entire scene, which supports the character.s 35"=A:: 3)4"#T$5"! 3. OBSTACLES: >etermining the physical, emotional an mental hur les that make it ifficult for your character to achieve his or her 3)4"#T$5"! 4. SUBSTITUTIONS: "n owing the other actor in the scene with a person from your real life ( that makes sense to your 35"=A:: 3)4"#T$5" an your S#"0" 3)4"#T$5"! <or instance, if your character.s S#"0" 3)4"#T$5" is, *$ nee to get you to love me,- then you fin someone from your present life that really makes you nee that love ( urgently, esperately an completely! This way you have all the iverse layers that a real nee from a real person will give you! 5. INNER OBJECTS: The pictures you see in your min when speaking or hearing about a person, place, thing or event! 6. BEATS an ACTIONS: A )"AT is a thought! "very time there.s a change in thought, there.s a )"AT change! A#T$30S are the mini-3)4"#T$5"S that are attache to each )"AT that support the S#"0".S 3)4"#T$5" an therefore, the 35"=A:: 3)4"#T$5"! !. "O"ENT BEFORE: The event that happens before you begin the scene 7or before the irector yells, *Action&-8, which gives you a place to move from, both physically an emotionally! #. PLACE an FOURTH WALL: ?sing @:A#" an T," <3?=T, 1A:: means that you en ow your character.s physical reality, which, in most cases, is reali'e on a stage, soun stage, set, classroom, or on location, with attributes from a @:A#" from yur real life! ?sing @:A#" an the <3?=T, 1A:: creates privacy, intimacy, history, meaning, safety an reality! The @:A#"A<3?=T, 1A:: must support an make sense with the choices you.ve ma e for the other tools! $. DOIN%S: The han ling of props, which pro uces behavior! )rushing your hair while speaking, tying your shoes, rinking, eating, using a knife to chop, etc!, are e2amples of >3$0BS! 1&. INNER "ONOLO%UE: The ialogue that.s going on insi e your hea that you on.t speak out lou ! Those thoughts that are vulgar, inappropriate, self-in ulgent, self- eprecating, paranoi an generally not politically correct! Those thoughts you can.t speak out lou because there woul be some form of repercussions! 11. PREVIOUS CIRCU"STANCES : 9our character.s history! The accumulation of life e2periences that etermines why an how they operate in the worl ! An then personali'ing the character.s @="5$3?S #$=#?%STA0#"S to that of your own so you can truly an soulfully un erstan the character.s behavior an become an live the role! 12. LET IT %O: 1hile The #hubbuck Technique oes use an actor.s intellect, it is not a set of intellectual e2ercises! This technique is the way to create human behavior so real that it pro uces the grittiness an rawness of really living a role! $n or er for you to uplicate the natural flow of life an be spontaneous you have to get out of your hea ! To achieve this you have to trust the work you.ve one with the previous11 tools an :"T $T B3!