When I was going to the Frankfurt airport

I had a wonderful chat with an Air Force pilot on the shuttle ride to the Frankfurt Airport a few weeks ago. He initiated a conversation when I got into the shuttle as we were the only two passengers. Somehow we started talking about the TV show Combat! which happens to be a show with a strong cult following. When I told him that I am studying theatre, he asked me about Method acting because Vic Morrow, the main actor in the TV series, is often described as being a Method actor and this man (whose surname is also Murrow, I think) had noticed a difference in the style of acting between Mr. Morrow and the other actors in the series.

So I told him I was going to take a bit of a detour, but would get back to his question. I explained how acting used to be very presentational with strong gestures to convey meaning, even stamping before a line in order to draw focus. I made my way through Realism and Naturalism (thanks to Brian Singleton and his class on Movements in European Theatre to have all this fresh in my memory!) in order to explain how revolutionary these changes in performance were at the time. And then I explained a bit about Stanislavsky in order to get to the version of his technique in the US. I mentioned Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire as well as Inside the Actor's Studio. (He hadn't seen the show, but recognized the Saturday Night Live parody from my description.) Ultimately, I emphasized the emotional recall element of Method acting, about finding that internal motivation.

It was really neat to talk with this man who didn't think he knew anything yet, when I asked him for descriptions of how Mr. Morrow's performance was different from the other actors, he could give me concrete and clear examples of this man's performance. It was one of the most gratifying conversations I've had about theatre/performance with a non-performance person. I felt really excited about being able to communicate information that was relevant (and useful?) to him, even though it isn't my main focus in my work. I suppose it would be like him telling me about the view when he's in an airplane: it's not why he's up there, but it's part of the process/experience.