Performing Your Work

In a past entry, we published Kate O'Toole's piece "Her Royal Highness." Kate is a professional actress; when she read the piece, she drew us deep into her character's intentions and emotions as she struggled with the "gnarled fist of flesh and deformed bone" that sat on her left shoulder.

We're not all trained actors, but we all have the opportunity to perform our work: whether it's a formal reading, a gathering of friends, or simply someone who asks, "What are you working on?" Here's a good definition of performance: Regardless of whether you have an audience of one or a thousand, it's a performance.

If you've ever seen a great performance poet -- Billy Collins comes to mind -- you know how memorable the experience can be. On the other hand, a bad performance is like going to an art opening to find unframed paintings tacked to the walls, unlit and unidentified. You feel let down, unvalued, cheated somehow –- yet an amazing number of writers present their work with as little thought or care, as if their job ends at putting the words on the page.

If you've performed your work for an audience already, you know how thrilling, beneficial, and illuminating the experience can be. And don't forget the professional benefits: in a world of I-Pods, YouTube, radio art, pod casts, interactive web sites, public access television, and video phones, it's smart, even essential, for all writers to develop performance skills.

Becoming a better performer is easy. Whether you're reserved or outgoing, the key is to develop the strengths of your own style. A shy person with a quiet voice, speaking low into a microphone, can be as compelling as someone with a big voice who moves around a lot on stage. Practice using the microphone, working the stage! Once you're comfortable with these basics, you'll be able to allow your audience to be inspired by the emotional intimacy ("into me see") of your work.

In the Writing Salon, we do a performance workshop, which is always a blast. Here are a few rehearsal tips:

• Starting with your first draft, read your work out loud as often as you can.
• Also starting with your first draft, pay attention to the details. This will connect you to the emotional texture in your work. Is the shirt blue or red? Is the day warm or cold? Exactly what made you so happy? If your were crying, were your tears wet or had they dried? What were your previous narrative circumstance before the first line?
• Form a performers' group, which could be an extension of your writers' group. Watch for your audience leaning forward or back, making little sounds, eyes focusing or going vacant. You'll get an excellent, immediate sense of what does and doesn't work.
• A stage can be anywhere: it's the space you inhabit when you perform. Take possession of your surrounding space; if it isn't already a stage, make it one. The movements of your body will claim that space, as if a spotlight is being shone on it.
• Confident movement is essential. Practice being more conscious of how you walk, how you sit, how you interact with people. A straight back is powerful; a hunched posture is submissive, recessive, unconfident. Your body is your instrument and your performance begins the moment you start to walk toward the stage.
• Watching a dog bark is a terrific way to study voice projection. A dog doesn't bark from his throat, he throws the sound from his entire midsection. Experiment with how much or how little projection you need to make your voice fill a room. Project your voice even when you're using a microphone; this will give your words deeper resonance and your audience will appreciate it.
• Record your work and play it back. You'll be surprised at how much you'll learn about phrasing, timing, and tone. This is also a great way to discover opportunities for revision.
• Become familiar with potential performance places. Notice the chocolate bedside the cash register, the Baume & Mercier watch on barista's wrist, the soap bar on the kitchen sink, and the chairs and the stage where you might perform. Do you like the way they're set up? What would you change?
• It's show time. Drink plenty of water. Warm up. Break a leg!