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Alexis Hames
Book Reflection
JMC 4403 PR Campaigns
Instructor: Dr. Tsetsura
March 3, 2015
The Arts of Acting and Public Relations
In Constantin Stanislavskis novel, An Actor Prepares, Stanislavski tells of a
theater director, Tortsov, who introduces his students to a system of acting and teaches
them how to evoke their emotions appropriately. The story is told through the perspective
of Kostya, a student of Tortsov. Though the philosophy and principles outlined in An
Actor Prepares are intended for the art of acting, they can also be applied to the
profession of public relations. The book was published in 1936, but still contains
information that may aid public relations practitioners today.
By following the system designed by Stanislavski, an actor could produce the
intended emotion and soundly deliver their role. Stanislavski saw the importance of
getting into character, and believed the internal circumstances of each character should be
understood. This is exhibited in the first chapter of the novel, when Tortsov states that the
actor lives his part (Stanislavski, 1936, p. 18). Stanislavski also believed in acting with
a purpose, as all action in the theatre must have an inner justification, be logical,
coherent and real (Stanislavski, 1936, p. 46). The techniques outlined above, along with
many others, were designed by Stanislavski with the intent to be used to train actors to
master performances.

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Early on, Tortsov explains that in theater, one must embody their role. Being fully
invested every single time one performs is paramount (Stanislavski, 1936, p. 19). One of
Tortsovs students, Paul, explains that in order to prepare for his role he rehearsed in the
mirror. In Tortsovs response, he states that using a mirror to judge ones performance can
be risky, since it is likely that one will be focused on the exterior, which is shallow in
comparison to the depth and emotion needed to fulfill a role. For organizations, focusing
solely on external communication is like an actor practicing ones lines only in the mirror.
Thus, it is an unsound decision for an organization to focus solely on external relations.
Good internal communication is a huge factor in the well being of an organization. More
can be accomplished when communication amongst individuals belonging to an
organization is open, encouraging and respectful. Positive relationships within an
organization increase morale and motivate individuals to do their part in contributing to
the overall success of the organization. This principle applies to the public relations firms
that organizations hire, as well as the organizations themselves.
One of the many challenges faced by public relations practitioners is that of
getting the attention of their target public, and then holding their attention. In An Actor
Prepares, the director uses light in a dark room to exemplify what he calls a circle of
attention. When in a dark space with a single light on, it is possible to see only a limited
amount. This limited visible space is the circle of attention. When this circle of
attention is smaller, it is possible to examine ones surroundings more closely and more
information can be taken in. When this circle is expanded, more area is visible, which
makes it more difficult to observe things closely. This circle of attention principle may
be applied to the field of public relations. In todays society, people are constantly being

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bombarded with information, and its the aim of public relations practitioners to craft
messages that can break through the clutter. Public relations professionals should aim to
create an environment that decreases the size of the circle, so their publics cannot be
attracted to messages outside of the circle. This principle is especially applicable to
search engine optimization. In order for an organizations website to rank highly in search
engines, the page should be fast loading with content-rich pages, with words you want to
rank for on the page and in the title tag, (BlueJay, 2011, para. 19). Also, making ones
website accessible from other websites is beneficial. In An Actor Prepares, the director
explains that attention can only be stretched so far before it is lost. This is another
important point to remember when crafting public relations strategies and tactics.
Another takeaway from the novel is that work, rather theatrical or literary, should
be original and genuine. In chapter six, it is conveyed that theatrical conventionality
serves no good purpose. Stanislavski writes that when actors hit a pose, it should be a
unique one, and that if a conventional pose must be employed, there should be a good
reason for it. When Kostya is practicing his poses, he has immediate success. This
success is followed by failure as he loses concentration and ends up with a lifeless pose
with no objective. All poses, like all press materials, must serve a purpose. In the field of
public relations, strategies are created to reach a goal, and strategies are executed through
tactics. In a successful public relations campaign, the goals, strategies and tactics align.
For the Gaylord Graduate Colleges public relations campaign, our team has created two
strategies, one of which is to leverage Gaylords online presence in order to expose more
prospective students to information about the programs the Gaylord College offers. One
of our particularly unconventional tactics is the plan to create an online tool to allow

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prospective students to sign up for personalized tours of the college. Through this online
tool, one will be able to choose a date convenient for them and specify their interests.
This is helpful to the prospective student because scheduling a tour time and date often
entails a phone call to the university. From there, the Gaylord Graduate College will be
able to cater to each individual and showcase relevant programs, professors,
organizations, etc. This tactic serves its purpose of leveraging Gaylords online presence
and is intended to give prospective students easy access to a Gaylord visit.
Chapter six provides another example of theatrics that relates to public relations.
In this chapter, one of the characters, Paul, describes one of the directors lessons. Paul
describes a scene where his movements are disassembled and dissected by the director
(Stanislavski, 1936, p. 108). By taking a string of movements and slowing them down,
isolating them and reevaluating them, it became easier to identify strengths and
weaknesses. This in turn, strengthens the overall performance. The same principle can be
applied to public relations practices. Once a public relations plan is complete, each piece
of the plan should be reevaluated, to confirm that each small piece of the plan contributes
to the overarching goal of the campaign. From there, each part of the overarching plan
may be removed, improved or remain the same.
Chapter nine tells of a time that an experienced actor gave advice regarding
emotion memory. The experienced actor compares reliving an unforeseen sensation to a
dead flower (Stanislavski, 1936, p. 185). He believes they are the same in that they are
lifeless and cannot be revived. His suggestion is to focus on how that flower came to life,
and to recreate that process. By starting with new seeds, you may grow the same type of
flower as one has had before; by starting with the original stimulus, an actor may evoke

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the same emotion as he or she experienced before. The public relations takeaway from
this comparison is that a public relations professional has the ability to recreate emotions
of their publics. In order to do this, public relations practitioners should avoid focusing on
the isolated emotions of their publics and focus on the conditions that led to the emotions
experienced. This principle can be applied directly to the Gaylord Graduate Colleges
public relations campaign. One of our groups strategies is to create and strengthen
relationships with journalism and mass communication organizations in the region to
familiarize employees/prospective students with Gaylords graduate program. To bring
this strategy to life, we developed numerous tactics. One of these tactics is to facilitate
skills-based training sessions to organizations members. This tactic allows the Gaylord
Graduate College to provide the target audience with a benefit and interact with
individuals face-to-face. Our hope is that members of these organizations will equate the
positive experience of a training session to a positive perspective of the Gaylord Graduate
College. If the proposed skills-based training sessions are an initial success, the Gaylord
Graduate College should continue hosting these sessions in the same manner. Like an
actor recreates a previously experienced sensation, public relations professionals can lay
the groundwork for their target audiences to receive a consistent and positive experience.
By replicating the original stimulus, comparable results may be achieved. This method
will leave potential students with the feeling that they are valued. By hosting training
sessions, prospective students will associate the Gaylord Graduate College with
professionals that they met and relevant concepts that they learned. It is hoped that they
will feel that the experience was valuable and obtaining a graduate degree from the
University of Oklahoma would be too.

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One of the final chapters of An Actor Prepares, discusses the idea of a superobjective. Tortsov tells his students of great writers who have overarching fundamental
ideas and purpose. These writers have the power to draw all of an actors creative
faculties and to absorb all the details and smaller units of a play or part (Stanislavski,
1936, p. 271). In a play, as in public relations, all of the small individual parts should
contribute to executing the super-objective. In the campaign for Gaylords graduate
programs we have crafted two strategies that give us a broader sense of the campaign,
and for each of the two strategies we have numerous tactics that work together to carry
out the larger mission.
The areas of acting addressed in An Actor Prepares, by Constantin Stanislavski,
were written many years ago to aid in perfecting the art of theatre. However, many of the
chapter topics covered, such as action, imagination, concentration of attention, units and
objectives are relevant to the field of public relations. If Stanislavskis method is applied
to public relations, the outcome will be a genuine, unconventional and well thought out
campaign. Methods outlined by Stanislavski should be employed to aid public relations
professionals in the Gaylord College of Journalism & Mass Communication and beyond.

References
Bluejay, M. (2004, January 1). How to Get Good Search Engine Rankings. Retrieved
March 1, 2015, from http://websitehelpers.com/seo/
Stanislavski, C. (1936). An Actor Prepares. New York, New York: Routledge/Theatre
Arts Book.