20 Acting Techniques for College Students to Make Your

Lives Easier and More Fun

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Posted by tbrmaureen
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Jane Marla Robbins

Author, actress and acting coach Jane Marla Robbins is a

triple-threat, and in her book ACTING TECHNIQUES FOR EVERYDAY LIFE she shares
advice that can help young people no matter what your life goals are. Whether you're
looking to be the next big star, preparing to leave for college or moving to a new city on
your own, Jane's advice can help you find your footing and thrive when faced with
challenges.
1. MEETING YOUR NEW ROOMMATE. If youre initially even slightly intimidated,
try superimposing another person on top of the image of your roommate, with one or more
of your five senses. Recreate someone you love and trust. See your Best Friends eyes, hear
your Best Friends laugh. This doesnt make you a crazy hallucinatory, only someone clever
enough to use what actors call Sense Memory. (Medical science calls it Guided Sensory
Imagery.) Your bodys wiring will fool you into thinking the new roommate is the person
you love and trust. So you will feel relaxed and even happy, and your new roommate will
get a genuine, warm welcome from you. And lets hope that soon youll want to see your
roommate as your roommate, and as no one else.
2. CONTROLLING YOUR ANGER. What if your new roommate says something which
rubs you the wrong way, perhaps something political? Instead of throwing a punch, try
another Sense Memory. Hear your favorite song in your head to calm your nerves, or taste
the great lunch you just had with your Best Friend (who may agree with you politically).
While you listen, youll be smiling --- though your roommate wont know why! And at
least your relationship wont start off on a terrible foot.
3. FOR EXAMS. Try using an actors Inner Monologue, also called Positive SelfTalk. Write what you need to remember on a piece of paper --- Not the answers for your
exam! --- and put it in your pocket. If you dont have a pocket, fold it into your shoe.
Maybe: I deserve to be as smart as I am, or I am smart, or I give myself permission to
do well on this exam. Then repeat it to yourself before you go in. Or during the exam, if
you suddenly get shaky.

4. LOOKING AND FEELING SELF-CONFIDENT. Useful for: class reports; for the
Debating Club; running for school office; or for getting a loan. Remember a time when you
actually were LOOKING AND FEELING SELF-CONFIDENT. Maybe it was at your high
school graduation, in which case: feel the black robe you might have worn, or maybe see
the diploma in your hand. See if one of these Sense Memories inspires feelings of
accomplishment and self worth --- always useful for impressing other people, as well as
yourself. Maybe it was when one of your hard-to-please parents praised something you did
or made. And then you might hear that person saying, Im so proud of you.
5. ANOTHER TIP FOR LOOKING AND FEELING SELF-CONFIDENT. It turns out
that if your shoulders are over your hips, over your ankles, and your chest is not sunken in,
that your body produces chemicals that actually make you feel self-confident instead of
depressed or defeated (from an experiment at Harvard).
6. ANTOHER TECHNIQUE FOR LOOKING AND FEELING SELF-CONFIDENT.
Try and Play A Character. Of course you can, didnt you play Cowboys and Indians as a
child? The good news is: No one will know what youre doing, so play around with this.
One college student I know pretends he is George Washington when he walks into a room,
and immediately, for some reason, his posture changes, he stands up straight, his chest no
longer sunken in. Or try playing Captain Kirk. Or your favorite self-confident actress.
7. FOR EXAMS, CLASS REPORTS AND EVEN DATING. Dare to Take A Deep
Breath. Breath is Natures Tranquillizer. If youre nervous, its natural, momentarily, to
stop breathing. Fear makes us do that. But then there may not be enough oxygen getting to
your brain, so that you wont be as smart as you want to be. Elderly people who seem to be
demented are being brought to hospitals and given oxygen, and suddenly they find the
words they thought they had lost and begin to make perfect sense!
8. FOR CLASS REPORTS AND OTHER ORAL EXAMS. Take A Meaningful Pause.
In the middle of your presentation, if you are suddenly breathless, or you lose your way, or
forget a word or a thought: take that Deep Breath and dare to Take A Pause. Not for a
half hour, a few seconds will do. That Deep Breath will get some oxygen to your brain so
you can find the word or the thought; and you can also use the Meaningful Pause to
remind yourself youre smart, and/or imagine your last success. Actors use pauses all the
time for dramatic effect. Or does being quiet scare you? Actually, people judge other
peoples silences a lot less than you may think. And if you start out by looking and feeling
confident, your audience may well think youre pausing to find the best word, or to explain
the most original idea. They may think youre thinking. Youre allowed to think.
Presumably thats one of the things youre encouraged to do in college.
9. JOB INTERVIEWS. One of my clients went to a job interview and after the interview
he told me that he remembered to take A Meaningful Pause. He said that when he took
his pause, he noticed the man interviewing him moved towards him across his desk. And
my client knew he had the job. He was right.
10. THE PERFECT PROP. If youre feeling shaky about, well, anything, an exam or a
date, sometimes a meaningful object, or talisman, in your pocket can totally change how

you think, feel and behave. I carry my grannys locket in my pocket and rarely even need to
touch it, to remember that its there. Even the thought of it changes my brain chemistry and
wiring, because it puts me in the presence of my grandmother who made me feel loved.
Feeling loved makes us strong.
11. A TIP FOR DATING. If you see someone across a crowded room who you hope is the
Mate of your Dreams, you will not want to drool. You will want to look and feel and stay
alive and grounded, or at least give that impression. You could imagine your favorite,
rooted tree, maybe the old family oak, behind you, backing you up (sensorily, of course).
Many actors have actually pretended they were a tree. Bottom line: what attracts people is
not someone terrified of life but someone alive.
12. ANOTHER TIP FOR DATING. Afraid youre rushing into some relationship? Try an
actors Inner Monologue. Lets say youre already hearing wedding bells, and you know
this will turn off your date. Heres a note you might keep in your pocket and/or also repeat
in your head: I enjoy building this relationship SLOWLY. Or I deserve to really know
this person before I jump in the sac or marry them.
13. THE PERFECT PROP FOR THE PERFECT DATE. Heres something Ill still
use if Im afraid Ill pretend that someone Ive met for five minutes is someone I must
marry. At the coffee shop, on the table between me and my date, Ill put a pair of glasses, or
even an empty pair of glasses frames -- to remind me to really SEE the person Im with.
(Or they could be in my pocket.)
14. DEALING WITH HURTFUL, CRITICAL PEOPLE. If, for example, someone says,
Youre fat, or Youre stupid, this is mean. Usually this means that this person thinks he
or she is fat or stupid, and is a little out of control, because if they were secure, they
wouldnt have to be mean. A piece of paper in your pocket might read, This person is
really criticizing himself. He really must hate himself. I could pray for him. Or, I must
not look for loving support from this person, I must go and make friends with people that
are nice to me. Or you could just imagine that person with a pigeon on his or her head.
Doing what pigeons do.
15. SPEAKING YOUR TRUTH. If youre uncomfortable around someone, if theyre
putting you down, or lets say, manipulating you into being late for an important
appointment, sometimes Speaking Your Truth just shocks them out of their unpleasant
need to be in control. Make sure you talk about your truth, instead of attacking theirs. For
example, I feel uncomfortable now. Its very important to me to go where Im going. So
Im going. Not Youre a mean, controlling bitch.
16. KNOW HOW YOU FEEL AND WHAT YOU WANT. Thats it, folks. Every time an
actor analyzes what he must do in a scene, in a film, or in a play, he must answer those two
questions. When people know the answer to these questions in real-life, they tend to be
balanced, and even happy. Try it.
17. FINDING YOUR VOICE. I wont deal here with how, metaphorically, this is a lifelong challenge. But at least literally, we at all want our speaking voices to be clear and

strong, and even pleasant and resonant, when we need them to be. Hot tip: Can you make a
Haaah sound, and feel your sternum (your chest bone) vibrate with a low deep sound?
This could even feel sensual. If you feel this when you talk, and you can, your vocal quality
will be richer, its resonance stronger. Even impressive. Youll even be connected to
Yourself.
18. FOR EXAMS AND JOB INTERVIEWS. Enjoy What Youre Doing. Youll perform
better on exams if you can find a way to make the experience Fun instead of Torture.
Maybe make a list of people, places, things and events that make you smile. Read it before
that exam or job interview, so your body will be in its pleasure state instead of one of dread.
(No one wants to hire someone unhappy and scared!)
19. CHARISMA. Everybody wants to shine. At the least, everybody wants to be the Lead
Actor in his own life -- the Star. Use Sense Memory to imagine breathing white light into
the spaces between your vertebrae, or into your muscles or bones. Scientists as well as
actors understand that our body remembers Light, and it will follow the sensory suggestion.
Or you could sensorily remember the first time you were in love, and your First Kiss.
People in love shine. Or you could just fall in love.
20. TRANSFORMING FEAR INTO JOY. Any of the Acting Techniques above will
take you on the journey, from Stage Fright in Life into Self-Confidence and a sense of wellbeing. Fear makes us contract, so breathe to actually get bigger. Try sensorily to recall
people, places, things and events where you feel or have felt strong and loved, and your
bodys wiring will take you there and make you strong, happy, joyous and free. And go out
and have fun.