The Connecting Deeply Method

Acting is more than demonstrating emotion, delivering dialogue or pretending to be someone else. It is the process of building a connection so complete that the character’s circumstances, relationships and experiences become real within the actor’s imagination.

The Connecting Deeply Method helps actors move beyond simply performing a character and begin experiencing life from the character’s point of view.

Connection Before Performance

A truthful performance cannot be forced. It develops when the actor understands not only who the character is, but how the character experiences the world.

Through imagination, physical exploration and personal discovery, actors learn to connect with the character’s environment, relationships, needs and circumstances. This preparation gives the actor something real to experience instead of something artificial to demonstrate.

“The depth of your art lies in the power of your imagination.”

The Foundations of the Method

Imagination

The imagination allows an actor to enter circumstances beyond their personal experience. By developing the people, places, memories and conditions surrounding the character, the actor creates a world that feels specific, personal and alive.

Physical Connection

A character is expressed through the entire body. Movement, posture, rhythm, tension, breath and the use of space can reveal aspects of the character that cannot be discovered through intellectual analysis alone.
Physical exploration helps the actor understand how the character exists within the world.

Emotional Connection

Emotion is not treated as a result that must be produced. It develops naturally from the actor’s connection to the circumstances.

By giving meaning to the character’s experiences and relationships, the actor creates the conditions for honest emotional responses to emerge.

Relationships

Every person, place and object has meaning to the character. Understanding those relationships gives the actor a reason to speak, listen, pursue, resist and respond.

The work is not only about what the character wants. It is also about why it matters and what is at stake if that need is not fulfilled.

Freedom

Deep preparation is not meant to restrict a performance. It gives the actor the freedom to remain present, respond honestly and discover new moments while performing.
The actor prepares the character’s world deeply, then allows themselves to live freely within it.

The Training Experience

Connecting Deeply training is shaped around the individual actor and the work they want to develop. Sessions may include character exploration, scene study, monologue work, movement, guided imagination and exercises from Becoming: How to Connect to Character Deeply.

Actors may bring an existing role, audition, scene or character into the session. Training may also focus on strengthening the actor’s overall process without preparing for a specific performance.

The purpose is not to impose one correct way of acting. The purpose is to help each actor develop a process that allows them to connect more deeply, make stronger discoveries and perform with greater truth and freedom.

Becoming the Character

The goal is not to show the audience a character.

The goal is to experience the character deeply enough that the audience believes they are meeting someone real.

Begin the work. Connect deeply.