An Enactive Approach to Understanding Acting

Abstract

Drawing on recent developments in phenomenology, cognitive science, and anthropological ecology, this essay explores an enactive approach to a meta-theoretical understanding of acting as a phenomenon. In contrast to representational and/or mimetic meta-theories of acting, which construct their views of action from a position as an outside observer to the process/phenomenon of acting, an enactive view provides an account of acting from "inside" the process itself—that is, from the perspective of the actor as enactor/doer. Acting is not to be viewed as embodying a representation of a role or a character, but rather should be understood as a dynamic, lived experience in which the actor is responsive to the demands of the particular moment within a specific (theatrical) environment.