Inspired states: adapting the Michael Chekhov Technique for the singing actor

Abstract

This article seeks to illuminate some ways in which the Michael Chekhov Technique might be used to help the singing actor work from an inspired state. The singing actor faces special challenges in bringing the truth to the stage, since he or she must undertake to balance naturalistic spontaneity within a discipline that is at once heightened and highly polished. The actor must perform the structure laid out in the text, yet freely improvise within that structure, making discoveries and decisions moment by moment in order to tell the truth onstage. Clues are embedded within the composition both to suggest and, often, to impel the performer toward a range of acting choices. Chekhov's emphasis on the performer's creative individuality and intuition, his reliance on imagery, movement, improvisation, form a brilliant partnership with the singing actor, since music inherently possesses meaning, images, atmospheres, and gestures. By engaging, experimenting with, and exercising Chekhov's ideas, the singing actor can develop an enlivened and specific method to help her reliably achieve what Chekhov calls the state of inspiration.