20150412

IN THE MOMENT

After watching Andre Agassi's tennis match at the U.S. Open in 1992, Barbra Streisand observed, "He's very much in the moment." William Safire decided to ask the President of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts to clarify. The reply: "She used 'in the moment' in the way it is often used by actors and acting teachers. A performer's desirable state of total, relaxed commitment to (or concentration on) the moment at hand, free of concern with previous or future moments." 

Peter Weller starred in 'RoboCop' made the comment in 1990, "Albert Camus said the only real existentialist is either the traveler or the actor, because they are constantly superimposing their existence moment-by-moment on other existences. Maybe they're hand-in-hand; the traveler and the actor. I don't think there's a lot of security in either – our notion of security; in the Zen sense, it's probably the most secure of all."

One Harvard history graduate student insisted, "A person who is 'in the moment', is one who avoids the common tendency of dwelling on the past, the future or anything extrinsic to the moment at hand - similar to experiencing an Eastern state of transcendental immanence."

Alan Alda offered, "Both words and crystals are put to uses in California that seem odd to people in the East (in New York). Rather than having the connotation of 'social awareness', I think the term 'evolved' is used here (in California) in a more spiritual context. I remember first hearing the word 'evolved' used in this way several years ago (before 1992) when people would say that someone was 'very evolved spiritually'. This was a compliment derived from the belief – fashionable for a while in this country, especially in California – that with every incarnation you evolve into a model creature. Agents and other meat-eaters were considered to be recent entrants into this process. So, to say that spiritually he's tops."

Tama Starr wrote the 1991 book, 'The Natural Inferiority of Women' made the remark, "The rather complex idea packed into evolved is that while all souls journey from incarnation to incarnation, acquiring spiritual wisdom along the way, some ('old souls') have had more of these opportunities than others...and thus have become evolved. I am not inventing or hallucinating this. It is a cliché from the Middle New Age (circa 1971)."

On television, daytime soap operas were considered the oldest continuing form of electronic drama in the world. The first American soap opera, 'Painted Dreams', could be heard on radio in 1930. Then in 1949, viewers were shown the first soap opera on television, 'These Are My Children'. By the end of the 1970s, it was reported soap operas were drawing millions of new viewers. Don Wallace produced 'Return To Peyton Place' made the observation in 1972, "In a serial you can change characters. They do evolve, which is one reason why audiences get so wrapped up."

Joe Gallison played Dr. Neil Curtis on 'Days of our Lives' told United Press International in 1983, "Soap operas are serials. They grew out of Tolstoy, Dickens and Thackeray. Dickens' novels appeared in weekly newspapers in instalments. Tolstoy stories were serialized in magazines. The same thing was true for Thackeray. The soaps have roots in history. Minstrels spun soap operas and kept them going night after night around the fires. You have to be fast and good to do a daily hour show. Work in repertory theater or summer stock are the only things that can compare with soaps when it comes to training young actors…I’m not really looking to get out of this format of acting."

"The influence of these things (soap operas) is just unbelievable," Bill Hayes confessed back in 1973. "They (the viewers) believe so much. The things we deal with are real human matters, intense emotions, and the audience relates totally to us and to the situations." Susan Seaforth added, "I guess it's the nature of the art form, and certainly one of the reasons for its success, that we deal with problems that affect viewers' lives in the manner in which they might deal with them...We reflect viewer attitudes more than we change them. How many times can you see a good opera? Viewers get involved with us day after day for years because we're real."

In 1980, Professor Suzanne Pingree decided to use soap operas to teach social change at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, "There's an analogy between soaps and the women's or lifestyle pages of newspapers. They both provide a forum for presentation of women's issues rarely treated elsewhere in the media." Joe pointed out, "The only thing permanent about a soap is the title (such as 'Another World' or 'Where The Heart Is'). The writers, actors, producers and directors come and go through the years. But viewers remain faithful no matter what."

Dan Wakefield wrote 'All Her Children' published in July 1976, told the Chicago Daily News at the time, "In less specific but more pervasive ways, I was getting from the TV soap operas a more accurate feel of American society, in tones of thought and talk and dress, than I could find in most newspapers and magazines, and certainly more so than in any of the laugh-tracked, sickly sweet family fantasy dramas of nighttime 'adult' viewing (such as 'Little House On The Prairie' or 'The Waltons')."

David Forsyth told TV Data Features Syndicate in 2000, "I've been working with 'One Life To Live' and directed a few episodes. They have a development program where they bring people in and teach them the ropes of writing, directing, etc. It's a terrific way for someone to get the experience they need and work with real professionals. I believe in many ways directing makes you a more aware actor. You understand what it is the director is trying to do, and it makes you a little less self-involved."

Back in 1989, Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press told readers, "Soap-opera writing is a highly disciplined, tightly structured craft. On 'As The World Turns', head writer Douglas Marland, plots the show over the long term. He is supported by breakdown writers, who do the plot narratives. They write what will happen on a given day. These highly detailed scenarios are turned into dialog by a 3rd group of writers (some 5 people). A writer could write one script, the equivalent of a one-act play, each week. The writing is regimented in precise segments. A hour-long soap contains a prolog and 7 acts, made up of 20 to 25, carefully plotted scenes."

Dialog writer and actor Richard Backus told the Associated Press, "Each scene ends with a little something to make you go on to the next scene. Each act ends with a little something to make you sit through the commercials and watch the next act. The final act always has 3 parts, each one a little cliffhanger. And then each Friday show has an especially good cliffhanger to make sure you'll be back on Monday. In a way, it's a real factory, but it's amazing how creative it is within the format. But what Douglas cares about and what drew me to the show ('As The World Turns') initially is that he deals with serious issues and you get to watch people grapple with real problems. And he deals with the problems long term. There are no miracle cures."

It was understood writing for soaps, "It's more a process of turning a short novel into working dialog. It's very close to what an actor does when he gets a new play and makes it work on stage. So if you have a good background in acting, you have a sense of what works."

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