Thursday, May. 01, 2003 | 4:02 PM

The best Acting happens when an alternate universe is created in which you the actor, actually become your character, so you are at once yourself and someone completely different. There should be no time on stage where you cease living in this alternate universe. You aren�t playing the character. You aren�t pretending to be the character. Your thoughts are his thoughts. Your feelings are his feelings. Each action is dictated by an immediate and spontaneous psychological realism. You pull the character out from somewhere inside of you by any effective means.

Things to ask co-star tonight:

1) After you lean into kiss me and I start walking away, can you do that thing you did once where you look me up and down with unbridled sexual desire? I think you were focusing on my legs and that really worked for me. It made me feel very powerful also very nervous at the same time and that�s where I need to be. It will make it far easier for me to taunt you and hold your gaze.

2) During the party scene can you tell me quite seriously that you love me, that I am beautiful, that you are having a wonderful time. Can we talk about where our honeymoon is going to be and what we�re going to do when we get married?

3) When you lean in to kiss me after the pineapple song can you put your hand on my cheek? I think that would scare me enough to provide the impulse to pull away from you.

4) When I grab the knife and the orange and you grab my hand, I�m going to try to pull away from you. Please don�t let me.

5) When you sing to me after I take the orange and you hold my hand, if you feel comfortable doing so, would you mind stroking the inside of my wrist with your thumb.

Things to ask Ernst:

1) When you grab me away from Co-Star and tell me not to marry him, please hold my arm as tightly as possible and do not let go of it no matter how hard I try to pull away from you. I am going to try several times with a lot of force and it would help me a lot if you gripped me even more tightly. And when you tell me that breaking off my engagement is for my own welfare, can you imply it as a physical threat? Get in my face and invade my personal space and when I try to back off, don�t let me. And when you tell me Co-Star is not a German, at that point you can throw my arm down and walk off leaving me alone on the stage. But have it be you that releases my arm of your own accord rather than me succeeding in breaking away from you. If you don�t think that works at all, that�s cool but it seemed appropriate to me. I want to feel officially menaced by you. Please let me know if there�s anything you�d like me to do for you during that exchange.

Things to ask Mr. Wonderful:

1) Would you mind if I incorporated you more physically into �What Would You Do?��if I stroked your cheek, or do you feel like you need space from me? Do you like me incorporating you into the song? It seems to work for the dramatic arc of your next scene. I�m thinking that there are very few moments where I don�t want to be directly addressing you�otherwise it winds up being too general, too musical theatre-y and I think the specificity of it is what allows me to lose my shit. Do you think that after the song is over you would have any impulse to walk over to me and maybe try to put your hand on my shoulder or something? Because that might give me a more honest impulse to lose control. If not, that�s cool. I�m not sure whether it would work or not. It�s working very well now, but I thought we could play with it and see how it feels.

2) Let me know if there�s any thing you want or need from me during that scene (or any other)

3) PS�I love being on stage with you.

Notes to self: (yes I consistently address myself as �you�)

Stop thinking about singing �:So What� correctly. The acting is more important and your losing specificity in your physical motion�it�s sloppy when you�re worrying about what notes to hit. Fraulein Schneider is not worrying about the key changes. Freulein Schneider is trying to make the room look beautiful for Cliff, and then she winds up going on this tangent about her life, because Cliff reminds her of her dead lover. So get lost in that reverie. The arc of this act for Fraulein Schneider is revisiting parts of herself she thought had died and the very first impetus for this occurring is Cliff�s arrival.. If you�re still insecure about the damned song get over it or sing it through 80,000 times at home. Get rid of your ego perfectionism because this isn�t about you�this is about Fraulein Schneider. Serve the play damn�t. As it stands, you�re losing the scene to your own desire for exactitude.

What is your objective for the rest of this scene after the song? It�s unclear as to whether you have forgotten about your planned meeting with Schultz because you are so wrapped up in the present situation, or if you know damned well that 11:00 is approaching and are trying to get the hell out of the room, or maybe you�re hoping he�ll show up�maybe you�re making him wait on purpose. Make a definitive choice and play on it.

Something is missing between you and Kost in the scene where you catch her with the sailor. Why are you so disgusted with her? Is it because of the sex or because of the money? Practice listening to Kost more and responding spontaneously to her words. Maybe do something different blocking wise because the scene is starting to run on auto pilot and it�s lacking energy. It�s feeling too rehearsed.

When you get the pineapple, become more of a dead weight physically. You aren�t trusting Co-Star enough to catch you. Your job is to fall to the ground. His job is to make sure that you don�t. Maybe you should practice some trust falls with him. But the scene will have more tension if you keep in mind that you have opposing motivations and it�s your job to focus on yours�not his.

When you sing that last solo line of Married, maybe you should stroke Co-Star�s face. There isn�t enough tenderness there yet. It�s lacking intimacy.

When you say I am overwhelmed, what specifically are you overwhelmed by? I don�t think it�s Schultz. I think it�s that you didn�t know you could feel this way again. I don�t think you�re being shy there. I think you�re ecstatic. There�s a lunacy and a spontaneity you have found within yourself, so feel it.

What is going through your mind after Ernst tells you to call off the engagement? Maybe you�re thinking about your dead lover�about how familiar this sounds. The political threats and such.

The first part of the breakup scene feels inauthentic. Why are you walking into the fruit shop and not looking at Shultz for such a long period of time? That blocking piece doesn�t make sense. Maybe there�s some action that you could be doing downstage? Talk to Director about it. Even if you were uncomfortable about talking to Schultz, it seems unlikely you would walk into his shop and just stand there not looking at him. It feels forced.

How exactly do I feel about Sally? What is my opinion of her? The dynamic feels a little unclear.