StoryTeam Go — Principle 1: Everything is Story
We Begin
Once upon a time…
We’re taught as children the simple rules of storytelling: Every story has a beginning, middle and end. Later in life, we learn why. It’s a framework with which to make sense of our own unpredictable, terrifying and exhilarating lives. Religion does the same. Science does the same. Humans make stories as an essential component of survival. Without stories, we are left without guideposts for hope, joy or sadness, during moments of despair, celebration, or tragedy.
We are all living through stories all the time — beginnings, middles, and ends — but we experience these stories in the moment as chaos. Art gives us the perspective — and illusion — of order so that we may make meaning for ourselves in the chaos.
Stories are told. They’re written or sung or danced or performed for others. They are an outward expression intended to be consumed in commonality.
And this is the starting point for all our work as actors. We’re storytellers, first and foremost. When we are mindful of this job description, we establish a firm foundation on which all the other techniques, methods and approaches to our craft are built.
In order that each story, act, scene or take might begin with wonder and mystery at “Once upon a time…”
