Brene Brown on vulnerability

I love what Brown has to say about vulnerability and empathy. I had never thought that being

vulnerable opened so many emotional and intellectual doors before. Being vulnerable allowing a

person to be creative, happy, kind, and clearly many other things seems like a simple conclusion

to come to yet I had never thought about it before. I have always believed that allowing myself to

feel my feelings and move through them helped me grow more as a human and consequently an

actor as well. Brown fleshing that personal concept out for me is a good tool to help me

understand that better.

Is the actor’s vulnerability different from the characters? Right now, that is hard for me to say. I

believe if you are feeling too many of your own feelings during a performance that it will not be

conducive to putting on a good show. I think they are both separate vulnerabilities and

intertwined somewhat. You as an actor are bringing the character to life. You may be

substituting many real experiences and people from your life into the play your character is

living in. The endowments and substitutions you use help you feel real feelings, but they serve a

purpose to create your characters feelings. After writing this out I think the actor’s and

character’s vulnerability are separate things, but I also do not think the character can be

vulnerable unless you as an actor are vulnerable.