That's a question that's boggled me for a while, too. I'll cry watching a stupid TV commercial or reading something in Reader's Digest but I can't seem to get there on stage.

hehe tom. I was in a show which involved my crying at many instances, one where I throw myself at someone and try to beat him to smithereens, but as it is difficult for me to conjure up tears with such drying makeup, I rarely cried. Instead, I did the whole heaving shoulders and gasping, but watch out cuz that can look fake when overdone. This may not work for you also, cuz it is quite feminine. 
 Usually, though, I am able to make myself cry by going through the motions of crying. I don't know if you make a certain face whenever you cry, but I find that if I make that same face, tears automatically come. Also, I cry when I see someone else crying; I don't know if that would work with you, but I just imagine someone close to me sobbing in pain.

 If you can't make yourself cry that way, I suggest, instead of plucking nose hair, try eyebrow hair.

I find if I think of something really sad that really happened to me I can cry on stage. Like thinking about my friend moving helped me cry when I was in A Little Princess as Sara. If the tears don't come I just fake crying. I find that when I fake cry I end up really crying. I don't know why.

Wishbone

I must be one of the lucky ones... I can cry upon command. The downside is that I get weepy at the most inopportune times... saying the Pledge of Allegiance, thinking about lost kittens, watching my children do anything. 

I have very rarely had a part that required tears, but when I have cried on-stage, it was because I was so immersed in the character I was playing that the tears were my character's, for all the motivations the character had for crying.    The trouble with that was my body reacted as if I (the actor, NOT the character) was crying - forget the character.  When I start to cry I have an extremely difficult time speaking, which makes delivering an intelligible line very difficult.  That's what rehearsal is for.

By the way, if I tried plucking a nose hair to muster up tears I'd start sneezing uncontrollably.  Talk about a mood changer...

The ultimate goal is that you are so involved in what is happening that you do cry as the character would - but that doesn't always happen.

If you start to 'act' as if you are crying - shaking lip, tight mouth, sad expression in your eyes etc - it will just come.  SOemthing to do with muscle memory - your body remembers that the last time it was like that it produced tears and voila

 In Method Acting we have Affective Memory, which also happens in our everyday lives when we do end up crying over something remembered.

 Affective Memory the the concious creation of remembered emotion which have accured in the actor's own  past life, that you then tranfer over to the charactor you are playing.

 Everyone can think of 9-11 and when you heard the events from that day, the sirens, the crys for help, it affects your emotional memory when you then sit and think about it.

 If I were to use this as an exercise before an audition, you'd sit, prepare by relaxing so the emotions can come thru, and then have the recollection of that day come into your mind. What were you doing at the time you heard about that event, can you hear the TV or radio, can you recall what you felt, what were you wearing, how did it make you feel, so as you go through all of the Sense Memory of that day, it helps to bring out the emotional memory of that day.

 Learning this simple little exercise, that we actually all do all the time, when we smile about the thought of a loved one or child that did something cute,all these are flash cards of memories, that you can practice bringing up to get the emotional reaction you want in any scene.

I often have a problem with people who are too into the whole sense memory thing- they get so wrapped up in their "real emotion" that they stop paying attention to all the other stuff (like fellow actors).  It may be powerful to feel real grief and cry from that, but it's also distancing.

There's a careful balance to be struck between being too fake and too real.  I let myself be guided by the script- look at the way the lines are written- the pacing, phrasing, etc.  If you just let yourself get carried by the dialogue (and blocking), whatever happens or doesn't will tend to be appropriate, if not necessarily "real."

Well I am very new here, and tend to lurk for a while before posting, but I can relate something I was just thinking about last night to this topic.  As actors it is our responsibility to be a vessel for the colaborative (self and directors) vison of the character.  We are to allow the thoughts and emotions of the character to flow in and out of body and mind.  There are many techniques that we are taught to get to get to this place..relaxation, sense memory, silent dialogue, etc. I have always been one to also trust that "action brings on emotion".  Doing the action of something will bring the emotion to the surface.  If you begin banging your fist on a table while repeating a line... soon you will find yourself enfusing the line with anger- action brings on emotion. If you think about how your body feels and how your body reacts to the emotion of crying, and can recreate the action of your body, the emotion will follow. This applies to laughter, etc. As with anything we must first be great observers then imitators.

Well I guess that is my two cents .  Thanks for letting me share.

Lalunabella

If you want to get really deep and use the Stanislavsky method then really you shouldn't need any tricks or tips -

You should be so into your character and into your given circumstance that the emotions naturally flow.

If you are having trouble with this then you use sensory recall or the 'magic if' - (what if this happened to me). 

Having said that - that's what I teach but personally I find it very hard to be that into a character - but I guess that's why I'm not on Broadway right now eh!

I've been staying out of this thread, mostly because I knew it would get to this:  Stanislavski vs. Strasberg vs. British systems vs. whatever the flavor of the month is.

And I don't get involved in religious discussions.

But I'll throw a couple of thoughts in now, since the argument has started anyway, and then I'll run away and watch the fireworks.

1) Sense memory is not used onstage.  Not. Not. Not.  It is an exercise.  Like any exercise, if it helps, use it, if not, don't.  But onstage, it is potentially dangerous, distracting, and worst of all, false.  Because your dog didn't die, dammit, Willie Loman did.

2)  Stanislavski explicitly said, over and over, that character building begins with the externals.  Actions, NOT feelings.  He said, and taught, that you must play only actions.  He wrote pages and pages about playing around in the costume shop to help himself look like Othello.  The fact that Strasberg taught something different in his name doesn't change that.

3) Magic If:  One of Stanislavski's pupils (Vakhtangov) put it this way:  "What would I have to do in order to do what the character does in these circumstances?"  Obviously, I don't get to do what I want to do in the circumstances; nobody wants to see a play about me anyway.    I am limited by the author's choices; my job as an actor is to justify them.

Willie's dead.  I'm at his gravesite.  Why am I there?  Why is he dead?  Is it my fault?  Is there something I could have said?  What do we do now?

If I place myself into these circumstances, and really think these thoughts, my reaction will be true to the playwright and to myself.  And if I don't bring actual make-the-costume-wet tears, well, maybe that's because I've spent so many years trying not to, that I can't right now.

But that doesn't mean I'm not crying.

I dont know if that sense memory comment was directed at me, but just incase- insecurities showing- I just want to say  I was not suggesting that one would "use" that technique on stage. All were mentioned as a means to access- get to that place- of emotion within yourself during rehearsal or workshop.  They were just suggestions of what might work for anyone.  All in all I think every actor must find/create their own "method"(s) of what works for him/her. 

~L   

*chuckle* Thanks Topper, I'll consider it.

***Buy now, and I'll include the home-acting rage system for free!!!***

Hi Tom,

I realize it's been awhile since the last post, but I just wanted to add in some tips that worked for me. I was Trina in "I Remember Mama" (the musical version), and I have always had a hard time crying "on cue." I have to say - the trick of trying not to cry really worked for me, along with pulling my lips together (another post-er mentioned "making [your] crying face").

The one thing the make-up person found out - (at least for women): waterproof, smudgeproof, outlast, long last, infinity - all those kinds of eye make-up - did not cut it - they all smudged & otherwise gave me 'racoon eyes'. She ended up using short fake eyelashes to help bring out my eyes (much easier than having to get made up again after every scene!).

Anyway - hope that helps.

Why would you want to do a serious role?  Save the Dram for your Mama!!! 

Tom, you have a gift.  You are playing comedic roles.  Embrace it.

As for crying on stage, there are many methods, but the most important is that if you are in character, in the scene and believe it, you will crying. TO ACT IS TO LISTEN AND BELIEVE.

Why a serious role? Fair question.

I would do it because it's there. I would do it BECAUSE I'm either not good at it, or inexperienced. I would do it for the challenge. I would do it to find another way to effect an audience.

A lot of people I know, and audience members assume that I'm just naturally talented in the theatre arts. I'm not. About the only natural proclivity I have is probably for mathematics. What I do have, is a passion for theatre. I love working on a show, and I want it to be good. Not just acceptable, but really, really good.

I'm a decent techie and stage manager, but acting wasn't that easy (and still isn't). I spent a long time learning how to open up as an actor, and to learn the quirks of timing and delivery because I wasn't good at them. I want to look like someone more talented than I am because I worked harder. Over time, I improved, and became a decent comedic character actor.

I also ended up only being able to try out for musicals in my area, because of my schedule. The problem was, I couldn't sing well, couldn't dance, can't read music, and have a hard time keeping a beat. So I made sure I got singing and dancing roles, and just worked tirelessly on it until it looked and sounded good. A new dance step might take me a week (or so) to figure out, but I'll do my best to make it look natural by the time the curtain opens. I worked on singing enough over the "off seasons" that I end up landing solo parts now. One practice, a music director who knows me well actually asked, "What happened? You sound... good! I mean, really good."

The same thing happened in other aspects of theatre, and I find them all rewarding. The goal, whether it's tech work, set design, acting, etc., is to make the audience suspend their disbelief, and really lose themselves in watching your show. That's something I feel they deserve, on any show I'm on. I'd want to perform a serious role to be able to make an audience feel in a way that's different than for a comedic role. I'd want to know that I can do that, because I believe I can.

That's one thing that I enjoy about community theatre: I get to do the things I normally wouldn't be allowed to do otherwise. I wouldn't have learned how to do many things well if I hadn't been allowed to do them poorly at first. Community theatre offers a great place to learn, to teach, and to grow. I love it all, and always look for new places to improve. And I can always be better.

-Tom

Remember, a modest man may sometimes seem conceited because he is pleased with the job he has done.  A conceited man is critical of everything he does because he feels his performance is not worthy of his genius.

To grow as an actor is a wonderful thing, and working with performers far more talented than you will certainly make you grow.  So will taking challenges, but most performers will tell you that comedy is the hardest medium of theater.  It take s a gift, and if you excel at comedy, embrace the roles because there are few performer that can perform comedy well.

Think about the joke tellers, there is always someone who can tell you joke you heard before and make you laugh. It is a gift.

Other than that, good luck in you endeavors.