Reflection: A Lie of The Mind Is A Story of Two Dysfunctional Families

Reflection
Awareness In Acting
The Prompts:
How has your perception about relationships, human interaction, and body language
changed during the course, and how did this affect your appreciation of the play you
attended?
How has this course given you more awareness, sensitivity and respect for human beings,
their relationships, and motivation for their actions?
How will you apply the principles you learned from acting onstage and off in your own
life?
My Response:
In my minds eye, I imagine the students from our class lined up across a stage. We make
quite the conglomerate - a wide range of ages, backgrounds, individual stories. Theres a
wrestler. A boxer. A musician or two. Someone named after a celebrity actor. Someone who wore
the same clothes to school every day for the first three months, switching only to longer sleeves
and pant legs as the weather cooled. Some (perhaps all) have survived heartbreaking horrors:
living in an orphanage, being illegally sold, surviving incest, coping with insane parents. You
wouldnt know which stories belonged to which student by looking at us standing there. How
has this course given me more awareness, sensitivity and respect for human beings, their
relationships, and motivation for their actions? Ive learned that it doesnt really matter which
stories belong to which students; you could put any two of us together and wed be able to find
something that we shared. Even as character actors, we could find some part of us - some
emotion that belonged to another that we could portray ourselves. With accuracy.
In my review of A Lie of the Mind, I shared the following:
A Lie of the Mind is a story of two dysfunctional families
plagued with mental health issues. This comes as no surprise
from playwright Sam Shepard, whose father was an Air Force
bomber during World War II and an alcoholic (About Sam, 2015).

Sam is reported to have said that families falling apart is one of
the great tragedies of our contemporary life in America Almost
everyone has that in common (Sam Shepard Biography, 2015).
While the play may not supply pleasant, upbeat entertainment, it
challenges the mind, entices the search for common ground, stirs
emotion, and consequently touches the heart.
How has my perception about relationships, human interaction, and body language
changed during the course, and how did this affect my appreciation of the play I attended?
Well, my stepfather was in an Air Force bomber during World War II. He wasnt an alcoholic, but
I did get the honor of watching him beat my mother when I was less than ten years old. Hows
that for dysfunctional families falling apart? According to Mr. Shepard, that doesnt make
me unique. It qualifies me for fitting in. It grants me membership in that grand clichd club we
call the human condition. It means I know pain. I know suffering. I know heartache and struggle.
I also know the power an individual has to overcome impossible odds. And the more I interact
with students at SLCC - be it in Acting I, Marine Biology, Imaginative Writing, or
Communications in Business - the more I realize that each of us has a similar story to tell.
I believe that everyone on Earth has a specific, individual purpose in life. You can call it a
gift. Or a talent. A destiny. However you phrase it, I believe that mine is the power of influence
through storytelling. And I tell my stories in many different ways. I write poetry, articles and
tales. I speak in public. I play the piano. I act on a stage. There are so many stories to be told; so
much power to share. As I have learned how to dig deep inside a character to find their driving
forces, Ive learned about my own motivations. And Ive learned about the motivations of others.
In her final television talk show in 2011, Oprah Winfrey said:

Ive talked to nearly 30,000 people on this show and all 30,000
had one thing in common. They all wanted validation. And if I
could reach through this television, sit on your sofa, or sit on a
stool in your kitchen, I would tell you that every single person
you ever will meet shares that common desire. They want to
know: do you see me? Do you hear me? Does what I say mean
anything to you?
How will I apply the principles I learned from acting onstage and off in my own life?
I want to get to know people as many as I can. They are fascinating. Every one of them. I
want to line them up on a stage and hear their stories. I want to tell them how incredibly,
stunningly, immeasurably valuable they are. I want to tell them that I hear them; that what they
say means something to me. I want to learn from their wisdom, like the characters in Lie of the
Mind, whom I first thought were the most out of their minds: Beth, who spouted shocking
insights concerning the state of her family members despite extensive brain damage. Or Meg, an
introverted, emotionally abused wife, who eventually braved divulging the ugly truth of her
husbands neglectful behaviors. I want to discover people like that and become a better person
because I know them. Then I want to tell their stories so I can empower others to become better.
Because when we learn how amazing one person can be, we begin to believe that we might
matter, too. And thats when we begin to become who we were meant to be; who we were all
along and didnt know it. One story - one play - one act - one scene at a time.

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Reflection

bomber during World War II and an alcoholic (About Sam, 2015).

In her final television talk show in 2011, Oprah Winfrey said:

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