Can You Do Less?

During my freshman year in theater school, grades were earned on a scale of how well could I pretend to be fire, how hard could I cry about third grade, how long could I watch the dude I was dating paint his naked body with finger paints without sinking into the floor and dying of shame. On opposite day, I also earned a grade for how well I could do less.

My Alexander Technique class consisted of, what seemed to me, a lot of lying down on the floor and writing my name softly with a pencil. We had this crazy/tall teacher who didn't say much except: "Can you do less?" Which for me meant taking a nap and hoping I didn't get caught. From what I remember, I think I was also supposed to grow an inch by the end of the class? This did not happen.

At the time, it was just one more class squeezed into a busy schedule including "Stage Craft" and "Clowning 101" so it all got jumbled into a pile of nonsense. Now I see how "Can you do less?" is probably the one thing I should have listened to that year. I know I can always stress less, talk less, worry less, and... throw my clothes on the floor less. Which means, conversely, I should probably pick up my clothes more. About that...