Why do people go to the theater? For the price of a ticket to community theater, and perhaps a tenth that of a Broadway ticket, they could buy a book at Borders with the script, and others, in it. For that matter, they could go to the library and probably take it out for free. Then they could read it at home at their leisure, stopping for food and bathroom breaks, phone calls, check the scores, take a nap, and even reread a section they didn't get the first time. So, with all that convenience at hand, why bother getting in the car, driving to the theater, parking, waiting at the box office, sitting in cramped seats with no intermission in the dark, hoping that you can see and hear the actors, and that the orchestra doesn't drown out the singing again?

Hell, I don't know. Ask them. But I have a theory. Perhaps you know that the etymology of the words theater and drama take us back to ancient Greece, where their meanings basically mean "viewing" and "action on stage" respectively. So, in essence, what people are coming to the theater for is to see the play happen. They want to see the action of the play take place. 

That's why they go to see sports played in person, even though at home they get the benefit of multiple instant replays from a dozen angles, scintillating and insightful commentary from former sport stars, better and cheaper eats and drinks, much cleaner facilities, and no major battle with traffic after a two hour wait in line at the parking lot exit. They don't just want to know the score, or who won, or even see the highlights on the Sports r-r-r-r-Round Up at 11:25 after the evening news and weather. They want action. Blood, sweat, bone-breaking collisions, fisticuffs - and that's just at the snack bar.

In theater, there's another aspect that plays into this, although even the audience members themselves may not be fully aware of it. It's the opportunity to spy, without danger of getting caught, on the trials and tribulations of the characters. Through the magic of the fourth wall — a de facto one-way mirror into the characters bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, and lives — they get to stare with impunity and watch as the characters fumble through life, making tragic mistakes and humorous gaffes, and all the while they (the audience) get to laugh at them and judge them without concern. 

So the last thing they want to do is pay five bucks, or sixty-five, to watch uninteresting and unattractive people sitting around talking nonsense. For that, they could have gone to a family gathering and at least gotten drunk for free. Which is not to say that everyone on stage should be in constant motion. "Pass the Dramamine - pronto!"

What it means is that while on stage, actors should find ways to make their characters move, when it is appropriate, in a way that is natural and visually interesting to the audience. If you want the audience to identify with your character, to recognize him, perhaps even sympathize with him, you don't want to alienate them by being unpleasant or difficult to watch. Unless that is the character at the moment. Certainly stories — whether literature, plays, novels, films, television, etc — have their share of awkward, ungainly characters. But if yours isn't one of them, don't make him one with unwarranted movement.

So the trick is to find actions and gestures to adorn your performance, accessorize it if you will. As Hemingway said, "never confuse movement with action." Action can exist at times, though rarely, in the absence of movement. It is most often accompanied by it, and can be found in a gesture, a change of posture, or an ambulatory excursion across the stage. 

What will often stop a method actor in his tracks are unjustified actions. And it's true, in life we rarely move about or gesture without some purpose. Even pacing is usually either a sign of anxiety or a calming technique. But watching someone walking about the stage seemingly aimlessly will cause the audience to wonder what the actor is doing walking all around, and with that they are out of the moment, and aware that they are in the audience of a theater watching actors. And they aren't paying attention to the words. Scientific studies conducted in Britain show that it is much harder to absorb what a person is saying if they are moving without obvious purpose at the time. Okay, I made that up. But it could be true. You don't know.

A favorite line of mine that comes from someone who's name escapes me at the moment goes something like "Don't loiter on stage." Unlike film and television, where characters not in the scene are not in the frame, on the stage all shots are "long shots", taking in all characters and scenery that are available. In theater, the visual is always "on". If you are on stage, you're in view.  It is your obligation as an actor to be visually interesting whenever on stage. That does not mean always active and drawing attention to yourself. On the contrary, what it means is you should appear to be as one would reasonable expect a character such as yours to be during the moment you are in. And that can often mean just staying still, paying active attention to your scene partners, as if you were truly wondering what they might do and say next despite the knowledge you the actor has in that regard. Do not appear as if listening for your cue while trying to recall your next line.

Assuming your intention is to portray your character with some sense of realism — that is, not a fantasy character of some sort — then your actions (gestures, postures, and movements) will want to be rooted in a realistic interpretation of how the audience would perceive the character. So, the best way to devise such actions is to base them on those of a real person. That means, your best source of ideas for such actions is to watch people as they sit, stand, walk, move, relate to others, behave when they think no one is watching, wait for a bus, look for a waiter, ask directions from a stranger, walk their dog, engage with their lover over a drink, space out at a coffee counter, try to read a book on a park bench. 

You get the idea? Anybody, anywhere, anytime, doing anything. Watch them, and mimic them (out of their sight, preferably), feeling how your body feels, how your muscles align, how they ache after a while, where the weight is on your bones. Feel all that deep into your psyche so that you can recall it nearly at will.  This can be a great source of material for character development. 

Allow me to close by saying you will want to be active in the world.  Turn off the TV and the computer, leave the cell phone home, and go out into the community around you.  Visit museums and coffee shops, bars and restaurants, train stations and parks.  And not just to observe, but to participate.  As Anton Chekhov said, "If you want to work on your art, work on your life." Be an actor, fine, but be a person first.

Break a leg!