No, I'm a Noah Valley Theater, a very important place, and the M.V.T. acting program there, which is organized by, and she's the coordinator of, the acting coordinator and the teacher, Julia Ogilvy, and she joins us now on ThinkDoc, and we are so happy to have her because she is a very, very important person. Hi, Julia. Same here. We had our show a year ago, and it was a great experience to talk with you and meet you and all that, and now we're going to follow up, you know, and here you are embedded deeply in Middle of Alley Theater and the M.V.T. program, and the M.V.T. studio specifically, and when they say that you're the acting teacher, does that mean you're like the interim teacher, like they have in UH, or does it mean you're the real teacher? Oh, good heavens. I started the studio, Kib Willborn asked me, executive director of M.V.T. asked me to start the studio just coming up on a year ago, and I also developed the curriculum, decide what's taught, I get to bring in teaching artists, I get to hire incredible teaching artists in town, which is so amazing, and then I also teach a bunch of classes, stage acting, TV and film, Shakespeare, musical theater, I'm co-teaching musical theater with Mary Chestnut Hicks this fall, which is exciting, and I also coach clients in a range of stuff, so yeah. Well, that's fabulous. I mean, really, you know, you're a treasure to the performing arts in Hawaii, and you have such a fantastic CV from Yale on all around to Broadway and Juilliard, we don't have enough time for me to talk about all of it, suffice to say you're an extraordinary talent that we should have here, and Manoa Valley should have you, but I do want to talk about who would be interested in attending the acting studio, the M.V.T. studio, because I think, and I'm a lawyer, right, and what did Shakespeare say? All the world is a stage, that's what he said. He also said, let's kill all the lawyers, but that's not, you know, part of our program today, but all the world is a stage, and that is lawyers, for example, whether they admit it or not, you know, really believe in their hearts that they're acting, they're acting for the judge, the jury, the client, the whole thing, and so acting is part of our lives. I'm not saying acting is necessarily, you know, less than authentic, less than sincere and candid, but we do have an acting experience in our lives and our professions and whatever we choose, and so when you learn acting, you are learning something that's very helpful for you, am I right? Absolutely.  My very first coaching client at M.V.T. studio was in fact a lawyer, and we worked on his persuasive public speaking skills, and in terms of energy, vocal dynamics, not just the content, the what, but also the how, how to, you know, relay, you know, the closing argument in a dynamic and persuasive way, and so that's been one of the most exciting things about, you know, getting to be home and teaching and coaching is it's for so many different kinds of people in so many different professions, in so many different, you know, age ranges and backgrounds, and I mean, the central approach with any teaching or coaching that I do is facilitating people's confidence in their unique sense of self and identity and plugging into their joy of getting to express what they're passionate about, whether they're, you know, ahead of a, of a, you know, physical therapy company or, or even a farm, you know, out North Shore, which is incredible, or a lawyer, you know, and so, you know, and then of course, actors in the more traditional sense of putting them on tape for an on-camera audition for a TV show or film or commercial or Shakespeare.  It's like gaining skills in how to own your uniqueness and share it with generosity and joy can be taught to people in many different areas and in places of, in their life, you know, and yeah, and I'm just so grateful to be home.  I feel lucky to get to be home and be teaching here. Well, you bring a lot to it, you know, your local girl, although it isn't obvious, and we had this discussion last November when we met.  And so you bring a lot to it. But you know, one, one thing, you know, sort of, you know, another half step on this is that if I understand acting, if you teach me how to act, what acting is, not only am I able to establish better rapport, relate to people, you know, a footnote to that is, if you put me in a, in a sensory deprivation place where I have no stimuli at all, that's the worst human experience, then that's torture. But if you put me in a place where I can actually, you know, talk to people and engage with them, the higher the engagement, the better my life experience is. And acting is right up there, because I'm engaging one to many, or maybe many to many, but I'm engaging and that engagement is the opposite of sensory deprivation. It's the ultimate experience of the senses, in my view. But I, you know, I wanted to go that half step and just suggest this notion. If you understand acting, and you do, you know, I always felt that, you understand the people who are acting with you. You understand the person on the stage. You understand the lawyer who is trying to address you as a member of the jury. You understand what that dynamic is on, on his or her side of the equation. So it's not only that you can act as if you can evaluate and appreciate the acting that is going on across the way on that same stage, right? Absolutely, because what you're talking about is communication and actually being in contact with each other and having things resonate, right? And the biggest element to acting is actually listening. Actually listening, not just waiting to talk, which most of us do, right? As we're like, eh, let's talk, no. But to truly listen, to truly listen and being contact and truthfully listen and respond to the other person is a huge part of communication skills, whether you're an actor or in life. And also you mentioned that element of like connecting in terms of understanding. The biggest thing is resonance, right? How can your experience also be resonant for an audience or someone you're interacting with? And a big part of the training at the studio is about how to bring what has personal meaning to you to the work so that it resonates with the audience. So they lean forward and they connect with it of like, oh, God, I've been through that too. Oh my gosh, what's going to happen next in this story? So it's not just, look at me, I'm acting really fast and really hard. I'm really talented, right? It's about putting all your attention on your fellow actors or the person you're talking to or the audience you're giving a speech to and really being in contact with them. You know what I mean? Because then that connection is what facilitates a really meaningful and fulfilling interaction. That's so visible. It's so, it's so clear when I talk to you and I told you I looked at the show we did a year ago and what was interesting was I found myself, I was watching myself and I was leaning in on you. More than I ordinarily do, I was like this because I know you were listening to me and I was listening to you and so it was achieved that way and you carry that. I'm sure you carry that in every capacity in your life because these lessons we learn affect our whole lives, our way of dealing with everybody. Absolutely. Yeah, it does carry into all areas of life and I think being present, I think in all areas of life it's about how present and grounded can you be and how much can you just take in the other people or person you're with and then go from there as opposed to trying to assert or show something or anything. It's just taken and then truthfully respond. Yeah. Well, so I wanted to ask you, who would be the kind of person you want in these classes? Who is the ideal student in these classes? I mean, is it a Nebish? He shouldn't be so much a Nebish anymore? Is it a Wallflower? Is it an extrovert? Who is it? And how do you put all these people together when they come maybe from different walks of life and different orientations? The biggest thing is curiosity. Because if they come in the door with curiosity, we're off to the races. An openness. It's interesting in New York when I would coach people for professional auditions and I totally understand this. They would spend a lot of time in the session showing me they knew stuff and showing me they knew their bad habits. But when you come into the door with just an open curiosity of, oh, wow, what is this art form and how does it work? And, oh, I want to explore this and learn this. You know what I mean? I don't have to spend time being like, you know a lot. That's wonderful. And you know what I mean? They're just open and ready to go. You know what I mean? And I think the first thing I ask at the first of any class I do with any age group, any subject matter is we go around the circle and I say, what do you enjoy about acting? And why'd you sign up? Because plugging into your joy is literally everything. That's part of curiosity. And it's my way in as a teacher to help them. So I always clock when they're first going around the circle, sharing what they enjoy about it and why they're in the room. I clock that for later when we're working of like, oh, yes, okay, that's my going to be my way in. Very interesting. So, you know, what would you want a person to come?  Is there anybody who don't want to come? Is there anybody you think would not benefit? Is there anybody who would benefit in particular? How would you invite them so to speak? Invite them now. What would you say to them? If you've always been interested in developing your confidence and joy of your unique expression, come on down. No, I'm kidding. I'm being silly. You know what I mean? But like, yeah, if you just if you want to continue, you want to continue to develop your craft, either as an actor or a public speaker, or you want to just explore your curiosity in this form, yeah, our doors open. What are you hoping to achieve, Julia? I mean, what comes to mind? I'm outside the, you know, the center of this, but what comes to mind is that we need more performing arts here. You know, a great state has great performing arts, and I am not limiting it to the stage, either all performing arts, right, right from from dance to symphonic music, it's all performing arts. And so, is your secret, you can tell me your secret, Julia, is your secret that you want more people who are more confident of getting on the stage and supporting not only Manoa Valley Theater, MBT, but, you know, other performing arts venues around the state and participating, you know, in a growing studio activity, so to speak. The reason I'm doing this is because of community. This is my community. This is where I grew up, and this is the place where I got in touch with my passion for being an artist and a performer, and it's why I went to New York City and the mainland and, you know, studied and worked professionally as an actor, but all these years later, coming home, I'm like, I want to contribute to my community. I want to facilitate people's confidence. I want to empower them, whether it's in acting, you know, public speaking, you know, whatever the case may be. And also, what I enjoy is I coach as young and teach as young as seven years old, up to 90 years old. And so it's, and in some of my classes, the youngest is 16, and the oldest might be, you know, in their mid-60s. And to have this diversity of ages and life experience all in the same classroom, they learn from each other. They make connections that they wouldn't normally do, you know, and for me, that's a contribution to our community. And the reason I wanted to, why I said yes, when Kip asked me to start this studio is I wanted to create a home for artists to grow. I really want a hub and a home for artists to come and explore their craft and give a space for them to train and grow and feel empowered with technique and confidence. And I think that's been literally the most fulfilling thing about this past year. And in conjunction with that goal for me about community is I was so grateful they let me do it, but I produced the first ever open mic at Manoa Valley Theater. They had a dark night and we only charged five bucks. People could sign up. And it was very important to me that it was all different kinds of performance.  I mean, we had storytelling. And it was people that might not normally come to Manoa Valley Theater and bringing all these different areas of art into that space. It sounds like the amateur hour, head max, amateur hour, or maybe what's his name, Sullivan, back when we invited all these people and their lives and futures were changed by standing up on that open mic stage. Yeah. And I would say I understand the word amateur, but I think of it more of them as artists, you know, because they're people who want to express themselves. And even though they may be nervous or not have a lot of experience, their enthusiasm and their passion is greater than the fear.  And not just for me, but the audience itself, you know what I mean? We can all feel that positive, awesome vibe, you know? So yeah, to me, it's just about how do I give back to my community that gave me so much, you know? Yeah. Well, you know, this is not unknown to us at Think Tech because we have volunteer hosts and volunteer guests. And sometimes it's hard for them to, you know, get on that stage and relate to people and have a good time and express, learn about their curiosity and express their curiosity. And at the end of the day, they're benefited by it. So we run in parallel tracks on this, although you're much more professional than our citizen journalists people. So I want to go through your curriculum, if you don't mind. Okay. And I have a list of the various classes you're going to teach. I guess it's starting in the beginning of October. Oh, no, September. Coming up very soon, beginning of September. It's only a few weeks away. So introduction to technical theater. What is technical theater? And what are you going to talk to me about? This is one of the most exciting classes that I've been able to put together. It's so exciting because it's a comprehensive course that it has three teachers, a set designer, a lighting designer, and a sound designer that are also teachers and have experience with that as well. And the students get to learn about all three areas in one eight week class. And they get a bit of theory in the classroom and learn the foundation. And then they get hands on experience in the theater. This is very unique. I'm not aware of another place on the island that is currently doing this. And these are designers and theater artists that I deeply respect, that I knew when I was a kid here years ago. And so to be able to bring them together to do this course is incredible. And then also we have, it's like an intro to lightboard. I'm not the expert at it, but intro to theatrical lightboard programming. That's what I'm looking at. And I wanted to ask you, what is a lightboard exactly? It's a board where people go like this and the lights go up and down. No. Lloyd River who teaches it, incredible, incredible guy. He'll be teaching it. And yeah, so that's what I have to say about that. So these are technical skills that you feel will help somebody in appreciating the performing art of acting and theater. And I certainly agree. In other words, if I'm in the side stage, backstage, running a lightboard, okay, and I'm watching this production, I'm part of it. I'm part of the team, the collaboration that makes this happen. No less than other people who are part of it. And so I'm watching this thing carefully. I'm at one, at one with it. I'm touching it. And it's touching me. We are together completely. And that helps you appreciate the acting. Totally. And it comes back to community. It's people being curious about the art of light design, sound, set design, and also empowering them with technique and tools. So they can, you know, if they want to explore it further, if they want to volunteer at a theater to continue that learning, maybe it'll really speak to them and they want to, you know, study it further and become a professional at it, you know what I mean? And so MVT is really excited about empowering people, not just in acting, but in technical theater because that's an important part of theater making. But even in technical theater, there's a, you know, there's all kinds of decisions, discretion, creativity, lots of choices. It's not just push this button, push that button. It's much more than that. Can you talk about it? Well, a great example is Janine Myers, who's a brilliant lighting designer, just did a workshop last week on lighting design. And she's a real artist. So she was able to not only teach them the basic machinations, but also help them see how does the lighting choices serve the story that's being told? That all those artistic choices of color, of fate, of all those elements are there to help support the audience getting sucked in, you know what I mean? And invested in the story. So absolutely, it's more than just lights up, lights down. It's, yeah, I mean, it's, there's no one size fits all here. You can actually create a lighting scenario. I don't know if that's the right word, a lighting scheme, a schema, you know, that will portray the mood that this play, this acting is supposed to be sending to people, be including them in a mood. And you can achieve that with lighting, with sound, with background music. And of course, with sets, sets are very important.  And, you know, the sets were critically important. What about sets? Do you cover that in this program? Yeah, so Michelle Bisbee, also another brilliant set designer designs all around town and also currently teaches at University of Hawaii. And, yeah, she teaches the set component of this three teacher eight week intro to theater course. And yeah, she's incredible, not only as a designer, but also as a teacher. Okay, now we get to the acting part. Okay. I mean, I think there are many parts. And there are many kinds of acting. But let's talk about acting. How do you relate this information? You give examples. I remember a term called method acting. You do method acting. Do you do acting by example? Do you make somebody stand up there and act spontaneously, extemporaneously, or do you want to read a script? And do you critique that person, though the other students in the class critique that person? How do I learn to connect and to do my best on the stage? Wow, Jay. We got a lot of questions there. All right, here we go. I know you can handle it. I love it. I love it. So I'll first say, when people say like method, it's kind of like saying Christianity, you know what I mean? It's a little genre, because, you know, there is a lot of history there of Stanislavski coming over and then Stella Adler studying with him coming back, then the group theater being formed. And then she went off with her own school, then Meisner went off with his own school, you know, then Strasburg went off and then Harold Klerman became a legendary director that used, you know, so it's a lot of stuff, right? And so method in general tends to refer mostly to Strasburg, meaning like remembering something emotional and being old and hear about it, you know, so when you're on stage, you can cry on cue. Oh, that's not easy.  I personally, positivity for me is a huge element because what they're doing in the classroom is so vulnerable. It is so scary, right? So as a teacher, how can I facilitate the safest place possible? Right? And so I literally on the first day, I have what I call a yay party where everyone just goes and then there's no feedback. And we all just go, yeah! You know what I mean? And seeing everyone give standing o's to people is like the best, right? It's literally the best. And I do it with a very sort of joyful silliness to facilitate a safe, positive space. And I also make clear at the front end, I'm just like, we're not critiquing each other. Don't worry, I'll take care of that. But, you know, I find that you can still be rigorous with setting a bar for people to grow and to strive to reach to in terms of artistic standards. But in that quest to get up to the bar that I've set, you can have a lot of fun, especially if you have curiosity, especially if you're passionate. That's the gas in the tank to keep trying to get up there. So with a lot of these classes, I utilize being silly and positivity in order to expedite that work ethic. What about somebody who isn't done to nevish? What about somebody who comes to you saying, Julia and I really, I need to get out a little bit, and I'm hoping you can help me do that. But you find that this person is just no skill, no talent, no nothing. What do you do for that person? I think I look at it a little differently, which is that I don't look at them as not talented, because there's different definitions of talent. People have different definitions. But for me, the definition of talent is your ability to take your heart and go, you know what I mean of like, share who you are through the work in a personal and truthful way. That's talent. And that'll come and at any time as a teacher, it's very humbling. You know, you on a first class could be like, Oh, okay, this person might be a bit closed off again, not they're not talented or anything like that or skill level, what anything like that. It's about, Okay, I think they're a bit closed off, because they might be scared or have defense mechanisms that are subconscious, whatever the case may be. But I'm always humbled. Students surprised me. The next class they're inspired, they work hard, they come in and they come to life emotionally in a scene. And it is so beautiful and an honor to be there when that happens. Yeah, life's life changing. Yeah. Yeah. And so I have a humility, I never make assumptions about kids or students or clients, because you just never know when they're going to either consciously or subconsciously give themselves the permission. So what about what about the the other students in the class, you use them as a sounding board, you use them to critique? Because that could be, you know, that could be problematic for somebody who's shy. If they're too tough on this person. On the other hand, you know, it's a two way street. I told you the last time we had our discussion that when I go to the opera, I've been going for my whole life. I always cry. I cry. I don't admit this to everybody, but to you, Julia, I will admit it. And I always have an emotional reaction. And so we're trying to achieve that. And you have to know, and your students have to know, when the people watching your student acting or learning to act, when they react, that means a lot. And if they want to make this person cry, if that's what they want to do, and they achieve that, it's tremendous achievement. I don't know what the chemical makeup of that transaction is, but it happens. If it happens with me, it happens with everybody. So query, how do you achieve that? And what role does the audience play? Absolutely. I think one of the most exciting classes I taught recently was a TV and film class and a lot of repeat students. And so we all had a similar vocabulary of technique and approach. And first of all, as a teacher, if I open up the class for feedback, I always direct it with what did we like, what worked, right? And then I'll take care of, I always make sure I say two positive things, and then something where they can grow. And I never say the word, but I say and, because it's all about, I can still be rigorous with their growth and expectation, but also keep it incredibly encouraging. And what in this TV and film class was, I mean, incredible with these students was I taught them something, and then they were able to actually kinesthetically experience it and feel the difference. And then, because it's TV and film, it's being recorded. And the other students are the audience. And they were leaning forward like, Oh my God. And then that actor got to watch it as well and see the effect it had on the audience. And what this is is, in terms of you're saying, how can the actor affect the audience member? Like when you experience something that's moving in the opera, right? It's about, it's about that thing I said about heart, you know, it's almost like heart chakra open for business. It's just like this thing of here's, you know, and the biggest thing is how they can make the circumstances of the character truthful and alive for them. And I work on tools in how they can do that so that it's organic and truthful. So if it has meaning for them, if the circumstances have meaning for them truthfully, and they're alive emotionally with it, then it'll have meaning for the audience. And that's when the audience leans forward and can't wait to know what happens next. And it resonates with them, it connects with them. And so seeing this, you know, and again, the surprising moments of talent, I mean, and the progress over those eight weeks with this wonderful class. And again, they had a lot of curiosity, they had a wonderful work ethic, and those discoveries happened. You know what I mean, in terms of them watching people really come to life and have these huge aha moments, and then them getting to experience it as well. So does that answer your question? You always you answer my question, even if I give it to you in three parts. But it always evokes another question. And that is the question of direction. You know, a few weeks ago, I went to Stockbridge, and there was some summer stock there, and there was a play, and I love this play, it was called Andy Warholz in Cuba. And it was amateur, I shouldn't say amateur, it was summer stock, that's what it was. Okay, and they were bound for Broadway. And one of the things is the way they moved on the stage, the way they did the dynamic of the story, how it unfolded, you know, unfolding is really catch issue, doesn't it? When you unfold, you know, the motivations behind the characters and little by little, the audience learns little things behind the scenes, and they kind of figure it out. Anyway, my question to you is what about direction? Are you the director? Is someone else the director? Are you training your students to be directors? And what are the lessons about being a director? You're like really good at these questions, Jay. Well, as a teacher in an acting class, my job is to arm the students with tools and techniques and how to audition in front of a director, and how to handle themselves in the rehearsal process with the director, and then how to do five to eight shows a week. Because the essence of technique is having a consciousness of your tools to be able to repeat the level of quality you want to repeat, however many shows you're scheduled to do a week. Or if you're on set, how do you do that 30 times and still be consistent in the quality? And so for me, the acting classes are more about training them how to work with any kind of director, how to have autonomy as an artist, but also I'm training them how to be open and available in that collaborative spirit once they get into the rehearsal space.  They're in a little snow globe of like, this is my performance. But the thing is that it's a very collaborative art form. You're going to discover so much in the rehearsal space. You're working with fellow actors, the director, even the stage manager there, the vibe in the room, you know what I mean? And if the actors, like what's really exciting is when those other actors are equally open and available and ready to discover, ready to make the events of the scene happen by really working off each other and really listening and responding. You know what I mean? So the biggest, and I give them autonomy in terms of tools and how to handle like cold reading at an audition. What's cold reading? Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, cold reading is where you've never read it before, but they give you like five minutes, and then you got to go in front of them and do the scene. You know, whether it be a monologue or it be a scene with a fellow actor. And this could be for on-camera auditions, but also stage auditions. A lot of the auditions that are held here in Hawaii are set up where they'll hand you the script right before, and then you got to go in. So a lot of technique that I teach is how to still be able to deliver really quality work even in those kinds of challenging situations and how to not protect yourself, but how if another actor has, you know, the page up like this the whole time and doesn't know how to stay open and available and listen and respond to the fellow actors in order to give a good audition, I'm giving the actor tools on how to still do great work no matter the variable. Yeah, back to lawyers in court. You know, one of the things about lawyers in court is that you, as a lawyer, you go into court and the whole room is your stage. What I mean is you are watching everything. You're watching the court clerk who is reacting to what people are saying. Of course you're watching the judge. You're watching every single juror in the jury box. You're watching the gallery. Your senses are heightened. And I imagine from what you say, Julia, that it's the same kind of experience on the stage. You want to get, I forget what you called it, the tone of the room. You want to get some idea about what people are thinking. You want to keep your eye on them. You want to get a look at you. You know, I would like to know how Julia is reacting to what I'm doing. I'd like to know how the person reading the other side of the script, how that person is reacting, availability, but also this heightened sensitivities, heightened awareness. And that's, that's living. That's the top of the line, isn't it? Well, it's funny you mentioned coming back to the courtroom. That's so cool and very full circle of us. Because as they say, 98% of communication is through behavior, right? So as you're saying, everyone sensitized to the courtroom. What's that body language? What's going on over there? What's that person's point of view? They just look down. Does that mean they're worried or do you know what I mean? Absolutely. And as actors, our job is to create behavior that tells the story on the page. So with the actors that I work with, I teach them like, you're a behavior collector in life, really observe people. What are they actually doing? You know what I mean? What's their point of view? Because point of view creates behavior. You know what I mean? And, and then just how do people relate to each other? What are they actually doing in an interaction? And what's so great is like taking in behavior in life is like putting money in your artistic bank as an actor. And then when you get to a script and you have to put the playwright's ground plans on its feet, you get to go, ah, I understand that behavior. Okay, great. You know what I mean? And it's all about again, like physicality and what you're doing, not necessarily what you're saying. Yeah, you know, and it takes me to one other, you know, diagonal off that. And it's very interesting thought is that when you're, when your senses are awakened, and when you become more aware of what's around you, it really changes the way you look at life. In other words, I go to your class, I learn about acting. Now I'm just, I'm just this guy, Joe Blow, walking down the street. But when I'm walking down the street, it's not like it was before. I'm watching everything. I'm watching every face. I'm watching everything on the stage of that street, though my life has changed because I'm more sensitive to everything because I bring it all back on the stage with you. It's so cool you mentioned that, Jay, because absolutely. I just had a client last week and we've been focusing on TV and film acting. And she said this incredible thing. She was like, Julia, the, you know, the last time we met, you gave me the homework of strengthening my point of view about everything. Because as an artist, you always need a point of view because you'll eventually be playing another character with a different point of view than you have, right? But first as an artist, you got to strengthen, well, how do I feel about everything, right? And she was saying, I was at work. And so I was trying to do your homework. I would have point of view about everything. I keep it to myself, right? But strengthening that. And she said it helped her interpersonal skills with people at work because she could go, ah, yes, you know, to herself, my point of view about what that person just did is that they were rude, you know? But then just clocking that and being aware of that actually makes it easier to just be like, oh, hey, how's it going? You know what I mean? Like when you're, and as an actor psychologically, you really need to strengthen your consciousness, right? Your consciousness of how you're feeling, your point of view, you know what I mean? Because that is directly applicable to when you're on your feet telling a story, whether it's on set or on stage. Yeah, absolutely. It reminds me of, you know, my own experience doing these talk shows and interviewing people like you.  This is the same thing. You know, I wanted to ask this is a three-part question because as I said before, not everybody can answer a three-part question. Okay, what are the differences and similarities between acting on stage, acting in film and doing comedy? Those are three separate things and you teach them separately in your curriculum. And I just wonder if they're all the same in some ways or all very different. I think first with acting for the camera and acting on stage, it's still telling a story through truthful behavior. It's just the frame in which the story is told is vastly different. So with the proscenium stage or like Minoa Valley Theater and a black box stage, the frame in which the story is told is quite large, right? But you're still creating truthful behavior. You're really spontaneously, truthfully listening and responding to your fellow actors. The circumstances still have personal meaning for you, right? It's the same in TV and film. It's just as much emotional truth, really listening and responding spontaneously. That's all true. It's just in a smaller frame, right? So there is some technique in understanding the size of the frame in which the story is told. But the essential elements of good acting and how to tell a story are exactly the same. And the biggest difference that is a huge part of technique of stage versus TV and film is on stage, the story is told through the words. It's a playwright's medium. You're guiding the audience's ear with the words to get the story. In TV and film, it's the director and editor's medium because it's a story told through a series of pictures, right? So as an actor, how are we creating visually the behavior that tells the story, right? So understanding that slight paradigm shift is huge. But again, the essentials are the same of what I talked about in terms of acting where the audience will lean forward and wants to know what happens next, right? In regards to stand-up, what is true across all art forms is truth, personal truth, right? And it's true in acting and stand-up. Linda Lavin is Broadway actress, fantastic legendary actress. She used to say in this very like boisterous way, she'd be like, if it ain't funny, it ain't real. If it ain't real, funny. At first you're like, okay. But she's absolutely right. And that's true in acting and that's true in stand-up. You know what I mean? When people are truthful, on stage is stand-ups, and they're really taking from their life and what has personal meaning for them, that's what makes them unique. That's when the audience laughs. When you're lying all, I mean, we tweak certain things as stand-ups to help the joke. Don't get me wrong. But essentially if it's something that has meaning for us and are truthful, again, point of view, then it resonates with an audience. And that's the same with acting, right? Those are all connected. And I think, yeah, the biggest thing is everyone has different experiences, but no matter what the performing discipline, the more specific you can be in your truth and your point of view, the more audiences connect with you and the more it resonates with them. And the more your work is not only fulfilling for yourself, but a contribution to the community.  Or they're at the Blue Note, Waikiki, or you know, the Slackie Lounge in Hawaiian, Bryan's, and they're laughing going, oh, God, that's so true. I never thought about it that way. Oh, you know what I mean? So, yeah, I think being truthful and specific about your experience is the commonality. Yeah, I always felt, always heard that the thing about comedy is that there was always truth in comedy. Sometimes it was a hard truth, sometimes a tragic truth. And that release in telling a tragic truth gives you that catharsis and makes it funny. But you're right. I mean, it goes across all stages and in all performing, all acting for sure.  Because I always think about what is the fundamental point of this conversation of the subject we're talking about? And you made so many references to truth. And I was going to ask you about truth. But you gave a very articulate discussion of truth. But there's one more point about truth, you know. In politics today, we see that there are facts. And some people deny the facts, you know, and they, you know, in a political sense, or maybe in a social science sense, they lie. Okay. And this is, this is the problem in a democracy and all that. But we're not talking about facts here. When we talk about truth, when you talk about truth, it's something else. And I would like the viewers of this program to understand what you mean by truth. It isn't factual truth. It's, it's kind of a human truth. And let me put it this way. Can you give us an example of a kind of truth that you would want to see in acting in a given story or comedy for that matter, the kind of truth that we take away with us and that enriches our lives. It isn't A is B and black is white or anything like that. What is the truth or an example of the truth you're talking about?  And in terms of, I had never thought about it that before, of like, the definition of truth, factual, you know, journalism, and then artistic truth. What is that? And I think as an artist and as a human, it's about the humanity of how you actually truthfully feel about something. So as an actor, sometimes you have to find the humanity in a character where that is a different truth than yours as an actor. But how do you bridge that gap so you can function truthfully from a character's point of view that has a different truth, right? But the validity of any character's experiences is not up for debate. The way our experiences, the validity of any human's experience, not up for debate, right? So as actors, we have to be very empathetic to going, okay, what's my way into playing this character? Because this is their truth. And in my work with students, I give them tools on how to get the meaning of what's truthful for the character as meaningful for themselves truthfully and how to bridge that gap. So it's just such a cool thing you bring up of like, yeah, it's not journalism. It's not. It seems to me like a common denominator of the human experience on the planet or something like that. Yeah, because in telling stories, sometimes actors have to play characters that they don't approve of, that they don't agree with, that they think are horrible. But their contribution to the storytelling is to not condescend to that character or play them as a villain. But if they really truthfully find a way to get into that character's truth, then the story is really told in a way where the audience is so engaged. And that takes bravery and vulnerability for an actor, you know what I mean? But that courageousness of I am more passionate about telling this story in a dynamic way than I am scared. Wow. Wow, I may never see this. I may see more in opera now that you've said that. Sometimes the villain is harder to play. Sometimes the villain is harder to understand. And maybe in what you say that really interests me is that an actor in portraying a villain wants to not only portray the villainy of it, but also the human condition where down deep, down deep, if we can find it, the villain is actually disapproving of his own villainy. Well, I think it's more that the villain doesn't see themselves as a villain. There you go. There you go. They're psychologically coming from a context and an experience that now causes them to behave that way. The actor's job is to plug in emotionally to that villain's justification and not even thinking of them as a villain. They're a human, right? Even villains are human. Right.  Some of the most dynamic plays are when the villain is likable, charming. That's when we really get confused, but engaged as an audience and we're exploring things on a more nuanced level. In all of us there is goodness and in all of us there is villainy and we can find both sides. And that's what's fun about acting is it's your job to go there and go build a house there, but it's a safe space. You're not hurting anyone. You're in this safe environment.  We have to be careful. We feel like we're in a meeting and someone was very disrespectful. We can't be truthful with our in of how we feel about that. We might get fired, you know. But how exciting is it that with acting our job is to take everything personally to respond with the id of our response. And that's the gig and there's no ramifications because it's under imaginary circumstances. How cool is that? And that's liberation. It's what it is. Yeah, totally. Well, Julia, you know, we're out of time, but before we go, I want to want to find out how to sign up for your class and where I can look on the website or whatever and find out more about it. No problem, Jay. No, I'm kidding. So you can go to minnowavalleytheater.com, their website. And then there's a button there, a tab that says MVT studio. Also on minnowavalleytheater's Instagram, if you put link in bio, it'll take you right to our classes. And then also we have an Instagram at the MVT studio with more info and classes start mid-September, our first lighting workshop as soon as the beginning of September. So class size is limited. So I really recommend that people sign up as soon as they can. Thank you, Julia. Thank you for being on Think Tech. Thank you for doing the teaching program at MVT. And thank you for being in Hawaii and helping us create a better society. We really appreciate all those things. Thanks so much, Jay. It's always a pleasure. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.


All right. Does this food cause weight gain? Well, I've been getting a lot of questions on social media about my favorite fruit, avocados. If you had any of my books, you know avocados are one of my favorite go-tos for health. So does it really cause weight gain as you might have heard and can you eat too much? Well, let's dive right in with our myth-busting session.   Well, it came about in the primarily 70s and that was actually caused by some reports in the 1950s that fat, particularly saturated fat, was the cause of heart disease. And this was the famous seven countries study where there was an association with the amount of fat in a diet with coronary artery disease. And as you've seen in a lot of my books, this association does not prove causation. And in fact, the seven countries that were selected were cherry picked. And I won't go into that, but fat got evil. And in the 1970s, the McGovern Commission, Senator McGovern, the former presidential candidate, hosted a commission to have U.S. dietary guidelines. And they were very impressed with the seven countries study. And so U.S. dietary guidelines said we should avoid fat period. Fat has nine calories per gram versus four calories per gram of sugars or protein. So in terms of weight, fat basically has twice the amount of calories as weight of protein or carbohydrates. So on the surface, that might look like something that's important. On the other hand, we now know after the failed experiment of low fat diets, that in fact, calories are not calories. What do I mean by that? Both carbohydrates and proteins cause an elevation in your insulin production.  Fat, on the other hand, does not raise insulin.  The second thing to remember is that we, when all these dietary guidelines were developed, no one knew about the microbiome. No one knew what foods the microbiome might want to eat and how much of the food and calories that you were eating and ingesting might potentially be eaten by your microbiome instead of passing on to you.  So you get a benefit of oleic acid, but avocados are rich in fiber. Fiber is what feeds the good gut bacteria. That's what they want to eat. And they take those calories from themselves. Lastly, there's really good clinical trials that show eating an avocado a day compared to not eating an avocado a day makes you lose weight. Plus, adding avocados to anything you eat, particularly salads and vegetables, show that you will increase the absorption of polyphenols and other vital nutrients if the avocado was not there.  There's almost no sugar in an avocado, even the fact that it is a fruit. It's actually a single-seeded berry. And avocados are pretty easy to find. Now, a lot of people say, you know, how can you recommend avocados? They're really expensive. Yeah, but if you think about what most of us spend on a cup of coffee every day or a coffee drink or an energy bar, the energy and benefits that you would get by spending that on an avocado is vastly superior to what you're currently spending things on. Plus, buy avocados in bulk. Get them really green. I was at Costco yesterday and I actually bought myself another bag of avocados. Some of the discount stores sell avocados by them in bulk. Keep them in the refrigerator until you want to ripen them and you can keep them for an extended period of time. I actually have three green avocados in my refrigerator that I put there before I left for Europe a few weeks ago and they're still in perfect condition and ready for me to eat. So don't be afraid of buying avocados in bulk where you can actually save some money.  Well, quite frankly, you can eat too many of anything and we're going to talk about that in one of my other lectures, but it's very difficult to gain weight eating avocados. For one thing, they actually are very filling. So try to get yourself an avocado a day. If that's impossible, go for a couple, three a week. Try to put them whenever you're going to have salads, vegetables, try to put them in there. I like to sneak them into food. Do you remember in the Plant Paradox, my green smoothie uses a half of an avocado. It's great for increasing the thickness of any smoothie you want. Believe it or not, in the Plant Paradox family cookbook, we have a popsicle recipe using avocados. In our cookbooks, we have a avocado ice cream that is absolutely fantastic. The other thing you can do is make hummus with pressure cooked chickpeas and blend in avocado to give it an even better creamy taste. So there's so many ways to get avocado into your diet. I actually like to use pressure cooked beans and chop up an avocado, mix it in with the beans. To me, it's a great way to get an avocado into your life. Can you be allergic to avocados? Well, quite frankly, we check IgEs, which is the allergens, and I haven't met anyone who is allergic to avocados. On the other hand, we also do food sensitivity testing, and we do have a few people who are sensitive to avocado. And if that's the case, hey, you don't have to have an avocado. Just don't have them. Now, there are foods that absolutely can make you gain weight. And bread is one of the best ways. Reference my YouTube lecture. You can check out the benefits of giving up bread for 30 days, and really any processed foods are one of the most potent ways to gain weight. Just this week, I saw one of my patients who is struggling with her weight and is complaining that she eats like a bird and continues to gain weight. And so when we went over what she ate yesterday, she had a bagel with cream cheese as her breakfast, and then she had a sandwich of whole wheat bread for her lunch, and then she and her husband had a piece of fish with a large bowl of rice and a baked potato. And she was eating like a bird, and if you're paying attention, what she's eating is a whole bunch of carbohydrates, and she didn't get the connection that she was basically having a bowl of sugar for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And that's how you gain weight. I've done a personal experiment with a patient years ago with macadamia nuts. I have some patients who continue to lose weight beyond what they want to do by following my program. Those people, I have found that macadamia nuts are the best way to gain weight. And I actually did an experiment with her. I asked her to eat two cups of macadamia nuts a day for two months, and I would do the same. And I did. She came back two months later. I had actually gained 10 pounds in two months without changing anything else except adding two cups of macadamia nuts to my diet. She didn't gain any weight, and I was flabbergasted. And she said, oh, I didn't eat the two cups of macadamia nuts. I thought you were just joking. Well, luckily I got the weight off by stopping to eat macadamia nuts, but macadamia nuts in my practice can really put the weight on if you want to gain weight. And they're actually very beneficial for you, except for the weight gain. Make sure to check out the next one here. I ran 30 miles a week. I was doing 5K, 10K every weekend, and yet I was 70 pounds overweight. Why? Because quite frankly, I was always hungry. And I was eating the wrong food.