Mark Evans Studio

I was coaching a student recently and we discussed the difference between being goal oriented and results oriented. We talked about how striving for results can really limit us, because you either get that specific result or you feel like you got nothing at all. But when you move toward a goal, you stay open minded along the way. You’re available for other experiences and opportunities that show up unexpectedly, sometimes ones that are even more exciting or beneficial than the result you originally thought you wanted. This is especially true for actors, because we often slip into being results oriented without realizing it. It usually creeps in during busy audition periods, when your brain starts running the familiar track of “book the job,” “get the callback,” “impress the casting director,” or “finally sign with that agent.” Suddenly your entire sense of progress depends on one very specific outcome. If it happens, you celebrate. If it doesn’t, it feels like failure, even if you actu...

I’ve been thinking a lot lately (again) about ambivalence, that uncomfortable, messy, beautiful space where two or more opposing truths can exist at the same time. In class, I’ve spoken about how frustrating it can feel to live there. We often crave clarity, certainty, and direction. But as actors and more so as human beings, so much of our growth happens right in the middle of that tension. There’s so much to learn from it if we don’t ignore or push it away.  Ambivalence is the place where love meets fear, where confidence meets doubt, where joy and grief can sit side by side. It’s the moment before a decision, the breath before the line, the silence between the beats. It’s the “in-between” that our minds often try to escape. But in acting, and in life, that space is gold. As artists, we are asked to hold contradictions with honesty. To love a character and still see their flaws. To want something deeply and fear what it might cost. That’s the work. And yet, outside the studio, we...