from Sarah Ruhl in 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write.
In other essays, she writes about Martin Buber... this is certainly related.
On Maria Irene Fornes
Maria Irene Fornes was once my teacher. She objected to the language of intention in the method school of acting, to the constant refrain: "What does my character want in this scene?" One day she said to us, "Who always wants something from someone else? Only criminals. And Americans."
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Perhaps what Fornes was advocating was a theater of desire, transformation, and grace over and above simple want.
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When I visited Irene, she seemed to have no wants.
I hoped that the simple act of being together was enough, as it was for so many of her characters, suspended in a state of communion. She once said to us in class, "American actors are taught to have objectives—what does your character want from the other character? That is business.
When I deal with other people, I don't want something from them; I want a rapport. Some people say that's an objective-it's not-it's a sensation of well-being. Life is not constantly about wanting to get something from somebody else. Life is about pleasure."
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