What does this have to do with performing, improv in particular? Check out this quote for one reason:
Besides this hitting home for me for some obvious reasons, I think this is generally great advice to all actors. Not necessarily to do more silent scenes, but to really listen to what the other people on stage are saying. To make it more than just waiting for your cue to speak."When I could no longer speak, that performing self disintegrated. She was gone in a flash, utterly and completely. To lose that performing self was extremely disorienting. It was, in fact, frightening," Smokewood stated.
Those fears disappeared as she changed her views of teaching.
"I learned that, in the absence of my performing self, I am more honest with my students, more willing to let down some of my own defenses. I learned that, in the absence of performance, the possibility of relationship is born," she added.
