Trance-Acting: Actors, Directors, Dancers, and Musical Performers

How Trance States Can Take Your Acting to the Next Level!

Unlock the power of trance states in acting and take your performances to the next level! Discover the benefits, techniques, and tips for using trance to enhance your acting skills. Learn how to connect with your emotions, access deep levels of concentration, and transform into any character with ease. From Stanislavski exercises to visualization techniques, this comprehensive guide will help you unleash your inner actor and deliver unforgettable performances. Don’t miss out on this revolutionary technique that’s changing the game for actors everywhere!

Reese Witherspoon Hires Hypnotist For Sex Scenes

I’ve discussed how various actors have used hypnosis to deal with stage fright in the past. In the case of Reese Witherspoon, she has used hypnosis to deal with a very specific type of stage fright . . . performing scenes with high sexual content. For her movie role in Wild, based on Cheryl Strayed‘s…

How to Play with Improvisational Hypnosis

As regular readers here know, I absolutely love spontaneous and creative approaches to hypnosis. Sure, I can recite a ton of learned patterns, processes, and techniques like the next guy, well maybe a bit more than the next guy . . . but . . . I really love to be in a situation where…

Inspiring Creativity in the Classroom

Updating a post from a few years ago, on 26 December 2007, I presented a workshop on "Inspiring Creativity in the Classroom" to senior students in an elite English program at Taipei First Girls High School, the top girls high school in Taiwan. The program is an adaptation of one I have presented elsewhere in…

Realm of LARP Complete Unreality Series!

Nerdist has produced a digital ton of programs and the like for nerds . . . it had to happen sooner or later, but they eventually shone their light on Live Action Roleplaying and created REALM OF LARP, an unreality series about LARPers and their passion. For your viewing pleasure . . . here is…

LARPing as Therapy

Kristin Brumley (https://www.youtube.com/user/OrlySunja) has begun a fascinating new series which will become regular live online conference sessions via Google Hangouts on Youtube in which she is gathering a group of LARPing experts to discuss various topics. In this particular LIVE Google Hangout of 26 March 2014, they had a discussion on how LARPing and RPGs…

DYSTOPIA Edition of Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About LARP (But Were Afraid to Ask)

Here we go . . . DYSTOPIA ROLEPLAY AND INTERACTIVE DRAMA! Okay, this video thingie is yet another sequel to an earlier video I shared (here) and it’s followup (here) and like the earlier version, this one is also cute and a half while addressing some intriguing issues such as Dystopia in Interactive Drama or…

The Monomyth: Mythic Structure or the Hero’s Journey Model

Prof. Brian David Phillips discusses the MYTHIC STRUCTURE or the Monomyth or the Hero’s Journey Model of literature, film, and psychological transformation as adapted from the work of comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell. Students in my literature and film courses as well as a number of other courses that I teach at the university or various…

Ars Amandi: An Introduction to Love and Physical Intimacy Mechanics for Interactive Drama LARPS

Here we go . . . An Introduction to ARS AMANDI with Emily Care Boss, Lizzie Stark, and Sarah Lynne Bowman Okay, this video thingie is a more formalized continuation of intimacy and love simulation in interactive drama that we have seen from a few earlier videos I have shared and like the earlier pieces,…

Get Your Very Own Fairy Dragon via the Magick Egg Process

Get Your Very Own Fairy Dragon Via The Magick Egg Process You may well ask, “What’s an hypnotically hallucinated Fairy Dragon?” Keep reading and be sure to watch the videos! Well, join us at Next Month too! One of the many fun things I will be doing at the workshop is teaching folks how to…

Nordic LARP, Interactive Drama, on Discovery

While it is awesome to see Nordic LARP – intense form of interactive drama – featured on the Discovery Channel, it’s unfortunate that it was featured on a show that seems to imply the taboo or the freakish or weird. Nordic LARP is anything but weird . . . okay, maybe a bit but no…

Vampire Sex Edition of Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex LARP (But Were Afraid to Ask including a Whole Lot about Sex in LARP)

Here we go . . . VAMPIRES AND SEX AND INTERACTIVE DRAMA! Okay, this video thingie is the sequel to an earlier video I shared (here) and like the earlier version, this one is also cute and a half while addressing some rather important issues such as SEX in Interactive Drama or LARP (Live Action…

From Theatre to Interactive Drama

Johanna MacDonald (Walkabout) is a transnational Finnish-Canadian artist in theatre, performance art, stand-up comedy, drag performance, punk music, writing, video, and larp. She started out in Toronto with a fairly traditional education in drama-based theatre as an actor and director, but then moved to Finland, where she couldn’t make heads or tails of the language.…

Beginner’s Guide to Interactive Drama

Rev. Dr. Brian David Phillips discusses Interactive Drama – Freeform Theate Style Scenario-based Live Action Roleplaying Games – with beginning notes on what they are, how to play them, and how to create them. Interactive Drama is a formal term used to refer to theatre style LARPs. Just for fun, this video was shot in…

What is Interactive Drama?

Rev. Dr. Brian David Phillips discusses critical and theoretical approaches to Interactive Drama – Freeform Theate Style Scenario-based Live Action Roleplaying Games – with an emphasis on formal analysis rather than recreational play. Interactive Drama is a formal term used to refer to theatre style LARPs. Just for fun, this video was shot in 3D…

Taiwan Interactive Theatre Society Highlights

Here’s a short slide show of images from various Interactive Dramas – Freeform Theate Style Scenario-based Live Action Roleplaying Games – performed/played by the Taiwan Interactive Theatre Society, Taiwan’s longest-running theatre style LARP troupe. Just for fun, this video was shot in 3D and can be viewed in 2D or 3D, just choose the appropriate…

Fiona Fullerton wants Hypnosis for Nerves for Strictly Come Dancing 2013

Fiona Fullerton has revealed she wants to try hypnosis to battle her Strictly Come Dancing nerves. Fiona had been the bookies’ tip to go but defied the odds, despite the nerves. “We have been trying to analyse why I do well in dress rehearsal and then go to pieces in the show,” she admitted. “I…

Bryan Cranston’s Advice to Aspiring Actors (Video)

Originally, I embedded this short video but the originating site very cleverly does not give one the option of turning autoplay off. Grrr. So, here’s the link instead. http://thechive.com/2013/10/01/bryan-cranstons-advice-to-aspiring-actors-video/ Live Trance and Prosper, Brian www.BrianDavidPhillips.net CORE HYPNOSIS SKILLS Vanilla core skills for those with no previous hypnosis training or experience wishing a more solid foundation…

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about LARP (But Were Afraid to Ask including a Whole Lot about Sex in LARP)

Okay, this video thingie is cute and a half while addressing some rather important issues such as SEX in Interactive Drama or LARP (Live Action Roleplaying) or Live RPG . . . a subject near and dear to me as my doctoral dissertation was on the subject (well, on interactive drama with a sub-discussion on…

The Way of Improvisation

I use a LOT of improvisation in my educational endeavors . . . from theatre (no duh and a half) to communication to the teaching of hypnosis (improvisational exercises that usually throw folks for a loop at first but which accelerate mastery and creativity big time). Improvisation is your friend. In this worthwhile TedX talk,…

Your Brain on Comedy

For my communication students . . . Chris Bliss explores the inherent challenge of communication, and how comedy opens paths to new perspectives. Chris Bliss is a national headline comedian, with credits including the Tonight Show and the Late Show with David Letterman, as well as an internationally renowned variety artist, opening for superstars from…

Lady Gaga and the Abramović Method

I posted a link to this in Facebook but since Barbara Pavone‘s piece Lady Gaga gets totally naked to practice the Abramovic Method and help raise funds – dayum, the girl looks good! has now gone a bit viral, I will post about it here in the blog as well. As regular readers here know,…