The Actor’s Mind

The Actor’s Mind is a new podcast hosted by Kateri McRae and Anne Penner that explores acting from a psychological perspective. We describe and discuss popular acting tools that are commonly used in actor training, rehearsals, and performances. Then we identify the parallel psychological processes that are likely in play when actors use these techniques. We discuss the success of these techniques from our own experience, as well as why they work given the evidence from psychology and neuroscience. Our guests are experts from the theater and science worlds: actors, directors, teachers, and psychological scientists, who add their expertise and experience to the conversation.

Season 5 Episode 5: Kateri Interviews Anne

Kateri interviews Anne!

06-28
36:43

Season 5 Episode 4: Anne Interviews Kateri

Anne has the enormous pleasure of interviewing her dear friend and podcast co-host Kateri McRae about her research, her passion for working with college students.

06-28
41:50

Season 5 Episode 3: Creative Habit + Habit Formation

Anne and Kateri bust the myth of the muse and of spontaneous creative inspiration by exploring various tools to strengthen your creative habit. Kateri explains the neuroscience of habit formation; then both offer ways to increase your awareness and control over your productive creative habits and their obstacles. Guest: Barret O’Brien, actor, writer, teacher https://barretobrien.com

06-21
01:38:38

Season 5 Episode 2: Public Solitude + Self-Consciousness

Anne and Kateri explore the old-school Stanislavski tool called Public Solitude, and then deep dive into an investigation of the psychological concept of Self-Consciousness. Guest: Bella Merlin, actor, writer, professor http://www.bellamerlin.com

06-14
01:36:54

Season 5 Episode 1: Actor Fear, Anxiety, Stress, and Coping

Anne discusses various fears and internal obstacles actors encounter; Kateri then defines anxiety and stress and explains the difference between the two. Then both Kateri and Anne offer ways of coping and combatting these common fears, anxieties, and stressors. Guest: Dr. Michelle Rozenman, Assistant Professor in the clinical child psychology Ph.D. Program, who also directs the BRAVE Lab in DU's Department of Psychology.

06-07
01:33:19

Season 4 Episode 4: The Space Between

Anne and Kateri discuss their reactions to the conversation with Dr. Danny McIntosh about different kinds of empathy, the space between actor and character, characters and other characters, and interdisciplinarity.

07-06
59:53

Season 4 Episode 3: Mimicry and Resonance

Anne and Kateri talk about all sorts of things—mimicry, resonance, empathy, the power of theater, religious experiences, and more—with psychologist Dr. Danny McIntosh, who also has been Dean of DU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences for the past seven years. Guest: Dr. Danny McIntosh

06-29
51:39

Season 4 Episode 2: Actor Agency, Empathy, and Embodiment

Kateri and Anne’s response to Episode 1.

06-22
01:05:51

Season 4 Episode 1: The Science of Acting

Anne and Kateri interview three psychologists who have worked with actors in order to investigate how various psychological studies make sense of the acting process. Guests: Dr. Thalia Goldstein, Dr. Denis Dumas, Dr. Peter Sokol-Hessner

06-15
57:35

Season 3 Episode 5: An Interview with Kristin Linklater

Anne’s May 2020 interview with world-renowned voice teacher, Kristin Linklater, who passed away on June 5. Guest: Kristin Linklater (https://www.linklatervoice.com/)

06-07
44:55

Season 3 Episode 4: Actor’s Mental Health and Emotional Intelligence

Kateri and Anne discuss actor mental health and emotional intelligence. Then they interview Ashley Hamilton, Executive Director of the University of Denver Prison Arts Initiative. Guest: Ashley Hamilton

06-03
01:33:41

Season 3 Episode 3: Creativity

Kateri and Anne discuss creativity, describe it as a three-step process, and explain the neuroscience behind it. Then Anne interviews Anne Bogart. Guest: Anne Bogart (http://siti.org/blogs/anne-bogart)

05-26
01:33:23

Season 3 Episode 2: Emotion

Kateri and Anne take a deep dive into one of their favorite topics: emotions. Then Kateri interviews Dr. Ajay Satpute, an affective neuroscientist. Guest: Dr. Ajay Satpute

05-19
01:22:27

Season 3 Episode 1: The Pandemic Episode

Anne and Kateri discuss teaching theater online, and then Anne talks with guests about the pandemic’s impact on the Colorado theater community. Guests: Lynne Collins, Anthony Powell, and Allison Watrous

05-12
01:32:29

Season 2 Episode 5: Comedy and Psychological Theories of Humor

Anne and Kateri discuss comedy and psychological theories of humor. Guest: Jessica Robblee

06-12
01:41:58

Season 2 Episode 4: Inner Monologue + Modes of Cognition

Kateri and Anne discuss the acting tools of inner monologue and objects of attention as well as the psychological concepts of “top down” and “bottom up” modes of cognition. Guests: Mare Trevathan and Rodney Lizcano

05-27
01:29:37

Season 2 Episode 3: Perspective, Feedback, and Psychological Distance

Anne and Kateri discuss the roles of actor, director, dramaturg, audience, and critic when discussing perspective on the process of rehearsing and performing a play, including giving and receiving feedback. Guest: John Moore (http://mydenvercenter.org)

05-15
01:31:19

Season 2 Episode 2: Casting + Personality Traits

Casting + Personality Traits Anne and Kateri discuss casting and personality traits. Guest: Talleri McRae

05-08
01:27:45

Season 2 Episode 1: Auditioning + Impression Formation

Auditioning + Impression Formation Anne and Kateri discuss Auditioning and Impression Formation. Guest: Sylvia Gregory (http://sylviagregorycasting.com/)

05-01
01:23:49

Episode 5: Language + Psycholinguistics

Language + Psycholinguistics Kateri and Anne discuss the power of language for an actor and the corresponding study of psycholinguistics. Guest: Sabin Epstein

06-05
01:39:25

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