Actor Training in the Flow State

This PhD investigated how Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi's concept flow can help actor trainers facilitate the optimal conditions in contemporary conservatoire actor training. Flow is defined as a state of complete immersion within an activity in which the participant’s sense of time distorts, action and awareness merge, and self-consciousness disappears. The findings of this practice-based research indicate student actors are more likely to experience flow in process-focused practices that provoke participants’ imagination, rather than result-focused practices that prescribe a desired performance outcome. The result is a pedagogical approach to training that uses game-like structures to encourage impulsive play in student actors.