I discovered Stanislavaki years ago reading an article in Litigation Magazine titled “Stanislavski in the Courtroom.” The article introduced me to the great acting instructor and how his “Method Acting” is applicable to the courtroom. This led me to study Stanislavski.

From studying  Stanislavaki’s “method” I see how it applies to trials, particularly jury trials. It also applies to sincerity and the elimination of a fake persona. It applies to  getting in touch with emotions and living in the moment.

Stanislavski’s first rule is truthfulness, meaning  honesty at all times. Do away with phoniness, pretense, and the desire to act in a way to please others. Truthful expression comes from the heart. With honest expression there is no doubt. Honest expression results in sincerity in voice, facial expression, and body language. The listener connects.

Truth, which is usually simple and straightforward, is inviting to the listener. When truth embraces our whole being it has a way of sinking deeper into the mind of the listener reaching the subconscious mind. This invokes positive emotions in the listener. This creates an unconsciousness bond between speaker and listener.

The opposite occurs when an agenda, pretense, or phoniness is involved- a rehearsed from the mind alone message. Here tone of voice, facial expression and body language tell the listener this is a surface message, a message calculated to convince, and it is not the truth. A gut reaction against the message occurs, as it is processed as “phony.”

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Constantin Stanislavski teaches to be true to our feelings. We trust our feelings without trying  to manipulate  them, which brings “false action.”

 In a trial we stay away from testimony or argument directed at arousing a feeling for its own sake. Following this rule prevents artificiality. Testimony and argument stand on its own. We must never seek to add emotion in a calculated way.  As taught by Stanislavski all true  feelings and emotions are the result of the internalization of the feeling of the experience.

It is proper to think of the previous experience when preparing for  testimony or argument. This is the way to associate the past feeling with the present testimony or fact. When testifying or arguing,  let the result produce itself rather than consciously trying to bring the feeling to the fore front- like trying to push the river.

This may seem like a subtle distinction, but it is significant.  Thus for testimony use the feeling at the time of the experience when preparing to testify. For argument use a past similar experience and reaction when preparing for the argument.

At the time of testimony or argument, never consciously try to invoke feeling. Rather just testify or argue and allow the feeling to rise to the surface  on its own; it will rise and flow with the testimony or argument without  trying to invoke the emotion and feeling. This is because true emotion and feeling  reproduces itself.

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