Unlocking Authentic Performances
Welcome back to Schrieber Scribes! If you missed last month’s edition on the differences between acting for stage and screen, catch up here.
This month, our exploration of the actor’s journey takes us into the realm of dreams. If, to paraphrase Hamlet, a dream is but a shadow, then an actor’s craft can be the light that shapes it. But, much like breathing life into characters and stories that only exist on the page, shaping those shadows requires deep analysis and rigorous work . . .
Which is why our blog this month explores dream work: a transformative acting technique practiced by actors such as Laura Dern, Sandra Oh, Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Andrew Garfield, Jane Fonda, Bill Pullman, Kate Walsh, Isabella Rosalini, Gena Gershon, Don Johnson, Marlo Thomas, and Academy Award winners Jessica Lange and Tatum O’Neill.
How Jungian Archetypes Grew into Sandra Seacat’s Transformative Acting Work
Dream work has grown in popularity since Sandra Seacat pioneered the technique in the late 1980s. Seacat, an actress and acting coach, drew on Jungian psychology to hone the methodology, which taps into the actor’s unconscious to deepen their ability to tell authentic stories. Like Carl Jung, Seacat believed that the narratives and symbols that present themselves to us in dreams are crucial components of the conscious mind and one’s inner emotional life.
As uniquely human experiences, dreams are steeped in complex meaning, narrative tension, mythical archetypes, and hidden emotions. (Sounds a lot like acting to us!) “The dream is a theater,” Jung once said, “in which the dreamer is himself the scene, the player, the prompter, the author, the producer, the public and the critic.”
As an actor, embodying both the dreamer and the dream—both the character and the performance—is at the heart of dream work. Such work, Seacat told The New York Times, allows actors to be “really living the part” in the moment. “I believe that the artist is a wounded healer, that they are healing wounds of their own, and when they do that truthfully they heal the audience.” And that healing—the authentic mining of shared emotional depths—makes for outstanding performances that deeply resonate with viewers.
Dream Work at T. Schreiber with Pamela Scott
Perhaps no one knows the power of this work better than T. Schreiber’s own Pamela Scott, who teaches our brand new dream work class and studied under Sandra Seacat herself.
For more than two decades, Pamela has been a pillar of the Studio as a master teacher of on-camera, scene study, technique, and One-Year Conservatory classes. An exceptional actress, playwright, director and acting coach, Pamela’s clients include such phenomenal talents as Scott Haze and Emmy winner Julia Garner.
In the classroom, Pamela works to create “a safe and nurturing environment that empowers actors to do their very best work.”
Such an environment is especially important for dream work, which requires vulnerable analysis and exploration. “There are no mistakes in acting,” Pamela says. “You try something, you explore yourself and the character, and you see what resonates.”
And with dream work, the journey of that exploration starts with accepting the dream that’s given. Since every dream is a part of you, any dream you have is a dream worth working with—even dreams that seem boring can become rich sites for imagination, emotional development, and nuanced storytelling. With deep analysis, sensory awareness, and relaxation, dream work can help actors uncover core truths to bring into their work.
The process opens up a powerful, unique path for honoring the material that translates into your craft as an actor. As Pamela puts it, “Who knew that connecting with your dreams could be the best thing to happen to actors and writers since Stanislavsky?”
Why Dream Work Matters for All Actors
A lot of Hollywood agrees with Pamela’s sentiment. Sandra Oh, for example, has long studied under Kim Gillingham, another dream work coach. “It really is a deep, deep practice,” she told GQ. “It was a profound change and a deepening in my own understanding of my work and art.”
Part of the reason dream work has been embraced by a growing number of stars is because it can add layers of complexity to your craft. The work doesn’t just connect you to your inner world—it offers a gateway to universal emotions that audiences can relate to. By exploring the subconscious and bringing its truths to light, actors can craft performances that captivate, inspire, and move audiences in profound ways.
But dream work can be an invaluable tool for any actor’s toolbox—not just those with household names. It’s for any actor who wants to take their work to the next level by adding new depths to their craft.
In between our conscious, waking lives and our subconscious reveries lies complex emotional truths that actors can work with to bring out moment-to-moment authenticity in any performance. And this work can be revelatory for actors, drawing out the kind of truth in performance that captures not only the audience’s attention but also their emotions.
Final Thoughts
Like waking from a dream that felt overwhelmingly real, actors who practice dream work learn to embody truth in their characters and stories. With Dream Work, every performance is a chance for actors to chase a dream’s shadow of truth into the light, shaping it into a powerful story.
Have you ever used a dream to inform your creative process? Share your experience in the comments!
Till Next Time,