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4
TeaCher
DeckeR lookeD At the foRty oR so ActoRs AssembleD
in his studio and decided where to begin. “Evolution is blindly cruel,” he said. “It remorselessly removes the unuseul. Yet it hasnot done away with actors. Your proession is the second mostconsumed o all the arts—pop music being number one.“And the iconography o your art orm has never changed.Those who have voyaged have earned the right to be up in thelight. Those who have yet to voyage sit in the dark.” An older actor raised his hand.Decker nodded. “Voyaging?”“Yeah, go over that again.”“Sure. The rst actor was no doubt some extraordinary woman who stood up by the campre, and because she had gone to the valley, ound something there
and
brought it back—voyaged—shehad the right to speak, to act while the others stayed in the dark andlistened. Without voyaging you have no right to stand in the light. You have to chance the danger o going to the valley, then youhave to nd something there (the feece is the mythic expression o this), understand what you have ound, then bring back your new-ound knowledge to the re. Only then you can stand in the light.”Decker thought o his twelve years in New York City, his twoBroadway shows—and the ALS death o his wie—as going to the valley and his teaching as standing up by the re.“What i you’ve never traveled?” Tawtiawna, an incredibly tal-ented light-skinned black actress, asked.“Emily Dickinson never went anywhere, but she voyaged. The
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Brontë sisters never met anyone like Rochester in their lives, butthey voyaged, they explored their world both real and imagined,or they couldn’t have ound him and brought him back to the re.”Decker smiled then turned to the blond actress in the rontrow. “Hold out your hand, palm down.” She did as Decker asked,then Decker put his hand out, palm down, six inches rom hersand turned to the class. “So two people go to a bar and they foptheir hands on the table—about six inches apart—like our twohands. And over the evening they magically join.” Decker movedhis hand orward and interlaced his ngers with hers. Her hand was remarkably sot, the t perect with his ngers—biology say-ing yes. For an instant he caught the actress’s eyes looking upinto his, as his wie had done so long ago as she demanded, “Do you know what you are doing, Decker? Do you know?” Deckerpushed aside the memory, held the actress’s interlocked ngersalot, and announced to the actors watching, “Two kids, a mort-gage, and a car.” Then he dropped the actress’s hand and said,“And they don’t know how it happened.” Decker smiled andadded, “How it happened is what they learn rom actors.” Heturned back to the actress. “Put out your hand again.”“You going to marry me a second time, Decker?”Decker paused, then said, “No. Just put out your hand.”She did.He turned to the class and said, “The six inches between ourhands is actor territory. No writer, no director, no cinematographercan guide you across those six inches. That territory belongs to you.It’s the reason that evolution hasn’t removed you and your kind.” Without segue Decker turned back to Tawtiawna. “Did youhave a private name or yoursel when you were a little girl?”The actress looked around—wary—as i Decker had seen intoa secret place. Finally she said, “Yes.”“I’m not asking you to tell me her name. But she’s your artist,and she wants to voyage, but you protect her because you thinkshe’s rail. She’s not—she voyages all the time and is waiting totake you along with her.”
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