Sonia Moore on Stanislavski's method of concentration

Sonia Moore was born in Russia but subsequently moved to New York City, where she became Artistic Director of the American Center for Stanislavski Theater Art and in 1960 published "The Stanislavski System," a guide for acting students. One important aspects she stresses is concentration:

"On stage an actor has to learn anew to see, to hear, and to think, because the natural psycho-physical union is broken and this produces paralysis of his faculties. Actors frequently only pretend that they see or hear or think. If an actor is to be a live human being on stage, his faculties must function as they do in life. An actor's eye that really sees attracts the spectator's attention and directs it where he wants. An actor's eye which does not see takes the spectator's attention away from the stage. An actor can make himself actually see anything on the stage--a vase, a picture, a book--by building around it some imaginary details which will make it attractive to him. The more an actor exercises his concentration, the sooner it will become automatic; finally, it will become second nature to him.

"To facilitate concentration of attention on execution of physical actions Stanislavski introduced circles of attention. An actor must limit his attention to separate parts of the stage, which he establishes with the help of objects on stage. 

A small circle of attention is a small area that includes the actor and, perhaps, a nearby table with a few things on it. The actor is the center of such a small area and can easily have his attention absorbed by the objects inside it.

"The medium circle of attention is an area that may include several persons and groups of furniture. An actor should examine this gradually, not trying to take it all in at once.

"The large circle of attention is everything an actor can see on stage. The larger the circle, the more difficult it is to keep the attention from dissipating. When the actor feels that his attention is wandering, he should immediately direct it to a single object and concentrate on it. When he succeeds and surmounts the difficulty, he can redirect his attention--first to a small circle, then to a medium one, then to a large one."