Acting as Process

Abstract

What is acting? What type of action does an actor perform when portraying their character? Is it possible to conceptually distinguish acting from other types of activities? This paper aims to answer these types of questions about defining acting. My work involves two aspects. On one hand, I argue that the three current popular theories defining acting (the pretense theory, the display account, and the game model) are implausible; namely, acting cannot be reduced to a simple state or event. On the other hand, I argue that acting should be understood as a process and try to clarify the distinctive characteristics of this process.

Keywords

• acting
• theater
• process
• pretense
• display
• game