Actor's Resources

Don’t Burn Your Steps

By lesly kahn | September 15, 2017

Here’s a new way of thinking about star of 12 MONKEYS and LK&Co. Faculty Todd Stashwick’s favorite phrase, “Don’t burn your steps!”

We are frequently asked to define, “Don’t burn your steps!”  Sometimes we just say it’s acting in real time.  More specifically though, we might say, “Well, you can’t go straight from A to G. You have to go through B, C, D, E, and F in order to get to G.

Similarly, you can’t skip all the steps that get you from, for example, my line to your line.  That might go something like this:

  1. MY LINE
  2. What you think about what I just said
  3. What you think about me
  4. In this genre
  5. In these given circumstances
  6. In this relationship
  7. YOUR LINE

Here’s an amazing passage from Monty Python that my co-teacher Vikki Garcia Kelleher brought up in class today to further clarify the situation.

HUMPHREY: The purpose of foreplay is to cause the vagina to lubricate, so that the penis can penetrate more easily. . . . Now, did I do vaginal juices last week? . . .

PUPILS: Mmm. Mmm. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

HUMPHREY: Name two ways of getting them flowing, Watson.

WATSON: R– rubbing the clitoris, sir?

HUMPHREY: What’s wrong with a kiss, boy? Hmm? Why not start her off with a nice kiss? … You don’t have to go leaping straight for the clitoris like a bull at a gate. Give her a kiss, boy.

WYMER: Suck the nipple, sir?

HUMPHREY: Good! Good. Well done, Wymer.

DUCKWORTH: Uh, stroking the thighs, sir.

HUMPHREY: Yes. Yes, I suppose so. Hmm?

PUPIL IN FRONT: Oh, sir. Biting the neck.

HUMPHREY: Yes. Good. Nibbling the earlobe, uhh, kneading the buttocks, and so on and so forth. So, we have all these possibilities before we stampede towards the clitoris, Watson.

WATSON: Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.

http://www.montypython.net/meaningmm1.php

https://youtu.be/ejaWq2TXRXE

People! You cannot go straight from the penis to the clitoris. You might, instead, do it like this. Start at

  1. PENIS, then
  2. Kiss, then
  3. Suck the nipple, then
  4. Stroke the thighs, then
  5. Bite the neck, then
  6. Nibble the earlobe, then
  7. CLITORIS

Right?

So we have:.

A then
B then
C then
D then
E then
F then
G.

MY LINE, then

What you think about what I just said, then

What you think about me, then

In this genre, then

In these given circumstances, then

In this relationship, then

YOUR LINE.

 

PENIS, then

Kiss, then

Suck the nipple, then

Stroke the thighs, then

Bite the neck, then

Nibble the earlobe, then

CLITORIS. 

 

Et voila.