Z: When was the first time that you knew that you wanted to be an actor? You said in high school you noticed you had charisma to make people laugh and control the room…what was the aftermath of that? When did you take the stage?

C: Well, I guess that settled until I turned 21, which is when I started to take lessons and study under a mentor - Darya Denisova. She was teaching me a lot of the basics, and I started to get comfortable on stage - more comfortable holding a presence. She taught me the Stanislavski method. I studied this method under her tutelage for about a year and a half.

Z: Interesting. Tell me, what is the Stanislavski method?

C: It is the Godfather method of acting. Every good form of acting comes from the Stanislavski method. The method involves using your imagination to put yourself in a specific circumstance. In this circumstance, you have an objective - a desire. You achieve that desire - you go get what you want in real time. It’s very imagination-based, and the character uses physical actions that awaken the subconscious mind so that the whole scene can flow naturally. This may look different depending on the scene, but it always comes off as natural and realistic.

Z: Wow. That is fascinating. Could you give me an example of when you used this method?

C: Yes, actually over the summer I was performing on the Hardwick stage, acting out a scene from a Neil Simon play that Matthew Broderick is currently reenacting on Broadway right now. 

Z: What was the name of the play?

C: Plaza Suite.

Z: Oh, I love that one!

C: Yes, it is a great work. The setting is the Plaza Suite Hotel, hence the title. The main plot surrounds a girl named Mimsie, who is to be wed. Meanwhile, a middle-aged married couple, Roy and Nora Hubley - the parents of the bride-to-be - are trying to rekindle their dying relationship. Anyway, I was playing the part of Roy. In the scene that I used the Stanislavsky method, Roy and Nora are arguing because Mimisie, their daughter, doesn’t want to get married. Roy thinks he and Nora should have them marry anyway, but Nora disagrees. So, Mimsie is, like, hiding in the bathroom, and Nora is trying to get her out. As her mother, Nora is concerned for her daughter’s well being, whereas Roy basically just wants to protect his image - his own self-interest. All he can think about is how much they went out of their way to set up the entire wedding, so in his mind, ‘the show must go on’; he doesn’t want to disappoint a bunch of people or have things be awkward for him.

Z: Yes I remember that part. I believe there is a big confrontation with Nora and Roy after that, correct?

C: Yes, and that is the scene in which I am talking about. It’s a scene where you have to dig deep as an actor and dive down into the recesses of your innermost emotions to display a power dynamic—what that was like between the couple. The one objective for Roy is to get the wedding to happen, but a lot of issues surface and the audience sees Roy’s character defects come out just by holding on to, again, that one objective. That lays the foreground for the simple action of obtaining the objective to happen in Roy’s favor, as if ‘I am really in Roy Hubley’s shows and I really want the wedding to happen’. That is the key usage I had for the Stanislavsky method. Action and counteraction are important aspects of the method as well by the way, but overcoming obstacles to achieve an objective in a scene - that is perhaps even more important. Ultimately, watching someone struggle to make something happen with 100% of their being - that’s what keeps people watching. Ultimately when the character achieves the goal and make the thing happen - that’s the shining climatic moment, so to speak - the transcendence. That’s what keeps people coming back to the movies. That’s what keeps people buying their Netflix accounts.

Z: Wow, that's really an intelligent observation. It makes me want to research the Stanislavsky method for myself…in musical terms, it kind of sounds to me like what is called ‘musical tension and release’, as used in both Jazz and Classical music. The composer or musician builds the tension in a musical piece until it reaches a cadence where it eventually resolves. It’s that tension that keeps the piece moving forward, giving way to constant new elements of surprise that keep the listener listening. Fascinating… Anyway, tell me, what are your future goals? What does Charles Christopher Gabriel have in the pipeline next?

C: Anything can happen. I am indeed young, and while I am young, the most important thing to me is my craft. I want to spend my 20s, especially my mid-20s, in the theatre world. Finding direction, figuring out what clicks and what doesn’t - that’s what I want to do now. As my career develops, as I grow as an artist, I want to eventually make the transition into movies, like the many greats before me.

Z: Who are the greats to you? Who inspires you the most?

C: The greatest actor of all time is Marilyn Brando. His story, his brash personality - I feel like I can relate to that on a deep level. He came off as arrogant sometimes, but on the inside he was sensitive and temperamental - he could empathize with his audience. He was truly one of a kind…such a bold sense of individuality, that, in a way, was indeed very complex, but he was a beautiful person no less..

Z: Yeah he’s amazing dude. Very cool. I’ve heard you’re a big fan of Sly Stallone too? Is that true?

C: Yes, I love Rocky. I relate to his story because he was an underdog that picked himself up in moments where he felt like his life didn’t have any direction. Stallone wrote Rocky in three days - he went to an audition and didn’t get a part, so he show’d the guy a script, and the guy liked it, but didn’t want to do it. So Stallone told him about this idea he had for a story about a boxer, and the guy said, ‘okay, so I’ll give you 3 days to write it’, and he did it! Sly Stallone went home and wrote that script!

Z: So, he overcame all of the odds?

C: Exactly, and I think every artist has to do that. Even Beethoven was deaf.

Z: He was, and he wasn’t always that way either. That happened at the height of his career. The audience would be clapping and he wouldn’t even know it. In fact, he got really depressed at one point because he didn’t know if the music he was making was any good, and there were even a few times that he stormed off the stage at the end only for someone to bring him back out so that he could see the standing ovation, which always brought him to tears…

C: Wow.

Z: Yep…so, let me ask you this: Do you see yourself doing screenwriting?

C: Yes, I do. I have dabbled with a couple of ideas that are still in the works. I don’t wish to talk about it now though because I am saving it for a future time.

Z: Well I am sure that they are very brilliant ideas indeed. Actually, I know they are because you’ve told me off the record LOL.

C: (Laughter)

Z: Now people are going to wonder why I asked you (laughter).

C: I know, right? (laughter)

Z: Well, Charles, I know you personally. Let me just say: you’re a great person, and a good friend - which is so important today - just to be yourself - true and good. People like that have great capacity for giving, which is what art is all about, and that’s how I know of your great potential as an artist, an actor. With that, it has been really great talking with you. 

C: Thank you for doing this. Thank you for your time.

Z: Always.