Artist Feature | Elizabeth Bernhardt
What first drew you to acting and theatre?
I remember going to see a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at Zilker Park here in Austin when I was about twelve. It wasn't the first play I'd seen, but that memory sticks out to me as one where I saw the magic of theatre, and just felt a very visceral yearning to be inside that world of magic, too. Watching movies and theatre shows, something about them felt more real than "real life," and I believe God was calling to me at a deep level, inviting me into work where I could express the deep well of emotion and imagination and empathy with which he's designed me. A lot of who I am and the way I relate to God and the kinds of connections I want to make with people just don't seem to fit inside the norms of our culture's everyday life, but can find expression in acting, singing, writing, playwriting, directing, and movement.
Who has had the most influence on you as an artist?
Maybe this is the cliche answer, but I mean it wholeheartedly when I say that God is my biggest influence. The master painter of sunrises, the poet who displays mysterious star constellations night after night, the one who wrote language into our very DNA. When you act in a show, you're usually asked to write a bio that can be included in the playbill for the audience to read, with a list of some of your credits and a thank you at the end. I've started including a regular thank you to "The Best Artist Ever." When I work on characters, he's right there with me, inspiring me, revealing new things about the story and about life to me, and speaking deeply to my heart.
What inspires you to create?
The unspoken and unseen but very real world that we all live in but can't communicate with small talk and pleasantries. What I love about the arts is that they have the power to speak the unspeakable, to stir up the longings deep in our hearts, and possibly lead us nearer to God as we see that the destination of those desires is him. C.S. Lewis talked about "Sehnsucht," about "the inconsolable secret in each one of you," and that's what I seek to express and reach out to in other people when I create.
Describe your creative process for us.
It depends on what I am creating, I guess! The book I wrote, The Power of Pretend, came out of a lot of my own personal struggles in the world of acting. So, in that writing process, I did what I do anyway--threw my thoughts onto the page, all jumbled, and also went seeking after wisdom in the Bible, research, articles, etc., Then I carefully took all of that data chaos and prayerfully sought to organize it and sleuth out the patterns in what I'd collected, asking God to reveal what he wanted to show me and my readers. It was very cathartic, and having it edited by the publisher was also very clarifying. Not only did it make the book better, but it made my own heart clearer to me since what we were editing was my heart on the page.
When I'm acting, I start with the words. I read them, I memorize them by listening, reading, moving with them, praying over them, asking for keys into the character I'm playing. I also love to create character Pinterest boards! Choosing images and rejecting others helps me clarify who this person is, the essence of who they are. I think in metaphors, and that serves me well when I'm trying to live inside an imaginary world. I also love the collaboration of acting with other people who are also stepping into the same imaginative world. When it's going well, we feed each other's work, and the words take life inside of us and amongst us and can then be shared with an audience. It's really powerful.
Tell us about what you are working on right now.
My husband, Chris, our friend, Brie, and I are starting up a theatre company called Expatriate Theatre Company, based here in Austin, TX. I was inspired during quarantine to write a play in the style of William Shakespeare, and that has become our first production, which I'm getting to also act in and direct. I also started working at Regents School of Austin this fall as the drama teacher for the School of Logic (7th and 8th grade). I've also been doing some photography on the side, along with continuing to get the word out about The Power of Pretend, which was published the week before COVID hit our region. Crazy timing!
To learn more about Elizabeth, visit her website at elizabethbernhardt.com.