"Avoiding conflict"
In acting, you want to make choices that get you into the most trouble because that makes the acting experience richer. This actually runs counter to the impulses most of us have in life, however. We generally want to make nice, to compromise and to get along. In my classes, I joke at times, "Audiences don't go to the theatre to see people get along; they go to see people get it on!"
I am not suggesting that scenes should turn into fistfights, only that you be better off if you find the conflict. The word "conflict" in acting is not necessarily a negative thing. You can be in conflict about whether to eat the apple pie or the blueberry pie, whether to wear the blue dress or the tan pants suit. You can be in conflict about whether to take that vacation in Paris or in Mexico. Actually, "conflict" in theatrical terms is a synonym for "obstacle", and both of those words are inherent in "negotiation." The presence of conflict is a major distinction between theatrical reality and regular on-the-street reality.
Actors learn that conflict is their good friend. In life, we take classes in "conflict resolution". Psychiatrists will teach us how to be non-confrontational in our dealings with one another, how to just be happy people. Actors, by contrast, are always looking for the cutting edge in a scene.
Remember, there are only three possible kinds of conflict: (1) conflict with yourself, (2) conflict between characters and (3) conflict with the situation. At least one of them needs to be there all the time, and you can have more than one. Again, let me stress that conflict in theatrical terms is not necessarily negative. It is not necessarily a painful thing. It is better to think of conflict as a kind of cutting edge, something to work against. In life, we seek ways to relax and not to have conflict. In acting, we learn that conflict is our ally.
