Thats what I needed when I delved deeply into my first acting class. I was 60 years old and had a lifetime of experiences behind me but anger or rather the act of reacting to it was not in my skill set.

The teacher was working on my scene with me. It was a very dark Mamet piece and I needed to show anger at a spouse leaving me. I had nowhere to draw from, no frame of reference to entice the anger from my soul.

So, my teacher asked about an incident in my past that could evoke some negative, potentially angry memory.

I could think of only one. My husband died when our children were eight and eleven. He had colon cancer and I had made the decision to have him die in comfort with his family at home.

It was a good decision, one which the children and their father and I fully participated in. When the time grew close and it was clear that my husband was dying we gathered close to him and talked him through it. It was beautiful, really.

But, as time passed after he died I was kept from peace by the thought that my husband had never thanked me/us for having kept him at home to die. I never asked it of him but somewhere inside I had expected as much.

When the time came in the scene work for me to find a way to get in touch with inner anger I grabbed two pillows and hit a chair with them repeatedly while saying words that revealed my anger and disappointment at the loss of the final thank you from my husband.

It worked, the scene went beautifully.

In my own coaching practice I see people with small parts of themselves disappointed at the behavior of others. I suggest that they deal with it so that they do not have to wait for two pillows and a dead husband to get it all out.