While playing, Judge Wargrave in “Ten Little Indians” in the early eighties, Darrel Wayne began to feel a real senseof frustration.  He knew that he was acting instead of really beoming the character.  He was good enough to get away with it, but it was not artistically satisfying.  Having studied the masters, such as Stanislavski, Boleslavsky, Checkhov, Lewis, Adler, and many others, he knew that there was more to it than "just acting.

The key that changed Darrel’s life forever was when he read the book, Psycho-Cybernetics.  He disliked the theory of “emotional memory”, or “effective memory” as it was sometimes called.  He felt strongly that the emotion required in a part should be that of the character, fresh and new, instead of recreated from some emotional experience in the actors past.  The theory of Psycho-Cybernetics, by Maxwell Maltz, states that the mind does not distinguish between real and imaginary experiences.  This book was a text on positive thinking.  The theory was that if you were to imagine enough positive scenarios, you would automatically become a more positive person.  That led Darrel to explore the possibility of using this same theory to create a past for his characters.  He realized that we are all a product of our past so he created a past for the character that would cause that character to react and behave in the way that the writer intended naturally without acting.  While creating the character he actually lived through the imaginary experiences to accomplish this in his artist minds eye. The results were extraordinary.  Next, Darrel considered the fact that in real life, there is sometimes an event in some peoples lives that effects them so strongly that it dictates how they might react to a given situation.  In that people will seldom talk about such an event, Darrel decided to create this imaginary event for his character and call it, his characters secret.

Darrel believes that one of the best compliments he ever received on his acting was because of creating his character in this way. He had done a segment of Hard Copy where he played the school bus driver in the recreation of the Chowchilla Kidnapping.  It aired on a Sunday night and when he held his actors workshop the next night many of the actors complimented on the work he did on television.  Then one of the actresses said she had seen that program and didn’t realize that Darrel was in it. He had successfully convinced her that he was the school bus driver.    

It was when Darrel was living and working in Hollywood, doing Film, Television, commercials and as always, continuing to study that he perfected his power base and stage presence as taught by Michael Checkov.  After he landed a part on the television series, “Hunter” his  knowledge of the craft was not lost on his agent, William Lee, owner of “The Talent Bank Talent Agency”.  It was not uncommon for William Lee to ask Darrel to help an actor in need for the next three years.

Because he missed his family he moved back to Las Vegas and was invited to teach acting at the original “Performing Arts Center of Nevada” on East Charleston. When he was not teaching, he would attend the other instructor’s classes always wanting to learn more. It was here where he learned the value of the place in space where the action takes place. He is now often quoted, “Never be on stage when you are, but always when you are not”.

Darrel was also busy writing and directing plays.  One of the first plays he directed was, “Gold, Frankincense, Christmas Tree Ornaments, and Myrrh”, by Thomas Ohlson.  An agent who saw the play was quoted as saying, “That was the best art I have ever seen in Las Vegas”.  He formed his own repertory acting group, The Darrel Wayne Players, where he wrote and directed plays.  He was also still acting in plays, Television and film. Everything was going great.  He even changed the name of his theory of acting from, “Solving The Actors Problems”, to “The Intuitive Theory of Acting”, after seeing the movie, “All That Jazz”, directed by Bob Fosse. In this film the main character was a Broadway choreographer who was having a difficult time directing a dance and getting what he wanted out of it. Out of frustration he went into another part of the theater where his ex-wife was rehearsing her dance for this same play and they got into an argument about all of the other women he had been with while they were married. He was no longer thinking of the dance he had been directing but was engrossed in the argument when all of the sudden he snapped his fingers and said, “I got it”.  He went back into where the dancers he had been working with earlier were and created a true piece of art.  The inspiration for this artistic dance came from his subconscious mind where true geniuses lies. In other words, it was intuitive.

Nobody knew during those productive years how near Darrel was to the end of his career. Shortly after doing the film, “Kill Me Again” staring Val Kilmer, he suffered a major heart attack in the month of January, 1992 at the age of fifty five.  The prognoses was not good.  His heart had stopped for over five minutes and because of the brain damage caused by the lack of oxygen, his speech was slurred and he had to use a cane to keep from losing his balance.  Any loud noises would cause him to have a panic attack and he had problems remembering things.  The chances for compete recovery were very slim but this did not stop Darrel from working with all his might to get well again.  After three years of unyielding effort, he was well enough that some of his previous students, and now friends, realized how well he was doing and tried to convince him that he should begin to teach again.   At first he resisted, but when he was accused of not being willing to share his knowledge any more, he knew that they wouldn’t take no for an answer. 

Now, Darrel is teaching full time and has opened his own acting studio in Las Vegas.  He teaches private one on one acting lessons in The Intuitive Theory of Acting. He has written an illustrated study guide to make the sixty two lesson course easier for the actors to complete.  He also teaches an on camera workshop for doing film and television.

He was one of the founders and Artistic Director of the Empress Theatre Company that has put on several successful productions. He has recently retired from that position and has received a "Life Time Achievement Award" in the fields of, Acting, Teaching, Directing and Writing.

He has just completed a screen play and is still an active actor and acting teacher. You can reach him at 702-335-3111 or darrelwayne@gmail.com