Chapter 9 – Theatre 102

acting teacher and director acting is "living truthfully in imagined circumstances" KEVIN DOES NOT LIKE THIS DEFINITION -- look at definition of actors job

1. selects sensory responses (bothy physiological and emotional) 2. selected behavior pertinent to a characters needs 3. given circumstances

to tell the characters circumstances in the plays story as truthfully and effectively as possible

time (when) place (where) surroundings (what) others (who in the situation)

external technique & internal belief belief

associated with EXTERNAL TECHNIQUE British actor called acting a mimical behavior he believed that the actor could produce emotions by a convincing imitation and skilled projection of those emotions being imitated he did not believe that the actor should actually experience anger or sadness of joy to project these emotions to an audience "outside in"

imitations in this external or purely technical approach actors aim for a calculated yet seeming truthful presentation of a characters life onstage BEHAVIOR IS NOT TRUTHFUL, NOT REAL

associated with INTERNAL BELIEF

a creative process that is intuitive, subconscious and subjective a great deal of the actors work is searching within for emotional impulses from personal experience to give reality to the role "inside out"

1. The body 2. Voice 3. Impulses 4. Emotions 5. Energy 6. Concentration 7. Imagination 8. Improvisations 9. Intellect intellect concentration imagination emotion voice impulses energy improvisations Body

By using these tools, the actor combines inner belief with external technique

Russian ACTOR-DIRECTOR Book: "An Actor Prepares" developed a systematic approach to training actors to work from the inside outward

the power of apparently effortless contradictory qualities

asked the actor to study and experience subjective emotion and to manifest them to audiences by physical and vocal means "the difference between my art and that is the difference between 'seeming and being' "

where actors not only would create a subjective reality of their own - an inner truth of feeling and experience - but also would represent the "outer" truth of the character's reality in the surrounding world of the play

Late 19th century A large style of acting that seemed exaggerated and unconvincing

exercise and principles designed to help the actor call on personal feelings and experiences

what the actor feels and experiences internally expresses itself in what the character says and how the character reacts to the play's given circumstances

truthful NOT imitation "If I were in ___ situation..." NOT "If I were ___ ..." By "being" IN the situation, the actor can give a performance that is truthful, living experience, not merely the imitation of the experience

Lee Strasberg interpreted emotional recall as the actors conscious efforts to remember circumstances surrounding an emotion filled occasion from the past in order to stimulate impulses and emotions that can be used on stage

combined with an understanding of the objectives of the character and the play, the actor could repeat physical actions night after night and organically trigger emotional memory That is, an inner psychological understanding combined with physical actions The goal remains the same: the actor's truthful behavior within the play's given circumstances

-Acting teacher -Transformed Stanislavski's system of acting into an american method - leader of Actors Studio

- The Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre in NYC - evolved a "foundation" technique for training actors that sets out an approach to the creation of truthful behavior within the IMAGINARY circumstances contained within the play - Founding member of the Group Theatre

- Sanford Meisner - calling upon inner impulses and instinctive behavior, freeing the imagination and strengthening concentration, to achieve a reality of doing - according to Meisner this is the foundation of acting "my approach is based on brining the actor back to his emotional impulses and to acting that is firmly rooted in the instinctive. It is based on the fact that all good acting come from the heart"

- practical aesthetics - Atlantic Theatre Company

to provide the actor with tools to perform with, the freedom to be completely involved with the play as it unfolds the focus of the training is on things WITHIN the actors control: - Voice - Body - Concentration - Script Analysis process of making acting tools habitual in order to free the actor in rehearsals and performance to live truthfully and fully within the plays circumstances

- director teacher - SITI (Saratoga International Theatre Institute)

6 elements 1. Space 2. Time 3. Shape 4. Movement 5. Story 6. Emotion using space, action and speech to create a character Emphasizes a PHYSICAL (or movement based) approach to rehearsal and performance... this replaces Stanislavski's "emotional recall"

gateway to roles and rehearsals to the challenges and rewards of performance and to membership in actors equity association

is useful in actor training and in rehearsals to free the actors imagination and to strengthen the concentration some exercises as the actor to substitute his or her own words for the words in the script by doing this the content of a difficult scene can be made clearer.

provides actors with a wide range of physical choices in the creation of character the emphasis is on developing the actor's body as a more open responsive physical instrument by eliminating unnecessary tensions and mannerisms to be convincing the actors physical movements must embody the characters attitudes or needs. In performance, all physical and vocal choices must serve those needs

games and exercises condition actors to immerse themselves in the plays circumstances and to find new impulses and behavior that lead to real emotion

to communicate the characters needs and motives involves the actors physical and psychological the actors voice is an extension of the character

Cicely Berry Kristen Linklater Catherine Fitzmaurice Patsy Rodenburg

is to condition the actors responses so that emotions flow from the actors concentration on the characters objectives and plays psychological and physical circumstances

the difference is the presence of the camera film actors have to be worried about BEING not performing

to live truthfully in the given circumstances (characters situation) of the play construct an emotional roadmap for your character

- what happened to the character right before we see him in the scene - use it to explore given circumstances - informs the characters psychological state

"What do I want?" --> these wants are objectives

a way of exploring character where we act situations without using lines of the play

1. Body 2. Voice 3. Intellect 4, Imagination 5. Emotion 6. Life Experience

to find how actor gets from one point to another in their emotional journey