TIP OF THE DAY PT.2
Semester Two
Journal 1
 Describe you day so far in as much detail as you can
from…
 Waking up
 Getting ready for school
 Breakfast
 What you did or who you saw when you got to school
 What you did and felt going to first class
 What you wish you were doing instead
1.Acting While They are Talking
 Acting does not stop after you’ve spoken your
line. You must be reacting to what is being said
to you. That is part of the listening process.
 Do not over-act a reaction, but realize that you
are the second part of an equation which equals
the whole.
 This is just as important if there are a large
number of actors on stage and you have only a
few lines. You are always reacting to what is
said.
Journal Two
 Which movie do you think should
have been on the Oscar list but wasn’t
and why?
2.Loud and Soft
 There is a basic tone for the volume you
speak on stage which allows everyone to hear
above that is loud and below that is soft.
 Too much loud is grating, too much soft
strains the listener or goes unheard.
 You must find the basic tone in rehearsal and
use loud and soft variety for your emotional
changes. Never become too soft. (try
different tones in class)
Journal 3
 Who should win best actor and why?
 You can choose anyone you want for
this award but you must explain your
choice.
 Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Gary
Oldman are the only ones you might
know who are nominated.
3. The Stage Whisper
 The stage whisper is a voiced aspirated
whisper which is loud enough for the
audience to understand what you are saying
all the way to the back of the house.
 They accept you are whispering even though
you really aren’t.
 Articulate the whisper so consonants are
clearly spoken. (try it!)
Journal 4
 Describe the character you are
playing in your fairy tale. What
makes them do the things they do?
What are their motivations? How do
those motivations activate your
character’s actions?
4. Faster or Slower
 Rate of line delivery is important to pace
and emotional delivery. In a comedy, lines
spoken too slowly will kill the momentum.
In drama, lines too fast will diminish the
power of what you want to say.
 Rate can also affect mood. You need to
slow down for emotional moments and
speed up for tense ones. (let’s experiment)
5.Throwing a line away
 This is an act of de-emphasizing a line to
give variety or to show a character trying to
evade an emotional challenge.
 You do this by laying the line out there
without particular empasis, casually, as if
you were just throwing an offhanded
remark at someone.
 It’s a good way to insert sarcasm. (think of
an example)
6.Dropping the End of a Line
 American actors infamously drop our energy
and volume at the end of a line. This is bad
because it interferes with understanding and a
great deal of meaning is invested at the end
of lines, especially in Shakespeare and verse
plays.
 It also makes it hard for your other actors to
hear the cue. Practice keeping your energy
through the end of a line.
7.More listening…
 OK, so Mr. C says I need to listen. To what? What
for?
 Listen for sense
 Listen for action
 Listen for agreement or disagreement
 Listen for tone
 Listen for the reason you react (Try a Meisner
game)
8.Rhythm
 Rhythm on stage comprises of quick, medium
and slow, plus loud, medium and soft, plus
pauses of any length and how we come out of
them.
 A playwright creates a rhythm to emphasis or
lead to certain events. Shakespeare was the
best at it.
 Try to be aware of the playwright’s rhythm
choices in the play.
9. Torque
 In an engine, torque is the maximum drive in
the machine at full rev.
 In acting it when you reach your emotional
intensity.
 It’s when you put the pedal to the metal and let
it all hang out full bore.
10.Keeping the lid on
 Keeping the lid on something boiling increases
the pressure and the anticipation.
 It’s the same in acting choices. The longer you
let a moment simmer to boil the more potent
the moment when the energy is released.
 This also works in love scenes. Anticipation
and restraint makes the moment of a touch
more powerful and meaningful.
11.Self Reacting
 This refers to leaving yourself open to
reacting to things you say as if sometimes
they surprise you. We often say things that
just come straight from heart and are not
filtered.
 Your character needs to be able to react and
reflect on the things they say after the words
have left their source.
 This self awareness makes your character
more three dimentional
12. Agree/Not/ Neutral
 When someone is giving you information you
either agree, disagree or are unsure. You need
to make you choices clear the audience in any
event. This drives you into listening which is
the biggest key to good acting.
 You need to make those decisions in the early
reading part of rehearsal and try different
methods of reacting based on how the other
characters speak to you.
13.Finding your light
 It is a key technical ability for an actor to be
able to feel his light on stage. Designers and
directors have gone to great length to light
areas you will be acting in, but it is to no avail
if the actor continually misses his mark and
stands out of the light.
 Learn to know the warmth of that light on
your face.
14. Costume life
 A good costumer will be going to great
care and trouble to put you in a costume
that speaks for your character. Use the
costume to help bring life to your creation.
 The costume obviously helps you feel the
part, but how you show it off and use it
makes the picture complete
15. Repetition
 It is through repetition that we acquire the
freedom to act naturally. It is the primary
goal of the rehearsal process no matter
how tedious it may seem. Repetition of
lines, of movement, of intentions, of
reactions, engrains the flow into your
body, so you can eventually feel free to be
spontaneous on stage.
16. Simplify
 In early rehearsals it is good to push the
boundaries of your character. Go as far as you
can…but then at some point the director will
ask you to bring it back.
 As Thoreau says, Simplify, simplify, simplify.
 Know where to pull back and when it is
helpful. When it is character and when it is
vanity.
17.Technique
 Technique is your studied approach to creating a
character which creates tangible results.
 You learn technique in classes but often you can
learn the most by watching professionals who
are successful at the craft.
 Watch how they use their body, their emotional
tools, and their “technique” to acquire a
successful character and learn form it.
18. Small vs. large Space
 A stage actor will eventually be required to
act on stages of all different sizes for
audiences of all different sizes. Learn to gage
you performance for the space you are
working in.
 Film and small stages are always much
smaller and more internal. Big stages require
larger gestures and a lot more vocal energy.
19.Space and relationships
 An actor needs to understand and utilize the
nature of space in relationships. How close
can you be to someone before you are too
close…how far do you want to be from
someone.
 Actors also need to work on utilizing space
when building a picture for the audience.
Sometimes distance is needed to tell the story
of a scene or create a good stage picture.
20.Entrances
 Entrances are one of the most important yet often
overlooked parts of building a scene. You should
know what your character has been doing at least
five minutes before you enter the scene so you
bring that energy on stage with you when you
make the entrance.
 You come on stage for a reason…let the audience
see that energy when you enter the scene.
 Own the scene when you enter.
21.Exiting
 As with entrances, make your exit count.
Try to be as close to your exit position as
possible on you last or exit lines. If you have
to close a door…try to do before or after the
next line in the play.
 Make sure you stay in character all the way
out of the scene until you are well out of
sight of any audience members including the
ones on the far right and left of the audience.
22. Stone Hands
 Use your hands expressively on stage.
Find the touch that re-assures and does
not transmit your nervousness or the cold
reality of your aggression.
 Commit to the touch. Make the touch
communicate the action you intend
23. Scaring people
 The things in that theatre truly scare are the ones
that build to that moment of fear. Think of that
music in “Jaws” that builds the tension before
we even see the shark. The same is true in
playing a character that must frighten an
audience. It is the restraint that builds the
tension until the moment of action…then don’t
hold back…go for it.
24. Physical Line
 Good directors frame a play moment to moment
creating pictures for the audience that
communicate the play’s message. Actor’s need
to be aware of how their body communicates the
plays physical reality. Be aware of your own
physical life on stage and the line your body
adds to the frame of the theatrical moment
25. Mind/body connection
 Allow your impulses to transmit through
your body. Respond instinctively to the
stimuli on stage as you would to the
stimuli in the real world.
 Take in the stimulus of someone’s line to
you and let your body react to the impulse
it suggests.
Journal 5
 Discuss your character’s backstory in your
scene. Make up a mini-biography of who
they are and what got them to the place in
the scene you are doing. Who are these
people?
26.Impulse and blocking
 Know the scene well you are blocking in
blocking rehearsals and be ready to let you
impulses help the director by moving
instinctually.
 It is really hard to direct an actor made of
stone…be in tune with where the scene is
going and move yourself accordingly.
27.Take the part to the
body
 Many actors are good facial actors but a
true actor takes his character through his
entire body. How does your character
walk, stand, sit, move in space. These are
important aspects of building a character.
28.Break the straight line
 A straight line is the shortest distance
between two spaces but it also the most
boring on stage. Find ways to walk in an
arc, or break up the straight line by being
distracted by something in the room that
changes your gait or direct line to your
ending location.
29.Reading the script
 When you are auditioning you read the script
 When you are cast you read the script and high
light your part.
 Then you read the script to understand what
other’s say about you and your relationships
 Then you read the script to ask questions about
what your objectives are and your character “arc”.
 Then you should read the whole script at least
once per week during the rehearsal process
30.Punctuation
 Watch and use punctuation to help you get the
rhythm of lines correctly. End at the period, pause
at a comma, question at a ? Mark.
 This is especially important when doing verse
plays such as Shakespeare. Don’t stop at the end
of lines. Read through to the punctuated stop.
 Don’t change an author’s intent by changing
punctuation stops in a play
31.Lanuage
 Learn to use colorful or rich language with relish.
 Look for the key words in a sentence to amplify and
emphasize for effect.
 Verbs are often very important but adjectives can be
very rich when explaining a situation or making a
line more clear.
32.Key words
 To choose key words in a phrase or set of lines, look
at the circumstances of the scene. Where is the
climax to the dramatic beat? What is the main idea
of what you are trying to convey? What words will
carry the greatest impact of your character’s
objectives?
 Find these key words and emphasize them where
they are most useful.
33. Searching for the word
practice
 (quote) “I don’t like the change that’s come over you in
the last year”
 We are now going to say this line doing the following..
 Put 2 beat pause before “change”…then do that with like
and then…

try other variations of the line
 Mark your script with pauses and emphasis you want to
employ in your script
34.Verbal vs. Action
 When doing elevated literature on stage such as
Shakespeare, Shaw, Ibsen, and the Greeks, let
the language tell the story as much as possible.
Keep physical action to minimum because it will
detract from the author’s brilliant work in the
text which is most important in the classics
anyway.
35.Repeated words
 When words are repeated together in a text such
as… “Then, then, then he walked toward the
door.” Find a different way to say each of the
repeated words to give them more value and
increase tenstion and variety.
36. What do I do with my
hands?
 Strange but true, most actors, once they’ve learned
their lines and get out on stage, wonder what the
heck to do with their hands. You need to avoid over
gesturing and want to seem natural.
 A trick is to bring on a prop your character might
have, a hat, a toothpick, a book, something that
needs to be dealt with and you will find the problem
of what to do with your hands often finds an
answer.
37.Blocking Rule 1
 Always have a pencil and your script at rehearsals.
 Always write you blocking in the text using the
abbreviations of the stage.
 U – Upstage, UL – Up left, D- Downstage, DR down
right….etc.
 Having your blocking written is important if
someone has to step in for you. It will be written for
the actor to be able to follow in an emergency
38. Secondary roles
 OK, so you didn’t get the lead…but even a part
with two lines is an integral part of the story and
needs to played with the same care as the lead
role does. You are a part of the larger mosaic or
a thread in the fabric and without that thread the
whole does not hold together.
 Do not try to show boat with a small role. Do
your job and make the play’s success your goal.
39.Vocal variety
 Yelling is boring if it is carried on too long on
stage. It’s all one level and shows no progression
to the peak of the scene.
 Gauge yourself and your vocal peaks to build to
the moments where volume is the most useful.
If you reach your peak too soon, you have no
where to go in the climax of the scene.
40.Director’s Notes
 Always have a pen or pencil for director’s notes to
write them down or you’ll forget.
 Never question the director when he or she is giving
notes. If you have a question or disagreement, discuss
it later when alone with the director. You waste
other’s time with discussing during notes
 Take the note and work on it for the next rehearsal so
you don’t get embarrassed by getting the same note a
second time.
41.Learning Lines
 Underline the last sentence before your line and
learn it as your cue
 Write the cue and your line on a card so you can
separate the two. Cover your line and learn the
cue, then say your line.
 If you mess up, go to the top and start again
doing all the cues and lines until you know it by
heart, Then go on to the next scene and do it
the same,
42.Bit parts or cameo’s
 Be prepared to sit at rehearsal for long periods
with nothing to do…bring a book or knitting or
something.
 Be a positive comrade to the cast. Always pitch
in and help other actors learn their lines. Be first
to learn yours!!!
 Never belittle the play because you have a small
role. Bring your best game to the table every
time.
43. Shtick
 These are actor tricks to get attention and are
often frowned upon because they don’t
necessarily come from a truthful reading of the
text.
 But sometimes, in some shows, it’s good to have
a little good old fashioned shtick or over acting
to make something work the way it’s supposed
to , so don’t throw out the tool bag.
 All the popular movies today are full of it.
44.Do it Twice
 Always try a director’s suggestion and try it at
least twice before you say it won’t work and
make the director and yourself find another
solution.
 The director usually knows what he wants to see
in a scene and your willingness to try anything
offered will go a long way to helping create your
reputation as someone who is easy to work with.
45.Danger signs
 Actor’s are frequently asked to do tasks that
could endanger themselves or someone else.
 Always take the time to get these elements
exactly right and rehearse fight choreography
before every show.
 Notice things on a set or backstage that might be
dangerous and let the stage manager know about
them so no one gets injured needlessly.
46.Rehearsal Clothes
 First…always dress comfortably for rehearsal so you
can work without thinking about ruining something
you are wearing.
 Wear clothes that feel like something your character
would wear…a rehearsal skirt or a jacket…and
shoes similar to what your character might wear.
 The more you feel like the character, the easier it
will be to become the character when you get the
costume.
47.Kissing
 Hey, people kiss…it happens in life and it
happens on stage.
 There are stage kiss techniques, but most of the
time in professional theatre, you kiss the person
you are supposed to kiss. NO TONGUE EVER.
 If a partner is going too far in the kiss, pull back
and let them know or the director know. It’s
make believe after all.
48.Killing Laughs
 Sometimes you’ll have a line in a play that draws
a laugh at an inappropriate moment or
something happens accidentally onstage that
draws laughter at an inappropriate time.
 You can kill the laugh by rushing into the next
line or throwing focus away from the thing that
is causing the inappropriate laughter.
49.Set up, Joke, Reaction
 This is the standard form of a joke told in
comedy.
 Set-up should be crisp, clear and fairly loud
 The joke can be both thrown away or nailed
depending on the circumstance
 The reaction, which could get a second
laugh, should be visible, appropriate and
timed to the action of the moment.
50.Holding for the laugh
 Learn how to manipulate the laugh curve. Don’t
cut off the audience laughter or they will be
hesitant to laugh on other comic bits.
 Stay in character and time your reaction to the
laugh curve…you don’t stop acting to wait for
the audience to finish laughing.
 Never wait until they are totally finished
laughing to begin…start as the laughter falls
away.
51.