Melisa Marie L. Padohinog
Theatre Acting
15 (Not So Obvious) Reasons Why
Being an Actor Is Awesome
1. You have a job that inherently
sounds cool. “What do you do?”
“Oh, me? I’m an actor!”
2. You get to live in “the city”—be
New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago.
3. Actors are generally more
interesting than tax accountants.
4. Your friends are usually
RIDICULOUSLY good looking.
5. Actors are usually not shy with
their bodies.
6. You know how to look great in
photos.
7. You sometimes get to pretend to
be a badass for a living.
8. You loved and accepted your gay
friends before it was cool.
9. You are always prepared to blow
the doors off the place during
karaoke.
10. You get to access—and play
around with—emotions most people
don’t even know they have.
11. You know how to break it down at
a wedding.
12. There is really no gentle way to
say it: Actors are usually great in
the sack.
13. You can look smart by quoting
Shakespeare.
14. You have unbelievably thick skin
from constantly dealing with
rejection.
15. you actually know what it feels like
to follow your dreams. (Most
people don’t.)
ENGLISH 15
LESSON PROPER
WHAT IS THEATRE ACTING?
The most visible element of the theatre
because it seems to personify it.
Theater actors
1.
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study scripts
develop characters and then
perform in front of live audiences
may have to participate in numerous auditions
before landing a role in a play.
may conduct research to help understand and
create their character (once they have earned a
part)
work closely with the director and other actors
to deliver the best performance possible.
make adjustments based on the director and/or
producer's suggestions.
may be required to sing, dance or learn a new skill
to perform on stage.
Degree Required No formal education
required, bachelor's degree recommended.
Training Required: Continuing training,
workshops.
Education Field of Study: Drama
Key Skills: Creativity, persistence,
dedication
ELEMENTS OF ACTING
Thespis of Icaria
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considered to be the first actor in the
theatre.
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The English word “thespian,” which means
actor, is derived from his name.
Theatre Acting
Melisa Marie L. Padohinog
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Along with being an actor on the Ancient
Greek stage, Thespis was also a celebrated
playwright, stage director and
producer. None of his plays are extant.
The Actor
His innovations included connecting the
chorus directly to the plot, developing the
idea of the power of the protagonist in
drama and replacing cruder dithyrambic
makeup with more refined linen masks to
delineate character.
The Essence of the character
Acting
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not really widely a "profession" till
the 16th century.
involves sophisticated role-playing
and make-believe, pretending,
conveyed through doing -- enacting
on the stage a vision of life.
An impersonation -- usually at the
service of a script; though not
always a script.
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ENGLISH 15
must discover the essence of
character and project that
essence to the audience.
has been perceived differently,
however, at different times,
periods, styles, and cultures, and
by different personalities of
actors.
Stanislavsky’s Modern "realistic"
acting (1863-1938)
3 basic ingredients of the actor:
1. native ability (talent)
2. training (including general education)
3. practice
Training and Means
A. voice and body -- must learn control voice
and body to express to audience.
1. understand
2. practice
considered as a "pure art": the
artist and the instrument are the
same.
consists of:
1. a series of tasks, usually in a
situation or context;
2. done usually as someone else; and
3. imaginary -- at least part of it.
3. discipline
Tensions and blocks must be overcome usually
through exercises, improvisations (enacting
characters in a situation without planned script or
blocking), theatre games (animals, stereotypes,
machines, etc.).
Also used to arrive at a "neutral state" ("tabula
rasa"--blank slate). Many artists believe that to
create they must first have a blank slate -- an
empty canvas -- on which to place their art.
Melisa Marie L. Padohinog
Theatre Acting
ENGLISH 15
Actors must find various ways to achieve this...
Wilson and Goldfarb use the term "centering."
The Acting Process:
B. Imagination and Observation
1. use the script to help determine all
information about the character-- and
fabricate what the script does not tell
you.
Observe and imagine people in various
relationships.
A. Analyze the role
2. Define goals of the characters
"affective memory"
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has often been used to refer to
use of the actor's memory to find
things in his/her life that are
similar to, or could evoke, the
emotions required by the
character on stage.
involve emotional memory
(remembering feeling from the
past), sense memory (remembering
sensations), and substitution
(mentally replacing the thing /
person in the play with something
/ someone in real life)
Often broken down into three "types" of
objectives:
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3. Character relationships:
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Robert Cohen in his Acting Power
uses the term "relacom," referring
to "relationship communication."
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All communication has at least two
dimensions:
C. Control and discipline
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Actors must learn how to develop
their powers of concentration.
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Must be aware at all times of
their current situation (being an
actor on stage, with an audience
out front) and the context of the
play (what is the character
doing/feeling/etc.)
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What am I doing? -- NOT how am I
doing?
Objective -- what the character
wants for each scene
Super objective -- the "Spine" -what character wants for the
whole play. Also called the
through-line.
"beats," "units" -- sub-objectives - changes of mood, intention,
subject, etc., in a scene.
1. the content dimension of the
message and
2. the relationship dimension of
the message.
We not only say things, but we say them
in particular ways -- and the WAY we
say things often tends to develop, clarify,
redefine a relationship. This is very
important for actors to explore -- the
subtext-- what is UNDER the lines.
Melisa Marie L. Padohinog
Theatre Acting
4. Function that the role fulfills in
the play.
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Actors need to understand how
their character relates to the
theme and the action of the play:
is the character a protagonist,
antagonist, or foil, a major or
minor character.
5. Sensitivity to subtext
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not what you say but how you say
it--the actions and unspoken
thoughts going through the mind of
the character -- between the lines
-- the underlying emotional
motivations for actions (including
what character says to others),
psychological, emotional,
motivations.
6. Role in the overall production
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B. Psychological and Emotional
Preparation
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The "magic if" -- what would I do if I
were that character in that situation.
Emotional and sense memory
-- "affective memory" and
"substitution," sense memory
-- clothes, air etc. -- how do they
affect your senses?
Emotional memory -- remembering
action / feelings from own life that resemble
character's in play.
Substitution -- substituting a real
person (mentally) for other actor.
C. Movement/Gesture
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ENGLISH 15
stage business -- "Obvious and detailed
physical movement of performers to reveal
character, aid action, or establish mood."
"Business" -- doing actively -- to simulate
real life
Delsarte -- focused on physical
characteristics -- body language (see W&G for
brief discussion of Stanislavsky's concept of
"psycho-physical action").
Blocking -- the arrangement and
movements of performers relative to each
other as well as to furniture and to the places
where they enter and leave the stage."
where actors move, how, and facing which
directions
Stage areas (from the Acting Workshop Online)
Body positions (from the Acting Workshop
Online)
Gesture -- to help express character.
Cheating - opening out / up -making sure as much of the front of your face
and body can be seen by the audience as
possible, while still retaining the illusion of normal
conversation.
Crossing and countercrossing -- moving from one part of the
stage to another, sometimes "countering"
another's movements to make the stage
picture more balanced.
D. Vocal characteristics
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Projection, tone, inflections, pitch,
rate
articulation (pronouncing words
clearly and accurately).
E. "Learning Lines" (Memorization)
and line readings -- learning lines suggests
more than just memorization -- it suggests learning why,
for what purposes, in what circumstances lines are said..
Melisa Marie L. Padohinog
Theatre Acting
F. Conservation and Build
Actors learn that usually "less is more" -- they
develop a sense of economy, using their ability to
conserve energy and action to build to ever
stronger actions.
G. "Ensemble" playing -- a sense of
wholeness--everyone working together -- working
together as a unit toward a common goal, like a well-oiled
machine.
METHOD (INTERNAL) VS.
TECHNIQUES (EXTERNAL)
Technique (External)
Discovering ways to convey emotions vocally and
physically and project to the audience. Requires
an intellectual understanding Uses more of an
"outside-in" approach Do the action and then the
feeling will follow (The James-Lange Theory-physical actions can lead to emotional reactions)
...Emphasis on Body language-The Delsarte System (Olivier felt that the key to a
character was the nose or how the character
walks) -- I once found the key to a character
(Earnest in Design for Living) in how he held a
cigarette--once I discovered that way of holding a
cigarette, much of the rest of the character
developed.
Method (Internal)
To help actors discover the emotional truth of the
character--works best with "realistic" theatre -for which it was originally intended. Requires an
emotional intelligence and understanding. Uses
ENGLISH 15
more of an "inside-out" approach. Think the
thought and the action will follow. The "magic if"
-- What would I do if I were that character in that
situation?
In practice--probably a combination of both of
these is best. Most actors will tell you that they
veer toward "method" or "technique," but most
probably use a combination of both.
REPRESENTATIONAL VS
PRESENTATIONAL ACTING
Representational: actors want to make us
"believe" they are the character; they "pretend.
Presentational: rather than "pretending" they
are the character, actors "present" the character to us,
almost as if saying, "Hi, this is the actor speaking, and I'm
going to present the ideas of this character to you; I
don't really believe I'm anything other than myself, but
you can believe it if you want."