Catch Me If You Can
Dead Accounts
Big Fish
Wicked
Broadway: Big Fish, Dead Accounts, Catch Me If You
Can (2011 Tony Award, Drama Desk winner: Best Actor
in a Musical; Astaire Award winner, Outer Critics
nomination), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Tony Award,
Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Astaire Awards, Drama
League Award winner: Best Actor in a Musical), Enron,
Speed-the-Plow, Is He Dead?, Wicked (original cast,
Fiyero), Thou Shalt Not (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer
Critics nominations), Rent (original cast, Broadway
debut). Off-Broadway: How I Learned To Drive, Fifty
Words, Buicks (Drama Desk nomination), The Last Five
Years (Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominations,
Drama League Award), Juno and the Paycock
(Roundabout), Saved (TFANA). National Tour: Dirty
Rotten Scoundrels, Cabaret. Alabama Shakespeare
Festival (four seasons), Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.
Film: Better Living Through Chemistry (2013), The
English Teacher (2013), Greetings from Tim Buckley
(2013), Disconnect (2013), Higher Ground, Fair Game,
Dan in Real Life. Television: Series: “The Deep End”
(ABC); Pilots: “County” (NBC), “The Miraculous Year”
(HBO) BFA, Webster University; MFA, Alabama
Shakespeare Theatre.
It is the oldest of the theatrical arts. THESPIS,
the first actor, was the author of the plays in
which he appeared.
From his name comes the word THESPIAN, another word for actor.
The average theatregoer can name many
actors...
The actor “presents” to the
audience in a form that we call
“presentational.” It is also called
“external” or “technical” acting.
The second notion comes from
somewhere “inside” the actor. It
is often referred to as “internal.”
Such classically-trained British actors as Olivier,
Guinness, Stewart and Gielgud.
 The actor works honestly and
effectively to “live the life of the
character.” To feel the emotions.
 It can be called “representational.”
 Actors of this school are often “method
actors” named for a “system” devised
by Konstantin Stanislavski
UNCLE VANYA at
Moscow Art Theatre
1918
"For... Stanislavsky said: "There is no system.
There is only nature. My lifelong concern has
been how to get ever closer to the so-called
system, that is, to get ever closer to the nature
of creativity."
According to an article in the
NY Times December 2, 2001
In the United States, the “method” was made
popular by the actor Lee Strasberg at the
Actors Studio in New York.
 In the 18th century, Denis Diderot discussed
the differences in his essay “The Paradox of
Acting”
 At the Moscow Art Theatre, Stanislavski
taught that motivation gives meaning to
action. And, as such, plays have subtexts
the actor needs to understand.
Almost all American teachers of acting pay
homage to Stanislavski and his “theories” of
acting...
Famous American actors trained in the method
include
Marlon
Brando
and
Marilyn
Monroe.
Greatness in acting, like greatness in almost
any endeavor, demands a superb set of skills
In order to play HAMLET, for example, the
actor himself needs to embody the genius of
the character.
To achieve this virtuosity, the actor must
possess two features
 An expressive voice
 A supple body
James Earl Jones
Glenn Close
Bill Irwin
Meryl Streep
Beyond conviction and virtuosity, great actors
possess “presence” or “magnetism” or
“charisma”
Actor training takes place in colleges,
universities, conservatories and private &
commercial schools
Training is both
physical and
psychological
All training
requires practice,
not simple book
learning
 VOICE:
breathing,
phonation,
resonance
 SPEECH:
articulation,
pronunciation,
phrasing
 PROJECTION
 Dance, mime, fencing, acrobatics
 Relaxation, control, economy
 Strength and endurance
Imagination, and willingness and ability to use
it in the service of art, are major components
of the actor’s psychological instrument
 Make the unreal real (flats and platforms
become streets or mountains)
 Play the imagined world of the play (Really
fall in love with your acting mate)
 Characterize the role with uniqueness and
life (liberate the actor’s imagination)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Follow the working conditions
Collaborate with fellow artists
Be on time to calls
Stay well and healthy
Train your instrument in exercise or class
Memorize parts before they are due
Work vigorously to develop craft
 Describe the objective, task, goal, victory or
intention. Each character has a primary goal
and several minor goals in the play.
 Secondly, the actor develops TACTICS
necessary to achieve the GOALS
 Finally, the actor must understand the style
of given circumstances of the play and apply
it to the role
The goal of acting is to express your
character’s intentions clearly and honestly
within the given circumstances of the scene.
These include…






Relationship of characters
Age of characters
Educational level of characters
Time. When?
Place. Where are you?
Socio-economic-political background, etc.
A: Hi
B: Hello
A: What did you do last
night?
B: Huh?
A: What did you do last
night?
B: Oh, nothing.
A: Nothing?
B: That’s what I said,
nothing.
A: Well…
B: Well what?
A: Never mind.
EMPTY SCENES
EXPLORE…
Relationship
Time
Place
Situation
Given
circumstances
AUDITION
Now, the actor is aware of his audience...
The audience affects the actor’s timing, delivery and energy
Patrick Steward, Simon Callow and Ian
McKellan
 Stage actors must re-create their
performance over and over. Each actor
develops ways to adapt to the different
demands of various media
Dame Judi Dench in film and onstage.
 Actors are privileged people, they get to live the lives of
saints, sinners, lovers, rulers, the great and the meek
 Actors must know more than acting, they must represent
the human and therefore must understand humankind
 The proper study of acting is life: common sense,
observation, perception, tolerance and understanding
 Actors need to possess training, business acumen and a
realistic vision
 Very few are capable of a professional career in acting.
Those that do possess great talent, skill, persistence,
fortitude and luck!