Drama Fundamentals
January 23, 2012
Chapter 1 – Acting
Essential Question
How do I Act by developing, communicating, and sustaining roles within a variety of situations and
environments?
The following notes will go in the “Acting Notes” section of your notebook.
Please make sure that you list Chapter 1 – Acting and today’s date – 1/23/12 at the top of the page.
For each new section, please make sure that you put the Title for each section of the notes. (Does not
have to be a new sheet of paper.)
Vocabulary
Articulation – the clear and precise pronunciation of words.
Articulators – the parts of the body that create consonants.
Gesture – an expressive movement of the body and limbs.
Improvise – to speak or to act without a script.
Inflection – variety in speech.
Pantomime – acting without words through facial expression and gesture.
Project – to make your voice fill the performance space.
Resonance – a quality caused by vibration that enriches vocal tone.
Resonators – the parts of the body that create vowel sounds.
Script – the text of a play.
Pantomime – Acting without words by using facial expressions and gestures, expressive movements of
the body or limbs.
3 Types of Movement:
◦ Any movement that tells the audience something significant or meaningful about a
character.
◦ Movement that tells a story through silent action.
◦ Movement that portrays an activity without using the actual object involved in the
activity.



For successful stage pantomime, you need to use your facial expressions and body movements
to communicate your reactions – physical and emotional-to characters, events, objects, and
environments.
To create the illusion of using imaginary objects, you need to portray their specific physical
characteristics. Pay special attention to consistency – in spatial relationships and the shape of
objects.
Strive to give your pantomimed actions and stories a beginning, middle, and end.
Voice




As an actor, your voice is a crucial element in your performance. 3 Important Elements:
You MUST be HEARD by everyone in the audience.
Your voice must CONVEY the kind of character you are portraying.
Your voice must CONVEY what the character THINKS and FEELS about events.

Diaphragmatic Breathing – Your diaphram contracts when you inhale, causing your abdomen to
expand. This allows space for the lungs to fill with air.
Making and Shaping Sounds
The air that supplies you with essential oxygen also carries the sound of your voice.
1. Sound is shaped by your mouth and throat.
2. Vowels are open, sustained sounds and make your voice audible and able to be heard.
3. Resonators – the hard and soft palates, throat, and sinuses.
4. Resonance – a quality caused by vibration – it enriches vocal tone.
5. Consonants are stopped or shaped
sounds. They are formed by the
articulators.
6. Articulators – the jaw, lips, tongue, teeth, and soft palate.
7. Articulation – your skill at using both consonants and vowels affects your articulation – the clear
pronunciation of words.
Projection



Actors MUST be heard by everyone in the audience.
Actors need to project their voices so that the audience can hear their lines.
To PROJECT your voice is to use it in such a way that it fills the performing space so that every
member of the audience can hear and understand you.
Expression

Actors need to speak with expression – this means to use variety in your voice to express your
changing thoughts and emotions.
Inflection – variety in speech.
 Inflection is affected by the following:
 1. Pitch – how high or how low your voice is.
 2. Volume – how loud or soft your voice is.
 3. Tempo – how fast or slowly you speak.
 4. Phrasing – how you divide your speeches into smaller parts, adding pauses to create
emphasis and a rhythmic pattern of sounds and silences.
 5. Quality – whether your voice is shrill, nasal, raspy, breathy, etc.
 Inflection can go far toward changing the meaning or emotional content in a speech.
Improvisation

Improvise – to speak or to act without a script or the text of a play.






In improvisation you must create speeches, actions, dialogue immediately and without
preparation.
This requires spontaneity, imagination, and the ability to use past personal expreriences.
You must also concentrate on what is happening and being said by others in the group.
Cooperative Flexibility!!
Actors use improvisation in several ways:
1. To work with others to create a sketch, skit, or short play.
2. To develop a character for a play, film, or tv show.
Storytelling

Storytelling, in which one or more people tell stories to others, is often accompanied with
dramatic movement and voice; thus, it can be considered the earliest form of acting.
 Myths, folktales, and legends evolved from the ancient stories that were passed down from
generation to generation.
 In some cultures, storytelling is still used to transmit news and information to everyone and to
impart values.
 Modern storytelling and the theatre both grew out of the need to share human experiences.
 Storytelling and Theatre both imitate life experiences in dramatic presentations.
 Storytellers use traditional or novel themes and characters to reinforce or challenge accepted
ideas.
 Storytelling is characterized by the following elements:
Storytellers acknowledge the presence of their listeners & interact with them, even
changing their stories during the telling to get a desired response.
Storytellers may take on many characters but usually don’t stay in one character
throughout the telling of a story.
 Continued
Stories told may involve many interwoven plots, span many years, and take more than one session
to finish.