Write at least 1 paragraph (4 sentences or more) responding to 1
of the questions below. Then write at least 1 paragraph responding to
another student's response to 1 of the questions.
Questions from Chapter 15:
1.
"One way we can build a character is by identifying character elements the playwright uses in creating his people. Here's a list of character elements that are worth studying: carefree, ambitious, outgoing, enterprising, responsible, conscientious, adventurous, scholarly, reliable, practical, introspective." Describe what character elements you played as a character on stage. What was the author's purpose in creating character like this?
2.
"Acting is reacting, and shouldn't arise out of a false response." Explain what Stella Adler is talking about.
3.
"In a play you can't really work unless you develop an attitude toward your partner." Using an experience from the stage explain why that sentence is true.
4. "Resist the impulse to make the play fit you. You must fit the play." Why should you do this as an actor?
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Class 14: Understanding the Text
Write at least 1 paragraph (4 sentences or more) responding to 1
of the questions below. Then write at least 1 paragraph responding to
another student's response to 1 of the questions.
Questions from Chapter 14:
1. "The actor, however, is not only to reproduce these national and occupational traits. He must also show the differences between individuals -- how two Italian designers, for instance, behave differently toward the same attractive client." In the theatre we are frequently given characters that are thrown in for support, for example the angry white mob in "To Kill A Mockingbird," or the Munchkins from "The Wizard of Oz." What is/would be your process for creating a specific character for a non-specific role.
2. "A human being, if you take him out of his social situation is somebody else. He doesn't know who he is, and neither will you know how to play him because you're in limbo." From your experience on stage explain how knowing (or not knowing) your character's "social situation" helped (or hurt) your character.
3. "The strongest base for a table is three legs. If you can find three interrelated ideas in a text you have a play that's in control." List three interrelated ideas from a play you performed. Make sure that you list your character and the show.
4. "Background is created out of the five W's -- who, what, where, when, why. Answer these questions and the background falls into place. For instance, imagine a bunch of daffodils you've received from a friend. They live in a vase in your living room for five days, and then you throw them out with the trash. When you received the daffodils, they'd already lived a life of their own. They were born in a nursery in Holland and were transplanted to grow in special soil. They were sent to the flower market in Amsterdam and bought at the flower auction. They were loaded onto a plane as air freight and shipped to Kennedy Airport. From there they went first to a wholesale florist on 28th Street and then to the flower shop in the Village where your friend spotted them. You now know the what, where, when and why of the daffodil. If called upon, you could now play one of the daffodils." If you had to play the daffodil you probably wouldn't be able to express all that history, but you would be confident about who you were. How many times have we spent the time to be as specific with our character as Stella Adler has been about this simple flower? Create the who, what, where, when, and why for a character you would like to play onstage one day.
5. "When you come in saying, 'I'm a lawyer' or 'I'm a doctor' or 'I'm a stenographer,' you're somebody that does something. You don't come in with lines. You don't come in with a scene. You come in as somebody who does something. What do you do. Think about it." From your stage experience describe the difference between a character you played who had a very specific profession and one that did not.
Questions from Chapter 14:
1. "The actor, however, is not only to reproduce these national and occupational traits. He must also show the differences between individuals -- how two Italian designers, for instance, behave differently toward the same attractive client." In the theatre we are frequently given characters that are thrown in for support, for example the angry white mob in "To Kill A Mockingbird," or the Munchkins from "The Wizard of Oz." What is/would be your process for creating a specific character for a non-specific role.
2. "A human being, if you take him out of his social situation is somebody else. He doesn't know who he is, and neither will you know how to play him because you're in limbo." From your experience on stage explain how knowing (or not knowing) your character's "social situation" helped (or hurt) your character.
3. "The strongest base for a table is three legs. If you can find three interrelated ideas in a text you have a play that's in control." List three interrelated ideas from a play you performed. Make sure that you list your character and the show.
4. "Background is created out of the five W's -- who, what, where, when, why. Answer these questions and the background falls into place. For instance, imagine a bunch of daffodils you've received from a friend. They live in a vase in your living room for five days, and then you throw them out with the trash. When you received the daffodils, they'd already lived a life of their own. They were born in a nursery in Holland and were transplanted to grow in special soil. They were sent to the flower market in Amsterdam and bought at the flower auction. They were loaded onto a plane as air freight and shipped to Kennedy Airport. From there they went first to a wholesale florist on 28th Street and then to the flower shop in the Village where your friend spotted them. You now know the what, where, when and why of the daffodil. If called upon, you could now play one of the daffodils." If you had to play the daffodil you probably wouldn't be able to express all that history, but you would be confident about who you were. How many times have we spent the time to be as specific with our character as Stella Adler has been about this simple flower? Create the who, what, where, when, and why for a character you would like to play onstage one day.
5. "When you come in saying, 'I'm a lawyer' or 'I'm a doctor' or 'I'm a stenographer,' you're somebody that does something. You don't come in with lines. You don't come in with a scene. You come in as somebody who does something. What do you do. Think about it." From your stage experience describe the difference between a character you played who had a very specific profession and one that did not.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Class 13: Giving Actions Size
Write at least 1 paragraph (4 sentences or more) responding to 1
of the questions below. Then write at least 1 paragraph responding to
another student's response to 1 of the questions.
Questions from Chapter 13:
1. "In addition to cold, reasoned logic, advice is generally dark in mood. It has something to do with being professional. To get the necessary note of authority into the voice, an actor giving advice assures himself he knows something very important that the person receiving the advice doesn't know." Drawing from your experience onstage explain what you did vocally and physically in order to successfully give another character advice.
2. "When Eliza Doolittle finally defies Henry Higgins, Shaw is not just describing a former flower girl telling off a professor of phonetics. He's writing about the servant class raising itself to the level of its masters. The woman who at the beginning of the play couldn't have imagined herself as anything but a servant is now telling the wealthy, well-born man who has taught her and supported her that she's his equal." Give your own example of how your character successfully or unsuccessfully defied another character (include how you used your voice and body.)
3. "Because it requires losing the present, the action 'to dream' is close to the action of reminiscing, but is different because it looks to the future instead of the past." Explain what differences there would be for a character vocally and physically when they are dreaming instead of reminiscing.
4. "'That's forbidden,' I said. 'Never start a scene by sitting down.'" I say this because most students take away the urgency needed at the beginning of a monologue or scene; Stella Adler says it because it prevents an actor from setting up the environment before they speak. Give an example of how you began a scene or a monologue sitting down and specifically explain what you would do now in order to set up your environment.
5. "I urged him to think about that window. 'That window has a life of its own, ' I said. 'A leaf flutters down outside the window. Birds fly past. The last light of day reaches you through it. You worship that window.'" Describe at least one situation where you were able to visualize what was going on outside of the room you were in in order to be able to develop a more believable character.
Questions from Chapter 13:
1. "In addition to cold, reasoned logic, advice is generally dark in mood. It has something to do with being professional. To get the necessary note of authority into the voice, an actor giving advice assures himself he knows something very important that the person receiving the advice doesn't know." Drawing from your experience onstage explain what you did vocally and physically in order to successfully give another character advice.
2. "When Eliza Doolittle finally defies Henry Higgins, Shaw is not just describing a former flower girl telling off a professor of phonetics. He's writing about the servant class raising itself to the level of its masters. The woman who at the beginning of the play couldn't have imagined herself as anything but a servant is now telling the wealthy, well-born man who has taught her and supported her that she's his equal." Give your own example of how your character successfully or unsuccessfully defied another character (include how you used your voice and body.)
3. "Because it requires losing the present, the action 'to dream' is close to the action of reminiscing, but is different because it looks to the future instead of the past." Explain what differences there would be for a character vocally and physically when they are dreaming instead of reminiscing.
4. "'That's forbidden,' I said. 'Never start a scene by sitting down.'" I say this because most students take away the urgency needed at the beginning of a monologue or scene; Stella Adler says it because it prevents an actor from setting up the environment before they speak. Give an example of how you began a scene or a monologue sitting down and specifically explain what you would do now in order to set up your environment.
5. "I urged him to think about that window. 'That window has a life of its own, ' I said. 'A leaf flutters down outside the window. Birds fly past. The last light of day reaches you through it. You worship that window.'" Describe at least one situation where you were able to visualize what was going on outside of the room you were in in order to be able to develop a more believable character.
Class 12: Complicating Actions
Write at least 1 paragraph (4 sentences or more) responding to 1
of the questions below. Then write at least 1 paragraph responding to
another student's response to 1 of the questions.
Questions from Chapter 12:
1. "You don't hear me talk much about emotions. That's because emotions aren't doable. Actions are doable, and if you do them correctly, they prompt feelings." Give an example of when an action prompted a feeling (for example, being given a rose.)
2. "To remain in your personal past, which made you cry or gave you a past emotion, is false, because you're not now in those circumstances. You're in the play, and it's the play's circumstances that have to be done truthfully by borrowing what was physical from the past action, not the emotion." In your own words explain what Stella Adler means. Do you agree or disagree with her?
3. "Whenever you enter or leave the stage, you go into circumstances. That means you have come from somewhere and you're going someplace. A good actor doesn't enter from the wings. Before he enters he makes a preparation. He's found a need to walk on that has nothing to do with the stage manager's cues." Give a specific example when you (as an actor in a show) did or did not enter the stage as if you had just come back from someplace else. How did this help or hurt your performance?
Questions from Chapter 12:
1. "You don't hear me talk much about emotions. That's because emotions aren't doable. Actions are doable, and if you do them correctly, they prompt feelings." Give an example of when an action prompted a feeling (for example, being given a rose.)
2. "To remain in your personal past, which made you cry or gave you a past emotion, is false, because you're not now in those circumstances. You're in the play, and it's the play's circumstances that have to be done truthfully by borrowing what was physical from the past action, not the emotion." In your own words explain what Stella Adler means. Do you agree or disagree with her?
3. "Whenever you enter or leave the stage, you go into circumstances. That means you have come from somewhere and you're going someplace. A good actor doesn't enter from the wings. Before he enters he makes a preparation. He's found a need to walk on that has nothing to do with the stage manager's cues." Give a specific example when you (as an actor in a show) did or did not enter the stage as if you had just come back from someplace else. How did this help or hurt your performance?
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Class 11: Instant and Inner Justifications
Write at least 1 paragraph (4 sentences or more) responding to 1
of the questions below. Then write at least 1 paragraph responding to
another student's response to 1 of the questions.
Questions from Chapter 11:
1. "When we act, primarily we perform an action. Our second objective is creating a reason for the action. This is called justification." Drawing from your experience describe your action for your character and your justification.
2. "I know that sounds obvious, but it's not good. Why is 'I'm thirsty' not a good justification? Because it's too subjective. It's a state of being. You need to find a justification that you can do. 'I need water as a chaser for my drink.' 'I need water to wipe a spot off my dress.' 'I need water to take an aspirin.'" Give your own example of poor justification and strong justification.
3. "In life, as on the stage, it's not who I am but what I do that's the measure of my worth and the secret of my success. All the rest is showiness, arrogance and conceit." Explain why this first sentence is true in regards to the stage.
4. "In a restaurant a man asks a woman if she'd like some sugar. She says, 'No, thank you.' Her answer has great strength because her inner justification is that she has diabetes." By creating your environment and your character there are some things you understand about your character that others do not -- this allows you to have strong justification. This is what creates a successful performance. Give an example of when you used strong justification for a character you have portrayed. Explain how you felt about your performance.
5. "The objects you choose can help or hinder you. A radio, for example, something mechanical, is a mistake. Instead, turn to nature. A radio leaves you stone cold inside." Describe at least one situation where a property helped or hindered your performance.
6. "Bringing that poetic quality into it, you reminisce about your high school graduation. 'There it was that day! There was -- an auditorium!' You don't try to make it natural. So you don't try to bring it back to a natural tone of voice. 'Was there a graduation? Was there? There's the apple tree. There's the haywagon.'" Describe why reminiscing in a natural tone of voice would not work on stage (even if you were using a microphone.)
Questions from Chapter 11:
1. "When we act, primarily we perform an action. Our second objective is creating a reason for the action. This is called justification." Drawing from your experience describe your action for your character and your justification.
2. "I know that sounds obvious, but it's not good. Why is 'I'm thirsty' not a good justification? Because it's too subjective. It's a state of being. You need to find a justification that you can do. 'I need water as a chaser for my drink.' 'I need water to wipe a spot off my dress.' 'I need water to take an aspirin.'" Give your own example of poor justification and strong justification.
3. "In life, as on the stage, it's not who I am but what I do that's the measure of my worth and the secret of my success. All the rest is showiness, arrogance and conceit." Explain why this first sentence is true in regards to the stage.
4. "In a restaurant a man asks a woman if she'd like some sugar. She says, 'No, thank you.' Her answer has great strength because her inner justification is that she has diabetes." By creating your environment and your character there are some things you understand about your character that others do not -- this allows you to have strong justification. This is what creates a successful performance. Give an example of when you used strong justification for a character you have portrayed. Explain how you felt about your performance.
5. "The objects you choose can help or hinder you. A radio, for example, something mechanical, is a mistake. Instead, turn to nature. A radio leaves you stone cold inside." Describe at least one situation where a property helped or hindered your performance.
6. "Bringing that poetic quality into it, you reminisce about your high school graduation. 'There it was that day! There was -- an auditorium!' You don't try to make it natural. So you don't try to bring it back to a natural tone of voice. 'Was there a graduation? Was there? There's the apple tree. There's the haywagon.'" Describe why reminiscing in a natural tone of voice would not work on stage (even if you were using a microphone.)
Class 10: Building a Vocabulary of Actions
Write at least 1 paragraph (4 sentences or more) responding to 1
of the questions below. Then write at least 1 paragraph responding to
another student's response to 1 of the questions.
Questions from Chapter 10:
1. "The circumstances and the partner can play an important part in making the action strong." Draw from an experience on stage to explain what Stella Adler is saying.
2. "In an action you must know what you do, where you do it, when you do it, and why you do it. But you don't know how you do it. The how is spontaneous and unexpected." Explain why this is the case.
3. "The action embraces a number of other actions -- getting across the border, deciphering the prescription, signaling form help -- but escaping is what you are doing most. What you do most is your action." Describe how your end goal in a play motivated your other actions throughout the play.
4. "One of my students got so caught up in his attempts to capture the attention of the circling helicopter that he ignored my stage signals. No matter how I tried to get his attention he kept jumping and waving, stopping the drama and spoiling the progression. An actor must correct himself as he goes along and not let emotion distort or interfere with the action." Describe a time when you let your emotion distort of interfere with the action.
Questions from Chapter 10:
1. "The circumstances and the partner can play an important part in making the action strong." Draw from an experience on stage to explain what Stella Adler is saying.
2. "In an action you must know what you do, where you do it, when you do it, and why you do it. But you don't know how you do it. The how is spontaneous and unexpected." Explain why this is the case.
3. "The action embraces a number of other actions -- getting across the border, deciphering the prescription, signaling form help -- but escaping is what you are doing most. What you do most is your action." Describe how your end goal in a play motivated your other actions throughout the play.
4. "One of my students got so caught up in his attempts to capture the attention of the circling helicopter that he ignored my stage signals. No matter how I tried to get his attention he kept jumping and waving, stopping the drama and spoiling the progression. An actor must correct himself as he goes along and not let emotion distort or interfere with the action." Describe a time when you let your emotion distort of interfere with the action.
Class 9: Making Actions Doable
Write at least 1 paragraph (4 sentences or more) responding to 1
of the questions below. Then write at least 1 paragraph responding to
another student's response to 1 of the questions.
Questions from Chapter 9:
1. "Everything is based on actions. An actor develops a character from the things he does. That's why the actor must understand actions." Using your experience onstage as an example, explain what Stella Adler means.
2. "There are strong and weak actions. To be strong, an action needs an end, an objective. . . 'I'd like to go somewhere' is weak. 'I'd like to take a walk in the park' is strong.'" Drawing from your experience on the stage explain why the second statement is a stronger action statement than the first.
3. "To reminisce is to soliloquize, to recall the past and bring it back to life. It's different from remembering, which is automatic and associated with daily life. You remember your telephone number and your grocery store list. You remember to answer a letter. In reminiscence, a man brings back what he loves." Give an example between remembering and to reminisce.
4. "Before starting the reminiscence, walk around the stage. But don't walk anywhere without going somewhere. Don't begin without a starting image, say of an object on the stage, from the couch or the table." Finish reading the rest of the paragraph. Explain the benefit of using Stella Adler's blocking tips if you were to perform a scene where you reminisce.
5. "The objects you choose can help or hinder you. A radio, for example, something mechanical, is a mistake. Instead, turn to nature. A radio leaves you stone cold inside." Describe at least one situation where a property helped or hindered your performance.
6. "Bringing that poetic quality into it, you reminisce about your high school graduation. 'There it was that day! There was -- an auditorium!' You don't try to make it natural. So you don't try to bring it back to a natural tone of voice. 'Was there a graduation? Was there? There's the apple tree. There's the haywagon.'" Describe why reminiscing in a natural tone of voice would not work on stage (even if you were using a microphone.)
Questions from Chapter 9:
1. "Everything is based on actions. An actor develops a character from the things he does. That's why the actor must understand actions." Using your experience onstage as an example, explain what Stella Adler means.
2. "There are strong and weak actions. To be strong, an action needs an end, an objective. . . 'I'd like to go somewhere' is weak. 'I'd like to take a walk in the park' is strong.'" Drawing from your experience on the stage explain why the second statement is a stronger action statement than the first.
3. "To reminisce is to soliloquize, to recall the past and bring it back to life. It's different from remembering, which is automatic and associated with daily life. You remember your telephone number and your grocery store list. You remember to answer a letter. In reminiscence, a man brings back what he loves." Give an example between remembering and to reminisce.
4. "Before starting the reminiscence, walk around the stage. But don't walk anywhere without going somewhere. Don't begin without a starting image, say of an object on the stage, from the couch or the table." Finish reading the rest of the paragraph. Explain the benefit of using Stella Adler's blocking tips if you were to perform a scene where you reminisce.
5. "The objects you choose can help or hinder you. A radio, for example, something mechanical, is a mistake. Instead, turn to nature. A radio leaves you stone cold inside." Describe at least one situation where a property helped or hindered your performance.
6. "Bringing that poetic quality into it, you reminisce about your high school graduation. 'There it was that day! There was -- an auditorium!' You don't try to make it natural. So you don't try to bring it back to a natural tone of voice. 'Was there a graduation? Was there? There's the apple tree. There's the haywagon.'" Describe why reminiscing in a natural tone of voice would not work on stage (even if you were using a microphone.)
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