What We Do In Class - We are learning to work continually in the mode of discovery. Learn by doing. Learn more by doing more. Memorized Work Scene study is the heart of the class. Work as often as you are ready. The purpose of scene and monologue work is to become at ease in your acting. Ease takes rigorous work. Be seated the piece. Know it by heart. Don’t cheat yourself in the rehearsal process: not in your own work or rehearsal with a partner. When in deep water, become a diver: - Use the class docs: Basic Script Prep & What Works.
- Make it personal. Find the specifics Get out a shovel & dig in your personal experience
- Know your lines by HEART - in your mind, body and spirit.
- Checklist for lift-off: INTENTION, ATTENTION & EASE (breathe)
- Make sure you're having fun (breathe- especially EXHALE)
- For the most part, you will choose your scenes & partners - though I certainly advise. Pick material you are passionate about. Tell me what you've chosen BEFORE you start work so I can understand what kind of growth you're looking for in performance.
- Scenes should be 3 - 5 minutes. Actual real world minutes - Less is more. If your scene more than fire minutes, there won't be time for a re-work/reprise.
- Your piece should be from the full text of a play or a film/ TV script so you're working with a story arc. Read the full text. Don't cheat your subconscious. Choose a complete part of the text without cutting and pasting a scene together. Don't chop up the writing. Serve the author's original intent.
- Be a warrior: have at least two scenes in the works at all times. Always be ready to work.
- Work with a scene that occurs early in the text the first time you work on a piece. We actors like the fireworks, but first find a character in their given circumstances as a foundation work for the high conflict.
- "Face time" with your partner is essential. Consult the Rehearsal Exercises class doc for some suggested ways to use your rehearsal time. Don't direct each other. Discover with each other.
- Discussions about how to arrange your set should happen in rehearsal or before class not in class
- The goal in scene work for class is exploration, not a finished performance. Don't let your considerations about "perfection" stop you. Since you don't have a director, you won't have a "directed" piece but you can have a true experience. In aiming for a final product, you may cheat yourself.
Bringing back material: There is enormous benefit in reprise. Over time, great writing sinks into you, into your psyche, into your body. Acting is experiential. Some dramatic literature is worth the work of years. I encourage you to find material that you want to revisit as, over time, you grow and expand as an artist. If it's a scene, include your first experience of doing it in class with additional face time with your partner. Forge all that into a trampoline for the repeat performance. Costume: Take your best stab. Choose items of clothing that affect how your carry your bod especially if it's a period piece. Choose costumes for how the clothes work on your physicality, as much as for your audience. Props: Work with what puts you in the scene. Best your partner, your best can be your props. When rehearsing physical scenes, be safe (only prop weapons). Your "casting" : When you hear suggestions for material to work on, make sure someone is writing it down for you. Email the list to me. Keep a running list to revisit and over time, choose what excites you.
Monologues - Find pieces that will make you shine in the marketplace - unless you're “stretching”.
- Two minutes or less (which is often more).
- Nothing self-authored (unless it's the 150 word exercise).
- Be ready: have two prepared to perform at any time - industry situations arise.
Audition Tech ' Be prepared or be prepared to leave' bulk up your audition muscles - sides on camera - You will receive sides via email at least 24 hours before the Audition tech class- as if I were your agent.
- Please respond asap so I can put you on the schedule and send your sides to a reader.
- Come dressed for the part.
- Bring a stapled copy of the original pdf for your reader & your SD card for home review.
- Don't "wing" it; do the work as if you were reading for a possible employer. As the inspired writer/producer Del Shores says : "Be prepared or be prepared to leave". Audition sides require as much dedicated analysis as scene work (without the benefit of scene partner rehearsal) Great discipline allows great freedom.
- Reformat your side using the Reformatting Your Side doc Rehearse with those reformatted pages - get the eye to the page rhythm in your body. Know the material well enough to keep your eyes up when listening, really deliver lines you want to land &nail the first and last moments.
- Make strong choices with a strong intention (choose a verb). Keep the stakes high. Be brave. Don't worry about what "they" want - serve the material with your insight and impulse.
- What just happened, what's the relationship and what do you want from them? Are you getting it?
- Attention, intention, ease.
- If I send you sides to prepare as a "casting director", just familiarize yourself with the material well enough to read at a good pace with some eye contact.
Email me with your reaction to what you see- what did you learn by watching yourself?
The Ice Cold Exercise
- The purpose of totally cold reads is to celebrate your instincts- to get comfortable with being out of your head and a little out of control- a little dangerous. You & a partner will be given sides you've never seen before to read moment to moment.
- Ice colds are given out, time allowing, after scheduled memorized work.
- I try to hold an evening of filmed ice colds on a regular basis.
“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Actual Audition Preparation "Be prepared or be prepared to leave" Del Shores, producer/writer Really, be smart: use the class to help you book the job.Your industry auditions are a priority on the schedule. You'll be first up. Fully prepare before class and then we'll work it so you're ready to do your best work. Email me the sides so I can do my homewor & send them to someone who you want to be your reader.
That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do. Not that the nature of the thing itself has changed, but that our power to do it is increased. Ralph Waldo Emerson Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. |
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