"More and more I will believe, like a child I must believe...stand up on your feet, put your worry down.  Every one of you, all around, let's take this town." 
 

Acting 101:

Misconception #1:

• Think of a situation that you have experienced to sum up an emotion.

• Active Example:
• Picture an animal you lost when you were a kid.  This could be a fish, cat, anything.

• Picture losing your Dad, when you are in the role of Jesus’ mother.  This seems find, but really, you are mourning for something completely different.

• Rely on the emotional memory, not the situational memory.

• Use the truths in the scene to stimulate this emotion

• Think about the feeling loneliness.  Think about what it would be like to miss something so bad that you no longer can feel love.

• Concentrate on that feeling

• We all have experienced the gamut of emotions necessary to make theatre real.  However, it is dishonest to use the experiences those emotions came from to sum up the emotion needed.  When an actor puts him/herself wholly into the scene – getting lost in the emotional recall, then whichever emotion proper for THIS truth will make its way out.

• Discussion

• Disc6uss all the emotions we can expect to encounter in “He Lives” or “ Devil or Angel”.

• Individual practice

• Go to a space in the room and concentrate on one emotion you have trouble acting.  Think about – not what brings on the emotion – but what it feels like when it comes.

• Partner Practice:

• Find a partner and read the scene through one line at a time.
• Discuss as a group what emotions first naturally emerged.  Was it the emotion of which you had just focused or a different one?
• Talk with our partner about the scene and the types of feelings going on.
• Read through the scene again, practice, and the present.

Misconception #2

• The more emotion, the better.

• Active examples:

• Read lines expressively and loudly.
• Discuss:  did the conflict and emotion pop?
• Read lines again, this time without trying to read in any profound manner.
• Discuss differences.

• Less is often more.  When the script is well-written and the plot engaging, the lines often speak for themselves.  This does not mean an actor should not add his/her own emotion to it.  We have a responsibility as actors to bring these lines to life.  However, if we think about the story and the lines, the emotion will come.  Don’t act, just do it.

• Tips:

• Research character

• Keep it new.  When you run the same show over and over, you need to prevent your reactions from getting stale.  Find different ways to react.  The emotion can be the same, but the emotional response may differ.  React honestly each time.

Musical Acting:
 

• Musical acting is a bit different.  Musicals have a reputation for being more “over-acted” or “cheesy” than regular plays.

• Discuss why:

• Once music enters the picture, there is an assumed sense that the scene is unrealistic.  We don’t usually burst into song in the middle of an argument or while deep in thought.

• How do we cope with this?

• We are allowed to exaggerate a bit.  We have to.  We have already accepted that we are playing with surrealism, why not go with it?

• We follow all the same rules of regular acting.  The tendency is to further exaggerate (cheese factor) because the music makes us feel like it’s already at that level.  Don’t.  When you are not singing, don’ act like you are (facial expressions, volume of voice, etc.).

• Usually musicals have larger casts.  This means actors actions often need to be bigger to gain attention.  Do this as much as needed.