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Click here to view the Technique and Scene Study Blog. If you subscribe to the Newsletter, it will show up in your mailbox approximately every 6 weeks, with articles on acting technique, profiles of artists, and interesting items on theater and the arts. Read the sample articles below, or check out the Newsletter Archive.
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MIND THE GAP: How to avoid preconceptions, and bring truth, freshness and spontaneity to your work.
Austin Pendleton, the wonderful actor, director, author, and teacher at New York’s HB Studio, was directing a reading of a new play. On a break during rehearsal, one of the other actors approached me with a question. “Do you know what this means?” she asked, pointing to one of her lines. “I’m not sure I understand what I’m talking about here.” “I’m sorry,” I said, so that Austin would hear me, “but I studied with Austin, and he taught me never to read the other actors’ lines before doing a reading, only to read my own. That way I can be surprised by what the other characters are saying.” Austin piped up. “I’ve improved upon that technique since you were in my class, Matthew. Now I don’t even read my own lines before a reading. That way I can be surprised by what I’m saying.” Of course, we were both kidding. But the joke springs from an idea . . . read more . . .
Austin Pendleton, the wonderful actor, director, author, and teacher at New York’s HB Studio, was directing a reading of a new play. On a break during rehearsal, one of the other actors approached me with a question. “Do you know what this means?” she asked, pointing to one of her lines. “I’m not sure I understand what I’m talking about here.” “I’m sorry,” I said, so that Austin would hear me, “but I studied with Austin, and he taught me never to read the other actors’ lines before doing a reading, only to read my own. That way I can be surprised by what the other characters are saying.” Austin piped up. “I’ve improved upon that technique since you were in my class, Matthew. Now I don’t even read my own lines before a reading. That way I can be surprised by what I’m saying.” Of course, we were both kidding. But the joke springs from an idea . . . read more . . .
COFFEE GROUNDS, KALEIDOSCOPES, AND CHARACTER: How the past is used to shape character, both our own, and the ones we play. Six women are sitting on a bench at a playground. They are watching a three-year-old boy high up on the jungle gym, his balance precarious, his little hands tiring, his grip tenuous. He slips a little, catches himself, and pauses, looking back at his mother. He tries to read her face for an indication as to what he should do. Each of the women on the bench feels a different emotion as they look at the child. The first woman remembers a time . . . read more . . . | ACTING VERBATIM: Say the words, say all the words, say only the words. One day in a beginning scene study class, two young actors were working on Act II, Scene 7 from Angels In America: Louis and Joe sit on a park bench in front of the Hall of Justice, eating hot dogs. It's a wonderful scene, one which I often assign, and in the middle of the scene Joe has what might be termed a short monologue, interrupted only by an interjection from Louis. (In actuality I don't believe there is any such thing as a "monologue," but that is a subject for another day.) When the scene was over . . . read more . . . |
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