QUIZLETS

• https://quizlet.com/516631582/rutgers-theater-appreciation-midterm-flash-cards/

• https://quizlet.com/397959351/rutgers-theater-appreciation-professor-bender-midterm-1-flash-cards/

PROFESSOR NOTES

• The midterm covers my lectures starting with “Why Theater?” all the way through “The Craft of Acting parts 1 & 2” as well as Billa Bowers’ guest lecture video.

• The 2 playwrights you should focus on the most are

• August Wilson

  • William Shakespeare

    • You should be familiar with the other playwright’s names, but your primary focus should be on Wilson and Shakespeare.

• I recommend watching Bill Bowers lecture video again before the midterm, just as a refresher.

• Here is the breakdown for the number of questions per lecture:

• Why Theater? 3

• How to see a play 3

• Theater Spaces and Contracts  8

• The Playwright 7

• The Director 4

• The Craft of Acting 10

• Bill Bowers 5

__________________________________________________________________________________________________Bill Bowers’ guest lecture-Mime

• Mime is a type of action that uses your body to create a character without words

• Silent storytelling

• Bill Bowers is a mime from montana he is shy, gay and doesn’t like to talk much

• His idol is Charlie Chaplin, a famous mime/ person that don’t talk in show

• Bill Bowers and Charlie Chaplin have the same birthday

• Plays his show that is called the silver dollar saloon

• He likes it because it is collaborative

• Apparently some got paid more the more people laughed

  • Predolino is a character has white face

• Perio the white face servant represents the masses as it kind of represents regular people

• Art form of mimes is from paris as that was the place that has people to study miming

• The movement is a click means you are touching something

• Space between your hands= fixed space

• Marcel Marceau is a famous mime

• A type of acting that involves taking away words to use your body to create character and to also put a mirror up to the word

• Mime comes from the word Mimos (greek word)

• Uses your body to create imaginary objects, settings, and environment

CLASS NOTES

Why Theater?

• People go the theater for many reasons

• The theater has immediacy, relevance, and engagement.

• The theater is social. It’s a good place to be a part of a great event.

• Theater pleases the senses through

• The spectacle of its visual display such as:

• Scenery

• Costumes

• Lighting

• The Sensation of sound:

• Language

• Music

• Special Effects

• Engages the imagination with its stories and characters

• Offers experiences we don’t have

• Exotic yet familiar

• Good vs Evil

• Funny and Sad

• Theater appeals intellectually by engaging audiences with relevant issues

• TheatER or TheatRE

• No difference can be used interchangeably

• Some consider the craft to be theatRE and the actual space to be theatER

• Both Versions are used around their world

• Theater=Actors+Audience+Space

• Without an Audience it would be a rehearsal;

• Without Space, it would be a radio performance

• Without Actors, it would be a group of people in a room

• The theater is an action, not just a location that can happen anywhere

• The theater is a performance and an art

• Theater as a performance

• Performance: an activity where some people do something while other people watch

• Happens in everyday life

• Job Interview

• Students and Teachers

• The theater is not confined to just the arts

• Religion

• Religious services and weddings

• The predetermined sequence of events

• The predetermined sequence of words

• Certain types of “costumes” are worn

• Sports

• The predetermined sequence of events

• Audience watches

• Time constraints to be observed

• “Costumes” are worn

• Politics

• Politicians speak from a stage

• An audience watches and listens

• Dressing up to create an image of the politician. In essence, a costume

• Shared traits of performances

• People that do something (performers, actors)

• Something is done (a speech, ritual, or play)

• Watchers (spectators, audiences)

• Performance space (Stadium, Church, Theater)

• Time (beginning and ending)

• Theater is immediate and ephemeral

• Theater is live, now

• Theater is also fleeting

• You will never see the same performance twice

• Differences among performances

• Purpose

• Church services so that people can worship

• Sports so that someone can win

• Politics to inform or rally a group of people

• Differences among performances

• Relationships between audience and performers

• Sports fans or spectators interact with each other

• They also indirectly interact with players by screaming and cheering

• These could also happen in a campaign rally, but probably not in a play or some church services

• Organizing principles

• Church services follow a schedule determined by custom, symbolism and doctrine

• Sporting events determined by schedule, record, playoffs

• Political events determined by voting schedules, important dates, unexpected national issues

• Theater as Art

• Many different kinds of art

• Poetry

• Painting Sculpture

• Music

• Dance

• Theater

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• Shared traits of arts

• Art is artificial- an artist makes art, it doesn’t just happen

• Art stands alone- does not need a practical purpose in life

• Art is self-aware- artists know in a general way they’re trying to do something

• Art produces a kind of response an aesthetic response, an appreciation of beauty that goes beyond merely intellectual or entertainment

• Differences between arts

• Relationship with time and space

• Sculptures, Paintings, Architecture

• Exists in space

• You walk around it, look at it from different side and angles

• Music, Theater, Books

• Takes time to move from start to finish

• Differences between arts

• Audience

• Solitary- sculpture, paintings, books

• Groups- operas, dance, theater

• Theater has actors

• A person who impersonates someone other than themselves

• They also perform live in front of a live audience

• Theater is immediate and ephemeral

• Theater is here and now and will never be repeated exactly the same way

• Theater uses a performance space

• Usually has artificial settings

• Unlike film where the camera can take you around the world

• Can’t do car chases!

• Theater moves at its own pace through time

• No rewind or fast forward like a movie or TV show

• Can’t set it aside and pick it up later like a book or downloaded movie

• Theater is lifelike, but it is not life

• Theater is artificial - it is created by artists

• Can be used as metaphors

• “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players”- Shakespeare

• This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel” - Horace Walpole

How to see a Play?

• Arrive 30 minutes before start of show and don’t forget tickets

• Theater is a social event, so dress accordingly

• If it is a opening night performance, some require that you wear a grin or tuxedo

• Turn off cell phone and have common sense

• There is an unwritten agreement between actors and audience

• You can respond or react lower you feel like

1. Laughing a characters who are crying or a nervous laugh

2. Clapping when a character you like stands up for themselves

• You can respond or react however you feel like

• Silence

• Curtain Call

1. Applause

2. Standing ovation if warranted

• Preliminary work

• The play or musical itself

1. Take a little time to familiarize yourself with the play, by either reading it or reading reviews and articles about it

2. Have a general idea of what you are about to see

3. Don’t assume you know what the play’s about from the title

• The program or playbill you receive when you go to your seat

1. Look for “Director’s Notes”

2. Look for indications of time and place that the play will take place within

3. Get familiar with the character names and sometimes their relationship with each other

4. Find out if there’s an intermission

• The physical surroundings within the theater

1. Setting the mood of the show

2. The theater itself might be ornately designed

3. The set, if visible, can give a sense of time, place and social class

4. Lighting may establish mood

5. Sound/Music- Bach says something different than country music

6. Actors doing things on stage or in audience before start of show

• Taking it in

• The visual aural spectacle

1. Lighting

2. Sound/Music

3. Costumes

4. Acting

• Language of the play

1. Shakespeare?

2. David Mamet?

3. Are the actors speaking in a dialect?

• Characters

1. Who do you identify with the most?

2. Who do you identify with the least?

• Plot

1. Does it keep you engaged?

2. Is it plausible or absurd?

3. Reactions of the audience?

• Performance Analysis

• Explaining why you “liked it” or why you were “bored”

• Watching while participating

• Participating in the performance

1. Engaging in the action

2. Empathizing with the characters

• Watching while participating

• Watching the performance

1. “Standing back” to observe how effects are achieved

• Story and Character

1. How are they intertwined?

2. Do you identify with the story?

3. Do you identify with any of the characters?

• Idea-specific choices made by the actors and designers

1. An actor’s appearance

2. A looming set piece or stark set design

• Understanding Specific Performance

• Given Circumstances- Everything that delineates or defines the special world of the play

• There are 3 kinds of Given Circumstances

1. Previous Action-Any action mentioned in the play’s dialogue that reveals any incident or action that took place BEFORE the current action of the play. This is also known as EXPOSITION

2. Environmental Facts- 6 types

3. Geographical Location- where the play takes place

4. Time- Date, year, season, time of day

5. Economical Environment- The character’s relationship the death or poverty and their class in the play’s society

6. Social Environment- The character’s moral values and social beliefs

7. Political Environment- The character’s relationship with the government they live under

8. Religious Environment- Religious beliefs, if any

• Conventions vs Common Sense

• An agreement between artist and audience to do things in a certain way for the good of all

• Ex: Time can pass between acts of a play and the scenic design can change.

• An agreement between artist and audience to do things a certain way for the good of all

• Ex: Musicals- actors sing their emotions

• Style

• Abstraction how weird is the production

• Ex: Set Design, Costume Design and Lighting and Sound Design

Types of Theater Spaces

• Proscenium Stage

• Identified by having a “proscenium arch”

• The action of the play fits within a frame

• Rigging system behind arch and possibly trap flooring

• Wings

• Most have an area that extends a few feet in front of arch

• Audience areas

• Orchestra seats

• Balconies

• Sightlines can sometimes be bad

• Thrust Stage

• Audience on 3 sides of stage

• No arch

• Actors can enter from the aisles

• Actors can enter from the vomitories (or voms) that come from beneath the audience

• Relies on acting, costumes, props rather than elaborate sets

• Proscenium thrust stage

• Defined arch but with a larger amount of stage space extending into the audience

• Arena Stages

• Stage is surrounded on all sides by the audience

• Also called “Theater in the Round”

• Actors bring on props and set pieces

• Entrances are through audience

• Scene changes are done either in blackout or in full view of the audience

• Can sometimes have trap floor

• Environmental Stage

• Theater done in or at specific (usually outdoor) spaces

• No traditional stage

• No arch

• The audience can be anywhere and can sometimes physically move with the actors from scene to scene

• New York Classical Theater

• A production can take over an entire building

• Sleep No More

• A play can take place in a car

• Alley Stage

• Audience on opposite sides of the stage

• Actors perform between them

• Booth Stage

• Temporary stage

• Erected curtain

• Perform in front of curtain

• Popular with educational tours

Types of Theater Venues

• Broadway

  • Highest level of American Theater

  • Falls under a production contract negotiated by The Broadway League

• Defined by how many seats it has -500 +

• There are about 40 Broadway theaters

• Only theaters eligible for Tony Awards (except for the Regional Theater award)

• Is professional theater at its best

• Distinguished stars

• Elaborate sets and costumes

• Sophisticated musicals and plays

• Expensive!

• Cost a lot to produce - salaries and material costs

• Ticket prices

• Lion King tickets start around $130

• Hamilton tickets start at around $400

• TKTS

• Half-priced tickets for Broadway shows on the day of the performance

• Producers use this to fill seats for performances that are not sold out

• Only found in NYC

• Broadway Tours

• Seldom use original starts

• Helps recoup losses from broadway flops

• Brings broadway to people that might not ever see it

• Off broadway

• Originally named so because of the actual theater’s location, on a street just off of Broadway

• Falls under an Off Broadway contract negotiated by the Off Broadway League

• Now defined by number of seats - 100 to 499

• Some shows “transfer” to Broadway

• Rent - New York Theater Workshop 1993 &1996

• Avenue Q - Vineyard Theater 2003

• Hamilton - The Public Theater 2015

• Serves as a showcase for new talent

• Off-off broadway

• Started in late 1950s as a place for experimental, anti-commercial theater

• Defined by 99 seats or less

• Performed in various spaces

• Coffee houses

• Cellars

• Churches, etc.

• Often socially, politically, or artistically alien to current American values

• Natasha, pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 started at the Off-Off broadway theater arts Nova

• Regional Theaters

• Usually not for profit

• Can be more adventurous with

• Play selection

• Production style

• Personnel decisions

• 5 major benefits that regional theaters offer:

• Provide a place where new and classic plays can coexist

• Developing new audiences for live theater

• Training ground for theater artists

• Help to stretch an actor’s craft

• Provide more jobs

• Can fall under different kinds of contracts

• LORT - League of Resident Theaters

• A consortium of 70+ non-profit regional theaters

• 5 categories: A+, A, B, C , D based on weekly box office gross which dictate salaries and ratio of Equity an dNon-Equity actors

• SPT- Small Professional Theater

• Commercial or non-profit theaters smaller than 350 seats outside NY or Chicago

• 10 salary categories, or tiers, determined by number of performances and max weekly hours set for rehearsals

• LOA- Letter of Agreement

• Individually negotiated

• Often reference other contracts such as LORT D

• Dinner Theater

• Broadway shows from past seasons

• Quality varies

• Less of these theaters than in 1970s

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• Simplified sets and costumes

• Entertain rather than instruct

• Amateur Theater

• Educational Theater

• Rutgers Mason Gross is an Example

• First theater degree in 1914 at carnegie Institute of Technology

• After WWII, more colleges created theater undergrad and graduate degrees

• Undergrad programs tend to be Liberal Arts programs or conservatory programs

• Graduate programs tend to parallel regional theaters in function

• More than 2,000 programs in the U.S.

• Whole range of plays offered

• Sometimes have Guest Artist contracts

• No more than 2 per production

• 3 tiers based on number of performances

• Community Theater

• Found throughout the country

• In towns where there’s no professional or educational theater, they introduce new audiences to live theater

• Very little pay, if at all

• Rely on volunteers

• A mix of amateur and professional actors and designers

• Sometimes have guest artist contracts

• No more than 2 per production

• 3 tiers based on number of performances

• Children’s Theater

• Created to produce plays geared toward young audiences to instill a love of theater

• Can vary in content

• Creative retellings of fairy tales, myths, and legends

• Plays that discuss social issues like

• Drugs

• Divorce

• Sexual abuse

• Bubbalonian Encounter

• Blackbox theater

• Versatile: can place any type of stage within it

• The audience can be place anywhere

• Painted all black so that focus is on the performance

• Often used in schools for classrooms as well as performance spaces

• Most theater studios and college theater departments have one or more

• Rutgers’ Levin Theater is a blackbox theater

• Examples

• Thrust

• Arena

• Proscenium stage

• Angeled thrust

• A Play from start to finish

• Playwright - writes the play

• Producer - willing to produce the play

• Director - hired by Producer to direct the play

• Designers - chosen by Director, approved by Producer

• Actors - auditions are held and play is cast by Director

• Designers - begin building sets and costumes

• Rehearsals begin

• Tech  rehearsals begin

• Preview performances begin

• Opening night

• Closing night and strike

The Director

• The director came into being in the late 19th century

• Directors are considered the dominant figure in a theatrical production

• The Nature of Directing

• When the director came into being, they took over the tasks normally done by several people

• The director unifies and binds all elements of a production together into a cohesive whole, in interpretation and presentation

• Interpretation- the actors and designers all understand the play in the same way

• Presentation- All the elements that the audience will see and hear

• Text

• Actors

• Scenery

• Props

• Costumes

• Lighting

• Sound

• Director’s Control

• The degree of control the director has over a production depends on the situation

• Broadway Production

• Overall artistic vision may rest with the producer rather than the director

• Routine details of rehearsal and performance would fall to the stage manager

• The degree of control the director has over a production depends on the situation

• HighSchool Production could mean that most tasks fall to the director and possible supervise and execute, almost every aspect of a production

• A director needs to have many abilities

• They need to make decisions and be a problem solver

• Need sensitive interpersonal skills

• Must have stamina and concentration

• 2 Extreme approaches to the test

• The Worshipful Director

• Believes nothing should stand in the way of the script as written

• Will often stage a production:

• Without cuts to the script

• Male roles played by males

• No attention to diversity in casting

• The giveen circumstances will be meticulously followed

• Sets

• Costumes

• Props

• Plays under copyright

• Licenses for plays have a clause that productions present the play “as written”

• Roles must be cast in the gender the playwright intended

• The Heretical Director

• Director-centered

• Director is equal to the playwright

• Believes the author’s script is only the starting point

• 2 possible results

• May lead to innovative and exiting productions

• People may find production offensive or meaningless

• Bowdlerizing: Censorship and/or removal of material from a text that is considered vulgar, improper or offensive like Sexual Content, Curising, Racism, Religion or politics

• The Director at Work

• 7 Steps that all directors follow, but may not all follow in the same order

• Selecting the play

• Community and educational theaters often have directors pick the play

• Directors might find themselves matched to a play by a commercial producer

• Directors can study the script before accepting the position

• Interpreting the play

• Determining potentials and challenges

• As the director begins to read the script, they might have both positive and negative thoughts

• Two lists could be made

• Potentials (strengths)

• Challenges (weaknesses)

• The director will ask many questions white analyzing the text

• What’s the tone, mood or key of the play?

• Funny or serious? - tone

• Cheerful or sad? - mood

• Light or heavy? - key

• What are the 6 parts of the play?

• Plot- the order of incidents in the play

• Character- how do they fit into the plot?

• Idea - the meaning of the play

• Language - ie. Shakespeare vs. a contemporary play

• Music - rhythms in non-musical language or the music in  musicals

• Spectacle- design aspects

• Creating the Production

• Finding a springboard

• A taking off point for a creative leap

• A combination of concept and image

• Working with designers

• Meetings between directors and designers can happen months in advance

• Once a director establishes interpretation designers bein translating that interpretation

• Developing a Ground Plan

• A map of the playing area

• Director sets down what they need

• Number and location

• Entrances and exits

• Seating elements

• Objects

• Visibility

• Special requirements of the script

• For a variety, the director may specify

• Differences in levels

• Separate playing areas

• Seating Areas

• Casting and Coaching Actors

• Producer or director puts out of casting notice

• Casting

• Finding the right person for the role

• Balancing act between real and ideal

• Casting is 80% of the play’s interpretation

• Coaching

• In rehearsal, the director advises, Inspires and encourages the actor

• Directors involve themselves closely with the actor’s creation of role

• Staging the Production

• The process of putting the play on its feet blocking

• Creating pictures onstage

• Creating rhythms pace and timing

• Creating focus points for the audiences to see important aspects of the play

• Planning, Coordinating and Rehearsing and Polishing

• Director goes through same rehearsal process as actors do, from first rehearsal to opening night

• Director coordinates between designers, producers and actors

• Training the director

• No one path leads to directors

• Many started as

• Actors, Choreographers, stage managers, designers

• Others went to college for directing and many professional directors are part of the stage directors and choreographers society, a national union

The Playwright Part 1

• Why not “Playwrite”

• “Wright” means “Maker” like Wheelwrights make wheels

• Playwriting

• Playwrights create copies of human life by creating a “language” for characters

• Creates a dialogue for characters to say to each other that: Forwards the plot, Reveals Character, Express Ideas

• Playwrights must write words that are: More active, intense, selective than everyday speech and novelist words

• Imitate life on how humans might react in life

• Through playwright we give characters dialogue

• Helps express Ideas

• Playwrights are more

• Active and intense

• It has to be more because it has to be acted out in the stage

• Actors bring the words to life

• Where do playwrights get their ideas?

• Ideas can come from anything

• Conversations

• Current events

• New Headlines

• Injustice

• How long does it take to write a play?

• 7 days - 7 yrs, Depends on the playwright

• There is 24 hr play festivals that happen every so often

• Playwrights work in various ways

• Some playwrights work alone and some collaborate with theatrical colleagues

• For musicals:

• book-writers: write for musicals

• librettists: write the words for the music

• Playwrights can work in teams

• Some playwrights are solo and do it all

• Where do playwrights come from?

• Most work within the “theatrical world”

• Some could have been actors or were previously

• Perhaps they write for his/her own theater troupe

• some come from outside the theater world - “newcomers”

• have the gift of ignorance and might not follow the traditional:

• form

• style

• length

• subject matter

• some come from the theater world - “insider”

• social insiders write about specific topics

• examples:

• African American playwrights that write about social issues that pertain to the Black community

• LGBTQ playwrights that write about issues within their community

• feminist playwrights that write about women’s rights

• The career of the playwright can have its ups and down. It is not easy

• Review the peoples: The Playwright Part 1.pptx

The Busy Body

• The busy body by Susanna Centlivre in 1709

• The busy body is directed by Kathrine Wilkinson

• Restoration Comedy

• English comedy during the “Restoration” period between 1660-1710

• Also known as “Comedy of Manners”. Which it made fun of the fashion, manners, and views on life in the society of the time

• In the 1660, theaters were reopened by King Charles II after 18 years under a Puritian government

• Important theatrical milestones for women during the Restoration Era

• The first professional actress: Margaret Hughes

• The first professional female playwright:: Aphta Behn

• King Charles II loved the theater, especially the more racy shows. He had a mistress who was an actress by the name of Nell Gwynn

The Actor and the craft of acting

• The Actor

• Without them, there is no theater

• An empty building

• Directors Cannot design

• Playwrights have no one to write for

• They are also good performers

• Not all performers are good actors

• Circus performers high-wire acts require good performers, but do not require good actors

• Musicals require both, the ability to “sell” a song requires both high level performers and actors

• Performers play to the audience

• Actors portray characters for the audience

• Seasoned accomplished actors respect the etiquette of the acting profession

• Prompt

• Prepared

• Constructive, not destructive

• Respectful

• Aware

• A Paradox: Being and Pretending

• Being the character or pretending to be the character

• The actor both is and pretends to be the character

• Successful acting is making the audience believe that the falseness on stage is true

• The Paradox: To be convincing, an actor must lie

• 2 Approaches to Acting: Inspiration and Technique

• An “Inspirational” Actor

• Use mental and emotional techniques to reach their “center”

• Often use past personal experiences to inform characters

• Which then turns into onstage movement and vocalization

• The theory is that it’s more “natural”

• A “Technical” Actor

• Builds a character out of careful and conscious use of body and voice

• Rehearses inflections or carefully chooses specific poses and hand gestures

• Can sometimes be thought of as “full of tricks” with no life or imagination in their work

• The Actor and the Character

• The character

• In a play

• The character is defined on the basis of its function within the play

• NOT on the basis of how well it imitates a human being

• Characters don’t always fit into or affect the plot

• Restaurant scene in a book

• Restaurant scene in a play

• The actor is a person, the characters is a construct

• Actor Training

• Formal training at colleges of private studios have taken the place of the “standard” way

• Most colleges, university and private studios use various actor-training systems

• No one system is the best for everybody, but almost always involves

• Analyzing the script

• Training the actor’s instrument- Body and Voice

• Training the actor’s imagination

• Analyzing the Script

• The script is the foundation of the actor’s work

• Script analysis- 3 main goals

• Understand the entire play

• Understand the place of the character in the whole play

• Understand the details that comprise the character

• Understanding the entire drama

• The first reading judgments and impressions are made

• Awareness of the play’s totality takes shape

• The style of the play

• The details of the character in the play

• More character details can be found from the repeated readings of the play

• Character traits can be found in:

• Stage Directions

• Character’s own speeches

• Speeches of other characters

• Script analysis should help the actor to avoid moral value judgements

• To the actor, characters are not “good” or “bad”

• Actors do not “play” a villain

• Script analysis trains the actor to understand what’s on the page, not what they wish was on the page

• Training the “Instrument” would be the body and the voice

• The actor’s body

• The goal of the actor’s body:

• Resistance to fatigue

• Quick responsiveness

• Adaptive ability

• Neutral Mask Work

• “Neutral” masks are used so that the character or image is expressed through the body

• The actor is not able to use facial expressions to convey emotion

• It must all be expressed through the body

• Body Language and Nonverbal Communication

• Using your body to express ideas and emotions without words

• Simple gestures - hand waving

• Complex statements - postures that convery statement something different than the words said

• Practical applications

• Rhythmic movements- Dancing

• Period movement and the use of props

• Using hand fans

• Canes

• Swords- stage combat

• The Actor’s Voice

• The actor must learn to control the muscles involved in speaking, including the resonance chamber or chest

• The actor must learn how to project their voice

• Unlearning and relearning is often necessary for most beginning actors

• Actor’s train to maximize control over every word and sound their voice makes

• This can be achieved through

• Breath control exercises

• Vocal relaxation

• Articulation exercises

• Dialect work

• Training the actor’s Imagination

• Actors are encouraged to discover their imaginations

• Actors are encouraged to play by:

• Playing games

• Many of the games are variations of children’s games

• Creative Exercises

• Teachers use exercises to free actors from embarrassment and inhibition

• Imagine exercises

• Teaches the actor to grasp the mental pictures the brain offers

• Using a memory to create a character

• Creating simple characters around objects

• The actor is verbally given an object

• The actor is told to create a character related to that object

• Improvisation exercises

• Creating characters, scenes or plays without the givens of traditional drama can help:

• Create theater without a playwright

• Enlighten an actor about a character

• The group theater

• Founders:

• Lee Strasberg

• Harold Clurman

• Cheryl Crawford

• The group theater was a collection of theater artists formed in 1931 to create a natural and disciplined form of theater

• What they began became an “American Acting Technique” based on the teachings of Konstantin Stanislavski.

• Konstantin Stanislavski

• A Russian actor and director known for his system of actors training, preparation and rehearsal technique

• The American Stanislavski System

• The actor is trained to analyze character to discover:

• Given Circumstances

• Motivation

• To play a character, an actor must look for motivation behind each action

• In this system, all behavior is motivated

• Objective

• What is the goal of the character?

• What is the goal of the scene?

• Super Objective

• What all the objectives of the character are for the entire play

• The “Through-line” of the chracter.

• Method Acting

• Actor training system created by members of the Group theater

• Lee Strasberg is considered the “Father of Methods

• The process of connecting to a character by suing personal emotions and memories, or “affective memory,” to portray the role

• Actors imagine themselves with thoughts and emotions of the character to give a life-like performance

• Actors that use this technique

• Meisner Technique

• Created by Sanford Meisner, a member of the Group Theater

• Taught here at Rutgers

• Does away with “affectie memory’ and puts the emphasis on “the reality of doing”

• Strives to “get the actor out of their head” and react more to their surroundings

• The actors “live truthfully under the given imaginary circumstances:

• Gets the actor to live truthfully in the moment

• James Franco, Chadwick Boseman