chapter 3

Question 1

thespis

Answer 1

• The first actor in greece
• “Thespian” means actor
• Acting is pretending, dressing up, deeply rooted in child’s play

Question 2

two notions

Answer 2

1. presentational

2. representational

Question 3

presentational

Answer 3

• Originates externally technique drive

- Diderot 1773: a great actor must be unmove & a disinterested onlooker

Question 4

representational

Answer 4

• Originates internally
• Stanislavsky “The Method”, Strasberg, The group theatre
• Actors work to live the the life of the character in stage
• Both of these notions of acting when integrated are vital to great acting

Question 5

Horace

Answer 5

• Roman poet

- “In order to move the audience, you must be moved yourself .”

Question 6

Outside in

Answer 6

• “External”

- Richard III limps

Question 7

inside out

Answer 7

-“External”
-The actors feel their role emotions not simply imitating the feeling artificially
Brain Dennehey while doing “death of a salesman” on Broadway was hospitalized for symptoms of a heart attack

Question 8

Konstantin Stanislavsky

Answer 8

• The father of modern acting theory
• Founder of the Moscow Art Theatre
• “The system”
• Representational mode of acting
• You must live the life of the character on stage

Question 9

The group theatre

Answer 9

NYC 1930s 
Harold Clurman 
Stella Adler 
Lee Strasberg
--Founded the actor’s studio 
--Technique based on a variation of the stanislavsky

Question 10

The Method

Answer 10

An American acting style derived from the Russian Actor/ Director Konstantin Stanislavsky’s self-proclaimed system

Question 11

Meisner Technique

Answer 11

• Sanford Meisner
• Neighborhood Playhouse, 1950’s-1990s
• NYC

Question 12

developing the actor’s instrument

Answer 12

• The “self”

- Actor’s training programs

Question 13

Physical instrument

Answer 13

The body

The voice
–Breathing, phonation, resonance, projection

Speech
–Articulation, diction, pronunciation, phrasing vocal warm-ups

Movement
–Dancing, mime, fencing, acrobatics, agility, neutralness

Question 14

Psychological Instrument

Answer 14

• The imagine
• Theatre games
• Real enough to himself that it conveys that reality to the audience (endow the environment)
• Imagine herself in a situation created by the play
• Creative force: Characterization: Actor + action = character (no two romeo’s are alike)
• Discipline
• -Keep the actor within established bounds
• -Rigorous work habits, physically demanding life
• Observation
• Analysis: the given circumstances

Question 15

what the character wants

Answer 15

• The character’s objective, intention, task or goal
• What the character wants, or wants to achieve, or that which pulls him towards his goal
• Stanislavsky called this the “Zadacha”

Question 16

Tactics

Answer 16

How the character gets what he/she wants

Question 17

the actor’s routine

Answer 17

Auditions

• Cattle call
• Callback
• Casting agent
• Contrasting pieces (monologues)
• Cold readings from a script

Rejection

• AEA website audition notices
• www.actorsequity.org

Rehearsals

• 3-6 weeks
• 8 hours/ day
• Summerstock
• Tech rehearsals
• Dress rehearsals
• Costume parade

Performance
-Final element added in: The audience
Stage manger takes over the running of the show

Question 18

Actor’s Unions

Answer 18

• AEA: Actor’s Equity (stage)
• SAG/ AFTRA: Screen Actor’s Guild / American Federation of TV & film Actor’s Vocabulary
• Blocking: stage movements
• Stage business: directed stage actions that are precisely scripted physical behaviors worked out in blocking ; smaller movements
• Subtext: The character’s unspoken & undescribed goals

Question 19

The Final Acting ingredient

Answer 19

Magic: charisma, presence