BioMethod * fundamentals of acting *
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![]() Three Levels: THR121 Fundamentals of Acting THR221 Intermediate Acting: Biomechanics THR321 Advanced: Method ![]() GeoAlaska: Theatre & Film Forums: Realism & Method, Comedy & Biomechnics Spring 2002: Dangerous Liaisons, Spring 2003: Don Juan
We do not offer Advanced Acting II and Advanced Directing (replaced with the senior thesis); contact your advisor. ![]() theatre books : days 'til the year 2007! Work! ![]() ![]() Method for Directors? ![]() ShowCases: 3 Sisters, Mikado, 12th Night, Hamlet, The Importance of Being Earnest, Dangerous Liaisons, Don Juan prof. Anatoly Antohin Theatre UAF AK 99775 USA Also, the issue of entrances.
Spring 2007 Acting 2 * PreAct: act.vtheatre.net
SummaryNo spoken lines before your establish your character physically! No text before acting! No words before movement! No exceptions!QuestionsConflict * Objective * Obstacle * Actions * Choice * Given Circumstances *Notes![]() * one act fest ![]()
Games: ACTORS: AUDITIONS Method: Mono, Monologues I, Monologues II Biomechanics: Mono I, Mono II Acting One: Monologue, Mono I, Mono II Film Acting Total Actor content ...
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Yes, they know about "acting is reacting" (do they?) -- but what do I react to, when I start? Oh, this is the time to act! If you won't start right now the public will be in listening mode -- you lost them! Maybe forever.
Do both of us a favor, in your Actor's Text write as much as you can before your first line. Hold this first line back as long as possible doing the PREACTING![ preacting in comedy = LS, MS; in drama = CU ]Acting is interpretive by nature. An architect may have an overall vision, but it takes the attention of craftsmen like plumbers, carpenters, sheet-metal men and roofers to bring it to life. I'm quite happy being a craftsman. I don't feel lessened by that at all. It's the facts, Jack. Harrison FordPre-acting = pre-production?I do not how to stress the importance of pre-acting, if not to repeat myself that this is ACTING! I do not know what else I can do but to prohibit to say first line of your monologue or scene without establishing your 5Ws visual. At least some it. Spending more time in class on "entraces & exits" exerc....
The finale from "Uncle Vanya" (Chekhov):
[ home analysis ]
SONIA. What can we do? We must live our lives. [A pause] Yes, we shall live, Uncle Vanya. We shall live through the long procession of days before us, and through the long evenings; we shall patiently bear the trials that fate imposes on us; we shall work for others without rest, both now and when we are old; and when our last hour comes we shall meet it humbly, and there, beyond the grave, we shall say that we have suffered and wept, that our life was bitter, and God will have pity on us. Ah, then dear, dear Uncle, we shall see that bright and beautiful life; we shall rejoice and look back upon our sorrow here; a tender smile--and--we shall rest. I have faith, Uncle, fervent, passionate faith. [SONIA kneels down before her uncle and lays her head on his hands. She speaks in a weary voice] We shall rest. [TELEGIN plays softly on the guitar] We shall rest. We shall hear the angels. We shall see heaven shining like a jewel. We shall see all evil and all our pain sink away in the great compassion that shall enfold the world. Our life will be as peaceful and tender and sweet as a caress. I have faith; I have faith. [She wipes away her tears] My poor, poor Uncle Vanya, you are crying! [Weeping] You have never known what happiness was, but wait, Uncle Vanya, wait! We shall rest. [She embraces him] We shall rest. [The WATCHMAN'S rattle is heard in the garden; TELEGIN plays softly; MME. VOITSKAYA writes something on the margin of her pamphlet; MARINA knits her stocking] We shall rest.[ chracter analysis in your journals ]Pre-acting is thought, an intellectial work. What you have to do?
Simposia, Discussion, Feedback
Dionysus: Go with your instict, dude![ the stage directions for this invisible scene in class ]Apollo: Study it!
Meyerhold: Try it out!
Stanislavsky: Get into this character's soul!
Anatoly: Do it all!
But, Anatoly, where to start?
TEACHER. Feel it first.
MASTER. Just Do It!
ANATOLY. Do both.
TEACHER. Anatoly who?
MASTER. Anatoly what?
ANATOLY. It's possible to act from "within" and "without" at the the same time...
TEACHER. What?
MASTER. What did he say?
... [ preacting? watch good film actors! ]
III. PRE-ACTING
The actor's work consists in the artful juxtaposing of acting and pre-acting.[ In the Russian theatre, the famous actor Lensky (1874-1908) was a master in the art of pre-acting. In the part of Benedict (in Shakespeare "Much Ado About Nothing") he gave a classic demonstration of pre-acting, which was describe as follows in Russie Vedomosty, 1908, no. 241 ]:
[ from Meyerhold ]
`Benedict emerges from his hiding-place behind a bush, where he has just overheard the conversation about his love for Beatrice which had been contrived especially for his ears. For a long time he stands staring at the audience, his face frozen in amazement. Then suddenly his lips move very slightly. Now watch his eyes closely: they are still fixed in concentration, but from beneath the brows imperceptibly, gradually, there begins to creep a triumphant happy smile; the actor doesn't say a word, but you can see that a great irrepressible wave of joy is welling up inside Benedict; his face muscles, his cheeks begin to laugh and a smile spreads uncontrollably over his quivering face; suddenly a thought penetrates his uncomprehending joy and in a final mimetic chord the eyes which until now have been frozen with astonishment light up with delight. Now Benedict's whole body is one whole transport of wild rapture and the auditorium thunders with applause, although the actor has yet to say a single word and only now begins his speech.'[ camera and pre-acting ]Critics might argue that this is a perfectly normal instance of the spoken text being enhanced by mimetic embellishments. But note that we intentionally emphasized the last words of the quotation to stress the point at issue.
Pre-acting prepares the spectator's perception in such a way that he comprehends the scenic situation fully resolved in advance and so has no need to make any effort to grasp the underlying message of the scene. This was a favorite device in the old Japanese and Chinese theatres. Nowadays, when the theatre is once more being employed as a platform for agitation, an acting system in which special stress is laid on pre-acting is indispensable to the actor-tribune."[4]
Forget "the actor-tribune." (Meyerhold, Brecht) But the essense of the PRE-acting is great!
Listen, there are no "wrong" or "right" methods and techniques; the only wrong thing is to do nothing.
Listen, kid, go comedy! Comedy acting is extreme and the extremes. Start with your "comedy monologue" assignment.
Meyerhold, Stanislavsky and the gods -- scenes are not complete. Sorry, notes only! Anatoly 2004 [ from Comical Page in THR Theory ]
2008 - acting2
Lesson #60 or 90 min2. overview 3. new key terms & definitions (see dictionary) 4. monologues & scenes 5. issues & topics 6. questions, discussion, analysis 7. in class work 8. feedback 9. improv & games 10. reading 11. homework 12. online, journals 13. quiz 2004 * ![]() new show text links floor plan history final book ![]() Actingland.com - Acting resources, career guides, and casting information.
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If believe in acting as a "performance act" only, you might watch an artist preparing the canvas, musician making a violin, or ... Actor "performs" what he prepared himself for -- for creation of something that didn't exist before the moment of performance! If he "performs" something already in existence this is bad acting, because it's nothing but a pizza delivery!
Oh, you heard it before -- delivery, projection, articulation! But this only techniques, only to serve the process of creation -- and not so much for you, but the actor itself: to hear, to feel, to express in full. Does it mean that "pre-acting" is craft? Yes, training, but also the process of forming yourself as an artist. Reading books, studing music and art and many other not directly related thing, including experiencing and understanding your experience, into "material" for acting. Your love experience, if you know how to transform it into art is PRE-ACTING!
What do you say, Anatoly! How can I transform my dinner experience into "preacting"? If you don't know how, you wasted your time on that dinner, my friend.
Listen, you have to live as an artist. You have to experience life and experience your experience. You have to live and notice your living -- and only then you can "write" it in stage. Why do you think we need playwrights, directors, designers for you to act? Because we need to free you for the final act, the love moment with the public, when they leave theatre pregnant with the love child, the show, when we give them back their lives, something they can have with you... Because they didn't do their "pre-acting" -- you did.
Think about it.
You got it! "Thinking" is the major part of Pre-Acting. Thinking about life, yourself, theatre -- and your part, of course. * BioMethod * The subdirectories (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) are not developed yet! *
Do they do it, the thinking? I think that they don't know HOW to think...
First, acting is not your goal, but a by-product. You want to express, to communicate -- this is what you have to think about.
Second, the degree of concentration. If you are focused on thought and emotion, on "re-living" it as your own experience -- when you do have time to remember about "acting"? Third, "pre-acting" concept asks for a lot of PRE-"acting" preporation. Yes, yes, the home work. I know that in order for to direct a play I have to spent several months in active preporation (research, notes, and etc.), but in order to get to this stage of pre-production I have to spent several years thinking about this play.
Homework? Yes, I ask my actors-students to keep the list of the roles they would like to play (wish list, short and long). Why? Because you should get ready. You can't play Hamlet or King Lear unless you spent years of thinking about those parts. Maybe your entire life.
It's okay even if you will never play those roles. Everything else you will be playing benefits from that process of preporartion.
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