acting 101 *
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actor Folks, you have to wait while I am rebuilding the lost pages!

Dionysis-Biomechanics
Dionysis -- Biomechanics

Apollo-Method
Method -- Apollo

Period Acting (exerc.):
Commedia
Absurd
Realism (method.vtheatre.net)

Your Personal Style (for your journals): YOUR WAY of using the laws and rules of acting!

Summary

Chekhov-One-Acts
Devils
The Possessed 2003
YOUR MANIFESTO: Why do you want to do acting? How different do you want to do it? How can get there? (Write and publish it in our class eGroups). Period Acting (Theatre Theory pages)

Notes

Scene Analysis & Film Acting Individual Acting Styles in Actors
NewMethodActing
Method: Yoga & Freud

... method.vtheatre.net


Styles

2005: Seinfeld - Comedy Acting
Since I am using "Actors on Acting" in THR221 Intermediate Acting, our readings cover several periods and styles.

Well, I do not teach "Acting Styles" -- therefore I will talk about YOUR style of acting. Do you have it? No? How come? You better get one, because without the style, we will your mannerisms!

Turn your habitual elements into YOUR style!

What is the difference?

Big difference. A style is your aknowledgement of your personal shortcomings. An indication that you know yourself. And you should. Must.

Showcases: Shakespeare, Moliere, Realism, Brecht and etc.

Three ways to study (historical) styles with vtheatre.net (besides reading your textbook): 1. Plays in script.vtheatre.net, 2. Shows, 3. Theory (see directories)

Shows I directed and kept production notes:

Shakespeare: comedy -- 12th night, tragedy -- Hamlet

Commedia -- Don Juan (Moliere)

Realism -- Chekhov (3 Sisters), Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Glass Menagerie

Non-realistic -- "Fish in the Tree" (Dada)

Opera -- Mikado

Musical -- Runaways

Eclectic (postmodern) -- Reckless

[ list ]

Simposia, Discussion, Feedback

Dionysos: No comments.

Apollo: I second it.

Meyerhold: A lot of his pages is a waste.

Stanislavsky: Agree.

Dionysos: I like the manifesto idea.\

Apollo: Me too.

Stanislavsky: I wrote mine.

Meyerhold: Mine is better.

"Stanislavsky borrowed from late 19th-century French psychology the concept of emotional memory, recreating past emotions on stage by recalling the sense details that surrounded the original experience. This became the centerpiece of method acting. In the late 1940s, when the Actors' Studio, home of the method, was founded in New York City, Gestalt psychology was just becoming fashionable (see Psychology). The concepts behind many method exercises are in line with Gestalt ideas about how emotion is experienced and remembered.

Social psychology has contributed much to the understanding of what happens in the complex interaction between actor and audience. The concept of "role-playing" in everyday life has broadened the possibilities for actors in the creation of their own performing material.

A major influence on 20th-century acting emanates from the writings of the French actor and director Antonin Artaud. He conceived of the actor as an "athlete of the heart," giving physical expression to dreams, obsessions, the nonrational side of human beings. Although Artaud produced no convincing examples of his theories, experiments during the 1960s by Grotowski and the British director Peter Brook have shown some of the potential value that may lie in Artaud's thought.

Kinesics, the science of communication through body movement, has made it possible to analyze the meanings of gestures in daily life, how the body's movements have psychological significance. The development of kinesics may create the potential for the very subtle art of psychological mime.

[ from http://www.linksnorth.com/acting/theory.html ]

stages-directing The stage configuration itself imposes "styles" of acting. "Arena stage" asks for different blocking and relation with the audience. This subject belong more to directing class.

...

PS

In our textbook (Spring 2003) "Acting in Person and Style" the second part is about history of acting. Please read it (test), this is "Fundamentals of Acting" and you have to know some theatre history.

The basics: Western and Non-Western theatre traditions. Show and Ritual. Psychological Realism (Method) and Physical Theatre.

Periodization: 20th century' styles (see existing pages, on Dada, for example). The major periods see script.vtheatre.net directory!

Opera or Musical Acting: Mikado

Homework

Write about Stage Acting and Acting for the Camera (journals -- your favorite movie actor and why)

[ list of titles from "Theatre in Film" page @ film.vtheatre.net directory: Film Analysis class ]

NB

Related pages: Portfolio [ 2003 updates ]

The Michael Chekhov Acting Technique consists primarily of work with the 'imaginary body' and the Psychological Gesture (PG). By working with the 'imaginary body,' the actor is able to effect both physical and psychological changes. This is neither a 'physical' approach to acting, nor a 'psychological' one. Chekhov referred to his work as 'psycho-physical.'

the elements of the technique:

Imaginary Body
Centers
Qualities of Movement
Physical Sensations Atmosphere
Psychological Gestures
Radiating
Ensemble work
The Four Brothers ' Feeling of Ease, Form, Beauty, and The Whole.
Improvisation
Ultimate Desire

...

NewNext : THR221