#62: Now you know now forget it!

Tuesday 9/24/24

ACTING TIP TUESDAY! 

I just made that up - should we stick to it??

ACTION. What is it? How did it start? What does it mean to me or matter in my work? Actions are the various choices an actor makes in order for their character to achieve their objectives.

Actioning is a starting point for private textual analysis. PRIVATE. Yes, this work is just for you. It can be shared if asked, but it’s mostly for your work and technique. Actioning keeps the text alive by ensuring the drama (yes even in comedy) is active and you are able to constantly reinterpret. 

Objective/action/actioning was created by Stanislavski and shows up in many modern acting techniques. Actions are the verbs associated to objective. 

Let’s take the oldie but goodie - if your line is “would you like coffee?” - fine, simple enough. This line could be played in many ways to support the objective. How about:

To seduce

To manipulate

To control

To welcome

Just a few examples. But think about saying that line with each of those actions. 

I remember The Actioning Mantra from my acting class in college:

One thought. One sentence. One breath. One action. 

Choose an action for each whole thought, a whole thought is comprised WITHIN a sentence, this sentence should be spoken in one breath, each breath should contain one action… and so on!

Here’s a homework assignment! I’ll reveal my thoughts NEXT Tuesday. Go ahead and copy and paste this - why don’t you come up with the ACTION for each thought for both characters. 

              SEBASTIAN

          You should come.

                        MIA

          To Boise?                 

          SEBASTIAN

          Yeah, you could knock that off your

          bucket list.

                       MIA

          Wish I could..

                       SEBASTIAN

          Why can't you?

                       MIA

          Come to Boise?

                      SEBASTIAN

          Yeah.

                       MIA

          Because I have to rehearse.

                       SEBASTIAN

          Can't you rehearse anywhere?

                       MIA

          You mean anywhere you are?

                       SEBASTIAN

          ...I -- I guess...

                       MIA

          Well, all my stuff is here and my show's

          in a few weeks and -- I don't know, it

          doesn't seem practical...

                       SEBASTIAN

          Right... I just -- we're going to have to

          do things so we can see each other. We

          never see each other.

What do you think? Find the “to….” in each sentence. An action word works if you can put it in between “I” and “you”. Give it a shot. Remember, actions/objectives are goals - they need verbs. If an action is more than 2-3 words, it’s wrong. 

Dreams Don’t Die

Julie