Historical Perspectives on Acting
           The Social Status of Acting
                                    -Greek
                                    -Roman
                                    -Renaissance
                                    -the King's Men
                                    -18th cent.
          The First Actors
                                    -Thespis
                                    -hypokrites
                                    -Plato
          The Question of Realism
                                    -realistic and truthful
                                    -nonrealistic behavior
                                    -Greek
         The Declamatory Style of Acting
                                    -larger than life acting style
                           -different in several periods and cultures
                           -presentational (bombastic)
                           -verse
                           -characters were larger than life
                           -directed toward audience instead of the other actors
                                    -encourages breaking character
                                    -broad gestures and vocalizations were desired

Women on the Stage
            -Greek and Roman
            -Renaissance
            17th Century
                    -Sarah Bernhardt
                                -gender neutral castingof Hamlet

Portraying Emotions and the Paradox of Acting
            -18th & 19th century
            -best way to portray emotions onstage
                        -personal inspiration
                                -certain madness
                        -feel nothing
            -Denis Diderot
                -appropriate to these classical plays and melodramas
                -Samuel Goldwyn

Naturalistic Acting
                -naturalism
                -playwrights wanted an exact duplication of life
                        -representational
                        -prose
                        -everyday situations
                        -actors must be in character

Modern Acting and the Stanislavsky System
            -"living the part "
            -"method"
            -reliable scientific technique
            -put actors through analysis to determine their motivations
         -character analysis
         -life giving techniques

The Essentials of Character Analysis
        -Determining the Given Circumstances
           -The Magic If
        -Marlon Brando vs Alec Baldwin
           -The Super objective and the Through Line of Action
                    -super objective
                    -sequence of attempts to accomplish goal
          -Making Choices Believable
          -Emotional Recall: the Inner Technique
          -method acting-inner approach to acting
          -Lee Strasberg
          -The Method of Physical Actions
 

Other Modern Styles of Acting
            Avant-Garde Acting
                            -intentionally non-realistic techniques and philosophies
                            -symbolism, expressionism, absurdist and existentialist plays
                            -performance art
                            -characters are not complete
                            -mechanical and abstract
                     -non sequitur
                            -depict the meaninglessness of the modern world
                            -multimedia spectacle
                            -Robert Wilson
                            -directors have tried to force actors to develop new methods of performance to suit their own avant garde ideas
                     -Peter Sellars
                    -determined from playwrights and directors and forced on the actors
            Improvisation
                            -is the most performer dominated style of acting
                            -psychodramas
                            -commedia dell 'arte
                            -comic business-lazzi
                                    pratfalls
                                    slapstick
                             -Second City
                            -ensemble playing is important
            Clowning
                            -developed from vaudeville, circus and burlesque
                            -create their own stage personas (identities)
                            -played their personas in every play or film they were in
                            -new vaudeville
                            -perform solo
            Transformations
                            -playing many characters by one actor is a single play
                            -minimum of technical choices
                            -Ancient Greeks
                            -Open Theatre
            Multicultural Alternatives
                            -variations on Stanislavsky and alternatives
                            -origins in other countries
                            -Peter Grotowski
                                            -he founded the Polish Laboratory Theatre
                                            -published Towards a Poor Theatre
                                            -use physical and mental powers
                                            -all music produced with the actors voices
                                            -absolute physical control over their bodies
                            -Suzuki -a popular new acting methodology
                                            -The Way of Acting
                                            -some in the US follow this technique
                                            -emphasized the physical and vocal expressions
                                            -stomping
                                 -zamissel
                                            -Stage West
            Histrionic Convergence
                                            -chaotic images reflect cultural convergences on the world's stages
                                            -national acting traditions
                                            -multilingual plays
                                            -adept at all styles of impersonation
 

The Demand for Skills: Making Choices Possible
                        -actors instruments are voice and body
                    The Technical Demands of Stage Acting
                                        -film actors
                                        -theatre actors
                                        -Laurence Olivier- King Lear
                              -Vocal Skills
                                                    -articulation
                                                    -projection
                                                    -relaxation
                                                    -speaking dialogue
                                                    -illusion of the first time
                                                    -accents and dialects
                                                    -vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation
                                                    -singing
                                                    -head voice vs chest voice
                             -Physical Skills
                                                    -idiosyncrasies
                                                    -expert assistance of specialists
                                                    -period styles
                                                    -stage combat
                                                    -slapstick and circus tricks
                                                        -knockabout
                                                        -pratfalls
                                                        -shtick
                                                                           -comic timing
                                                                           -juggling, stilt walking, tumbling, acrobatics
                                                                           -dancing
                                       -Performing -technical skills
                                                      -eating
                                                      -sitting
                                                      -talking on the phone
                                                      -firing a blank gun
                                                      -staying open
                                                      -gesture with upstage hand
                                                      -circular patterns
                                                      -fake deep passionate kisses
                                                      -fake romantic contact
                               -Mental Skills -
                                                      -concentration
                                                      -public solitude
                                                      -circle of attention
                               -Memorizing Lines
                                                      -blanking
                               -Listening and Adaptation
                                                      -cue
                                                      -acting in the moment
                               -Perception
                                                      -observation
                                                      -possible choices
                                                      -can't play what they have not experienced
                              -Job Skills
                                                    -most skills and versatility of styles
                                                   -specialize according to their talents
                                                                -musicals
                                                                -naturalistic
                                                                -classical
                                                                -improvisation

Personality vs Character Actors
                -cast according to types
                -personality actors
                -character actors

Auditioning
                -agents and managers
                -private auditions
                -cattle calls
                -principal interviews
                -standard auditions
                -chorus auditions
                -dance auditions
                -cold readings
                -high anxiety situations
Rejection
Callbacks
                -it is important to stand out from the crowd
                -actors are addicted to the thrill of the live audience

Standing Publicly With Their Choices
                -presentation to the audience
                -develop certain traits
            -Stage Presence
            -Passion
            -Risk
            -Superstitions
            -Stage fright

Design for Acting
The Actor at Work
                -Meryl Streep -Ironweed
                            -creates characters pore by pore
Choices