Highlights from 'Actors'--Enjoyment of Theatre (Patterson and Donahue)

1.  Sept. 13 – NO CLASS
 We’ll be discussing Oedipus on Sept. 15.
 Oedipus play analysis study guide is on
Blackboard.

2. “Acting is living truthfully under imaginary circumstances.”—Sanford Meisner
(GroupTheatre, Neighborhood Playhouse)
“Your talent is in your choice.”—StellaAdler
(GroupTheatre, Stella Adler Studio of Acting)
“Nobody ever learns how.The search for human
behavior is infinite.You'll never understand it all. I think
that's wonderful.”—Uta Hagen (HB Studio)
“I'm curious about other people.
That's the essence of my acting. I'm
interested in what it would be like
to be you.”—Meryl Streep
Retrievedfrombrainyquotes.com.
Dame Judi Dench in rehearsal.Photo by Marc
Brenner.Retrievedfrom:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegal
leries/8206647/Greatest-Stage-Actor-poll-in-
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http://theshakespeareblog.com/2011/10/se
eing-the-spider/
Retrievedfrom:http://talk2sv.com/celebrities/carol-burnett-to-receive-2015-sag-life-
achievement-award/

3. “I think you should take your job
seriously, but not yourself - that is the
best combination.”—Dame Judi Dench
Retrivedfrom: http://www.goldderby.com/photos/243/3145/ian-mckellen-'extras'-(2007).html
Actors must use their
consciousness, bodies, voices,
and imaginations in order to
bring characters to life.
Extras, HBO
Acting is a “team sport.” No one
can act in a vacuum. Scene
partners depend on each other;
there is always something you
need or want from someone else,
even if that someone else is the
audience. Acting is all about
actions. “Emotions” are the
byproduct of going for what you
want—your objective.
NationalTheatre: Actors preparing for a show.

4. “Outside-in” refers to building a character
by focusing on the physical aspects of a
character first, and through this process,
finding emotional truth.
Inside-out refers to finding an emotional
understanding with the character that will
then manifest itself into the physical
changes needed to live as the character.
Both of these
approaches to acting
require a lot of training
and research, and
many times a mixture
of the two processes
are necessary. What
works for one
character, may not
work for another.
Hamlet and Gertrude:
Christopher Plummer
DavidTennant
(Same text, different acting choices)

5. Maria Ouspenskaya
and Richard
Boleslavsky:
American Laboratory
Theatre
Two actors from the
Moscow Art Theatre
who chose to remain
in America to teach
Stanislavski’s System.
Lee Strasberg
(Method Acting),
Stella Adler, and
Harold Clurman
were their students.
Actors Studio—Marlon Brando, Paul
Newman, Geraldine Page. On the
Waterfront, directed by Elia Kazan.)

6. Retrieved from: http://stellaadler.weebly.com/the-
method.html
No matter where an actor chooses to train—university, conservatory, apprenticeships, or
learning through performance opportunities—all must learn how to analyze a script, develop
his/her voice and body, and continue to work through imagination.

7. Classical training, along with contemporary methods,
is what is taught in most acting programs.
ClassicalTraining—voice and diction (get rid of old
habits), physicality, learning how to analyze classical
verse and prose.
ContemporaryTraining—emotional truth, script
analysis, “the character begins with you”, movement
theories based on Eastern philosophy, improvisation,
and a “natural” manner of behavior onstage.