RECIPES: (NOTE: Following is a series of activities that were used during the institute, along with some others that members have used with their classes. Where possible, the source of each activity is listed, but some have been circulating among drama teachers, actors, and directors for some time.) IMPORTANT: These files will probably appear awkwardly formatted on your screen. To view the recipe files in a better format and with an index, please use your web browser to contact the Performance Institute site at: http://www.tamut.edu/english/folgerhp/folgerhp.htm 1. GENERAL HEADING: Writing Prompts 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Graffiti Exercise" 3. GOALS: To provide a safe space in which students can debate the opinions of a play. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Groups of 10 or larger. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: Prepare sheets of paper, each with a different quotation from the play which clearly articulates a provocative opinion or position of a character. There should be enough for two-thirds of the class. Students need pens, pencils, and should sit in a circle. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10 minutes writing; 20-30 minutes discussion. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Each piece of paper represents a bathroom door, and students are invited to respond anonymously in the form of graffiti to the words that they see already on the door. Students must be instructed to write quickly, spontaneously, and anonymously, and then to pass the sheet of paper to the next student available. Graffiti- style jokes and flippancy are to be encouraged! Continue passing sheets until each student has had the chance to contribute to several, and each quotation has been followed by 8-12 responses. Then read the sequences aloud, and discuss the difference of opinions represented. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: * Dialectic of the play: extreme positions, and more moderate ones; * Judging the characters and thoughts by contemporary values; * Rhetorical shape of the play and its characters. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Julia Matthews, Wesleyan College. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Invite students to outline or write essays based on the flow of opinions. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Writing Prompts 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Understanding the Effect of Musical Choices" 3. GOALS: To raise students' awareness of the possible effects of musical choices made by production teams. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Class 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: A cassette player and prepared audio tape of renaissance music. I recommend using contrasting dance forms, such as a pavane and a galliard, and contrasting instrumentation, such as a viol consort, solo lute, and tabor and pipe. Keep the selections fairly short, say 3-5 minutes. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 30-40 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: First prepare a cassette tape of at least three selections from recordings of renaissance music which demonstrate a variety of moods through rhythm, dynamics, key, instrumentation, etc. You can use either instrumental or vocal music or both.. As you begin the exercise, ask the students to think about the play which they are currently discussing. They are to imagine that they are selecting background music to use in a stage or film production. For each musical selection which they will hear, they should imagine a particular scene from the play, a scene which they think would fit the music. Then for each musical selection, they will write a brief response, describing the scene they have imagined, and explaining why they think the musical selection would add to the effectiveness of the scene in performance. After a brief moment of silence to let them think about the play in question, play each of the three selections, pausing for at least five minutes to allow for their quick speculative writing in response. After they are finished writing, replay the selections in order, so that they can add anything, or simply enjoy the music. After collecting their writing, ask them to share some of their responses with the class. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Encourage students to respond quickly, choosing whatever scene pops into their head, and then try to figure out why the music seemed to connect to it . What qualities in the music connect to the dramatic scene? They might also consider how changing the music could change the dramatic effect of a scene. How far should there be a match? What happens if the music seems to contradict the mood? 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: C-M Wall 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: You can use several different versions of a Shakespearean song, and ask students to describe the different effects which a production could achieve, depending on the choice of musical style and particular singer. I have used the old New York Pro Musica recording of "It was a lover and his lass," sung as a dialogue between soprano and baritone; a version with countertenor Alfred Deller, accompanied by a lute; and the 1969 National Theatre pop music version with man, boy and strumming guitar. One can note the different effects of having a woman and man sing the song (antitextual), or a solo singer, more slowly, or the two men, with the late-sixties context of the production all too evident in the music. One could also use various video versions of Twelfth Night, such as the BBC, Branagh and Rehearsing the Text segment of Barton's Playing Shakespeare to explore the various dramatic possibilities of "Come Away, Death.," for example. Another variation would be to ask students to enact part of whatever scene they think would be appropriate to the musical selection, and ask the others to write a critique of the music's effect on their responses. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Voice and Body Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "A Good Defense" 3. GOALS: Increased physicality and commitment to text. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Performed in groups of fours, made up of two pairs each of which has a pre-memorized scene prepared. Several groups can work simultaneously. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: Ten to fifteen minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Actors find a large open space in which to work. One pair (Pair A) will be working actively on their scene, the other facilitating the exercise. The two actors of Pair A spread themselves apart the width of the performing space, ideally about 20 to 30 feet. They face each other across the expanse. They will be speaking their lines to each other and advancing toward their partner. While they are doing so, the actors from Pair B will be facing the actors from Pair A, and palms-to-shoulders will physically resist the advance of the Pair A actors. Pair A will try to reach their partners while speaking, Pair B tries to keep them apart. One the lines from the scene have been run once, Pair A and B switch. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: This is an extremely physical exercise. Actors will tire quickly, so only one repetition of each scene can be run. Experience suggests that this exercise can contribute to the way that the emotional, physical, and intellectual work can all take place at once. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Audrey Stanley 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Exploring the Text 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "The 'Drop In' Text Exploration Exercise" 3. GOALS: To investigate the emotional, physical, and aural sensations created by speaking individual words of a text. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Pairs (should have a certain trust or rapport before beginning exercise). 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: Each partner needs a copy of the speech or script. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 30-90 minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Partners will take turns examining sections of their speeches one word at a time. One partner serves as a listener and catalyst for the speaking partner, encouraging and prompting further exploration and association. The speaking partner looks at one word. Notice whether the word is "charged" or "neutral." (Neutral words are often prepositions, conjunctions, or auxilliary verbs that have little emotional content.) The speaking partner now takes a breath, speaks the word, and releases the breath. If the speaker has voiced a neutral word neutrally, go on to the next word. If the listener feels it was not neutral, s/he may ask the speaker to repeat it on a new breath. If the speaker has voiced a charged word, the listener should reply with a brief question that prompts new associations. The speaker now takes another breath, speaks the word again, and releases the breath. The speaker does NOT answer the question, rather allows it to inform the way s/he releases the word. The listener should ask several questions about each word, so the speaker can explore it fully. The questions might prompt responses in the senses, the emotions, memory, personal associations, imagination, or vowel-consonant dynamics; they should not be psychoanalytical. This work is very slow and takes a good deal of concentration. After a section, partners switch so the listener becomes the speaker and vice versa. At the end of a session, students should make notes about their discoveries. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: * Emotional qualities of vowels, consonants. * Suspense leading up to each word. * Complex network of emotional resonances of words. * Significance of previously ignored words. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Adapted from Linklater (see #10) by Prof. Audrey Stanley, University of California at Santa Cruz, 1995-96 NEH Institute "Shakespeare Examined through Performance." 10. ADDITIONAL READING: Kristin Linklater, Freeing the Natural Voice, pp. 36-43. Linklater comments, "Go through the process quickly so that you are not stopping to "think" or "be sure" about your response. Bypass the head and let the question or instruction act directly on your solar plexus center with an instantaneous reaction out through any or all channels of your voice/body." (p.36) 11. VARIATIONS: In her book, Linklater provides a version of this exercise that can be done by an individual alone. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Voice and Body Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Advances and Retreats" 3. GOALS: Strengthening contact and communication. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: In pairs. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None, but requires a pre-memorized scene. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: Ten to fifteen minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Scene partners find a large open space in which they can work. Partners stand facing each other about an arm's length apart. The actors advance toward their partners while speaking their lines. The receiving partner retreats while listening, staying just out of reach. When the speakers change so does the direction of advance and retreat, with the new speaker now advancing and the former speaker (now the receiver) retreating. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: The vocal energy of the actor should drive this exercise, not the physical presence. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Audrey Stanley 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Can be followed-up in a later session with actors actually placing their palms on each other's shoulders and physically advancing and resisting. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Performance Exercises 2. TITLE: "As You Like It 1.2.231-260.: Playing the Possibilities" 3. GOALS: To help students explore various possibilities of action, character motivation and dramatic effect. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: At least 10. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: Copy of scene section, or paperback editions, for actors to use. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: One hour. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Ask for two volunteers from the class who would like to experiment with directing a short scene. Then let the directors cast students as Orlando, Celia and Rosalind. Give them 15 minutes in private to read through the scene, discuss characters' actions and motivations, and try out some blocking, led by the director. Then have each group perform for the rest of the class, with the remainder of the students jotting down any particularly notable moments, or questions that the performances raise. Allow some time for the "audience's" responses to the scene, and then ask for the directors', and actors', comments. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION AND DISCUSSION: Ask actors and directors to think about the following questions (or others): How can an audience "tell" that Rosalind and Orlando fall in love? What is Celia's response, and how does she complicate the scene? Why does Rosalind say, "He calls us back?" How do you want the audience to respond to this moment? How can you achieve that response? 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: N.A. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: Select sections from Penny Gay's Shakespeare's Unruly Women or Carol Rutter's Clamorous Voices, for example, and ask students to try performing the scene in a way which would lead logically to the actions and characterizations of certain historical productions. 11. VARIATIONS: Reverse the order of the initial process, by asking for volunteers from the class to play the characters; then ask them to select a director to work with. Or you can ask the actors to direct themselves. Or you can select directors and actors, based on your own knowledge of your students, and what they might need. Or ask the class as a whole to direct initially, OR to re-direct the scene after the actors have performed their own version. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Performance Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Their Exits and Their Entrances" 3. GOALS: To engage the students actively in directional problem solving; to enhance their awareness of the complexity of so simple a thing as the exits and entrances in a particular scene, and the implications of the decisions made for the meaning of the scene. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: At least as many as the number of characters in the chosen scene, and preferably twice that many. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: A space suitable for a minimal staging of the chosen scene. 6 CLASS TIME NEEDED: At least half an hour; preferably an entire class period of an hour. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Roles are assigned for the chosen scene, preferably two casts. (Macbeth, 2.2 is recommended.) Each team decides where the entrances are going to be for the scene and where each entrance comes from or leads to. Directing themselves, each group blocks the scene, with primary emphasis upon where each character enters or exits. The two groups perform their blocking for each other. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: The difficulties identified by each group and a comparison of how they solved the problems will enhance their comprehension of the importance of the physical configuration of the set and its relationship to the other elements of the play. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Audrey Stanley, Co-Director of the Institute, UC-Santa Cruz 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Voice and Body Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "The Eyes Have It" 3. GOALS: To help students acquire a variety of visual foci from which to choose when speaking. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Pairs (variation for individuals) 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10-15 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Prior to doing the exercise, teach the students the following focusing techniques: The Moving Focus: The eyes move from point to point, stopping briefly at each point then moving on as though trying to find the thought. The shifts can be either casual or rapid and intense. The Fixed Focus: The eyes fix on a point but in such a way that it is evident that one is not looking at an actual object but simply thinking about something with great concentration. A thought focus can be maintained for as long as desirable. The Eye Shutter: When one closes one's eyes, one is pulling inside the self either to concentrate or to deal with something strongly emotional. Whether a happy or sad emotional experience, the emotional communication is intensified. Be careful! Used too often this becomes an affectation. The eye shutter must be earned! Play with the timing . . . if your eyes pop open suddenly you might accidently create a comic effect. The Light Bulb: An "aha"! This sudden change of thought process is created by a sudden shift of focus by the eyes, or occasionally, by the head as well. It is like seeing a new piece of information or hearing a sudden sound. The eyes (and sometimes the whole head) shift suddenly to another point of focus. Beware of unnecessary tension in this technique. Again, use this technique sparingly. Environmental Focus: The actor can focus on actual elements of the imaginary environment (e.g., trees, mountains, moon, clouds, etc.). Environmental focus intends to create the sense of seeing actual objects and landscapes. The Vision: The heightened fantasy focus uses the power of the imagination to create visions of an imaginary nature (e.g., to see the face of your lover, a field of skulls, one's deadliest enemy triumphantly astride the world, or any powerful fantasy). Such visions can become panoramic, filling the entire stage space. As Student A recites her soliloquy (or other long speech), partner calls out focus (chosen in random order); actor uses focus regardless of whether it seems appropriate or not . Student A tries to make the focus "make sense" for that portion of the speech. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Developing variety of focus techniques; discovering new meanings for speech depending on focus chosen. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Paul Dennhardt, Western Illinois University 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Students work alone. Each student determines a sequence of focuses. Recite soliloquy, first by line, then by phrase, and then by sentence, using the sequence, regardless of appropriateness. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Language: Sounds, Structure, Meter 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Ghost Story" 3. GOALS: To approach the speech of the ghost in Hamlet 1.2.64-84, in a variety of ways, to open out the complexity of the verse and the psychology of the character. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: At least five, and preferably more. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 15-20 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Sitting or standing in a circle, the group reads through the speech, each person speaking one word. This assures that due attention is given to the final word in each line. Read the speech again, each person reading to a comma or period. Certain phrases begin to stand out, like the clause including "quicksilver," which imitates the poison coursing through the body. Read the speech once again, each person reading to a comma, with the first person whispering, the next a little louder, till the last is shouting. Cast one person as Hamlet, and one as the "Main Ghost," who will speak key lines, all the rest serving as "Choral Ghosts," who will speak the rest of the ghost's lines. Hamlet kneels on the floor, and all the ghosts stand in a circle around him. The ghosts then speak the lines with growing intensity, attempting to terrify Hamlet. To add to the drama of the scene, three or four people can add the sound effect of a heart beat, a few others, the wind. Peripheral activity: Have three people say, in turn, "orange," "apple," "banana," in such a way that it was clear that apple was better than orange, and banana was best of all. Then transfer that reading to "Unhouseled, disappointed, unanel'd"; then to "Of life, of crown, of queen"; "0 horrible! 0 horrible! Most horrible!" 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: This exercise focuses attention on the speech in a number of ways, drawing out the complexity of its verse, especially. The Choral ghost device is particularly effective. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Sarah Berger, from ACTER (A Center for Theatre, Education and Research at UNC-Chapel Hill) 10. ADDITIONAL READlNG: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Joanna Foster, of ACTER, used a very similar approach with Lady Macbeth's "Come, you spirits," with other people hissing like spirits. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Live Performance Analysis 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Interrogating the Director" 3. GOALS: To articulate issues in the play that require directorial decisions; to learn about a director's ideas and experiences in production. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Any number. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: A visiting director. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 15 minutes - 2 hours, depending on number of students. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Each student writes 10 questions for the visiting director: 5 about the play in question, and 5 about practical directing choices. Depending on time and goodwill, each student may ask a question in turn, or the visiting director may select from questions provided in advance. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: * Director's vision of the play; * Relevance to contemporary audience; * Director-designer relationship, creative process; * Director-actor relationships, rehearsal process; * Textual choices and cuts. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Prof. Audrey Stanley, University of California at Santa Cruz, 1995-96 NEH Institute "Shakespeare Examined through Performance." 10. ADDITIONAL READING: Reviews, interviews, biographical studies of director; accounts of other directors' productions of the play. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Performance Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Kneelings, Pardons, and Other Actions: Charting Options in Act 5 of Measure for Measure." 3. GOALS: (1) To explore how a playtext--this playtext--uses repeated key actions, such as kneelings and pardons to shape and project a design. (Another way to say this, which Audrey Stanley offered us, is to note that this activity looks at the structure of the scene, the bones, if you will, of what is, when fully fleshed out, an enormously complex act, which can take 45 minutes or more in performance.) (2) To have students engage in actor-like exploration of the wide range options offered by such a design and learn to debate which actions are mandated, which actions delimited, and which actions are open to the actors' invention. (3) Conversely, to explore the pressure for having the suite of options selected form some larger pattern. (4) To explore how actors and director might select among these options to create a specific closure in production. (5) And to learn about the ways in which the design of this play permits, indeed invites, contrasting or even contradictory closures. (6) To reflect on the question "What does the ending of a play do?" Note: I have used this activity for a decade and it has two main virtues: first, it makes us attend to a crucial pattern of action that is inherent in the design of Act 5; but second, as we explore what may initially seem the constraining nature of the pattern, we discover how much it opens up the scene: attending to the specific choices proves to be a generative act, stimulating many further inventions by the students, and thus revealing the amazing richness of possibility in this scene. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: This is a whole-class activity, which also means you can do it with very few students. If you use this as a prelude to performance, then you need eleven people to perform the scene undoubled: Duke, Isabella, Escalus, Angelo, Mariana, Claudio, Juliet, Lucio, Provost, Friar Thomas, and Barnadine; but the opening SD calls for Varrius, Lords, Officers, and Citizens, so you can get a quite large class into the act. Rather than performing the whole act, however, you are probably better off performing several segments with smaller clusters of actors. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: Copies of the text--and, if you like, the Folio text also. And either a board or a flip chart where you can diagram at least some of the basic pattern students discern. Flip charts have the advantage of giving you a permanent record you can use later on-but if you use the board you can also ask one or two students to be recorders. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: This takes at least 30 minutes just to move through the scene with a quick charting, because once the participants really engage in the task they come to perceive many cues and options besides the (relatively) few obvious ones they will have noted in their individual reading of the scene. And of course this can be used as the concluding activity for study of the play as a whole. You certainly can spend an hour not only doing the activity but having students formulate what they learned from their own exploration. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: (1) The first step should be a homework assignment, namely that the students re-read the scene and mark all the places where they believe one or more of the characters kneel, and the moments when the Duke pardons one or more of the characters. This can be done in class, but then allow sufficient time. (2) On the board or flip chart, you should have already constructed a chart that will record their suggestions. A simple chart will look like this (for purposes of this presentation I have marked the scene in 20-line segments; with more space, you can mark it in 10-line segments; and you may want to shift from 20- to 10-line segments after the moment when the Friar is revealed as the Duke; if you use the Folio, then you can use the TLNs): CHART of MEASURE FOR MEASURE, Act 5 ______________________________________________________________________ KNEELINGS PARDONS OTHER ACTIONS ______________________________________________________________________ Line #s 1-20 21-40 41-60 61-80 81-100 101-120 121-140 141-160 161-180 181-2000 201-220 221-240 241-250 261-280 281-300 301-320 321-340 341-360 361-380 381-400 401-420 421-440 441-460 461-480 481-500 501-520 521-539 (3) I begin by asking for the first kneeling that anyone has noted; and each time someone offers the first kneeling I ask "Has anyone marked an earlier kneeling?" I do this whether or not I think the class has "missed" an implicit stage direction, so that the question is genuinely open, serving to invite contrasting perceptions of the implicit SD and the design. (4) You can keep the chart simple with just these three categories; but if the discussion warrants it or if students prompt it, you can add other repeated actions, such as the unveilings and proposals of or orders for marriage. But even with just the three categories the chart is likely to become surprisingly dense, especially in the second half of the scene. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: There is no way to enumerate all the points that emerge from this activity: as students note the kneelings and then the causes for the kneelings, but a few crucial ones are clear: First, students discover how pervasive the cues for kneeling and the pardons are in this scene--and they will eventually wonder what is the relation between the Duke's design and the playwright's design. Eventually, they should recognize almost everyone in the scene either kneels or must resist a cue to kneel, and, even more striking, that by the time the scene ends the Duke has in effect pardoned almost the entire cast of characters-in a sense pardoned all of Vienna which has come to celebrate his return. If they have not wondered about this before, perception of this pattern will impel someone to wonder if the Duke himself is in need of, or can be imagined seeking a pardon, or kneeling, and if so from whom, to whom? This activity usually also raises issues about the nature of the comedy (if any) in this scene: for one thing, once they start seeing how many optional cues that could provoke kneelings there are, students recognize a potential for an almost farcical quality to the scene, with people kneeling and rising in a laughter-inducing rhythm. Most of all, starting with this relatively external focus on activity nonetheless leads directly to the exploration of more complex questions of motive and character, and of making choices. And the question of timing also emerges, particularly in relation to Isabella's decision to join Mariana in asking the Duke to pardon Angelo. At this point, you can note that in the famous Peter Brook production of 1950, Isabella took 35 seconds before she decided to join Mariana in kneeling for Angelo's pardon--and a quick performance of this segment will let everyone experience what an extraordinarily long time that must have seemed in performance. As a way of initiating the next phase of discussion, I use a prompt that I use in many situations when I want to shift from exploration to reflection, "One thing that is becoming clear to me about the design of this scene is-". You can make this prompt even more specific, of course, depending both on how the discussion has played out and your own purposes. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: The sources here are, first of all, the design of scene itself, with its intriguing explicit and implicit stage directions; second, seeing productions of the scene and reading reviews of productions; third, Philip McGuire's exploration of the ending in Chapter 4 of Speechless Dialect: Shakespeare's Open Silences (University of California, 1985). 10. ADDITIONAL READING: Penny Gay, As She Likes It: Shakespeare's Unruly Women (Routledge, 1994) Chapter 4 "Measure for Measure: Sex and Power in a Patriarchal society." Robert Hapgood, Shakespeare, the Theatre-Poet (Oxford, 1998), Chapter 7 models the practice of conducting "imaginary rehearsals." Russell Jackson and Robert Smallwood, editors. Players of Shakespeare 2 (Cambridge University Press, 1988) and Players of Shakespeare 3 (CUP, 1993) each have an essay by an actor who has played the Duke. Graham Nichols, Measure for Measure: Text and Performance (Macmillan, 1986). Carol Rutter, et. al., Clamorous Voices: Shakespeare's Women Today (Routledge/Theatre Arts Books, 1989) Chapter 2 "Isabella: Virtue Betrayed?" 11. VARIATIONS: As noted, you can create more complex variations simply by putting more of the key mandated actions in the chart to begin with. You can also, of course, develop a number of writing prompts and assignments based on this charting. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Performance Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Parallel Scenarios" 3. GOALS: To explore a short scene through different readings on stage; to learn to extrapolate from the interpretation of a key scene consequences for the understanding of the whole play. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 10 to 25 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: scripts 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 35 to 60 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: A. Leader prepares four different readings, summarized in writing, of one short scene or section of scene. Each reading is an interpretation of how the scene should be played; these may be called "scenarios." B. Students divide into four groups. C. Each group receives copies of one scenario and scripts for the scene. D. Each group casts itself, discusses the scenario and rehearses the scene according to that scenario for 20 minutes. E. Each group performs the scene for the other participants. F. After each group's performance, the other participants note down impressions for two minutes. G. Everyone joins into a discussion afterwards. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: A. Which scenarios set up choices that must result in consequences later on in a full-length production of the play? B. Which scenarios solve problems posed by the playtext? C. Do any of them pose new problems for interpreters? If so, what are they? D. What new thing did anyone notice about the scene in one of its versions? E. Did the audience "pick up" the intended interpretation? Could the onlookers reconstruct what each scenario must have been? 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Lois Potter 10. ADDITIONAL READING: For sample scenarios, see Robert Hapgood, Shakespeare, the Theatre-Poet. 11. VARIATIONS: Have students devise their own scenarios in advance. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Performance Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Paraphrase Pull-Push" 3. GOALS: To discover the feeling behind the dialogue and the tension between characters. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: An even number, with pairs familiar with the same scene. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 20 minutes or more 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Partners first sit, reading their previously prepared paraphrases of the dialogue to one another. Then they get on their feet and run through the scene, using their own words to tap into the characters' emotions. Then, taking one another's arms, they do the scene in their own words, pushing and pulling one another according to the feelings their words spark. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: The difference between using Shakespeare's words and our own. The effect of close, active physical contact with partner. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCES: Audrey Stanley, University of California, Santa Cruz. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Performance Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Contextualizing Racist Language" (Othello 1.1) 3. GOALS: To encourage close textual analysis, awareness of shifts/similarities in racist language, and understanding of casting implications. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 3 or more (roles: Roderigo, Iago, Brabantio) 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: copies of Othello 1.1 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 45 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Working either in pairs or alone, students mark the racist slurs and images in Othello 1.1. Cast the three roles and ask the student actors to perform the scene in a variety of ways: a) as deeply racist and offensive b) lightly or comically c) ironically d) other options (generated by student actors or audience/directors). 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: How do Brabantio and Roderigo react to Iago's speeches? Are they shocked? Amused? Disgusted? To what extent does Roderigo's reaction differ from Brabantio's? Is Roderigo enthusiastic? Is it possible to perform this scene comically? Why or why not? What are the implications for speaking these lines if the actor playing Iago is black? 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Miranda Johnson-Haddad 10. ADDITIONAL READING: Miranda Johnson-Haddad, review of Shakespeare Theatre production of Othello in Shakespeare Quarterly 42.4 (1991): 476-80. 11. VARIATIONS: See list in "Moors, Jews, and the Performance of Cultural Identity in Othello and The Merchant of Venice" in the Projects section. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Performance Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Reverse Interpretations of a Scene" 3. GOALS: To clarify performance choices. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Open 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: N.A. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 40 minutes (30 for scene work and 10 for discussion) 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Ask pairs of students, who have already worked together on a dialogue, to perform what they feel to be the opposite interpretation of the scene. Next, ask the students to switch roles. Finally, return to the original interpretation. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Insights gained from playing partner's role in dialogue. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Audrey Stanley 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Voice and Body Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "So Inclined" 3. GOALS: To discover the physical energy needed to sustain vocal performance. To increase concentration. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Full class. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: About five minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: All class members find a small space along a wall. Facing the center of the room, the actors step away from the wall about a foot. Keeping the body straight and rigid, they lean back until their weight is supported by one point on the back of their head in contact with the wall. Thus supporting themselves, they simultaneously speak their monologues. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: This takes surprising physical energy and commitment to accomplish. It forces correct vocal support. Because of the considerable distraction of others doing the exercise, it also builds concentration. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Audrey Stanley 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Performance Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Staging the Murder of Banquo" (Macbeth 3.3) 3. GOALS: To encounter the practical questions and generate solutions to the staging problems of the First Folio scene; to realize a textual interpretation theatrically. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Groups of 5 students. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: Open space for rehearsal and performance; copies of 3.3 as printed in the First Folio. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 45 - 90 minutes, depending on number of groups. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Group members confer, do their own casting, and stage the scene so as to confront the various problems (and fill in the many silences). Students should be encouraged to slow the violent action down below full speed, in order to clarify their decisions and to avoid injury. Groups perform for each other, then discuss the textual and theatrical cruxes. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: * How or why does Fleance escape? * If the stage illumination did not vary at the Globe, what is the function of the torch? * Who carries the torch in and where is it at the end of the scene? * How old is Fleance? * What kind of "images" do you wish to present to your audience (e.g. in terms of the light-darkness imagery running throughout the play)? 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Prof. Alan Dessen, University of North Carolina 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Follow up group work with an individual essay assignment, in which the student describes how s/he would stage the scene, what this staging is intended to communicate to the spectators, and how this scene would contribute to the specific pattern of the rest of the play. From Prof. Edward Rocklin, California State Polytechnic University. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Performance Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "What Does a Stage Property Do? The Interplay of Text and Prop in 1.1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream." 3. GOALS: There are a number of interlocking objectives in this activity. (1) To offer a vivid demonstration of the fact that while the medium of literature is on the page, the medium of drama is the actor's body and the physical deployed on stage--that when a play is performed the actors do things which often use physical objects to realize the potentials of the words on the page. (2) To demonstrate how the playtext may suggest props. (3) To demonstrate employing a suggested prop may not only stimulate actors to invent new performance but also how those invented actions, in turn, may transform the words of the text. (4) To initiate rich and diverse performances of the opening of A Midsummer Night's Dream--which is to say to help students experience the delight that can come from playing with the play. (5) To examine how those performances illuminate contrasting ways the play can frame what follows. (6) To stimulate reflection on another element of reading play texts. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: MND 1.1, including Helena, has eight roles: you can divide the class into three groups of eight but it is easy to double Philostrate and Helena, or, if you need to have several doublings or a tripling. I divide the class into the three groups of eight students. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: I usually buy a rose the day of this activity--it intrigues the class when I walk in with it--and the advantage is that this rose can be shredded, as several Hippolytas have discovered, to good effect. I also have used the computer to generate a sheet of paper which says THE LAWS OF ATHENS, and which becomes the cover of an appropriately large book from my office. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: This is a time intensive activity: the students need 15 to 30 minutes to rehearse, the performances take about 10 minutes each, the discussion should not be less than 15 minutes and can run longer. In short, it can take a full class period-- but it not only opens the play effectively but also introduces the basic physicality of acting in a vivid way and spotlights the complex recursive cycles of reading, invention, re- reading, and re-invention that is at the core of performance models of reading. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: There is a tactical decision you must make before starting this activity: do you want to precede this work with props by having students focus on the relation of Theseus and Hippolyta? and in particular to explore how Hippolyta's unspoken responses may cue Theseus's "what cheer, my love?" The advantage of starting with this activity first is that if students are aware of the key choice here--are Theseus and Hippolyta in harmony or disharmony when the play opens? and does the treatment of Hermia alienate Hippolyta to some degree?--this will inform their exploration of the scene. Conversely, however, you may want to let them discover this issue through their own explorations, and then use that discovery to cue introduction of McGuire's concept of open silences. (1) Explain briefly that you want the class to explore the diverse ways the opening of A Midsummer Night's Dream can be performed while at the same time adding another key element, stage properties, to their conceptual and practical vocabulary for reading playtexts. (2) Divide the class into three groups of eight students. Each group will read, cast, rehearse, and perform the opening scene of the play. Give the first group the rose, the second group the book with the cover reading THE LAWS OF ATHENS, and inform the third group that they get to produce the scene without a prop. (3) As the students read and rehearse, I circulate from group to group. Mostly, I just listen. When it seems appropriate, I may ask an open question or a question that refocuses discussion and action if the group seems stalled. Otherwise, I simply let them get on with it--and store away bits of the process that may be useful to bring up in discussion later. (4) Each group performs the scene. After the applause dies down for each performance, we write notes on what struck us about that performance. Those who have just performed write about what they discovered only in the act of performance. (5) We move into the discussion, starting with observations of what struck them about each scene. (6) I ask students to write in response to three further questions: (1) What did you discover by going through this process? (2) What was most striking about each group's performance and use of its prop--or the most striking feature of the performance without a prop? (3) What does a prop do? 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: A number of points emerge in the discussion. Students are, first of all, surprised and intrigued by the prop, and by the variety of things they can do with the prop. They note how differently the props function and also begin to invent further alternate performances. In some cases, they discuss the variety of ways they experimented with the prop before making their performance choices. They note the to-them-surprising ways in which a prop can not only shape a scene but even change the meaning of the words of the text, or else highlight meanings or patterns they had ignored. The rose, for example, drew attention to or underlined (or as Alan Dessen would say, italicize) other moments when flowers were mentioned. They are struck by the potential for non-verbal action to pervade and shape a scene or to transform character relations. They discover how the prop makes interesting forms of non-verbal communication possible, so that, for example, the rose can function to connect Hippolyta and Helena even though they are not onstage together. And the scenes will have highlighted the variety of ways that Hippolyta and Theseus can maintain their relation or have it altered as the scene unfolds. The rose, for example, can be used by Hippolyta to express or communicate a wide variety of responses: as he turns to exit, for example, Theseus sometimes finds a pile of rose petals at his feet, and must respond as best he can to this public statement. Or using the book, it can seem as if Theseus either finds or invents the third alternative he offers Hermia--and thus raises other questions about his motivation, and, in some performances, whom he is addressing: when he says "by no means extenuate," he may be appealing to Hippolyta, aware of her rising anger and trying to explain to her that he has no choice in the matter. Finally, we return to the question "What does a prop do?" Here, students discuss the way in which the two props, which at first seem merely to literalize a cue in the text, nonetheless begin to transform the actors' relation to the text and transform the meaning created through the text. Props, that is, can stimulate invention, which in turn can open the text to new readings, which can in turn stimulate further invention. I also point out that a prop may serve as a catalyst and then be discarded in the actual performance, so that spectators never see the prop--and yet the prop will have nonetheless helped the actors compose or invent the performance. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Edward Rocklin .This activity is described in greater detail in my essay "'An Incarnational Art': Teaching Shakespeare," from Shakespeare Quarterly, 41:2 (Summer 1990): 147-159. As I note in the article, the two props were suggested by performances described by Philip McGuire in Speechless Dialect. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: Philip McGuire, Speechless Dialect: Shakespeare's Open Silences (University of California Press, 1985). 11. VARIATIONS: As noted above, this activity can be paired with an activi= ty introducing Philip McGuire's concept of "open silences" in connection with Hippolyta's silence in this scene. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Voice and Body Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Whispered Monologues" 3. GOALS: To strengthen communication and concentration. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Full class. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: About five minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Class spreads out around the room. Simultaneously each actor whispers a pre-memorized monologue to the person across the room from them. (It does not matter if the person across does or doesn't pick them as their "target" in return.) 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Each actor is instructed to make th= eir communication specific and clear. Holding onto individual concentration is difficult, which is part of the point. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Audrey Stanley 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Voice and Body Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Throwing Your Line" 3. GOALS: To develop students' awareness of the importance of the last word of each line and to "physicalize" the language. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Any number 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: Five minutes or more, depending upon students' endurance. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Using any sonnet, or any verse passage from the plays, the group, speaking in unison, reads the passage one line at a time, physically throwing the final word with their arms. The exercise is continued, with variations: the final word is kicked into the center of the circle, then punched, then shouted as the speakers jump on the final word. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Importance of the final word in a l= ine of verse; the value of feeling the language physically; associating it with one's musculature. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Audrey Stanley, Co-Director of the Institute, UC-Santa Cruz 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Any verse passage from Shakespeare may be used. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Exploring the Text 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Picturing the Words" 3. GOALS: To foster awareness of how learning dramatic text can be achieved by means other than imprinting words onto memory. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Small groups -- e.g., 8-12 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: A selected speech, preferably one in blank verse that can be broken down into coherent phrases. A Shakespeare lexicon might come in handy. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: Approximately 45 minutes for a speech broken down into 8- 12 phrases. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: In selecting a speech, try to pick one that is rich in imagery and one that no participant has previously memorized. Arrange participants in a circle. Break the speech down into coherent capsule phrases and assign participants a discrete phrase, no longer than a pentameter line (can be shorter if punctuation summons), with the order of phrases following how people are seated in the circle. Each participant is then asked to convert the phrase into pictorial images or signals and to draw them on a sheet of paper large enough for everyone in the group to be able to see clearly. Words and letters cannot be used. Assure them that drawing skills are not important -- represent the icons as best they can; they will have the opportunity to explain what has been drawn. Think in phrases rather than word-by- word. Use images of association when words are abstract or hard to represent in straight-forward objective terms. Allow time. Provide help by asking questions about what the meaning of the word might look like, or what association the participant might have with the word, and so on. Avoid telling participant what to draw. Unfamiliar words should be looked up. Arcane metaphors can be paraphrased first. Once everyone has drawn their pictorial codes, let each participant explain what she/he has envisioned and how it relates to the textual phrase. Others can ask questions to clarify -- minor adjustments to the drawing can be added on the spot. After each phrase/drawing is explained, everyone speaks the phrase while looking at the drawing. Work one phrase at a time, in order, around the circle. When all phrases have been presented, have group jointly speak the speech, phrase by phrase, as each participant holds up the analog drawing. Pause and re-explain where necessary. Repeat the sequence two or three more times until everyone seems somewhat confident. Then ask that they jointly speak the speech without the pictures being held up, trying only to remember the pictorial cue. The final stage can involve selecting individuals to recite or play the speech, again following the sequence of images remembered from the circle of drawings. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: This exercise works very well for those who create strong connections to pictorial references but it may not work equally well for all. Emphasize that our mnemonic processes may work in different ways. Some of m= y students who have had particular difficulty learning lines by rote, have found this method to be very helpful. The sequence aspect is very important. Discussion of how the logic of a speech or scene is sequenced can enhance understanding. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Paul Nelsen, Marlboro College. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Language: Sounds, Structure, Meter 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Isolating Word Types" 3. GOALS: Understanding the words and rhetorical slant of a speech or scen= e. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: All or any 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: Script or photocopy handouts of speech/scene. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: Will vary depending on number of participants and length of speech or scene. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: We will be parsing the language and collecting word types into categories: e.g., identifying all the nouns or verbs or modifiers and listing them. Each participant can either list the words on separate paper or use some other code for identifying types on the script page(s) -- such as color coding with highlighters or circling all the nouns, underlining verbs, and bracketing modifiers. When participants read lists aloud, ask how these collected word groups contribute to understanding of meaning, character, situation, or style of rhetoric for the speech/scene as a whole. Is the language dominated by object references, names of people, pronouns, actions verbs, verbs of being, or are there long strings of adjectives/adverbs? Once the groups of words have been identified, try reading the whole speech giving special emphasis to one type of word at a time: e.g., hit all the verbs with more expressive energy than all the other words. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Why do we use different types of words in different situations? Is the scene or speech a composed description of things? An eruption of spontaneous feeling? How frequently and where does "I" -- first person singular -- appear? Do object references fall into a pattern of imagery? How many words are subject to modification? Are there patterns of antitheses? As will be the case with many exercises, there may be more revealing questions raised than easy answers provided. Experience with this kind of word work indicates that it encourages participants to think about how the words function in shaping the tenor of communication. In many instances, participants discover how dynamic the expression of words can be. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE : Paul Nelson's class and rehearsal experiments. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: Chapter 4 in Cicely Berry's The Actor and the Text. 11. VARIATIONS: With some speeches, isolating the pronouns and names of people can be revealing. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Language: Sounds, Structure, Meter 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Finding the Breaks" 3. GOALS: To encourage understanding of use of line length (breath length), punctuation and holding vocal energy up to end of line/ sentences/ speech. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Whole class in groups of 4 or 5, sitting one behind the other, or in a circle. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: Index cards 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 20 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Locate verse passages from less well-known Shakespearean plays. Rewrite clearly, removing all indication of length of line, punctuation marks, editorial additions. On the index cards this will look like prose. Retain capital letters for proper names and apostrophes for possessives or shortened words. The first player in the first group takes a card and reads it aloud, sight unseen, then passes it to the next person. Each person reads with only the previous reading to help her/him to make sense of the passage. By the time it reaches the last member of the group it usually makes reasonable sense. Then the first group sits aside and watches the next group struggle to make sense of their card. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Follow up with discussion of how Shakespeare helps the reader/ actor by the way he shapes his verse line, by breath control and punctuation. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: I believe this game is used in the summer training course at the Royal National Theatre, but its actual source is unknown to me. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: Try the same game with passages from Moliere (Wil= bur trans.), with other verse playwrights, and even with contemporary U.S. prose playwrights such as Mamet. Discuss how natural Shakespeare's verse line is to English speakers. 11. VARIATIONS: John Barton. Using the Verse videotape (Films for the Humanities, 1990). 1. GENERAL HEADING: Voice and Body Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Painting with the Breath" 3. GOALS: To connect deep breathing with imagery, language, and expression; to incorporate the text. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Any number of students, working individually. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 15 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: (Students should be well warmed up before beginning this exercise.) Take a deep breath and direct it out between teeth and lips on a "FFFF" sound. When you run out of air take another breath and continue the "FFFF" sound. Imagine that the jet of air is a stream of color that you can paint or draw with. Move your head and your entire body to direct the airstream of "FFFF." The whole body should be connected to these deep breaths. a) "Paint" a picture: a ship sailing on ocean waves, with clouds and sun in the sky. b) Make a moving picture, so that the images change and transform: with your breath, "paint" the movie of Jack and Jill. c) With your breath, paint the movie of your Shakespeare speech; describe each action and image with the shape of your breath. d) Speak the Shakespeare speech, bringing the same kind of deep breathing to power your voice. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: * The relationship between breath, action, and image. * The involvement of breath and ribs with the emotions. * Bringing the entire body into expressing the imagery. * New physical insights into the imagery. * Finding the need to speak with the whole body. (Note: this exercise requires some stamina, and some young students may not be ready for the deep emotional connections that the breath work may uncover.) 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Prof. Audrey Stanley, University of California at San= ta Cruz, 1995-96 NEH Institute "Shakespeare Examined through Performance." 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Exploring the Text 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Word Work" 3. GOALS: To make words penetrate the unconscious to spark the imagination; to plumb the depth of meaning in speaking lines. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Individual coaching 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 20 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: =85 Have a student look at words one at a time =85 Have student close his or her eyes and have them speak words with intens= e side- coaching. After every question, have the student repeat the word Example: Student: "BRASS" Coach: What color is it? What does it feel like to touch? Feel the vowels and consonants. Student: "STONE" Coach: What does it look like? What does it feel like to touch? Have you ever thrown this at anyone? What's it like to be hit by one? Feel the vowels and consonants Student: "EARTH" Coach: What does it smell like? What's it like to put your hands in? What does it look like from a spaceship? Feel the vowels and consonants. Student: "SEA" Coach: What color is it? How does it feel on a hot day? Is it calm or stormy? When were you last by the sea? Student: "MORTALITY" Coach: "What do you see? Do you think about your own mortality? Would you like to live forever? Feel the consonants. Student: "POWER" Coach: Where do you feel it in your body? What makes you feel powerful? Are other people more powerful than you? What could you achieve with power? Then have the student rest, relax, stretch, and shake it out and then recite: Since brass nor stone nor earth nor boundless sea But sad mortality o'ersways their power. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: N.A. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Adapted loosely from Kristin Linklater's Freeing Shakespeare's Voice, NYC: Theatre Communications Group, 1992. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Endless!!!! 1. GENERAL HEADING: Voice and Body Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "The Prayer Stretch" 3 GOALS: To place the breath and allow it to find its natural position; to open the entire ribcage around the center of the body; to allow the diaphragm to freely move in and out; to activate all muscles that support the outward breath; to build breath capaci= ty. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Any. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 5 - 10 Minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: =85 Start in the prayer position. That is, get down on your hands and knees= , then allow your bottom to collapse onto your feet with your arms relaxed along the sides of your body. =85 Let your forehead or a side of your face lean all the way forwards, resting on the floor in front of you. Feel comfortable without any strain, breathing in and out. You should feel the intake of breath reaching and stimulating the muscles in your back, sides, diaphragm and abdomen. =85 Next roll onto one side and curl into a fetal position and breathe. Straighten up to kneeling and roll onto the other side. Breathe again. =85 Now lie on your back and hug your knees to your chest and breathe. Release your legs and return them to the floor and rest. When ready and rested return to your feet and back to center. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: N.A. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Patsy Rodenburg's The Right to Speak, NYC: Routledge, 1992. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Voice and Body Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "The Hum" 3. GOALS: To adjust to a larger performance space and to increase volume, projection, and comprehension. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Any. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 20 - 30 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: =85 Begin with a physical and vocal warm-up so all are "tuned-up." =85 Then place students in a circle and set up a hum, each person feeling th= e vibrations in the chest, back, head, and face. =85 When the hum is satisfactory, have the students spread themselves around the space as much as possible, and set up the hum again. Continue the hum until you feel it is just as strong and vibrant as when the students were close together. =85 When the group is in tune with each other and confident, move the hum up a pitch. =85 Come back into your circle, let each person in turn sing a word from the play on any note they like. The group must listen and then sing it back accurately. =85 Do this a second time round the circle, and this time the group can slig= htly exaggerate what they hear-even make some kind of gesture as they sing. =85 Next use take a piece of text, not from a play you are working on, but a similar style and work it through together in the circle for breathing, verbal energy, and relaxation =85 Then take a line or a line-and-a-half round in order, giving a moment fo= r each person. Then have the students spread out throughout the space-as far from each other as possible-and speak it through. =85 Experiment with volume-have students whisper their lines, then soft, the= n loud- see how meaning and understanding change. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION/DISCUSSION: N.A. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Cicely Berry's The Actor and the Text, London, Virgi= n Books, 1993. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Voice and Body Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "The Chair Throw" 3. GOALS: To place the breath and allow it to find its natural position; to open the entire ribcage around the center of the body; to allow the diaphragm to freely move in and out; to activate all muscles that support the outward breath; to build breath capaci= ty. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Any. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: One chair per student. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 5 - 10 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: =85 Stand at center and take a breath. Placing your hands on either side of= your ribcage, gently but firmly make it move in as you breathe out. Sense but don't fight the upward swing as the air drops back in. =85 Next lift a chair above your head as though you are about to throw it. Don't strain with a weight heavier then you can handle. Keep the shoulders as relaxed as possible. Breathe in and out regularly as you perform the action. As you do this "lift and throw" motion notice the added power you can now feel in the breath and muscles. Put the chair down. Breathe again. You should instantly feel mor= e support and power. Test this by vocalizing on a hum or by speaking some tex= t. =85 Now breathe as you push a substantial but moveable object around the roo= m 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: N.A. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Patsy Rodenburg's The Right to Speak, NYC: Routledge, 1992. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Voice and Body Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "The Bear-Hug" 3. GOALS: To place the breath and allow it to find its natural position; to open the entire ribcage around the center of the body; to allow the diaphragm to freely move in and out; to activate all muscles that support the outward breath; to build breath capaci= ty. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Group Exercise: unlimited maximum 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 5 - 10 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: =85 Begin by hugging yourself with your arms crisscrossing your breast, with wrists and hands wrapped around the back. =85 Now try and hug yourself without creating and shoulder tension or raisin= g your shoulders. =85 Let your head drop the chin down onto your chest but stay as loose as possible and do not strain your neck. =85 Flop forwards from the waist, keeping your knees slightly bent. =85 While in this down, hugged position take your time to breathe in and out fully. =85 After several breathes like this, release the hug and let your arms drop= down towards the floor, coming up very slowly and back to center. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: None 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Patsy Rodenburg's The Right to Speak, NYC: Routledge= , 1992. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Voice and Body Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "The Air Pump" 3. GOALS: To place the breath and allow it to find its natural position; to open the entire ribcage around the center of the body; to allow the diaphragm to freely move in and out; to activate all muscles that support the outward breath; to build breath capaci= ty. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Group Exercise: unlimited maximum 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 5 - 10 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: With feet together, flop over from the waist, keeping your neck and head as untensed as possible. Bend your knees, enabling yourself to place both fists on the floor just in front of your feet. As you breathe in you should simultaneously push down with your arms and try to straighten your legs on the intake of breath. The air will pump in and down low. As you breath out you release the pressure and feel your bottom lowering and your knees bending. Do these several times and then return slowly to center. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: N.A. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Patsy Rodenburg's The Right to Speak, NYC: Routledge, 1992. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Voice and Body Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Strengthening" 3. GOALS: To place the breath and allow it to find its natural position; to open the entire ribcage around the center of the body; to allow the diaphragm to freely move in and out; to activate all muscles that support the outward breath; to build breath capaci= ty. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Any. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: =85 Lie on the floor on your back, making sure your head is not tilting back= wards =85 Breathe in and out as you lift your legs so that they are at a right angle with the rest of your body. =85 As you breathe out on an 's', 'z', 'sh', 'm' and 'ha' (and/or text), you should be returning your legs to the floor slowly as possible with the legs remaining straight (YOU WILL FEEL THIS the next morning!!!!). =85 As you get fit and bold you can extend the routine by bringing the legs right over your head until your toes touch the floor. =85 When finished, draw your knees up to your chest and hug them to release any back tension. =85 Now squat on the floor with your hands in front of you to balance yourself. Keep the shoulders and head as free as possible. Pant on the diaphragmatic recovery and then voice the sounds 'sh', 'ha', 'hay', and 'ma.' =85 Repeat the sequence but this time on your hands and knees. Keep the= head and shoulders free so look down as you pant and make sounds. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: N.A. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Patsy Rodenburg's The Right to Speak, NYC: Routledge, 1992. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Body Sound" 3. GOALS: To locate sounds in our bodies. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Any number 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 5-10 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Participants lie on floor, get comfortable, a= nd repeat the following: four sounds: oi, ga, pa, s-s-s. Let whatever emotions come up drive the sounds, first with the body still, then letting the body move with the feeling/sound. Ask, "What kind of creature is this sound?" Then participants engage in conversation with a partner, a question and answer exchange which involves conflict. Then participants react to others, then to a huge fire consuming the world, then to a cool, soothing rain. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Discoveries in the process of locat= ing sound in the body. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Audrey Stanley, University of California, Santa Cruz 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Back-to-Back" 3. GOALS: To encourage relaxation and concentration 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Full class, in pairs. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: Five-to-ten minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Actor pairs with memorized, prepared scenes s= it back to back and run lines. If well placed, the vibrations of their voices physically massage the partner while running the lines. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Discourage turning and looking over one's shoulder to the partner. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Audrey Stanley 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Walk Around" 3. GOALS: To build concentration, alertness, and a group dynamic. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Group Exercise: unlimited maximum 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: Form the class into a circle-have them all tu= rn sideways so that they are looking at the back of the person next to them. Have the students begin to walk slowly-sidecoach to insure that equal distance is kept between each person. Now establish a rhythm by having the class count off 1-2-3-4-each number corresponding to a step. Once a rhythm is established and the students are maintaining their distance, ask the students to clap on the second count (1-clap-3-4) while they continue walking. Once this is established, keep adding to the level of difficulty by telling the students to drag their right foot on 4 (1-clap-3-drag foot). Once this is established, tell them to rub bellies on 3 (1-clap-rub belly-drag foot). Once this is established, and the students are comfortable-STOP! Start the entire process over but this time have the students walk backwards. It helps immensely if you have a drum and beat out time for the students. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: The importance of concentration. The creation of group dynamic. Students love this exercise and find it an enjoyable challenge! 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Adapted from Robert Lewis. Advice to the Players. Ne= w York: Theatre Communications Group, 1980. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Instead of a circle, have the students walk in a square formation, making sharp turns at the corners and/or a triangle. Another variation is to change the count from 4/4 time to 6/8 time or 3/4 time. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Improvisation 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "The Mirror Game" 3. GOALS: To build concentration and alertness; partner interaction. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Minimum of 2, unlimited maximum 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10 - 15 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: Separate class into pairs. Have each pair of actors stand facing each other. Designate who will be Actor 1 and Actor 2 in each pair. Actor 1 is the lead, Actor 2 is the mirror. Encourage students to lock eyes and not look at each other's body. Begin the exercise by instructing Actor 1 to slowly move his or her right arm and hand in slow continuos movements. Actor 2's goal is to mirror exactly the movement of Actor 1. Once the students are comfortable with this, instruct Actors 1 to add in left hand and arm, then entire body (while remaining cemented in place). Once the Actors are moving in unison, have them switch and Actor 2 becomes the leader and Actor 1 the mirror. =46urther variations include having the leader do simple tasks-brushing hair= , shaving, putting on nail polish, brushing teeth, etc. Advanced variations entail splitting the class into groups of four. One group of 2 is the lead pair, the other pair is the mirror. The lead pair then completes full body motions: tossing an imaginary ball back and forth, playing tennis, using a two-man saw, etc. The second pair then mirrors this activity. Don't necessarily tell the students what to do-see what ideas they come up with. A super advanced variation is to split the entire class into two groups and have them stand at opposite ends of the room-Then create an imaginary rope and have the class play tug-of- rope. Intense side-coaching is needed for this exercise to be successful. 8. POINTS FOR DISCUSSION: The importance of concentration-the action/react= ion dynamic-the interdependence of actors on the stage. Body alertness; direct seeing (no imitation); and inventiveness. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Viola Spolin. Improvisation for the Theatre. Evanst= on, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1963, 1983. Greg Atkins. Improv! Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann, 1994. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Unlimited 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Oooh-Aaah" 3. GOALS: To build concentration and alertness; physical and vocal warm-up; release of tension; and allow students to make fools of themselves. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Group exercise: unlimited maximum 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 5 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: Have the students stand in a circle. Then "throw" a physical action and a nonsense sound to one of the other actors in the circle. That actor must "return" the same action and sound back to the originator, who immediately throws a new action and sound to a different student in the circle. This continues until an actor fails to return the action/sound to the original actor, takes too long to respond, or makes another type of "mistake." When a student makes a "mistake", the errant actor restarts the exercise by creating a new action/sound and throwing it to another actor. He or she then becomes the focal point until someone makes a mistake. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: The importance of concentration-the action/reaction dynamic-the interdependence of actors on the stage. Body alertness; direct seeing (no imitation); and inventiveness. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Greg Atkins. Improv! Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann, 1994. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: A variation that I use in class is to have the students stand in a circle. One student throws out an action and a thought (he or she throws out hands and screams-"I hate chemistry")-then everyone together and the originator repeat exact phrase and motion. Then the person to the left of the originator throws out a phrase and an action-everyone repeats and this continues until the circle is completed. Students should not think about their phrase or action, but should react instinctively-one potential drawback is that there is no time for editing. During one class, a student screamed "F*** Holy Cross" and threw himself on the floor-then all 16 students-at the top of their lungs repeated this. Unfortunately our acting studio is located under the offices of the school's administrators who didn't appreciate 16 voices screaming at the top of their lungs such a sentiment..... 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Murderer" 3. GOALS: To build concentration, alertness, and a group dynamic. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Group Exercise: unlimited maximum 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10 - 30 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: Have the actors sit on the floor in a circle with their eyes closed. Tap one actor on the head. This actor is the "murderer." Once the murderer is picked, the actors open their eyes and try to discover who the murderer is without being "killed." The murderer kills victims by winking at them. When winked at, a victim silently counts to three, makes a disgusting noise, and dies. If an actor in the circle thinks he or she knows who the murderer is, he or she closes his or her eyes and raises a hand. As soon as three students think they who the murderer is, ask them to whisper the name to you-if they are wrong-they are killed instantly. The round ends when three people correctly identify the murderer. The exercise can then be resumed with another murderer. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: The importance of concentration. The creation of group dynamic. The importance of observation. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Greg Atkins. Improv! Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann, 1994. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A.. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Indian Chief" 3. GOALS: To build concentration, alertness, and a group dynamic. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Group Exercise: unlimited maximum 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10 - 30 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: Have the actors sit on the floor in a circle. Choose one student and have him or her leave the room. Then select one student to be the "Indian Chief." This student then initiates a group "mirror game" by making distinct movements (rubbing nose, wiping forehead, patting thighs, clapping, etc.) The actions should be distinct and should change regularly. The students in the circle are instructed to not look directly at the leader,but to pick up cues from each other. The student who has left the room is then let back in. The student must then identify who is the "initiator." Keep an eye on your watch. Give the person who came in a maximum of one minute to make a choice. Give him or her three chances. The first few times, the person coming in will quickly identify the "Chief," but after a while the students will get better at picking up cues and working collectively. Eventually (if exercise is working properly), the person coming into the room will be stymied. This failure is a mark of success. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: The importance of concentration. The creation of group dynamic. The importance of observation. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: An old drinking game..... 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Contract & Release" 3. GOALS: Physcial warm-up and mental relaxation. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Group Exercise: unlimited maximum 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 5 -10 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: Tell your students to: Lie on your back on t= he floor. Make sure the back, neck, arms, and legs are fully extended but not locked. Close your eyes and breathe easily. =85 Contract (tense) your whole body at once, hold for several seconds and then release fully. =85 Contract just the upper half of the body (from the waist up), hold for several seconds, then release fully. =85 Contract lower half of body, hold for several seconds, then release full= y. =85 Starting with the face, isolate one part of your body at a time. Work down the body: face (eyes, nose, mouth, chin), neck, shoulders, right arm, right hand, left arm, left hand, ribcage, abdominals, buttocks, right leg, right foot, left leg, left foot. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: The importance of physical control and relaxation. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: This is a "universal" exercise-this specific description comes from Stanley Kahan's Introduction to Acting, Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1992. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Arm Throw" 3. GOALS: Physical warm-up and mental concentration. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Group Exercise: unlimited maximum 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 5 -10 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: Get the students up on their feet and spread out so everyone has room. Have the students stand in a neutral relaxed position (legs apart, shoulders down, chest up, stomach in, buttocks under). Instruct the students to place both hands in front of their chests, palms down, middle fingers touching. On a prearranged signal from the instructor (a clap, drumbeat, or pounding on a table)-students are to fling both arms straight out-palms out-and then immediately back to original position. Students are only to do this on your signal. Establish a steady rhythm until students get the hang of it. Once students are comfortable, vary the rhythm. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Are students anticipating-jumping their cue? Are they a beat behind? Discuss the importance of concentration; of listening and reacting instantly. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Robert Lewis's Advice to the Players, NYC: Theatre Communications Group, 1980. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Body Swings" 3. GOALS: Physical warm-up and mental concentration. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Group Exercise: unlimited maximum 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 5 -10 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: Tell your students to stand in a wide stance with legs slightly turned out (about 45 degrees). To prepare, reach high with both arms to one side as you shift your weight mostly over to one leg. To swing, bend your legs, fold at the waist, and drop your head as you swing the arms and upper body down in front of you; then recover over to the other side, finishing with legs straight, arms stretched overhead, and weight having shifted over to other leg. =85 Let gentle swings of the upper body in any direction carry you through space with a soaring, free-wheeling sensation. =85 Provide students with accompanying images: swing with a steady rhythm t= o hypnotize someone; swing freely and delicately like leaves blowing in the wi= nd; swing in odd, irregular rhythms like someone who is wracked with pain. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Physical relaxation combined with imagination enables the actor to work without tension. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: From Stanley Kahan's Introduction to Acting, Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1991. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Zip-Zap-Pow" 3. GOALS: To build concentration and alertness; to generate specific physical and vocal responses to other players. 4 NUMBER OF STUDENTS: groups of 8 or larger 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 5 - 10 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: All players sit in a circle. Each player presses his/her hands together with fingers pointing up in a prayer position. Player 1 begins by saying "ZIP" and pointing his/her hands towards Player 2. Player 2 may either: -say "ZIP" and continue the impulse in the same direction by pointing towards Player 3, -or say "ZAP" and reverse the direction of the impulse by pointing back towards Player 1, -or say "POW" and shoot the impulse to any other player by extending his/her arms and pointing across the circle at that person, for example Player 8. Player 8 may then start a new impulse traveling either clockwise or counterclockwise with a "ZIP" or may shoot the impulse to another point in the circle with a "POW." A player is out when he/she mis-speaks (for example, saying "ZAP" without changing the direction of the impulse), or pauses for more than 3 seconds before speaking; when he/she is out, the player should leave the circle. The game ends when only two players are left. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION/DISCUSSION: Picking up verbal cues and physical impulses from other players; tension and relaxation; specificity of addressing action and intention toward another player. 9. REFERENCE: Phillip Joseph, from ACTER (A Center for Theatre, Education = and Research at UNC-Chapel Hill) 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Ways of Walking" 3. GOALS: To allow states of mind to permeate movement. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Any number 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 5-10 minutes 7. DESCRIPTION: Group walks at moderate pace around the space you are working in. Leader gives directions on various states of mind to be embodied in walk: peaceful, proud, dejected, in a hurry, tiptoeing quietly, nervous pacing, etc. 8. POINTS FOR DISCUSSION: How movement embodies and communicates states of mind. Which states are more difficult to embody. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Michael Friedman, University of Scranton 10. ADDITIONAL READING: See Moni Yakim, Creating A Character: A Physical Approach to Acting on how to embody a character. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Team Recital" 3. GOALS: To build responsiveness and teamwork in working with breathing a= nd dialogue. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Groups of 8 are optimum. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 5-10 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Participants form a circle with feet touching those of persons next to them. Starter gives the first word from a line of dialogue that all participants know; next person gives the next word; and so on, each person giving one word of dialogue, trying to match the pitch, tempo, and emotion of the previous persons. Then, participants put arms around the waists of adjacent participants. Group breathes together, bending knees slightly on exhale, then straightening on inhale. Gradually the movements accompanying the exhale/inhale grow larger and as the group inhales (and rises), each person tries to lift, not him/herself, but those beside her/him (the ideal effect is that all are lifted by others rather than themselves). 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Responsiveness to spoken dialogue and to movement of others. 9. REFERENCES: Michael Friedman, University of Scranton 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Soliloquy Freeze Tag" 3. GOALS: To prepare for performance, to build confidence, to increase contact and communication 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Full class. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None, but all members of the class need a pre- memorized soliloquy. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: Twenty to thirty minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: In an open area (preferably a stage) all members of the class move about the space speaking their soliloquies simultaneously. On a signal from the instructor, all class members freeze. The instructor taps one actor, who continues his/her monologue from the point he/she had reached. While speaking it, he/she moves about the room making direct eye contact with others, moving from actor to another only at logical sentence points. When the actor reaches the end of the monologue, all begin moving again reciting their monologues until the instructor again stops the group and taps another actor. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Instructors need to observe closely= to see that the individual actors make very specific eye contact, and lock eyes with their "target" for the length of a unit of meaning. The tendency is to avoid this eye contact or to weaken it by moving on to another actor in mid-phrase. Through side-coaching encourage full contact. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Audrey Stanley 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: This exercise is very useful for preparing beginners for performance. Two actors can be tapped at once, to avoid performance anxiety or to move faster. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: Variation on "Passing the Energy" 3. GOALS: To encourage listening to one another; to practice maintaining vocal energy in every word of the line. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: groups of 4 or more 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None if students have all memorized the same speech; otherwise, a copy of the speech for each student. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: All students sit in a circle. One student says the first line of the speech, "passing" it to the next student, who then continues with the second line, and so on. Repeat, but this time use single words instead of entire lines. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Picking up verbal cues and physical impulses from other actors; fully articulating the sounds of words; inflection at the end of a line. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Audrey Stanley 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Other "pass the energy" exercises. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "The Name Game" 3. GOALS: To familiarize a group with everyone's name; to build concentration and alertness; to generate specific physical and vocal responses to other players; to raise the energy level and volume of a class. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Groups of eight or larger 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: Chairs are useful, but could be dispensed with. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 5-10 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: All players sit in a circle. Each player presses his/her hands together with fingers pointing outward. Player 1 begins by pointing at some other player and saying his or her name then counting rapidly to ten. Before the number ten is reached, Player 2 must point at some other player, say his or her name, and begin counting to ten. No stumbling or "er-ing" is allowed. A player who fails to respond by pointing at another player and saying the correct name before ten is reached is eliminated, and must rise and stand behind his or her chair. To speed the game, the count may be shortened to five. The last player remaining seated is the winner. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Responding to verbal and visual cues; tension and relaxation; development of ease and rapport within a group. 9. REFERENCE: Phillip Joseph, from ACTER (A Center for Theatre, Education = and Research at UN C-Chapel Hill) 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: related to "Zip, Zap, Pow" 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Mirror Exercise" 3. GOALS: To build concentration on and responsiveness to partner. To encourage immediate, rather than intellectually mediated expression and movement. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Any even number 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 5-10 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Participants pair up with partners and stand facing partners. First one, then the other, make clear facial expressions (at first slowly, becoming more rapid) which the partner should copy as exactly and as quickly as possible. Next: same with body movements rather than facial expressions. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Observing changes in partner. Translating observations to one's own expression/movement. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Michael Friedman, University of Scranton 10. ADDITIONAL READING: See Sanford Meisner On Acting in general re: responsiveness to partner. 11. VARIATIONS: both expression and movement together. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Circle Names" 3. GOALS: To build capacity for spontaneous reaction. To build recognition of other actors as characters. To build ability to work closely together. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Groups of 8 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Participants form a circle with their feet touching those of the persons next to them. One person stands in the middle of the circle. One person (not in the middle) starts by saying the name of someone else not in the middle. The person in the middle tries to touch (gently) the person whose name is called before that person can call another name; if s/he succeeds, the person touched moves to the middle. If the person in the middle does not succeed with the first name called, s/he continues to try to touch the person whose name is called before that person can call another name. The game is repeated, but this time characters' names from the play being worked on are used rather than real names. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Responsiveness to spontaneous direction: Tension/relaxation. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Michael Friedman, University of Scranton 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Any genre of names can be used (requires participants to get names the other participants are using quickly). 1. GENERAL HEADING: Warm-up Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Circle Backrub" 3. GOALS: To build responsiveness to touch. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Minimum of 5 or 6 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 5-10 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Participants stand in a circle all facing the same way, with hands on the back of the person in front of them (their "partner" for this exercise). Leader touches the back of the person in front of her/him in a distinctive way, repeating the touch long enough for her/his partner to discern its pattern. Partner copies pattern of touch on his/her partner's back. That person in turn copies pattern of touch on her/his partner's back and so on around the circle. While the first touch pattern is circulating around the circle, the leader introduces a new distinctive pattern of touch on the back of his/her partner, who then copies it on his/her partner's back, and so on around the circle. Leader introduces a new touch pattern, etc. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Translating touch to gesture: How had touch pattern altered by the time it went around the circle, and why? 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Michael Friedman, University of Scranton 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Improvisation 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "The Honey Walk" 3. GOALS: To build concentration and alertness; prompt imagination 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Group exercise-unlimited 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10 - 15 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Have the class spread out around the room. Instruct the students to put on their imaginary scuba diving outfits and to begin breathing through their regulators. Then tell the students that they are walking/swimming through =85 Water =85 Motor Oil =85 Honey =85 Hardened Jello =85 Wet Cement The cement, however, is drying quickly and the students are to be become "frozen" in the cement. After everyone is frozen in whatever position they find themselves in-tell them to break out of the cement. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Were they pretending or living truthfully under imaginary circumstances? What is the difference? 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Adapted from Greg Atkin's Improv!, Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann, 1994. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Endless.... 1. GENERAL HEADING: Improvisation 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "The Family Feud" 3. GOALS: To build concentration and alertness; prompt imagination; group dynamic; observation. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 5 students at a time while the rest of the class observes and guesses. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10 - 15 minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Pick out five students at a time. Take them into a corner and tell them what kind of family they are. They then stand in front of rest of class and strike poses a la that terrible television show: "The Family Feud." Types of families are: =85 The Accountant Family =85 The Fish Family =85 The Snake Family =85 The Big Butted Family =85 The Weight Lifter Family =85 The Elvis Family The rest of the class calls out guesses until they figure out what family is on stage. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Not really any-this is a good ice breaker early in the semester that allows everyone to have fun, relax, and become less self- conscious. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Adapted from Greg Atkin's Improv!, Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann, 1994. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Endless.... 1. GENERAL HEADING: Improvisation 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "The Elevator" 3. GOALS: To build concentration, alertness, and a group dynamic. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Group Exercise: 5 -10 students at a time. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10 minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Place four chairs so that they form a square- This is your elevator. The front two chairs indicate the doors of the elevator. Everyone has gotten on a different floor and no one knows each other. When the improvisation starts the elevator is on its way down from the 60th floor of the World Trade Tower- It is an express and there are no doors between where you are and the lobby. At a certain point the instructor will bang his or hand on a table. That is a signal that the elevator has stopped- it is stuck in the middle of the shaft. The students must decide for themselves who they are, what they were doing in the building, and where they were going. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Defining given circumstances; acti= ng truthfully under imaginary circumstances; acting versus pretending. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Adapted from Robert Lewis. Advice to the Players. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1980. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A.. 11. VARIATIONS: Give one or two students specific given circumstances (one = has claustrophobia; one is going into labor; one has a crucial job interview; one was meeting a hot date, etc.). My favorite variation is to throw a wad of paper onto the "elevator" - it is a giant waterbug... 1. GENERAL HEADING: Improvisation 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Real & Imagined Activities" 3. GOALS: Public Solitude & Given Circumstances 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: One student at a time. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: N.A. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 5 minutes per student. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Inform students of this exercise in advance a= nd make it an assignment. Each student must bring a "real" activity to class. Eating a salad, painting their nails, shaving their face, ironing a shirt, shaving their legs, etc. Then have one student at a time get up before the rest of the class and "truthfully" complete their activity. Have the other students observe closely. After 2 or 3 minutes change the given circumstances. The student shaving is 15 minutes late for a crucial interview. The woman shaving her legs is going to meet her lover. The student eating a salad has not had food for two days, etc. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Illustrate the notion of public solitude. Are students "performing" or being real? Is someone blushing? How does changing the given circumstance impact upon the activity? 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Adapted from Sonia Moore's Stanislavski Revealed. (NYC= : Applause Theatre Books, 1991). 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: The next class period have the students repeat their activity, but this time without any props. They must imagine the activity and recreate it exactly. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Improvisation 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Justification" 3. GOALS: To develop the imagination by fantasy 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Group exercise or individually. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10 - 15 minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Have the student (s) strike a pose arbitrarily and try to justify it. This takes three steps. First, strike any pose without thinking about it. Second, relax all muscles except those necessary to maintain pose. And third, ask the student when, how and why they might find themselves in such a position. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Muscle tension and relaxation; the use of imagination; and the ability to act instinctually. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: I. Sudakov's essay "The Creative Process" in Toby Cole= 's Acting: A Handbook of the Stanislavski Method, NYC: Crown Publishers 1955. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Improvisation 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Imagined Activities" 3. GOALS: To build concentration and alertness; Public Solitude; imaginatio= n 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 4 to 5 students simultaneously, but working independently. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10 to 15 minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Imaginary activities are akin to pantomime, b= ut without exaggeration. Students should be told to complete the activities exactly as they would in "real" life. Sonia Moore differentiates between two type of activities: Whole Body & Fingers and Hands. Full Body: Make a bed Dig in the ground Clean a room Plant a tree Wash the floor Bowl Do the laundry Pack a suitcase Fingers & Hands Thread a needle Paint a picture Make a salad Peel a hot egg Scramble eggs Open up a lock w/key Wash your face Sew a hem 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: The importance of concentration; Public Solitude; and Observation. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Sonia Moore, Stanislavski Revealed. NYC: Applause Theatre Books, 1991. I. Sudakov's essay "The Creative Process" in Toby Cole's Acting: A Handbook of the Stanislavski Method, NYC: Crown Publishers 1955. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Unlimited 1. GENERAL HEADING: Improvisation 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Imagination" 3. GOALS: To synthesize naivet=E9 and imagination; to encourage actors to think fast. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Group exercise or individually. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: Paper and pencils for students. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10 - 15 minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: Spread your students out in the room. Have t= hem sit with pen and paper. Now tell them to close their eyes and to concentrate on your voice. In a quiet, but reassuring voice take your students on an imaginative journey. Tell the students to imagine the following: =85 They are to go to the window and look out =85 See a balustrade. =85 See a pigeon on the balustrade. =85 Watch the pigeon fly away and look at the mess it left behind. =85 Look down over the balustrade =85 See a UPS delivery truck with the back of the truck open. =85 Look at the color and shape of the truck. =85 See a child skipping rope past the truck. =85 Look at the shoes she is wearing. =85 Look at the UPS driver taking a package out of the back of truck =85 Look at the way he is dressed. Now, tell your students to open their eyes and immediately sketch the street and the scene that they have imagined. Their level of artistry is irrelevant- it is their ability to fill in the details prompted by these few images that is key. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: These snapshot images are analogous to the limited details supplied in a dramatic text. Actors must use-and train-their imagination to fill in the blanks and complete the picture. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Adapted from Stella Adler's The Technique of Acting, N= YC: Bantam Books, 1988. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Endless. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Improvisation 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Fantasy" 3. GOALS: To synthesize naivet=E9 and imagination; to be childlike. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Group exercise or individually. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: A baseball cap, a stick, a letter on a table w/chair. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10 - 15 minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: =85 Place a baseball cap on a table. Imagine that it is a rat. Justify thi= s perception. Picture the physical aspects of the rat; its size, color, shape. You must see the actual cap, but regard the size, color, shape as those of a rat's. =85 Now imagine the cap is a cuddly puppy. Imagine the brim is the puppy's muzzle, the cap's top as its back, and so forth. Your relationship to it and your ability to perceive the puppy's physical properties will then endow it with reality. Create an attitude toward it: love, interest, disgust. Show your attitude toward the puppy through your handling of the cap. =85 Look at a stool. Create an attitude toward it as if it were 1) a beehiv= e 2) a kennel, housing a vicious dog, and 3) a huge basket of food. =85 Look at a stick on the stage. Create an attitude towards it as if it were 1) a gun, 2) a snake, and 3) a musical instrument. =85 Find a letter on the table and read it. First decide whether it contains good news or bad. In either case, imagine all the details in it: 1) who wrote it, 2) for whom it was intended, 3) what does it say?, 4) what is the background of its contents, 5) who are you, 6) from where have you just come. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: The use of imagination; the ability= to act instinctually; and emotional and sense memory. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Evgeni Vakhtangov cited by Mel Gordon in The Stanislavski Technique, NYC: Applause Theatre Books, 1987. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Endless. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Improvisation 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "The Cross Walk" 3. GOALS: Affective Memory & Substitution. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Minimum of 2, unlimited maximum. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 15 minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: Separate the class into two groups on either side of the room. Have the students line up with back to walls and split them into partners-one partner on opposite sides of the room. Have each partner walk toward and then past the other partner. Establish the "given circumstances": tell the students that the person they love intensely is walking by them-they are not allowed to touch or talk to each other-they will never see each other again. They must communicate their deep love-they can linger, even circle each other- but no touch; no talk. Continually side coach. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: The importance of concentration; th= e action/reaction dynamic; the notion of living truthfully under imaginary circumstances;usingemotional memory as a trigger for substitution. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Bill Raymond of Mabou Mimes. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: The second time round: the partners hate each other intensely-each feels the other has betrayed him or her. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Improvisation 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Concentration" 3. GOALS: To build concentration and alertness; imagination. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 4 to 5 students simultaneously, but working independently. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10 - 15 minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP-DESCRIPTION: =85 Study a wallpaper pattern and then describe it accurately =85 Listen to a sound and describe it =85 Do a difficult arithmetic problem mentally =85 Note, in a few seconds as possible, as many details as possible of someo= ne's clothing =85 Complete a simple math problem while other people badger the student =85 Master the contents of a short essay while other people talk, laugh and generally try to distract =85 Sing a song while another piece of music is playing simultaneously 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: The importance of concentration; Public Solitude; and Observation. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: M. A. Chekhov's essay "Stanislavksi's Method of Acting" in Toby Cole's Acting: A Handbook of the Stanislavski Method, NYC: Crown Publishers, 1955. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Unlimited 1. GENERAL HEADING: Exploring the Text 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Cavepersoning" 3. GOALS: Discover essential line of communication in speech or scene by isolating key words and delivering them with resonant, animated expression. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Can work in pairs or small groups. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: Memorized text 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: Will vary depending on the size of the group but it can be explored in about half-hour session. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Warm up group by getting them to play cave-ta= lk, pretending to have only a primitive command of language -- something on the order of Tarzan's level of locution to Jane or simpler. Let gestural charade-like signals accompany speaking of words to help clarify or magnify intent of speech. Each participant will try to distill a speech or a scene by speaking the fewest possible words without losing the essential line of communication. The meaning of the chosen words can be charged with nuance to convey some of the function of the words omitted. Partners of speaker can encourage repeated expression of words -- such as by asking "Huh?" -- until significance is understood. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: The fun of this exercise comes out = in how it helps demystify complex language by channeling thought and feeling into fundamental sounds in few words. Participants should know the full lines well enough to make informed choices. Histrionic vitality should be encouraged but efforts should be grounded in an earnest attempt to communicate. The active involvement of the correspondents who ask "huh?" will foster appreciation of how the words need to be empowered with specific meaning in order to effectively communicate. The process helps break down inclination to recite memorized words. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Paul Nelsen, Marlboro College; I connect my first experiments with this exercise to Peter Brook's work with text in the 1960s. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: Cicely Berry's The Actor and the Text, Chapter On= e. 11. VARIATIONS: An exercise that reduces a speech to "telegram" language is similar in its emphasis on finding the essentials, and can work very well as a written assignment. "Cavepersoning" is a more active, histrionic, and playful class/rehearsal approach. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Improvisation 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "The Telephone Call" 3. GOALS: To build concentration and alertness; partner interaction; talking and listening. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 2 students at a time. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 10 - 15 minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Place two chairs about two feet apart with th= eir backs to each other. Each chair is in a room in a separate location. One student sits in the chair and "telephones" someone else in the class. When their name is called, the second student sits in the chair and answers the "phone." The first actor needs/wants/demands something from the other student. The other student should react honestly and respond. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: The action/reaction dynamic; the interdependence of actors on the stage; the nature of dialogue; pursuit of conflicting objectives as the essence of drama. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Adapted from Robert Lewis's Advice to the Players. 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Students often come up with pretty lame objectives, so I tend to prompt them by preparing scenarios and handing them to the caller. For example, student A has a paper due in one hour and needs to "borrow" an old paper from student B or student A needs student B to come home with him or her and pretend to be their boyfriend or girlfriend for a high school reunion or student A is accused of shoplifting and needs student B to lie that he or she was with them at the time of the theft, etc. The scenarios should prompt inherent conflict. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Exploring the Text 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Using the Quarto Texts for Discussion/Written Assignments" 3. GOALS: To destabilize notions of "the" playtext; to heighten awareness of early modern composition and publishing practices. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: N.A. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: Photocopies of relevant passages from variant texts or appropriate editions placed on reserve in the university library. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: N.A. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Ask students to discuss in small groups or in their own writing such questions as the following: Should Hamlet be given his final soliloquy? Does Edgar or Albany have the last speech in King Lear, and what difference does it make? Discuss the benefits and challenges of performing the different playtexts of Hamlet. Make a case for the performance of the Q1-only elements such as the Gertrude/Horatio scene in Act 4; the inclusion of Ophelia's lute; the Ghost's nightgown in the closet scene; both Laertes and Hamlet leaping into Ophelia's grave. Should Gertrude or Horatio be given the line "Let her come in"? 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Editorial choices; relation of page= to stage; textual scholarship and performance practice. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Alan Dessen 10. ADDITIONAL READING: Paul Bertram and Bernice W. Kliman, eds. The Three= - Text Hamlet: Parallel Texts of the First and Second Quartos and First Folio (NY: AMS Press, 1991); Rene Weis, ed. King Lear: A Parallel Text Edition (London: Longman, 1993). 11. VARIATIONS: Create your own. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Exploring the Text 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "The Research Team" 3. GOALS: To introduce students to the types of research tools which are available for the study of Shakespeare, and to acquaint them with how to use those tools. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Preferably more than ten. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: A number of relevant reference books and severa= l editions of Shakespeare (e.g., depending upon the play, a concordance, Partridge's Shakespeare's Bawdy, Onion's Shakespeare Glossary, the old Variorum, the =46olio, and a number of modern editions). 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: Ten to fifteen minutes, depending upon the length an= d complexity of the scene. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Roles are assigned, and students read through a scene (e.g., Macbeth 1.2). One student is stationed at each version of the text and each reference book; one student is assigned to identify all images; All the other students act as detectives, seeking the facts revealed in the scene (e.g., bad weather, intent to reunite, an upcoming battle, etc.). The scene is read, the researchers shouting, "Stop!" whenever their text varies from the one being read, or whenever a footnote appears in any of the texts, or whenever an image is identified. A scribe writes down all of the words phrases or references which require further research. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Students are often unaware of the resources that are available, or don't know how to use them, or think such research would be boring. This activity should address all of those problems. (Some of the references listed above do not lend themselves to rapid search or application as this exercise calls for [e.g., a concordance or Shakespeare's Bawdy]) . 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Audrey Stanley, Co-Director of the Institute, UC-Santa Cruz 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: This exercise is similar to "Detective Story." 1. GENERAL HEADING: Exploring the Text 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Have I Scene You Before?" 3. GOALS: Have students think about the scene and act structure of the pl= ay. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Any class 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: Scripts copied to regular paper 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 20 minutes (discussion time) 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Download the play you will be considering from the Internet. The two best places I have found are the following: http://the-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare or http://www.gh.cs.su.oz.au/~matty/Shakespeare/. Using your word processor, remove all act and scene divisions from the scrip= t. Have students read the play first from the unmarked script, putting in act and scene divisions where they think they fit. Then, compare with the Folio and a modern editio= n. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Emotional and dramatic structure of the play; dynamics of audience response. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Dan Colvin 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATION: Give students one scene from a play. At the top of the scene, list all textual stage directions. Then have students insert stage directions where they believe the text has them. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Exploring the Text 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Graphing Dramatic Structure: Characters and Stage Time" 3. GOALS: To render the structure of a play visually, and examine its implications. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Individuals. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: Scripts; paper, ruler, and colored pens or pencils; or software for making graphs/charts. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: Preparation time: 1 hour min. (homework). Discussion time: 15 - 30 minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Assignment: to graph the entrances, exits an= d relative stage time of every character in a play. The most sophisticated graphs separate each scene, plotting the speech of each character against the line numbers of the scene. Ideally the entire play should be visible on the graph or chart. It is helpful to distinguish characters with different colors or patterns. Once students have completed their graphs, they should share and discuss them with classmates. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: * Key scenes and dominant roles; * Relationships of multiple plotlines and their respective groups of charact= ers; * Presence of non-speaking characters on stage; * Rhythm of the play as a whole; * Recurrence of individual figures over the course of the play; * Practical directorial concerns of entrances and exits; * Practical concerns of doubling, tripling roles among a limited acting comp= any; * Act and scene divisions, and their editorial history. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Prof. Audrey Stanley, University of California at San= ta Cruz, 1995-96 NEH Institute "Shakespeare Examined through Performance." 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: Variation 1) Have students write about their discoveries. Variation 2) Divide the graph into French scenes (i.e. the entrance or exit of any character begins a new scene, regardless of editorial act or scene divisions= ). Variation 3) Use the graph to figure out how a theatre company from Shakespeare's day might have had their limited number of actors double and triple to fill all the roles of the play. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Performance Exercises 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Do It!" 3. GOALS: To enhance students' comprehension of the psychological struggle which Macbeth is waging with himself in the "If it were done" soliloquy; to strengthen their understanding of the structure and development of the speech. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Any number of pairs 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: None 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: Ten minutes 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: In each pair, "A" plays Macbeth and recites t= he soliloquy to "B"; every time "A" reaches a period, "B" says, "Do it," perhaps with varying intonation. "B" must affect, provoke, challenge "A." Then the roles are reversed. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: The structure of the soliloquy shou= ld become more evident to the participants, and the degree to which Macbeth is arguing with himself should become clear. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Sam Dale, from ACTER (A Center for Theatre, Education and Research at UNC-Chapel Hill) 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Exploring the Text 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Casting the Play" 3. GOALS: To define individual interpretations for staging the script and its characters. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Individuals 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: Script, paper, pencil. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: Preparation time: 30 minutes. Discussion time: 15 - 30 minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: Cast each role in the play with a well-known actor or public figure. Share and discuss the cast lists. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: * Interpretation of character type and function; * Type-casting; * Casting against type; * Cross-gender casting; * Gender- or race-neutral casting. * Generational relationships and differences between characters (for instanc= e, how old are Lear's daughters?); * Physical and vocal requirements of different roles; * Audience associations and expectations of individual actors. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Prof. Audrey Stanley, University of California at San= ta Cruz, 1995-96 NEH Institute "Shakespeare Examined through Performance." 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: 1) Give the ideal age for each character. Variation 2) Specify the quality of the actor or public figure that seems appropriate to the role. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Video and Film Analysis 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Shakespearean Theatre Vocabulary: Darkness, Ghosts and Vanishing" 3. GOALS: To explore the theatrical possibilities for communicating darkness and vanishing on Shakespeare's stage. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Any number of students. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: VCR; videotapes and scripts of scenes in which darkness is dramatically important, or in which ghosts vanish from the scene. Alan Dessen's handout cited the suggestions for darkness in the stage directions of Heywood's The Iron Age, and Tailor's The Hog Hath Lost His Pearl; the editorial variants of accounting for the movements of Demetrius and Lysander as they miss each other in the dark wood in 3.2 of A Midsummer Night's Dream; and the stage directions for the ghosts in Richards' Messalina, Goffe's The Raging Turk, 1 Hieronimo, and 5.3 of Shakespeare's Richard III. He provided videotapes of the ghost sequence (5.3) in Jane Howell's BBC video of Richard III and of the Puck-Demetrius-Lysander chase (3.2) in Peter Hall's video of A Midsummer Night's Dream. 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 45 - 90 minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: 1) Introduce technological differences between the contemporary theatre and cinema and Shakespeare's stage. 2) Examine stage directions and dialogue for indications as to how darkness might have been achieved on Shakespeare's stage (props, gestures, movement, lines). 3) Examine stage directions and dialogue for indications as to how and when ghosts might have entered and exited Shakespeare's stage. 4) Watch videotaped productions of the scenes. Discuss how these productions chose to represent darkness and ghosts. Discuss which conventions have been invoked. 5) Examine different editions of the same scene. Discuss how and why the editors have made decisions to translate the original theatrical idiom into more contemporary parlance. (Alan Dessen discussed the editorial additions of entrances and exits to 3.2 of Dream to explain why Lysander and Demetrius miss each other onstage; under the original convention of staging darkness, these extra exits and entrances might not have been necessary.) 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: * Theatre history and architecture; * Historicity of theatrical vocabularies of conventions; * Relationship of convention to meaning (for instance, one staging technique may imply that a ghost is an independent supernatural being, whereas another may imply that it is the psychological projection of a neurotic individual); * Gains and losses in updating or translating the original staging conventions. 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Prof. Alan Dessen, University of North Carolina, 1995-96 NEH Institute "Shakespeare Examined through Performance." 10. ADDITIONAL READING: N.A. 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Video and Film Analysis 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Introduction to Theatre Vocabulary and Stage Conventions" 3. GOALS: To introduce students to the historicity and context of signifiers in the art of theatre. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Any number of students. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: VCR; at least two videotapes of different stagings of the same moment from a play in which there are radical differences in theatrical means and conventions. (Alan Dessen used two versions of the third episode of Oedipus, in which the Messenger from Corinth reveals that Oedipus was not the son of Polybos, and Jocasta guesses the truth: the BBC version, directed by Don Taylor, which uses Edwardian dress and naturalistic staging conventions within the vocabulary of contemporary students; followed by the video of Tyrone Guthrie's Stratford production, which uses the unfamiliar vocabulary of masks, stylized gestures, and heightened design choices.) 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 20 - 30 minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION: 1. Introduce characters and action of scene. 2. View at least two different versions of the scene. 3. Invite discussion, comparison, contrasts. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION, DISCUSSION: Concept of theatrical conventions as particular to a specific theatre and audience, and the circumstances that might create them: What happens if audience is too far away to see facial expressions? What conventions arise to compensate? How to achieve darkness on stage without artificial lighting? How to let audience know that the same actor expresses more than one character? What else is different between the original audience and the present-day audience? What might the original audience have understood that we miss? 9. SOURCE/REFERENCE: Prof. Alan Dessen, University of North Carolina, 1995-96 NEH Institute "Shakespeare Examined through Performance." 10. ADDITIONAL READING: Patrice Pavis, Languages of the Stage (NY, 1982) 11. VARIATIONS: N.A. 1. GENERAL HEADING: Video and Film Analysis 2. TITLE OF EXERCISE: "Comparing Film To Play Narratives: Otello And Othello" 3. GOALS: To examine difference between the nature of Othello's love for Desdemona in Shakespeare's script (as shown in Othello's narrative set-speech 1.3. ) compared to that suggested by the Verdi/Zeffirelli operatic version. 4. NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Class of any size. 5. EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES: Video version of Franco Zeffirelli's film of Verdi's Otello, cued up to the Act I love duet, "Gia nella notte densa," and video version of Janet Suzman''s Othello with John Kani, cued up to the start of Othello's narrative 1.3. 128- 170. "Her father lov'd me, oft invited me." 6. CLASS TIME NEEDED: 30 minutes. 7. STEP-BY-STEP DIRECTIONS: Play each version, beginning with Zeffirelli's version of the love duet, in which the librettist Arrigo Boito quotes from Shakespeare's 1.3. Othello narrative. (Zeffirelli fills out the description with scenes from Othello's capture by slave traders, the death of his mother, scenes in Brabantio's house with Desdemona listening, and views of the wedding bed. Contrasting this visual elaboration of the past is the extended narrative in Shakespeare's script, which makes the audience imagine such scenes for themselves.) Give students five minutes after each scene to jot down their responses. Then discuss their discoveries. 8. POINTS FOR OBSERVATION AND DISCUSSION: In what ways does Zeffirelli manipulate the audience's responses to the love of Othello and Desdemona thro