12/9/ THEATRE VOCAB MS. ELSON

12/9/ Upstaging is… When an actor is standing in front of another person and they can ’ t be seen OR it means that the actors is not facing the stage and can ’ t be seen by the audience

12/9/ Cheat Out Turn your body half way toward the audience and half way to the other actor so that the audience can see and hear you

12/9/ Diaphragm: Muscle that supports your breath in order to control your vocals onstage

12/9/ PROJECTING To Project is have control of your voice, supported by your diaphragm using a full breath to reach even the back of the audience How do you project? Try this…

12/9/ Mugging is …

12/9/ Mugging is… Overacting Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Depends on the play! Go for the truth of the play you are in.

Indicating Overdoing the showing without feeling or believing it. Bad acting 12/9/2015 8

9 What is MIME?

12/9/ MIME Acting without words, OR with words USING GESTURES Imagining some or all of the props

12/9/ OBJECTIVE What your character WANTS in a play Or goal in the play

12/9/ MOTIVATION Why your character wants what they WANT

12/9/ Intention HOW your character gets what he she wants Beg, guilt, seduce, bribe, threaten, befriend… Your character ’ s tactic

12/9/ RAISE THE STAKES Make the motivation stronger. Your job as an actor is to find the best, strongest motivation to think about so you can act the scene with truth and immediacy MUST be LIFE OR DEATH for your character or it isn ’ t a good motivation

I.P.C. Immediately Preceding Circumstances What happened to your character right before you walk on stage Is it raining, did you just have a fight with a friend? Etc… 12/9/

12/9/ IMPROVISATION IMPROV Acting without a script-- making it up off the top of your head

12/9/ Stage Manager Helps director run rehearsals, takes blocking notes, on book for actors, sets up stage before rehearsal, in charge of running show when it is show time, on headset with “ lights up… ” etc. Runs around before show (Or assistant stage manager shouting… “ 5 minutes to places ” or “ places everybody! ”

12/9/ What do you say when a stage manager tells you…? “ Five minutes to places! ” You say….?

12/9/ Stage manager THANK YOU, 5 MINUTES!

Spike-- 12/9/ The tape used on the stage to show where the set pieces go.

12/9/ Director The person in charge of everything about how this play looks, sounds, feels and must think of the audience, actors, crew, designers and make everything run smoothly.

Playwright The writer of a play 12/9/

12/9/ Given Circumstance In the script, the writer gives you clues to how your character acts It is the unchangeable facts of the play that the actor can not change If it says your character is 15, wears glasses and loves to sing-- you can ’ t change that

12/9/ Stage Directions Do you remember the 9 stage directions? Make a box, put a tic-tac-toe board in it. Write audience on the bottom and draw the 9 directions.

12/9/ The Stage Directions

12/9/ BLOCKING The written directions that a director gives the actor and s/he writes in the margins of his/her script

Warm-ups 12/9/ Physical & vocal exercises to get mind and body ready to perform on stage

What do you want as an actor for your character? Sympathy or Empathy? 12/9/

EMPATHY 12/9/

4 TH WALL 12/9/ THE IMAGINARY WALL BETWEEN THE AUDIENCE & THE ACTOR – SOMETIMES IT IS BROKEN ON PURPOSE – IF THE ACTOR TALKS DIRECTLY TO YOU!

12/9/ PLOT ANOTHER WORD FOR PLOT IS…

12/9/ Plot Story: James and I wanted to swim, so we went to the beach. Then it started to rain, and because we couldn't swim comfortably any more, we went home.

Protagonist or Antagonist? The main character is…? The Protagonist The person who tries to stop the main character is… the Antagonist. 12/9/

The antagonist is not always the villain!!! 12/9/

Conflict Needed in a play or there wouldn’t be any drama. Person vs. person, person vs. the universe, person vs. self 12/9/

Climax Highest point of tension in the play Usually when the protagonist fights the antagonist… 12/9/

12/9/ OBSTACLE A HURDLE OR PROBLEM THE CHARACTER MUST GET OVER IN ORDER TO GET HIS/HER OBJECTIVE.

12/9/ COLD READING

12/9/ COLD READING For auditions, rehearsal and for play readings actors do this technique which requires them to make strong choices and act even though they only have a few minutes to go over the lines.

12/9/ MONOLOGUE HOW MANY PEOPLE SPEAK IN A MONOLOGUE? WHO DO THEY SPEAK TO?

12/9/ ANSWER: ONE! From a paragraph to a whole play, one person speaks to… A) Audience B) Universe C) Themselves D) Another character/object standing in for a character

12/9/ Dialogue is… Two or more people speaking on stage

12/9/ Setting Details about the location the play takes place. Example: In a dark haunted house, there is a breeze blowing the curtain of a broken window. A lone candle is flickering and a creaky door sounds off stage.

12/9/ Time Time of day, time of year, season Example Time: In the summer of 2050 there is snow on the ground. It is 8pm.

12/9/ At Rise What used to rise in the old days that gives us this saying?

12/9/ The Sun or Curtain At Rise: The first thing you see when the curtain Goes up or the lights go on, before they speak

12/9/ What is upstaging yourself or others mean?

12/9/ SO WHAT DO YOU DO IF A DIRECTOR SCREAMS-- “STOP UPSTAGING YOURSELF?” A) SCREAM BACK B) LOOK BACK IN YOUR PACKET AND LOOK UP WHAT UPSTAGING MEANS C) SMILE BECAUSE YOU REMEMBER THE ANSWER IS…

12/9/ What is it called when you are talking clearly to the back of the stage… A) Yelling B) Projecting C) Talking loudly

12/9/ Improv RULES There are five… let ’ s learn ‘ em together

12/9/ What are the class consequences? There are 4