TEAM
for Actors
A Holistic Approach to Embodied Acting
©2012 Laura Bond
www.teamforactors.com
Book Design by Janet Aiossa
Photography and Photo Illustration by Ron Morecraft
Posture Modeling by Katherine Palm and Robert Abrahamson
All rights reserved.
The use of any part of this publication, reproduced, transmitted by any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior consent of the publisher is an infringement of the copyright law.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4792800-6-3
ISBN-10: 1-4792800-6-2
ISBN: 9781624882784
Printed in the USA
I often tell acting students, “No actor is an island.” I think it helps them understand that acting is a community engaged art form that cannot exist without the support of others. This consideration can be as simple as needing an audience to witness the work, or having actors act off other actors, creating an ensemble, and taking direction. Then there are the many individuals responsible for contributing to a performance piece as a whole: writers, designers, managers, run crews, marketing teams, facilities staff, etc.
I feel the same about my writing, and the process of creating this book. Without contributions and support of so many individuals over the years, this book would not be possible. I dedicate this book to two very influential groups of people who made this text feasible: (1) the group of students that embraced these ideas, exercises, and techniques in my acting classes and rehearsals, and whose experiences and stories are included in this book, and (2) my Asheville writers group who faithfully and tirelessly read, re-read, critiqued, encouraged and pushed me to find my voice on this subject during its seven years of development. To them, I will be forever grateful!
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
The Challenge of Acting
Embodied Acting
Common Acting Techniques
TEAM for Actors
TEAM as a Holistic Approach
Personal Use of the TEAM
How to Use this Book
Chapter 2: Thoughts
Thoughts
Opposing Objectives Create Conflict
Thoughts as Objectives
Objectives and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Needs Are Interpreted Individually
Thoughts and Victories
Raising the Stakes
What You Want—Not What You Don’t Want
Doorway Visualizations
Basic Needs and Objective Development
Conditions vs. Objectives
The Main Objective
Applying Basic Human Needs to Objectives
Scene Objectives vs. Tactics
The Super Objective
Using Action Words
Action Words Categorized by Basic Human Needs
Objective Statements
Give it to me!/No!
Applying a Thought Approach
Summary of Thoughts
Chapter 3: Emotions
Emotions
Emotional Colors and Tactics
Basic Emotions
Emotion Words Categorized by Basic Emotions
Emotional Embodiment
Character Personality and the Social Mask
Applying Emotion Tactics
Breaking a Scene into Beats
Beat Shifts and Obstacles
Perspective Motivates Tactics
Beat Subtext
The Arc of the Scene
Guidelines for Emotion Tactics
Applying an Emotion Approach
Summary of Emotions
Chapter 4: Actions
Actions
Action Tactics
Weak Choices
Facades and Masks
Reactions and Discoveries
Reactions and The Button
Strong Choices
Postural Attitudes
General Muscle Movements
Opposite States of Expressive Behavior
Postural Attitudes as Embodied Actions
Postural Attitudes and Action Words
Action Words Categorized by Postural Attitudes
Outside In or Inside-Out
Dynamic Choices and the Third Choice Theory
Selecting Tactics Using Antithetical Thinking
Actions Applied to Activities
Applying an Action Approach
Summary of Actions
Chapter 5: Manifestation
Manifestation
Inhabiting the Part
Essential Action
Universal Qualities in Essential Actions
Essential Action Statements
Essential Actions for Challenging Situations
The Essential Action Bridges Two Worlds
Using Personal Connections
Identifying Essential Actions and Personal Connections
The Complete TEAM
Varying Your Approach and the MVP
Side Coaching the TEAM
The TEAM in Practice
Bubbling Up after Side Coaching
Embodying the TEAM
Conclusion of the TEAM
Appendix A: TEAM Checklists
Appendix B: Sample Open Scene for Practice
Appendix C: Scenes by Sam Post for Practice
Appendix D: Possible Answers to Exercises
Notes
“A word does not start as a word–it is an end product which begins as an impulse, stimulated by attitude and behavior which dictate the need for expression.”
– Peter Brook
Actors surround us with performances every day: on televisions, in movies, on phones and through computers. Actors sell products, report the news,
and satirize current events. They entertain, inform, and entreat us into new experiences. Through performance, actors move us to think, feel, and behave differently. They convince us that we are watching reality, even when we are not. They enact the stories by novelists, playwrights, script writers, storytellers, poets, and song writers. We rely on actors to provide skilled performances. We want them to move us, to invite us to merge with their imaginary worlds. Actors are the conduits for all these vital theatrical experiences.
Highly skilled actors can woo their audiences into believing a fictionalized reality. These actors play their characterized parts without the audience recognizing that finely tuned skills were applied to their acting craft—so fine the acting technique is invisible. In other words, as Jimmy Stewart is known for saying, “It’s well done if you can do a part and not have the acting show.” Well done acting takes a great deal of skill, and yet is applied as if it were delivered effortlessly.
An actor’s skill development is much like that of the magician’s process for creating his magic on stage. A student magician studies, practices, and often fumbles through endless hours of preparation in order to make his conjuring appear swift and easy. He works long hours convincing fine muscles to carry out intricate moves. One hand flourishes to distract while the other secretly completes an act of deception. Meanwhile, his face expresses joy and ease—to create a mystical moment inspiring awe from his audience.
In essence, students of acting are no different from those studying to be magicians. Acting students also use their entire bodies to prepare for a role, and they are highly dedicated to skill development and concentrated practice. Magicians’ intentions may be to dazzle, the actors’ skills are hidden behind characters who are often as common as you or I. In such cases their talents and skills become invisible. The actor may not appear as awe-inspiring as the magician, whose performance is so foreign to a common life. Great acting skills are often so well integrated into the resulting performance that the actual skill behind that performance can go unrecognized, unappreciated, and unfortunately, unknown to aspiring actors who need to recognize and value these skills the most.
When the actor successfully portrays a believable character, he manages to make the audience accept that the illusion he creates is reality. Peter Brook summarizes this point well in a passage from The Empty Space:
“The vehicle of drama is flesh and blood and here completely different laws are at work….A ballet dancer is sometimes close to this by his own personality or by the outer movement of life. But the moment the actor dresses up and speaks with his own tongue he is entering the fluctuating territory of manifestation and existence that he shares with the spectator.”1
An actor who manifests this kind of performance, regardless of the size of the role or the style of venue, is producing high quality, embodied acting.
The original meaning of the word embody was, “a soul or spirit invested with a physical form; of principles, ideas, etc.” The word embody emerged from en-body, or to be “in-body.”2 Embodied acting is to give tangible, bodily, or concrete form to the abstract concepts revealed through scripts and stories. Fully embodied acting portrays all facets of a character’s internal thoughts and feelings, as well as external actions, and shares them in truthful, believable human behavior. Embodied acting is necessary in productions from stage to television, to the big screen.
Renowned acting teachers like Stanislavski, Meisner, Hagen and Chekhov refer to embodiment techniques by stressing the study of the character’s motivations as well as their resulting actions, or behavior. Sanford Meisner is known for displaying a framed sign hung in his New York City acting studio stating, “An Ounce of BEHAVIOR is Worth a Pound of WORDS.”3 Michael Chekhov’s key Psychological Gestures are built upon the combination of thoughts (or Images), feelings, and will-impulses (or actions).4 Uta Hagen describes detailed activity and sensory exercises for acting preparation. Stanislavski’s acting books refer to embodiment techniques discussing action, imagination, objectives, emotion memory, and plasticity of motion. The basic theories of these respected teachers reflect a common message for actors. The ultimate goal of any actor is to perfect the study and portrayal of all facets of human behavior. However, far too many don’t know how to manifest these theories into practice, and produce fully embodied acting. TEAM for Actors recognizes the benefits of many respected acting theories, and yet provides tangible, reliable tools that assist the actor in synthesizing theories into behavior that is supportive of the character’s needs and desires.
Some acting techniques may only address one area of either the mental, physical, or emotional influences on behavior. People recognizing commonalities in these techniques categorize them under three general areas: (1) Inside-Out, (2) Outside-In, and (3) Emotion-Based.
The “Inside-Out” approach focuses on back-story and analysis. This technique suggests if the actor understands the character’s history and way of thinking, the emotional and physical aspects will follow naturally. This theory might break down all the intricacies of the character’s thoughts, past experiences, and future desires—but how do the characters feel about these desires, and then how do they show it? Using only this approach, the actor may not learn to connect her thoughts with actions and emotions. Actors who don’t make holistic connections are often described as “talking heads” or “heady actors.” Their performances can come off as stiff, closed in, and disconnected from the rest of their bodies, as well as from other actors.
The “Outside-In” approach proposes to “play the action.” It suggests if the actor starts with a physical action or gesture it will provoke the inner life of thoughts and emotions to emerge. This technique focuses on the physical intricacies of muscles, breathing, movement, gesture, and activity. If the inner life of thoughts and needs does not connect with these movements we might ask, “Why is the character doing these actions, and how is he moved to do so?” Such actors are mesmerizing to watch, but the audience witnessing these acrobatics may be left searching for the character’s motivations.
Emotion-Based acting approaches center around detailed emotional exploration. Some techniques in this category encourage the actor to connect with life experiences to evoke emotions similar to those of the character’s situation. The techniques that consistently use the actor’s traumatic life experiences to motivate their work can be very damaging to the psychological and emotional well-being of the actor. Performances based only in strong emotional behavior can be very moving to witness, but then, why is the character emotional, and how does she convey what she wants through behavior? Shakespeare might describe such performances as, “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Actors who learn a purely emotional approach and have not gained the skills in understanding character motivations or shifting beats of action, can come across as self-involved and inflexible.
Each of these techniques provides important tools for actors, and if looked upon as one of many approaches for the actor to study, each can become a valuable acting tool in the actor’s “tool box.” However, if an actor studies only one of these methods, she may miss the vital whole of her character, and her acting craft.
The actor must always remain aware that in order to depict the entirety of human behavior, all parts that make the whole of being human must be studied and practiced. We are beings that think, feel, and behave as we manifest our lives. Acting is a living art, combining the current life of the actor with the imagined life of the character. There is a saying, “You cannot step into the same river twice,” for not only is the river ever flowing and changing, but so are you. When an actor performs she intertwines the character with her own vibrant living system. Performing a character is a multi-layered process with two personalities interwoven in the act of presenting one.
An actor is responsible for creating a well-rounded truthful character who interacts with external conditions—the story, environment, and other characters and actors. At the same time the actor interacts with internal conditions—thoughts, emotions, and beliefs of the character and the actor. The actor must be constantly aware of the ever changing circumstances for the character and for the actor—both internally and externally. Every change and shift in these parts will affect the whole.
When we consider how complex this process is, we cannot simply rely on one aspect of this intricate whole. The actor needs a process that helps her explore all external and internal components, understand their inter-relationships, and learn the skills to connect these with her entire thinking, feeling, and being. TEAM for Actors provides this process.
I developed TEAM for Actors while teaching for the University of North Carolina, Asheville Drama Department and as an international workshop instructor of Alba Emoting™. Since my arrival at UNCA in 1998 I recognized that student actors struggled with creating fully embodied acting. They often expressed an inability to grasp the concepts of creating clear active objectives based in strong needs and desires. They needed tangible techniques for selecting and embodying authentic and diverse expressions of their character’s behavior. These students struggled most with putting all these elements together into a holistic product, as they favored one aspect of emotion, action, or intellectual investigation over the other. Their performances at the time could not manifest a full synthesis of these vital components in order to bring embodied life to the script. They did not realize that, as Peter Brook states so clearly, “A word does not start as a word—it is an end product which begins as an impulse, stimulated by attitude and behavior which dictate the need for expression.”5
Actors who have not worked holistically may analyze the script for intellectual choices, but then leave these discoveries behind on the page and never fully connect those ideas to the final performance product. Or they make exciting emotional connections, yet do not fully understand why the character is so emotional. Another actor may have vigorous movements and gestures that fully embody a character, but lack either a grounding in the text or the application of subtle nuances that come from listening and reacting to another actor. It was through these discoveries and the need to provide actors with tools for making connections to all the aspects of an embodied performance that I created TEAM for Actors. I’ve thoroughly tested the approach, terms, and exercises in this book through extensive classroom and rehearsal investigation.
TEAM for Actors synthesizes three elements in human behavior: thought, emotion, and action. This holistic technique helps actors see how these three inter-related parts are present in the actor’s life, in the character’s life, and in basic human behavior. This union of the first three parts combined with the actor’s Personal Connection to these elements manifests a fully realized, passionate, embodied performance.
TEAM is an acronym: Thought + Emotion + Action = Manifestation
The book provides a chapter for each aspect of the approach, presenting theories and tangible methods for exploring the areas of Thought, Emotion, and Action. The Manifestation chapter guides the actor through the process of unifying with the character’s experience and moving from theory into embodiment.
TEAM for Actors unites: traditional actor training approaches, basic human behavior theory, and the somatic approach of Alba Emoting™. This unification assists the actor in moving from the theoretical, to the practical, and into the tangible. The root of the word somatic is soma meaning, “living body as experienced within,” a term meant to resolve the gap between the mind and body, representing a holistic perspective of the person. This book often refers to the Alba Emoting™ technique6, developed by neuroscientist Dr. Susana Bloch. Alba Emoting is a reliable, safe, and measurable method for embodying emotions and actions of expression. Alba Emoting theory is threaded throughout TEAM for Actors and provides a scientifically proven method for understanding and embodying expressive behavior. Alba Emoting offers a means for examining physiological activities, modes of expression, and the inner thoughtful experience of expressive behavior and how these elements then meld into a fully embodied performance.
The book includes many of my own original exercises created through years of experimenting with this approach. I also share stories of acting and directing experiences using TEAM for Actors in my classes and rehearsals. In order to connect these acting theories with basic human behavior, I include Maslow’s basic psychological theory of a human hierarchy of needs and connect each term and method used in the TEAM to examples from daily life. Finally, since past acting teachers will always influence and inform the present, the book also refers to revered acting techniques, relevant terms, and traditional theories and exercises developed by notable acting teachers.
Thoughts are intrinsically tied to emotions and actions, and these ultimately lead to manifested visible results. Some may call this result a performance, an act, living the part, living in one’s words, or embodiment. Whatever name one assigns the result, TEAM for Actors makes it clear that all of these simultaneously cooperative elements create that result. These inter-related aspects are present in your life, in the character’s life, and in all human behavior. When you feel an emotion, you simultaneously have thoughts about this emotion, or had thoughts that influenced that emotion. At the same time you engage behaviors and physical reactions to these thoughts and feelings. A multi-layered interactive communication process continues to build as you take actions that express additional emotions, develop reactive thoughts, and evoke these multiple layers in the behaviors of others.
[Example] A simple example of this from everyday life might be, when you express a hearty hello to someone, but they don’t respond with a congenial hello back to you. You quickly develop your own thoughts about this exchange. Your thoughts then influence how you behave and then engage in further interactions with that person.
Since all these equally influential aspects are present in human behavior, TEAM for Actors addresses them as equal and reciprocal building blocks for creating quality acting. TEAM for Actors also recognizes that the resulting performance is the merging of actor and text. The actor analyzes and interprets text as a means of building a character that is supportive of the story. The Manifestation chapter includes methods for the actor to connect personally with the role, bringing the actor closer to believing in, and then embodying the character’s situations.
The actor’s personality, life history, and feelings about the character or the text all influence how she interprets the character. Likewise, the actor’s style of learning, mode of receiving information, and personal preferences for physical, emotional, and intellectual engagement in the craft of acting will also influence her approach. Individual preferences for learning and developing a craft are important for an actor to recognize and respect. Additionally, an actor must acknowledge that the character she plays will also have these individual preferences for personal expression. So, the actor may play a character in one script that she feels is best to approach first from a physical angle and then fill in the other aspects of emotion and action. Yet, that same actor may play a role from another script where the character is highly intellectual and so requires a thought process first. Essentially the actor is recognizing her MVP (Most Valuable Player) of the TEAM. In sports terms, the MVP could be different for each game, and there may be a string of games where the same MVP was recognized as the most influential team member for each game. However, all team members contributed to the game, and all members were necessary. The same holds true for the TEAM in TEAM for Actors.
You may already know the MVP as your own acting style, your personal rehearsal process, or how you prefer to approach a role. One element of the TEAM can be used as a primary method of preparation for a specific type of role or style of play. It is vital for your growth as an actor to recognize your preferred use of individual parts of the TEAM, and how this preference may change from situation to situation. A versatile actor accepts that different approaches may be needed for varying styles of scripts and their characters. These are all examples of how you can use a part of the TEAM as an approach, or gateway into the acting work. However, eventually all elements of the TEAM need to be incorporated in order to provide a holistic product.
TEAM for Actors can also be used as a companion text with other acting techniques or embodiment methods. Although this text provides the groundwork for you to study the Alba Emoting technique as an embodiment method, other somatic approaches and many of the regarded acting techniques referred to in this text, would work well with the TEAM as an additional source for embodiment. You may also already have a favored method for embodiment, or may find that embodying comes easily by simply imagining the given circumstances. With this in mind, you may not need further study of other embodiment methods and may be able to employ the TEAM by using this text alone.
Whether you are an actor or director, once you understand how to apply this holistic approach to acting, you can easily recognize when acting is lacking the layers and dimensions necessary to present fully embodied, truthful behavior. TEAM for Actors offers building blocks for preparing any acting role, testing approaches to scene work, addressing the delivery of a song or dance, and preparing monologues. TEAM for Actors can also be used to deconstruct a performance. When a director observes a moment in rehearsal that is not coming across believably, the director can use a review of the TEAM to find the missing link. The side coaching techniques in this book also provide the director with rehearsal methods for coaching actors on elements of the TEAM and helping actors embody their choices in the moment. When acting, you can use the approach as a reflection method after receiving notes for changes from a director. Also, when you recognize that something is not working right in a scene or performance, you can use the TEAM as a review process before the next performance. Both actor and director can utilize the TEAM as an active tool for initially creating dynamic acting roles, and then as a retrospective analysis of performances in process.
I recommend that you read this entire book, while exploring all aspects of the TEAM. After doing so, you will be able to identify your own preferences for a TEAM MVP and learn how each element of the TEAM can be applied to varying roles, acting challenges, and script styles. Many acting students start my classes thinking they are partial to one element of the TEAM, but then after reading the text and engaging in the various chapter exercises, discover their preferences change. Often actors establish acting preferences based on habits or limited experience with other acting techniques. Once you are introduced to new approaches to scene study and character development, you will discover a fresh and more versatile process never before imagined.
This book provides clear steps within each part of the TEAM so that you can begin a rehearsal process by applying any one of the elements that make up the TEAM. By doing so, you are exploring how to use a specific TEAM entry point (or MVP) into the craft of acting and then learning how the other elements either emerge during rehearsals or need additional exercises provided by the text to bring all elements of the TEAM to the surface. In my acting classes we typically work on four different scenes throughout the semester, providing students with the opportunity to see what it is like to approach a scene with each of the elements of the TEAM, and to learn how and when the other remaining elements emerge during rehearsals. Using various MVPs as an approach to acting work acknowledges the varying needs for individual script styles and characters, as well as recognizes how each person has their own preferred mode of acting exploration. You may find that one element of the TEAM is more accessible to you, or to your character. You may struggle with one aspect while immediately understanding and fully engaging in the other. This is a natural response when trying new approaches.
The book is written in the order of the acronym TEAM: Thought + Emotion + Action = Manifestation. The next chapter on Thoughts addresses textual analysis since most acting performances start with a text or script. Each of the following chapters build upon the acting examples set up in previous chapters to help you understand the inter-relatedness of each of the TEAM parts. The book culminates with a final chapter that provides exercises to help you personally connect with the elements of the TEAM and put theory into practice. Although the book is written in a specific order, you are encouraged to approach the study of your role in whatever order satisfies the needs of the script; however, it is very important that you ultimately include all parts of the TEAM.
Stories from actual play rehearsals, auditions, acting classes, and acting workshops are included throughout the book to illustrate how the TEAM is used. Try This exercises are also provided to assist in connecting acting theories with daily activities and behaviors. The book concludes with side coaching instructions, and short plays to use for exercises and application of the TEAM.
The book is designed as a workbook, so you can use the book while you try exercises, test open scenes, and refer to word lists during scene work. You are encouraged to keep a journal or notebook on the side so you can complete exercises that require writing down scene objectives, victory statements, and emotion and action tactic choices. Use your bookmark option to mark inspiring sections, and so you can easily find the checklists, concepts, exercises or instructions that you want to revisit regularly. This book’s objective is to become one of your favorite acting companions. So, read on and discover the power of the TEAM.
1. Peter Brook, The Empty Space (New York: Penguin Press, 1968), 17.
2. “Dictionary.com,” accessed September 1, 2012, http://dictionary.reference.com.
3. Sanford Meisner and Dennis Longwell, Sanford Meisner On Acting (New York: Vintage Books,1987), 4.
4. Michael Chekhov, On the Technique of Acting (New York: Routledge, 2003), 63.
5. Peter Brook, The Empty Space (New York: Penguin Press, 1968), 40.
6. The trademark symbol for Alba Emoting is, from this point on, implied when referring to the technique.
“Perhaps we are taught to avoid trouble [so] actors don’t realize they must go looking for it. The more conflict actors find, the more interesting the performance.”
– Michael Shurtleff
Thoughts
Thought (noun): intention, purpose, expectation, imagination, consideration, opinion, belief, reasoning power, application of mental attention7
Thoughts is a general category that encompasses the character’s thinking. Thoughts include the character’s personal objectives, self reflections, sense of identity, reactions, beliefs, justifications, back-story, personal obstacles and desires. Thoughts are explored in this chapter by introducing methods for identifying the character’s needs, objectives, goals, and victories. The use of Action Words and their relationships to these areas are also covered, along with steps for connecting these discoveries to the process of acting a role.
The first lesson in preparing a role using a Thought approach, or MVP, is to understand the character’s objective. As you read on and learn more about how objectives affect acting, consider this: “If the bare essence of acting with someone in a scene is to know why your character stays in a room with another character, what keeps your character in the room? Why not leave?” The answer is in the objective.
Objectives, often called intentions, motivate many of the character’s actions. Objectives are the driving forces behind many aspects of human behavior. Would you get in a car and start the engine if you didn’t know where you were going and for what reason? If you continued in the car down the road, with no objective in mind, you would find yourself aimlessly driving down random streets, floundering in your own indecision. Would you walk into a meeting that you scheduled with someone if you didn’t have a goal for the discussion and outcome? How strange would it be if you started putting ingredients in a bowl without knowing what you intended to make? These examples may appear absurd, when started with no clear intention, yet stepping into an acting role requires the same clarity—an objective. Stanislavski referred to objectives as “buoys to mark the channel,” guiding the actor through the proverbial creative waterways of the play’s action. He recognized that many actors skip this process or are unable to analyze a script for playable actions, and so they “find themselves forced to handle a multitude of superficial, unrelated details, so many that they become confused and lose all sense of the larger whole.”8
When I ask an actor, “What is your objective?” the beginning actor rarely has an answer, or she states an inactive objective that lacks passionate drive or dedication toward a specific outcome. An example of inactive objectives might be, “to be left alone” or “to ask him a question” or “to joke with her.” Laurence Olivier once said that the actor’s job was to “lead the audience by the nose to the thought.” An actor without a plan for action is simply lost, unprepared, and a passive victim of the circumstances. How interesting would that be to watch?
I watch auditions for our upcoming production of Neil Labute’s The Shape of Things, searching for the right actor to play the part of Adam, an intelligent yet geeky lost soul of a college student, willing to do nearly anything to be loved. I tell the actors that I am looking for someone to capture the lost puppy quality in Adam that motivates this character to do anything and everything that his girlfriend, Evelyn, asks him to do. I tell them, “He wants more than anything to be loved and accepted by a beautiful woman, but he is awkward about all his attempts—like a puppy who has not yet grown into his paws.”
The actors auditioning struggle to play this complex character. Scene after scene I watch young actors portray depressed or angry men who sulk around the stage, trapped in inactive choices, playing only the emotions of being lost, rather than pursuing the objective of being found and accepted. They weakly attempt the objectives I suggest or they remain focused on the emotions of being lost. Their performances come across stiff, withdrawn, and repetitively mundane as they mope around scenes without truly investing in the moment to moment actions and reactions of a character in pursuit of something positive—like love, affection, and acceptance. They seem unable to honestly react to what others in the scene do or say since their focus is so internally anchored in dwelling on their own emotions.
I sigh as I watch these proceedings, offering side coaching in hopes that one of these actors will have the skill to truly connect with this character’s desires and objectives. I sit and worry, “Will I find an actor who can fully personify this character?”(This story is continued later in this chapter.)
Try This:
The next time you watch a good movie, go back and re-watch scenes that were particularly engaging. Focus your attention on the character that appears to be the driving force of action in that scene. Then ask yourself, “What does she want?” and “Is this scene interesting to me because she is sincerely dedicated to obtaining what she wants?” Most likely you will be pinpointing the actor’s objective in that role. Can you figure out the objectives of the other characters in the scene and how their objectives are also making the scene so engaging?
The key to drama is conflict or opposing actions. Without driven passionate actions, conflict is non-existent. The well regarded acting coach, Michael Shurtleff, once said of conflict, “An actor is looking for conflict. Conflict is what creates drama. Plays are not written about our everyday lives or the moments of peace and placidity, but about the extraordinary, the unusual, the climaxes.” Conflict will only rise out of a situation where people are truly dedicated to their own outcomes, pitched against others who have opposing desires. Clear, active objectives are absolutely necessary in creating fully dimensional and fervently driven characters. They result in dynamic performances reflecting the epitome of the human condition. Yet actors struggle constantly to pinpoint the strongest, conflict-centered, choice for an objective. Shurtleff offers an explanation: “Perhaps we are taught to avoid trouble [so] actors don’t realize they must go looking for it. The more conflict actors find, the more interesting the performance.”9 In order to identify strong objectives, an actor must work like a detective, searching for the conflict and clues in the script to determine the modus operandi of the character. This investigative process will eventually provide strong active motives. Eventually, with practice this process will become habitual and instinctive. However, in the beginning, it may take some time to develop these skills and learn to avoid the common pitfalls of weak choices and inactive objectives.
There are three types of objectives: Scene, Main, and Super Objective. The difference between these objectives is the expanse of time over which the objective influences the character’s actions. The Super Objective is what the character wants for her life.
[Example] In David Auburn’s play Proof, Catherine is the daughter of a world-renowned mathematician who suffered from mental illness late in his life and has recently died. Catherine’s Super Objective could be to achieve recognition for my own superior talents in math. (Notice that Objective Statements are always written in first person, to reflect the character’s point of view). She grew up in the shadow of her father’s success, struggling all her life to make her own mark.
This Super Objective would easily span the duration of much of Catherine’s life. However, during the course of the play Proof, her sister Claire consistently suspects Catherine of exhibiting tendencies for the same mental illness their father had; meanwhile, Catherine keeps seeing and speaking to her dead father who appears periodically in the play. Although Catherine still continues to be driven by her Super Objective, the opposing forces of her questionable sanity require immediate attention during the period of the play.
The Main Objective is the character’s goal for the duration of the script. Throughout the play Proof, Catherine must resolve this question of her sanity and hopefully continue on the path of her personal quest. Therefore, Catherine’s focus for the duration of the play, and her Main Objective, is to prove to everyone, including myself, that I am sane. She still has the overall drive to be recognized as a mathematician, but her need for clarity concerning her sanity supersedes the Super Objective because the urgency to resolve this conflict is greater than the overall career goal.
The Scene Objective is a smaller unit of urgency and action determined by the given circumstances in a scene. The Scene Objective is still motivated by the needs of the Super Objective and Main Objective; however, when a character deals with the given circumstances of each scene, those immediate priorities must be solved first before continuing on the path to the Main Objective.
[Example] During the play Proof, Catherine becomes attracted to her father’s graduate-level research assistant, Hal. He tells her that he has always been attracted to her, and after a night of lovemaking Catherine feels she can trust him with a secret, a groundbreaking mathematical proof she wrote. Her Scene Objective could be to build a trusting relationship with Hal by sharing my secret. However, Hal questions whether she wrote the proof, claiming that it could have been written by her father. Later on, Catherine tries to convince Hal and Claire that she did indeed write the proof herself, desperate to have one of them believe her.
In this scene, her Scene Objective could be to make them believe me. Both examples of Scene Objectives still serve as supporting actions for the Main Objective and Super Objective.
To better understand how the structure of Super, Main, and Scene Objectives support each other, consider the structural support of a suspension bridge. Like the many support beams (A in the diagram above) over which a suspension bridge is stretched, the Scene Objectives have their own immediate duty: to support their particular area of the bridge’s structure. However, the Main Objective is like the long stretch of cable across the top of the bridge (B in the diagram above), stretching across the great divide, bringing the character from one destination to the next, and yet supported by the individual structures that make up the entire bridge. The Main Objective in a script is often referred to as the Through-Line for the character. Much like that main cable stretching the distance of the bridge, the Main Objective drives the character’s needs and desires through the entire script. The Super Objective is the overall journey the character wants to take. By reaching the other side of the bridge (the goal of the Main Objective), your character is that much closer to her Super Objective, which is still far off in the distance.
Try This:
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