Acting One

ROBERT COHEN was the founding chair Drama at the University of California at Irvine, where he continues to serve as the department's Claire Trevor Professor of Drama. He has also been a resident acting teacher at the Actors Center in New York, the Shanghai Theatre Academy, the Korean National Arts University, and the national theatre academies of Hungary, Finland, and Estonia. He is an accomplished stage director, scholar, playwright, drama critic, and teacher. A director by training (Doctor of Fine Arts, Yale Drama School), Cohen has staged thirteen professional productions at the Utah and Colorado Shakespeare Festivals, plus well over a hundred productions at Stages Theatre Center (Hollywood), Virginia Museum Theatre (Richmond), Theatre 40 (Beverly Hills), Image Theatre (Boston), Summer Repertory Theatre (Santa Rosa), the Medieval Drama Project (Irvine), the Manhattan Theatre Source, various universities, and several operas, videos and films. In addition to Theatre and Theatre: Brief Edition, he is also the author of many theatre books, including Acting One, Advanced Acting, Acting in Shakespeare, Acting Professionally, Acting Power, More Power to You, Giraudoux: Three Faces of Destiny, Creative Play Direction, and two dramatic anthologies. His essays have appeared in Theatre Journal, Theatre Topics, Theatre Forum, Theatre Survey, Modern Drama, Theater der Zeit, Essays in Theatre, On Stage Studies, The Drama Review, Contemporary Literature, Contemporary Literary Criticism, Slavic and East European Performance, Experiment and Innovation, and Dramatic Theory and Criticism. Cohen's play, The Prince, published by Dramatic Publishing Company, has been professionally produced in Long Beach, Pittsburgh, Budapest, and in staged readings in New York and Los Angeles; his dramatic translations (The Bourgeois Gentleman, The Misanthrope, Clizia, Tibi's Law) and opera translations (The Magic Flute, Carmen) have been both produced and published widely. For the past twenty years, Cohen has been the Southern California drama critic for Plays International, reviewing over two hundred plays. In 1999, he received the national Career Achievement award from ATHE - the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.

• PrefaceACTING ONEIntroductionPART I. PREPARATION FOR ACTING Lesson 1: Preparing to Act Relaxation / Exercise 1-1 Relaxation / Trust / Exercise 1-2 Spine Lengthening / Exuberance / Exercise 1-3 BAM-POW, Dance, Sing / Discipline / Criticism / A Playful Attitude / Freedom / PreparationLesson 2: What Is Acting? Exercise 2-1 Pledge Your Allegiance to a FlagPART II. THE ACTOR'S APPROACH Lesson 3: Goal and Obstacle Fundamental Principle / Exercise 3-1 Reaching / Exercise 3-2 Reaching for Goals / Exercise 3-3 Overcoming an Obstacle / Self-Consciousness / Exercise 3-4 Doing vs. Being / Projection / Exercise 3-5 Resonating / Exercise 3-6 Resonating (A Continuation) / Exercise 3-7 GoalsLesson 4: Acting with the "Other" The Other / Exercise 4-1 Making Your Partner Smile / Interactive Dynamics / Exercise 4-2 Vulnerability / Exercise 4-3 Discovery / The Character / Tactics / Exercise 4-4 Using Tactics / Exercise 4-5 One Two Three Four Five Six Seven / Monologues / Exercise 4-6 Inventing the OtherLesson 5: Beginning to Act Contentless Scene / Exercise 5-1 Contentless Scene I / Intensifiers / Exercise 5-2 Intensifying / Physicalizers / Exercise 5-3 Varying Locale or Action / Exercise 5-4 Contentless Scene IILesson 6: Tactics Punishment and Reward / Playing Tactics / Exercise 6-1 Frighten Your Partner / Exercise 6-2 Building Intensity / Exercise 6-3 Try to Make Your Partner Cry / Exercise 6-4 Movement and Contact / Exercise 6-5 Encourage Your Partner / Alternating Tactics / Exercise 6-6 Mixing Tactics / The Middle Ranges / Exercise 6-7 Eliminating the ExtremesLesson 7: Expectations Expecting Victory / Exercise 7-1 Playing Bored / Positive Goals / Exercise 7-2 Enthusiasm / Exercise 7-3 Try the Impossible / Eye Contact / Exercise 7-4 Tactics and ExpectationsLesson 8: GOTE A Basic Method / "Get Your Character's GOTE" / Exercise 8-1 The GOTEsheetPART III. THE ACTOR'S TASK Lesson 9: Preparing a Role Finding Your Role / Finding Your "Character" / Editing a Scene / Memorization Methods / Cues: Action Cues and Line Cues / Studying the Part / Exercise 9-1 The Gentleman Caller ILesson 10: Rehearsing Rehearsals / Undirected Rehearsals / Rehearsal Alternatives / Exercise 10-1 The Gentleman Caller IILesson 11: Staging the Scene Stage Directions / Creating the Locale / Movement and Stage Business / Interesting Positions / Reaching the Audience / Exercise 11-1 Setting the StageLesson 12: Choices The Need for Choices / Good Choices / Exercise 12-1 Bold ChoicesLesson 13: Performing Stage Fright / Classroom Performance / Play for Results--In the Other Character!Lesson 14: Evaluation and Improvement Helpful Criticism / Reworking / Exercise 14-1 Scene PresentationPART IV. THE ACTOR'S INSTRUMENT Lesson 15: The Actor's Voice Breathing / Exercise 15-1 Breathing from the Abdomen / Phonation: Making Sounds / Exercise 15-2 Sounding / Resonance / Exercise 15-3 Exploring Resonance / Pitch / Exercise 15-4 Exploring Your Pitch Range / A Stageworthy Voice / Exercise 15-5 Speaking with ResonanceLesson 16: Stage Speech Good Diction / Speech Sounds / Exercise 16-1 Vowels / Exercise 16-2 Repeating Syllables / Exercise 16-3 Consonants / Exercise 16-4 SpeechesLesson 17: Using Your Voice Liberation / Exercise 17-1 Rude Chants / Exercise 17-2 Rude Cheering / Exercise 17-3 Fancy Talk / Exercise 17-4 Address a Group / Purposefulness / Exercise 17-5 Adding PurposeLesson 18: The Actor's Body Agility / Exercise 18-1 Fast Warm-Up / Alignment / Exercise 18-2 Improving Alignment / Walking / Exercise 18-3 Sixteen Walks / Exercise 18-4 Walk and Talk / Sitting and Standing / Exercise 18-5 Walk, Talk, Sit / Velocity: Accelerating, Decelerating, and Constant / Exercise 18-6 Acceleration/Deceleration / Counterpoise / Exercise 18-7 Contraposto / Exercise 18-8 Contraction/Extension / The Dynamics of Effort / Exercise 18-9 Distinct Movements / Exercise 18-10 To Be or Not to Be / Exercise 18-11 Walking and KickingLesson 19: Voice and Body Integration Coordination / Exercise 19-1 Commands / Exercise 19-2 Speeches with Business / Exercise 19-3 Physical Punctuation / Exercise 19-4 Physical Rhythms / Exercise 19-5 Verbal Rhythms / Pointing / Exercise 19-6 Pointing / Tempo / Exercise 19-7 Speech/Movement Timing / Actors with DisabilitiesLesson 20: Imagination and Creativity Imagination / Creativity / Creativity and Imagination/ Using Your Fantasies / Exercise 20-1 Cold/Hot / Exercise 20-2 Age Regression/Advancement / Exercise 20-3 Facing an Imagined Death / Exercise 20-4 Facing Love / Lesson 21: Emotion and Acting Theory Exercise 21-1 Playing (with) Real Emotion I / Self-Consciousness / Exercise 21-2 Playing (with) Real Emotion II / PART V. THE ACTOR'S TECHNIQUE Lesson 22: Phrasing Diction / Open-Mouthed Speaking / Exercise 22-1 A Acting with Your Teeth / Exercise 22-1 B / Exercise 22-1 C / Developing Diction / Exercise 22-2 Repeated Sentences / Exercise 22-3 Shaw Speech / Emphasis / Exercise 22-4 Change of Emphasis / Exercise 22-5 Punctuate with Emphasis / Inflection / Exercise 22-6 Inflections / PhrasingLesson 23: Attack The First Word / Physical Attack / Turn-Taking / Exercise 23-1 Turn-Taking Dialog / Preparing Strong Attacks / Exercise 23-2 Action CuesLesson 24: Follow-ThroughThe Hook / Questions as Questions / Statements as Questions / Exercise 24-1 Making Questions / Statements as Statements / Exercise 24-2 Argument-Enders / Trail-offsLesson 25: Line Linkage Analyzing Dialog / Rising End-Inflections / Falling End-Inflections / Attack Inflections / Pauses / Long Speeches / Exercise 25-1 Line Linking / Exercise 25-2 The Long Speech / Line Linking in PracticeLesson 26: Scene Structure Breaking Down a Script / Choosing a Scene to Do in Class / Structural Characteristics / Transitions / Scene Breakdown / Exercise 26-1 Scene Structure in ActionLesson 27: Building a Scene Building and Topping / Exercise 27-1 Standard Build I / Exercise 27-2 Standard Build II / Exercise 27-3 Standard Build III / Cutting Back / Getting on Top / Pacing a Build / Complex Builds / Exercise 27-4 I Detest Monday / Exercise 27-5 I Detest January / Exercise 27-6 Come Here / Exercise 27-7 Building MolièreLesson 28: Creating a Monologue Going It Alone / The Monologue to Someone Else / The Soliloquy / Playing a Monologue or Soliloquy / Exercise 28-1 Prepare a Monologue / L'Envoi Glossary of Acting TermsIndex