Tag: acting
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The Biggest Mistake of Young Actors
The biggest (or one of the biggest) mistakes of young actors is not spending nearly enough time inside the script. I’ve directed a lot of young actors over the past eight years, and it never ceases to happen that as a show nears performance, I hear one actor say, “Oh, so that’s what that means!”…
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Casting: The Worst Job in Theatre
I direct plays at the high school level. Why I haven’t “hired” someone to do my casting for me I’ll never know. In this type of setting, there’s nothing worse. Pitting my own regular actor against my own regular actor. When we do large second semester productions, it’s like putting family member against family member…
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The Necessity of Bad Rehearsals
There is no such thing as a bad rehearsal if progress was made. My drama group had a three hour practice this morning, gearing up for our show less than three weeks away. Unfortunately, due to a variety of circumstances, we worked on our last two pieces for the FIRST time today. Not ideal at…
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How to respond when an actor asks, “What should I do?”
I get to teach and work with young actors. Some have experience. Others do not. It’s incredibly fun seeing someone take the stage for the first time and try to find their way, try to understand their character, try to understand the relationships between the other characters, and try to, ultimately, figure out what they…
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The Purpose of Dress Rehearsals
I’ve been directing stage plays for seven years now. I’m no professional, and I’ve learned a lot throughout the years. Dress rehearsals are the emotional peak that every director has to scale before a new show. Once it arrives and the actors poke through the clouds and stand on that emotional peak, a director’s job…
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A Brilliant Object Lesson on Good Acting
The most awesome thing happened in my Intro to Theatre Arts Class today. We were in our drama circle, and I was debriefing an exercise we did two days ago where one person sat in a chair and was told that if she left the room, her family would die. Another person was outside and…
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The Key to Great Acting: Doing
When was the last time you walked into an office and saw four people standing shoulder to shoulder doing nothing in particular? As in just awkwardly standing there? In the middle of the work day? I suppose the answer to that is never. That was the certain scene I had to wrestle with today in…
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Characterization: A thought from Sir Lawrence Olivier
Lawrence Olivier said the following about acting: “If I play a beggar, I look for the king, and when I play a king, I find the beggar.” This is wonderfully simple expression of how to approach an acting role that you’ve been awarded. In real life, there are no regal people or destitute people. There…
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What is acting?
Acting coach Howard Fine has said the following: “Actors wear costumes, people wear clothes.” Here are a few things I think it means: 1. If you are wearing a costume, you are a bad actor. (unless you’ve been cast in the role of “Tree” during the George Washington Cherry Tree play.) 2. Acting is about…
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My Final Thoughts on RLT Players Season 3
Finished up a whirlwind of a week last night. And we finished it with a bang. A rocking sellout crowd who were moved and entertained by the young actors of The Road Less Traveled Players. What a privilege it is for me to lead and write for a group of talented, growing actors and performers…
Author Mark W Sasse 