Tma 101, Lesson 8, Acting

Front 1

1. What is acting?

Back 1

Acting is older than playwright, because ppl improvised various scenarios, it is one of the oldest theatrical arts.

Front 2

2. What are the two notions of acting?

Back 2

Presentational and representational.

Front 3

3. What is Presentational
external
technical acting?

Back 3

It is acting that draws from the external. In presentational acting, the actor learns to perform and present his character through a series of training programs, which are the product of external environments.

Front 4

4. Why is it called presentational
external
technical acting?

Back 4

The actor learns to “present” a role through a program of training that customarily originates externally —from an instructional process that includes formal analysis, technical lessons and drills.

Front 5

5. How does an actor learn from presentational acting?

Back 5

The actor grows his craft by drawing from an instructional process.

Front 6

6. What is Representational
internal acting?

Back 6

It prescribes the view that actor realizes his character from an internal source. The actor is encouraged to enter his own imagination to better connect w
his character.

Front 7

7. Why is internal
representational acting?

Back 7

Internal because the actor must draw from an inner source.
Representational because the actor must be able to represent all dimensions of his character.

Front 8

8. What is dramatic phrasing?

Back 8

Dramatic phrasing is learning rhetorical building, persuasive argumentation, and comic pointing.

Front 9

9. What is internal
repsentational acting sometimes called?

Back 9

Method Acting, or the method.

Front 10

10. Who founded “the method” system of acting?

Back 10

Konstantin Stanislavsky. He believed the internal source to be the most important way to connect with one's character.

Front 11

11. Act is both presentational and representational?

Back 11

It is the amalgamation of two notions that produce best results and crucial for great acting.

Front 12

12. Why is important for plays to be both representational and presentational?

Back 12

This is because
1) A play that is full of passion, but has no technical structure or direction can grow tiresome
2) A play that is efficient on its technicalities, but lacks the passion, ultimately delivers hollow results

Front 13

13. What is the “Paradox of Acting?”

Back 13

A great actor must be an unmoved and disinterested onlooker. he actor who plays from thought will be always at his best. He has considered, combined, learned and arranged the whole thing in his head.

Front 14

14. Stanislavsky was one of the first ________ to systematically investigate the notion of _________ in acting and to advance the concept that every _______ onstage must be seen to correspond to what the character (and not just the playwright or director) is __________ to achieve.

Back 14

Stanislavsky was one of the first theatre artists to systematically investigate the notion of motivation in acting and to advance the concept that every move onstage must be seen to correspond to what the character (and not just the playwright or director) is striving to achieve.

Front 15

15. What idea did Stanislavsky introduce?

Back 15

He introduced the idea that every action on stage must correspond to the character. The actions must reflect the character's motivation.

Front 16

16. What is “public solitude?”

Back 16

This notion focuses on the way an actor must focus his attention on the events of the play rather than the play's impact on the audience.

Front 17

17. A play-text is accompanied by a lot subtexts full of meanings. What us the importance of sub-text?

Back 17

Subtext reflects the characters’ goals an motivations. One must be able to dissect through the lines.

Front 18

18. What is public solitude?

Back 18

It is the way in which an actor must focus her or his attention on the events of the play rather than simply on the play’s impact on the audience.

Front 19

19. Stanislavsky was deeply concerned with the actor’s _________. All _________ of past experiences are recorded by the __________ system, and may be evoked by an appropriate _________.

Back 19

Stanislavsky was deeply concerned with the actor’s emotion. All memories of past experiences are recorded by the nervous system, and may be evoked by an appropriate stimulus.

Front 20

20. Characters of drama are rarely ordinary, they tend to be larger than life and rich with context and history. So, the actor who plays them must also be extraordinary. What does this demand out of the actor?

Back 20

Outsized characters demand outsize abilities, and the capacity to project them.

Front 21

21. What are the two timeless sought after skills from an actor are? & why are these skills important?

Back 21

1) a magnificently expressive voice
2) a great body for physicality.
Voice help articulate emotions and rivet attention. Great body allows one to use his body as an effective medium to convey message. Great body dexterity is crucial.

Front 22

22. Moreover, it is ultimately insufficient for an actor merely meet audience’s preconceptions of the character. The actor strive to transcend those preconceptions and to create the character afresh, transporting the audience to a new level of compression. To meet these demands, the actor must have what?

Back 22

The actor have considerable virtuosity of dramatic technique, two specific features.
A magnificently expressive voice and a splendidly supple body. A voice that can articulate, explain, rivet attention, can also hold an audience spellbound. Subtly expressive is the mark of the gifted actor, who can accomplish miracles of communication with an arched eyebrow, a toss of the head, a flick of the wrist.

Front 23

23. What are some synonyms to describe “Magic?”

Back 23

Charisma, presence & magnetism

Front 24

24. What is “Magic” referring to from acting?

Back 24

It is a quality that is difficulty to define and put a finger on, but it is a is universally felt, a characteristic we experience in every culture. Every great actor posses this quality.

Front 25

25. Best acting is a form of art that escapes d_________ a___________. The process cannot be studied _____________ consistently, this is because acting can strike _______ in non-______ parts of our construct.

Back 25

Best acting is a form of art that escapes descriptive analysis. The process cannot be studied methodically consistently, this is because acting can strike chords in non-reasoning parts of our construct.

Front 26

26. Why can’t great acting be methodically analyzed from a fixed procedure?

Back 26

The best acting, like any art, transcends the reach of pure descriptive analysis, it cannot be acquired mechanically. The best acting strikes chords in the non-reasoning parts of our being.

Front 27

27. An actor’s training divides into 2 phases, what are they?

Back 27

First is the development of the actor's instrument. Second is the enriching the methods through which an actor approaches a role. There is no general agreement on the order for these phases, except they are both important.
1) Actor's instrument.
2) Actor's approach.

Front 28

28. What does the “Actor’s Instrument” consist of?

Back 28

The actor's instrument refers to quality of his internal construct. The quality of his internal construct depends on:
1) It is the intellectual quality of his mind.
2) The consistency and girth of his mettle.
3) The measurement of his stamina.

Front 29

29. The training of the actor’s instrument is both ___________ and ____________, and so, it must be accomplished under the personal supervision of qualified _________.

Back 29

The training of the actor’s instrument is both physiological and psychological, and so, it must be accomplished under the personal supervision of qualified instructors.

Front 30

30. What are the first two elements of the physiological instrument?

Back 30

Voices & Movement.

Front 31

31. What are elemental breakdown and composition of voice?

Back 31

The basic elements of voice (breathing, phonation, resonance) and of speech (articulation, pronunciation, phrasing) — as well as their final combination ( projection) — are all separate aspects of an integrated voice-training program.

Front 32

32. Movement is the second element of physiological instrument? What do they consist of?

Back 32

Movement is the second element of the actor’s physiological instrument. Movement training typically involves exercises and instruction designed to create physical relaxation, muscular control, economy of action, and expressive rhythms and movement patterns.

Front 33

33. Why is movement important?

Back 33

An actor’s control of the body permits her or him to stand, sit, and move on the stage with alertness, energy, and seeming ease.

Front 34

34. What are the major psychological components of the actor’s instrument?

Back 34

Imagination and the willingness and ability to use it in the service of art are the major psychological components of the actor’s instrument.

Front 35

35. Why is “imagination” a crucial instrument an actor must use in the service of his art? What are the ways it function within the 3 levels of actor’s development?

Back 35

1)At the first level, an actress must use her imagination to make the theater experience real enough to herself to convey that sense of reality to the audience.
2) At the second, far more important, level, the actor must imagine himself in an interpersonal situation created by the play. The actor’s imagination must be a playground for expressive fantasy and darkly compelling motivations.
3) At the third level, deepest phase, the actor’s imagination must go beyond the mere accommodation a generalized role, and become a creative force that makes characterization a high art. Each actor creates his or her role uniquely—each Romeo and Juliet are like no others before them, and each role can be uniquely fashioned with the aid of the actor’s imaginative power.

Front 36

36. The actor’s ______________, liberated from stage _______ and _________ ___________, is the crucial ingredient in allowing the actor to transcend the pedestrian and soar toward the genuinely original.

Back 36

The actor’s imagination, liberated from stage fright and mechanical worries, is the crucial ingredient in allowing the actor to transcend the pedestrian and soar toward the genuinely original.

Front 37

37. What is the fourth and final aspect of an actor’s psychological instrument? & why is the one that rules them all?

Back 37

The imagination of the actor is by no means unlimited. It is restricted by the requirements of the play, by the director’s staging and interpretation, and by certain established working conditions of the theatre.

Front 38

38. Why is a disciplined actor important? What does he have to keep up with, & constantly do?

Back 38

The disciplined actor is one who works rigorously to develop his physiological and psychological instrument.
One who meets all technical obligations without reminder, and works to the utmost to ensure the success of the entire production and the fruitful association of the whole acting ensemble.

Front 39

39. What is the first element in the actor’s approach? Based on the Stanislavsky’s primary principle.

Back 39

The actor creates her or his performance through the pursuit of the character’s goal. The basic point, the actor embodies the role by pursuing the character’s goal rather than by pursuing the actor’s own.

Front 40

40. Why should the actor pursue his character’s goal?

Back 40

Pursuing the character’s goal focuses the actor’s energy, displaces stage fright, aligns the actor with the character, and sets up the broadest and deepest foundation for employing all the technical skills at the actor’s disposal.

Front 41

41. The actor should indentify his character’s goal in relation to who?

Back 41

It is usually best to identify the character’s primary goal in relation to the other characters in the play so that acting becomes, in effect, “interacting with other people.”

Front 42

42. What is the second element of the actor’s approach? Give examples to reinforce your claim.

Back 42

The second element of the actor’s approach is the identification of the tactics necessary to achieve goals and avoid defeats.
For example composing love poems and reading them to Juliet is a tactic Romeo uses to make their goals come into fruition.

Front 43

43. What are the three stages of an actor’s routine?

Back 43

The actor’s professional routine consists of three stages: the audition, the rehearsal, and the performance.

Front 44

44. Describe the 3 stages of an actor’s routing?

Back 44

1)The first is the way the actor gets a role.
2) The second is the way the actor learns it.
3) The last is the way the actor produces it, either night after night on a stage or one time for filming or taping.

Front 45

45. What are the qualities a director looks for handling the role from an actor?

Back 45

He looks for naturalness of delivery: physical, vocal, and emotional suitability for the part, and also spontaneity, power, and charm.

Front 46

46. What is stage “blocking?”

Back 46

The process of arranging moves to be made by the actors during the play, recorded by stage management in the prompt script.

Front 47

47. What is the rehearsal period a time for, particularly for the actor?

Back 47

It is a time for experimentation and discovery. It is when the actor tries to identify with the character’s beliefs and intentions, analyze his biography and subtext.
He investigates his character’s thoughts, fears, and fantasies. The character’s objectives, and the world envisioned by the play and the playwright.

Front 48

48. What are the technical duties an actor must accomplish during rehearsal?

Back 48

Rehearsal is a time for the actor to experiment with timing and delivery of both lines and business.
To integrate the staged movements (given by the director) with the text (given by the playwright).
And to meld these into a fluid series of actions that build and illuminate by the admixture of the actor’s own personally initiated behavior.

Front 49

49. What is the performance?

Back 49

It is what the theatre is about, and it is before an audience in a live performance that the actor’s mettle is put to the ultimate test.

Front 50

50. How is performance not a one-way statement, how is a two-way statement?

Back 50

Performance is a two-way exchange, participatory communication between the actors and the audience members in which the former employ text and movement and the latter employ applause, laughter, silence, and attention.