ACTING 105 – PHYSICAL ACTING class plan
Warm-up 1:
0. Stretch your upper body
0. Stretch your lower body
0. Stretch face
0. Yawn
0. Puff the cheeks out and pull them in
0. Stick tongue out
0. Widen and narrow eyes
0. Look curious
0. Looked interested
0. Look disgusted
Warm up 2:
Listening exercise: eyes closed
___feel the energy of the group, listen with your senses
___counting to 5 as a group
___count to 10 as a group
___count to 20 as a group
Room crossings:
Each actor crosses the room (with a silent scene partner) several times. As you walk:
0. You’re angry and hiding it.
0. You’re angry and not hiding it.
0. You’re scared and hiding it
0. You’re scared and NOT hiding it.
0. You’re lonely and hiding it.
0. You’re lonely and NOT hiding it.
0. You’re aroused AND hiding it.
0. You’re aroused and NOT hiding it.
0. You’re disgusted and hiding it.
0. You’re disgusted and NOT hiding it.
Silent objectives 1:
Students pull objectives out of a box written on strips of paper. Act out an objective or action (based on a verb) silently with a scene partner. the class tries to guess what they are doing. the scenes are interactive and have to do with accomplishing something with the other person. Examples:
0. I teach
0. I learn
0. I interrogate
0. I repel
0. I attract
0. I hire
0. I fire
0. I lose
0. I gain
0. I chase
As an example, if the exercise is, “I teach,” then the person doing the exercise, might guide, the other person to a chair, give them a pen and paper, direct their attention to the chalkboard and start writing
Silent objectives 2: I need
Each student reaches into a box and pulls out a piece of paper with a “need” on it. Then they try to get their need met from the other student. For example, students might need
A hug
A glass of water
A pat on the head
A pat on the back
To be scolded and shamed
To be praised
Exercise: leading with body centers.
Walk freely in the room as a group, leading with Body centers – lead with the nose, then pelvis, then sternum, then chin. Each shift produces a different person walking through the world. Pair with Keith Johnstone’s status work (high/low status played through physical adjustments — eye contact, where you take up space, how you hold your head) and you get rapid character sketches that feel earned rather than indicated.
Pantomime an activity
Recreate an activity you do regularly without words, using pantomiming instead of props. You can choose your own activity or choose one from the list below. (It is acceptable to compress time; for example, you don’t have to wait if you minutes for your coffee to percolate) Examples might include:
0. Getting up, getting dressed
0. Making coffee and drinking it
0. Taking the dishes to the sink, washing them and putting them in the dish rack.
0. Making a sandwich then sitting down and eating it.
0. Playing a video game in front of a monitor
Gestures and timing
Practice gesturing to punctuate your action. Try gesturing before you say the keywords, after you save them and during to get a sense of the difference. Phrases you might say:
0. I’m gonna kill ‘im.
0. We got a run! The cops are gonna be here any minute
0.
WEIGHT, MASS, SIZE, RIGIDITY EXERCISES:
0. Everyone stand in a circle
0. We all weigh 500 pounds (sand pouring in)
0. We all weigh about 2 ounces (almost blowing away)
0. Improv: two go up and do a scene with prompts from audience, in which they are very heavy
0. Two go up and do a scene in which they’re light.
0. They do scenes in which they move from light to heavy or heavy to light.
0. THEN, we do an exercise in which we are tiny or giants.
0. Then 2 go up and do scenes in which we start out tiny or giant and move to the other .
0. THEN, we do an exercise in which we walk around the room as rigid or flexible.
0. Then, 2 person improv scenes based around being rigid or flexible.
Class Two: Part 1
• PALM GUIDING 1: Pair up with someone. Two people stand together. A’s palm is on top of the B’s. Then switch.
• As person A moves their hand, person B moves with them.
• PALM GUIDING 2: Same exercise, eyes closed.
• Same exercise, eyes open, not touching…. as A pulls, B moves toward them and vise versa.
• PALM GUIDING 3: Keep hands 1′ apart.
• Exercise 4: Group 1 hands a heavy object to group 2
• CAMCORDER: We each went up and did our version of the person we watched.
• Then: we show the person we watched as we would imaging them doing something else
• Then: two people go up together, redo doing the person they watched, then start interacting
• Then: do again as small groups or whole group
• Get your scene partner to do something (simple) without using words. Sounds are okay.
• Silent Shopkeeper: Go into a shop and try to get the shopkeeper to give you something. (For example: car broke down; get them to give you gas. Novelty store: get them to give you sexy nurse’s costume)
more exercises;
Exercise 3: Mirror Game:
• Two actors stand facing each other
• Assigned A or B
• A leads
• B leads
• A leads
• B leads
• No one leads; they both follow
Exercise 4: Mirror/Repeat
• Sit or stand facing each other.
• One actor leads, the other follows.
• Start with just “say a word, then other repeats”
• Repeat actions and words
Exercise 5: Mirror game group:
• Stand scattered in group, all facing the clock.
• One person leads; others follow. (If person A is facing clock, they all face clock)
• When tired of leading, they point to another person, who leads for a while.
Exercise 6: Make some coffee
• One person goes up, does their version of making coffee- for example, they might go to cupboard, get dishes, go to refrigerator, get food, get mixing bowl, etc. Run in a loop.
• Then: repeat while interacting
• Then: repeat while saying words of the scene they’ve memorized.
• Mirror the other person. Stand a few feet away from them. Use chairs.
Exercise 4:
• Everyone write down a word on an index card.
• Two actors go up. Each on takes a turn. Nils hands them a card with a word on it. They act out the word physically and silently. You can use the other actor to help show the meaning of your word.
• Mirroring actions in a group.
Exercise 3: Pass different objects