Acting

Chapter 5

Acting

Now it's time to bring your story to life. Remember everything you learned in Chapter 2. Playing a character starts by understanding the character. When you play a character you want to express the feelings of the character and behave as the character would behave. We often communicate with people through our words, but we often communicate with people by expressing our feelings. This is often done unconsciously. When we're angry we don't think about how to sound angry, it just comes to us. In the same way we don't think about showing sadness or enthusiasm. An actor must make these behaviors conscious choices. We have to remember what it's like to be angry when you're not angry, what it's like to be sad when your not sad, and so on. Not only do you have to create moods that you're not in, but you have to express these moods as a different kind of person from yourself. Rarely do actors play themselves.

Motivation

Motivation is what the character wants. In life we always behave and do things in order to get what we want. That doesn't mean we're always selfish. Sometimes we do acts of kindness because we want to be appreciated or to feel good about ourselves, but we still always act in a way to try an get what we want. Now a character has different levels of motivation. They have their big dream in life. They also have their goal for the story, but when you're acting you also need to consider what your character wants at each moment and with each line. Every line a character says is said for a reason. And when your character isn't talking they're still acting out from their motivation. When you're in a show and your character is listening to another character, we should still see intention in your face. The audience should see your reactions to the other characters. You could show in your face the thoughts going through your mind. These thoughts that your character is thinking are not written in the script, but they're still so important we have a name for it. It's called subtext. Subtext is the words your character is thinking. Sometimes subtext can be the opposite of the text. Character lie. Your character might say, "that dress looks great on you," but your characters subtext is, "why does she want to wear something so ugly." You're behavior should show how your character is feeling and give a little hint of what you're trying to hide. The words are only what the character chooses to say, but at all times you should show the feeling the character is experiencing.

Tactics

No only does everyone want something different, but people find different ways of getting what they want. You have to think about how your character gets what they want. An intelegent adult has learned to reason with people, while a spoiled child has learned that screaming gets them what they want. A business man has learned to make deals while a bully or a ganster has learned to scare people into giving them what they want. I call the methods a character uses tactics. So you should know what your character wants (motivation) and how they will try to get it (tactics). Here's some tactics to consider.

Tactic	Example Line
Intimidate	You better do it or esle
Appeal to Sympathy	Oh please! I'll cry if you don't! Please!
Moralize	You know it's the right thing to do. You have to do it.
Reason	Come on, look at all the good it will do. Think about it, it works.
Neotiate	We can help each other. You get what you want and I get what I want/
Motivate	You can do it! I believe in you!
Seduce	I'll be your best friend.

How do you think each of these characters might try to get what they want?

Personality and Behavior

As you can see, a different character might try to solve the problem in a different way then you. Think about how the character acts. How they get what they want makes a difference in how their voice sounds and how they hold their body. Someone who intimidates will get in the habit of using a loud, deep voice and standing up tall, while someone who tries to appeal to sympathy will put their head down and use a softer and higher pitched voice. When you're onstage you act with your voice and your whole body. From your eyes, down to your toes, you have to make sure your whole body is doing what the character would do.

Breaking Character

What do you think the worst thing an actor could do during a performance (besides getting someone killed or seriously injured)? The worst thing is called breaking character. This is mean doing something during the performance to tell the audience that it's not real and you aren't really that character. An example would be saying, "I forgot my line." or apologizing for not knowing your lines. If you forget a line onstage you should make something up. Never go for your script. Just make a line up. If your partner forgets their line never whisper it to them onstage. Make up a line to help them get back on track. Remember, the audience is not holding a copy of your script. Many times actors will forget lines, make something up and the audience has no idea they broke away from the script.