The Four A's
The basic human desires in life, when conversing with another person are: Attention, Affection, Acceptance, and Allowance. These are the four categories that all NEEDS can be broken down
into.
Acceptance
The act or process of accepting. The state of being accepted or acceptable (Accept: To receive willingly; To regard as proper or true).
Affection
A tender feeling toward another; fondness.
Alignment
The arrangement of the body from head to toe in a straight line.
Allowance
The act of allowing; a consideration for circumstances (Allow: To let do or happen; permiss).
Antagonist
The character in the play most directly opposed to the main character, or protagonist.
Attention
Courtesy or consideration: attention to a guest's comfort.
Beat
Small, interrelated moments of action within a UNIT OF ACTION.
Blocking
The planned movement and stage compositions of the production as developed during the early rehearsals.
Bounce
The way actions & objectives are exchanged between scene partners onstage.
Circles of Attention
A small area that includes the actor and a few things next to them. Medium-area may include several persons, groups of furniture. Large-everything
Climax
The high point of interest and/or action in a play, act, scene, or speech. The climax of a play will invariably occur in the second half of the piece after the rising action and before the falling action.
Counter
A shifting of position to compensate for the movement of another actor in order to re-achieve a balanced and pleasing stage composition.
Cue
The action or dialogue that signals that the next line is to be spoken or certain business and movement is to take place.
Dialogue
The words spoken by the actors in the play.
Downstage
The general stage area nearest to the audience.
Emotional Memory
One of the most famous aspects of the Stanislavski system. By the development of a technique through arduous training, the actor is able to evoke the memory of an emotion similar to the one the character on stage is to feel.
Entrance
Coming on stage in view of the audience. Can also refer to the opening in the setting that permits the actor to make his or her way on stage.
Exit
Leaving the playing area of the stage. It can also refer to the doorway or another opening in the setting through which the actor leaves.
Focal Point
The point of greatest interest on stage during the playing of a scene at the edge of the forestage and permitting general illumination of the stage.
Forward
A term used in class to keep the momentum of action (from text or internally motivated moving ahead; non-disrupted, focused, objective based action progresses this way).
Fourth Wall
The imaginary wall that separates the audience and the playing area. The term is used in reference to the realistic box setting that comprises the three walls. The audience, by convention, is permitted to look at the action through the fourth wall.
Given Circumstances
* Plot of the play.
* Time and place of action.
* Director's interpretation.
* Setting.
* Props.
* Lighting.
* Sound.
* Everything creates a role.
Intent
The Objective. The point of the words (text) channeled through the Operatives. It leads forward. If you have an Objective, then you have Intent; A term used in the Stanislavski system that refers to the actor's real reason for being in a scene, regardless
The "Loop
the connection between the performer and their partner onstage
The Magic If
Transforms the character's aim into the actor's. Carries the actor into imaginary
circumstances."What would I do if I were." If is a supposition and it does not apply or assert anything that
exists. Stimulates imagination, thought, logical action
The Method
An American school of acting that stresses the internal development of the actor's resources for the purpose of properly motivating his or her acting. It has grown out of the system devised by Russian actor-director, Stanislavski, although somewhat modifi
Method of Physical Actions
* Conscious means towards the subconscious
* No inner experience without external physical expression.
* Impossible for an actor to understand a person or a character without first comprehending a person's thoughts and emotions
* Work for creating a chara
Need
Primal; attached to the psychological core. NEEDS are broken into four categories: The 4 A's=Attention, Affection, Acceptance, Allowance. NEED IS A FURNACE THAT MUST BE FUELED [WITH WANT] AT ALL TIMES. If I get what I WANT from the Other, it will fulfill
Objective
The motivation which propels a character through individual units of action
Off Stage
The area of the stage not visible to the audience.
On Stage
The area of the stage intended to be visible to theaudience.
Open Turn
A turn on stage in which the audience sees the front of the actor during the turn
Operative Words
Nouns, the adjectives that modify the nouns. Verbs, the adverbs that modify the verbs. These should be underlined, in your texts (scripts) with a pencil, and a parenthesis should be marked when/if adjectives or adverbs are modifying nouns or verbs. Exampl
Parallel Movement
The movement on the stage of two or more characters in the same direction at the same time.
Props
All the furniture, set pieces, and objects that are seen on the stage. Large pieces, or props that are not used by the actors, are called stage props. Small props used by actors are called hand props. Props used only by one character and brought on stage
Protagonist
The central figure or hero of the play, from the Greek term meaning the first actor.
Rehearsal
The organized periods during which the cast prepares the play for production.
Share
To take a position on stage so that equal emphasis is afforded two or more actors.
Stage Directions
Instructions in the play script relative to movement, business, and so on.
Stage Left and Stage Right
To the left and right of the actor when facing the audience.
Stanislavski
* Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski
* Russian actor, director, and reformer of theatre
* Believed theatre should raise the level of one's culture.
* Theories are laden in the aesthetic and ethical goals of theatre art.
Subtext
A term used in the Stanislavski system that refers to the real meaning underlying the dialogue the purpose for which the words are spoken or their inner meaning. Hence, the lines are considered the text, the underlying meaning of the subtext.
Super-Objective
Super-objective-the main idea that guides the actor, character, and audience through the
play.
Tactic
An action is what your character wants another character to do; a tactic is how you get the other to do it. The more difficult the obstacle, the greater number of tactics. Each change of tactic provokes a new and different response from your scene partner
Tempo
The impression that the audience receives of the general rate of the production. Directly dependant upon pace.
Through Line of Actions
Through line-logical order, perspective for the play to happen; a mental
outline of one's role.
Throw Away
To underplay deliberately a line or business, often to achieve greater emphasis elsewhere in the scene or play.
Unit
Sections of a scene, which represent the individual actions of a character.
Want
How NEED manifests itself and how one acts out the NEED. WANT is the log that goes into the furnace [NEED] as fuel. If I get what I WANT from the Other, it will fulfill my NEED.
Center
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Upstage
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Stage Right
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Stage Left
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Audience
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