COACHING

FOR ACTORS – Exercises and Activities

COACHING FOR BELIEVABILITY

INTERACTING WITH THE STAGE - EXERCISES:

I) Touchiness (exploring the physicality of the space through touch)

II) Sensory Layering (adding sensory dimensions to the exploration one at a time: see,
hear, smell, touch, taste)

III) Contact Game w/ Objects (touch different objects before each new idea of
dialogue)

IV) Blind Game (play scene blindfolded; justifying every move)

V) Go to the Place (rehearse in a location that mirrors the script’s scene)

VI) Object Handling Improv (use an object in a way that differs from its ‘usual’ use)

VII) Bodily Conditions (give actors a ‘condition’ with which to play the scene: e.g.
hungry, thirsty, horny, tired, etc)

VIII) Age (have the actors play the scene at different ages: 5-year-old, 80 year old,
anything in between)

IX) Skills and Disabilities (make sure to rehearse/learn any necessary character skills or
disabilities called upon by the script: e.g. Disabilities: if a character is in a wheel
chair, limps, is blind, has a stutter, has crutches; Skills: e.g. does the character need
to juggle? Do magic? Learn a musical instrument, etc)

X) Normalcy (What is an ordinary day for the character?)


OFFSTAGE - EXERCISES:

I) Weather (what is the weather like outside?)

II) Entrances/Exits (where is the character coming from and where are they going?)

III) What Happened? What’s Happening? What’s going to happen? (Review these
questions for given circumstances)

IV) Modern Parallel (e.g. if you were doing Romeo and Juliet, improvise two
contemporary adolescents or teenagers meeting at a dance)


ACTORS CONTACT WITH PARTNERS (Strengthening Contact)

I) Radiating/Receiving (Physically radiate dialogue out to scene partner; scene partner
physically receives dialogue into body and allows it to inform their dialogue)

II) Camera (Play scene as if you’re looking through the lens of a camera; camera can
zoom in and out; close-ups, wide shots and landscape; paying attention to the entire
person)

III) Noting (actors direct dialogue to different parts of your scene partner’s body)

IV) Conversation (actors play scene as simple unaffected conversation)

V) News and Information (actors play scene as if they’re transmitting news or
important information)

VI) Great Expectations (actors play scene with the greatest of expectations)

VII) What? Game (scene partner repeats the word ‘what’ until meaning of word or
phrase is clearly understood)


PLAYING OBSTACLES

I) Wrestling (Have actors ‘wrestle’ with one another while doing the scene)

II) Physicalized Obstacle (Set up an obstacle course for the actors that they need to
navigate as they’re playing the scene; e.g. placing a bunch of chairs in the space)

III) Suppressed Obstacle (have two outside actors hold the two actors playing a scene,
giving them a physical obstacle they have to overcome)


SUBTEXT

I) Verbalize Your Subtext
II) Gibberish
III) Animal Noises
IV) Opera
 COACHING FOR CHARACTER/CHARACTERIZATION

1. Actor Conferences/Character Interviews (Questions to ask may include)
a. Age
b. Character Gender and Sexual Preferences
c. Vocation (i.e. job)
d. Hobbies/Pastimes
e. Nationality/Race/Ethnicity
f. Class
g. Background Story/Timeline prior to beginning of play
h. Relationship to other characters in the play
i. Character Objectives
j. Any other appropriate questions you feel would help you/actor

2. Said and Done
a. What does the character say? Does s/he believe it? Is it true?
b. What does the character do? Does it contradict what s/he says?
c. What is said about the character? Does the speaker believe that?
Is it true?

d. Three Column Notebook Exercise:
Column A: Actor writes out every line of dialogue they say
about themselves.
Column B: Actor writes out every line of dialogue where a
character says something about them (include who says it, a page
number helps as well)
Column C: A synthesis of A + B; actor makes observations
about the character based on actual lines of text and writes those
observations out in Colum C

e. Have the actor look at their first line of the play and their last line
of the play. What conclusions can they draw about their character
based on those two lines?




 3. Research
Ask actors to bring in research material about/on their character.
This may include:

a. Writing (poetry, fiction, other plays, etc)
b. Visual Materials (concrete or abstract images that connect the
actor to their character
c. Music (choose songs their character might like or listen to; or
music directly referenced in the script; research styles of music)
d. Dance (research dance or dance styles cited in play or musical)

4. Observations or Anecdotes
a. Similarities and Differences (ask the actor to create two lists; first
list contains 10 adjectives to describe them; second list – 10
adjectives to describe their character. See where the similarities
and differences are)
b. Similes (what is the scene like? E.g. A chess match, a waltz, a
pillow fight; physicalize the scene using the simile)
c. Dialogues with the Character (in written form, have the actor
engage in a dialogue with their character; give them topics to
discuss)

5. Physicalizing Character
a. Social Roles and Masks (draw a mask that embodies a ‘social role’
and wear it (or hold it up in front of you).
b. Animals (what is the character’s animal; play the scene as
animals)
c. Imaginary Center (where in the body is the character’s energy
center; play with different centers – let text emanate from
different parts of the body)
d. T-Shirt (what is the character’s key sentence or a slogan that
embodies the character)
e. Imaginary Body (have the actor ‘put on a body’; have them play
the scene as someone of the opposite sex, as someone very tall or
short, as someone massively obese or extremely thin)
 f. Qualities with Body Parts (pair an adjective with a body part; pull
these out of a hat; example: sarcastic spleen; doe-eyed left
nostril; wicked ring finger; joyful right knee)
g. Tempo-Rhythms (play different inner and outer rhythms; find
variance in tempos)
h. Psychological Gesture (Michael Chekhov work)































 COACHING FOR EMOTION


A. Create a safe space
a. A comfortable and inviting room
b. A space that allows for ease and emotional flow

B. Warm-Up:
a. Physical warm-up (solo, pairs, group)
b. Movement to music (choose with care and taste)
c. Breathing and Tension/Relaxation exercises

C. Games for Responsiveness
a. Sound and Motion
b. Orchestra (‘conduct’ the ensemble – creates playfulness, vocal and
physical responsiveness; listening)

D. Improvisation – for what?
a. Dialogue and action
b. Offstage Event
c. Personal Parallel
d. Character
e. Contact Improv for physical touch

E. Complex Emotions
a. The Baby Wheel (Joy, Anger, Sadness) or the Four Corners of Emotion
(Joy, Anger, Sadness, Fear)
b. Opposite and Contrasts (ask the actor to play the opposite emotion
in the scene
c. “Look for the love in the scene…” (play the scene with the objective
of searching for love from the other person)

F. Tempo and Rhythm
a. Physicalize Inner and Outer Rhythms and Tempos
b. Find different scene and/or character rhythms (speed up or slow
down the rhythm of a scene or a character)
 c. Use rehearsal music and have the actors play the scene like a silent
film using different music; music that complements and music that is
in direct contrast to the scene)

G. Intensity
a. Stakes!
b. Wrestling (wrestle the scene! Use a mat – actors shouldn’t lose
physical contact)
c. Use physical obstacles (see Coaching for Believability)
d. Directorial Shadow (while a scene is playing, coach an actor from the
sidelines…or in their ear)

H. Subtext
a. Verbalize the subtext
b. “Animal Noises”
c. Sound and Motion
d. Dance
e. Secrets (play a scene/act/entire show with a secret)

I. Wished (or feared) Outcome

J. Sudden Emotion from Nowhere

K. The ‘Go-for-Broke’ Rehearsal/Run-thru (don’t hold anything back; try
everything and anything!)

L. Love and Sex Scenes
a. Choreography
b. Touch River (Touches that satisfy; Touches you never want to leave)
c. Flirting and Teasing

M. Utilizing ‘The Method’
a. Emotion memory and substitution
b. Amplification (taking a smaller event and amplify it; e.g. urge to kill –
use the idea of killing a mosquito)
c. Magic ‘If’ (If I ‘the actor’ were in this circumstance, what would I do?)

 N. Polishing/Emotional Show
a. Find a smaller rehearsal space: run scenes/play with the intimacy and
electricity
b. Give actors more leeway to play
c. When doing these types of runs, fewer are necessary.

O. Comedy
a. Create a playful atmosphere
b. Requires more precision: especially for high style or high comedy
(comedy of manners – e.g. The Importance of Being Earnest,
Restoration comedy; verse comedy – e.g. Moliere, Shakespeare)
c. More run-throughs will usually help actors and entire production find
rhythm tempo; discoveries will be made with each subsequent run)
d. Characters in a comedy DO NOT know they are in a comedy. The
stakes are life and death. It is a serious business!