VOCABULARY LISTS

VOCABULARY LIST for Quiz #2

I. THE SKILLS OF THE ACTOR (Professor Miguel Zavala)

The Actor’s Instruments

Voice

Body

Mind/Imagination

Vocal Skills and Training

Ongoing training before and during your career in:

Breath control and support

Projection

Enunciation

Modulation (pitch, rhythm, tempo)

Dialects

Physical Skills

Freeing the body: Relaxation and flexibility

Heightened sense of awareness

Skill in Period and Style Movement/Dance/Fight

Strength and Endurance

Physical Characterization

The Challenge of Creating a Character

How does an actor re-create emotions/ characters/moments outside his/her experience?

Imagination, yes, but also...

Observation

Research and Analysis

Courage!

Openness

II. The Actor (Professor Kurt Daw)

Who’s Your Favorite Actor?
When you think of favorite actors, who comes to mind?
Why do you like him or her?
What is it about the acting that you like?

Two Notions of Acting

Presentational

Also called technical or external
Physically and vocally oriented
Skill-based
British and European
Apprentice based
Common in acting conservatories in U.S.

Representational

Also called Method or internal
Emotionally oriented
Psychologically-based
American & Russian
Systematic
Heavily represented in New York and Los Angeles acting schools

Stan "the Man"

Konstantin Stanislavski (1863-1938)
Codified (not discovered) acting principles
Used the emerging discipline of psychology to understand acting

Levels of Acting

1. Imitation

Appearance and Similarity

2. Embodiment

Characterization

3. Virtuosity

Able to do many things

4. "Magic" or charisma

Unexplainable attraction

The Actor’s Routine

Auditioning
Rehearsing
Performing

Representation

The notion of the actor as symbolic of something bigger than just the character
Issues of broadening representation have resulted in non-traditional casting efforts
Highly charged political discussions have emerged surrounding traditional "blackface" and "yellowface" performances, where a majority actor portrays (or parodies?) a minority character

Kurt Daw, Ph.D.

kdaw@kennesaw.edu

(770) 423-6154

III. Directing for the Theater (Professor Karen Robinson)

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE THEATER DIRECTOR’S JOB?

THE DIRECTOR MUST:

TELL A STORY WITH THE PLAY

INTERPRET THE PLAY

COLLABORATE WITH THE PRODUCTION

TEAM (designers, actors, etc.)

‘STAGE’ THE PLAY

(bring it to ‘LIFE’ in real time and space with live

ACTORS)

UNIFY the PRODUCTION

The Director’s Creative Process

Reading and interpreting the play

Developing a vision /‘concept’

The concept is the central idea

that focuses and informs all

aspects of the production

Note the distinction between

production and the play (script)

3. The director develops the designs
with the designers

Conferences

Choices

Communication of concept

Collaboration!

4. The director chooses a cast.

"Casting is WHAT percent of directing and why?"

Auditions (What are auditions? What does the

director look for?)

2 contrasting monologues

Cold-readings from the script

Callbacks

Casting (Traditional and Colorblind)

What is "Colorblind" Casting?

5. Rehearsing and Coaching the Actors

6. Staging the play

What is ‘Staging?"
--placing the actors on the ‘set’ and moving them

about in ways which are:

--Visually Interesting

--Telling the story

Staging terms:

Blocking

Stage Business

(for example, use of hand-held 'properties' such as glasses etc.)

Stage Pictures

7. Shaping the play (setting tempo/rhythm to create suspense

and/or comedy)

8. Supervising the coordination of

technical and design elements in:

Technical Rehearsals: These are when scenery,

lighting, and sound are put together

with the actors (they have been

rehearsing without those elements

for most of the process.)

Dress Rehearsals: These follow the technical rehearsals or 'techs.' At this point, the costumes are added.

9. OPENING NIGHT

At this point the director's job is over.

IV. BURIED CHILD ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS (MW 9:30 am section)

REVIEW:

Setting

Plot: significant events in the play--Beginning/Middle/ End

Character Names, Relationships and Character qualities

Possible Themes

V. VISUAL ART LECTURE in MW 9:30 am class (Professor Sandra Bird)

Which artist's work did we study?

Which painting did we examine?

What observations were made about the painting?

VI. VISUAL ART LECTURE in TTH 8:00 pm section (Professor Charlotte Collins)

Review elements and principles of visual design (see below)

Which artist's work did we study?

Which war-time painting did we examine the most thoroughly?

What observations were made about the painting?

VI. VISUAL DESIGN (Professor Ming Chen)

MAKE SURE YOU CAN RECOGNIZE VISUALLY:

Design Elements

Line

Shape

Form

Space

Texture

Value

Color

Design Principles

Unity

Repetition / Variety

Rhythm

Balance

Emphasis

Scale / Proportion

VIII. THEATRICAL DESIGN (Professor Jamie Bullins)

Review the functions of each of the following:

COSTUME DESIGN

Where are we?

When are we?

Who is this?

Profession

Social means/status

Separation or empathy?

Association (any specifics? audience?)

As in the presentation, be able to recognize these in

visual examples.

LIGHTING DESIGN

Illumination and focus

Lighting variables

Intensity

Color

Direction and angle

Form

Diffusion

Motion

As in the presentation, be able to recognize these in

visual examples.

SCENE DESIGN

Arrange theatrical space

Represent/suggest period, time, locale, place

Convey the mood

Establish theme

As in the presentation, be able to recognize these in

visual examples.

Staging Formats

Proscenium

Thrust

Thrust-proscenium

Arena

Black Box

Weigh the Advantages Vs. Disadvantages of these kinds of spaces;

Which is:

Most intimate (with same audience capacity)

Best for "illusion"

Most technical resources

Most flexible

Most expensive to run

Most common

SOUND DESIGN

Mood

Time/period

Environment/place

VIII. Shakespearean Theater:Context for The Taming of the Shrew
(Professors Daw and Robinson)

Conventions of the Shakespearean Theater
London, c. 1580-1642

Theatrical performances were available daily.

Many performances took place during the afternoons in

OUTDOOR theaters such as the Globe Theatre.

Audiences from many different social classes & backgrounds attended.

Each class or income ‘bracket’ had its place in the theater relative to prices:

‘groundlings’ stood in the yard

Citizens and gentry sat in the galleries

The theater-going atmosphere was similar to that of an athletic event today.

Reactions were not private!

The Shakespearean TheaterCompanies

Plays were performed by professional acting companies.

All roles were performed by men.

The acting companies were composed of

Shareholders

Hirelings

Apprentices

Acting and Staging Conventions

Acting For and To the audience: Presentational

Minimal Scenery: "spoken décor"

Costumes were contemporary clothing

Social Structure in Shakespeare’s Day

Patriarchal hierarchy

The GREAT CHAIN of BEING

God

Monarch

Aristocracy

Citizens

Laborers

Beggars

The FAMILY structure

Social Perspective

Filter through which we see/interpret life or a work of art.

Often it is invisible.

Shakespeare’s relationship to social perspective.

IX. THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

TTH classes should review class discussion of the script

All sections should be prepared for questions about the GSF

production on the quiz.