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Making It Personal

Practical Aesthetics: Four steps to help your students connect to a character’s actions Peter King (pking@parkschool.net) – EdTA Conference September 27 – 28, 2013. Making It Personal. Warm-up Introductions Goals Background Practical Aesthetics The Four Steps Share

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Making It Personal

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  1. Practical Aesthetics: Four steps to help your students connect to a character’s actions Peter King (pking@parkschool.net) – EdTA Conference September 27 – 28, 2013 Making It Personal

  2. Warm-up Introductions Goals Background Practical Aesthetics The Four Steps Share Recap and Questions Making it personal

  3. Learn the background of the technique known as Practical Aesthetics Form a working knowledge of Practical Aesthetics (The Four Steps) Know the importance of personalizing work Feel empowered to dig deeper with your students Goals

  4. Practical Aesthetics: a rehearsal technique David Mamet, William H. Macy, Gregory Mosher Based on Stanislavsky’s and Sanford Meisner’s work A Practical Handbook for the Actor, Lee Michael Cohn The Atlantic Acting School My own idiosyncratic evolution Article: Making It Personal in the journal, Teaching Theater Background

  5. 1. What is the character literally doing? 2. What does the character want in the scene? 3. What is my essential action? 4. What is the action like to me? It’s as if… The Four Steps

  6. 1. What is the character literally doing? Lords 2. What does the character want in the scene? Wear 3. What is my essential action? Ancient 4. What is the action like to me? It’s as if… Apparel The Four Steps

  7. The Popcorn Test Step One: The character’s literal activity

  8. (Ben and Georgi are brother and sister.) BEN: I won’t ask you again. GEORGI: I don’t believe you. BEN: I wouldn’t ask you unless I really needed it. GEORGI: What you really need is help, Ben. BEN: Please. 300 bucks, that’s it. GEORGI: I won’t. I can’t. A quick example

  9. The scene’s literal activity: Ben is literally asking his sister for money. A Quick example: step one

  10. A non-interpretive, non-judgmental statement about what’s going on in the scene. Includes everything that happens in the scene or unit of action in a single descriptive clause. • Includes what the character says (the script). • Includes stage business. • What we say versus what we mean. Step One: The character’s literal activity

  11. Within the literal confines of the scene, what specifically does your character want? The test will be in the other character. Will have a clear cap (a visual or verbal sign the character has gotten what she wants). Should be as concrete and as physical as possible. Step two: The character’s want

  12. (Ben and Georgi are brother and sister.) BEN: I won’t ask you again. GEORGI: I don’t believe you. BEN: I wouldn’t ask you unless I really needed it. GEORGI: What you really need is help, Ben. BEN: Please. 300 bucks, that’s it. GEORGI: I won’t. I can’t. A quick example

  13. The scene’s literal activity: Ben is literally asking his sister for money. The want: Ben wants his sister to give him three hundred bucks. A quick example: step two

  14. Within the literal confines of the scene, what specifically does your character want? The test will be in the other character. Will have a clear cap (a visual or verbal sign the character has gotten what she wants). Should be as concrete and as physical as possible. Step two: The character’s want

  15. Essential Action: the physical pursuit of a specific goal with a partner on stage. Text vs. Subtext Improvisations Step three: My action

  16. (Ben and Georgi are brother and sister.) BEN: I won’t ask you again. GEORGI: I don’t believe you. BEN: I wouldn’t ask you unless I really needed it. GEORGI: What you really need is help, Ben. BEN: Please. 300 bucks, that’s it. GEORGI: I won’t. I can’t. A quick example

  17. The scene’s literal activity: Ben is literally asking his sister for money. The want: Ben wants his sister to give him three hundred bucks. The essential action: get someone to help me out of a bind. A quick example: step three

  18. Essential Action: the physical pursuit of a specific goal with a partner on stage. Is an intersection between the character’s wants and your own. Has a test in the partner and a cap. Phrased in a way that you can attach your as-if Step three: My action

  19. get a friend to divulge a secret boost someone’s self-confidence gain a friend's trust urge a friend to take a big chance gain a sibling’s sympathy beg for a friend's help force a friend to face his problems lead a friend astray console a lost sheep get someone to respect my beliefs seek a potential ally's support get a someone to respect my boundaries get jerk off my back make a special person accept a change in our relationship get a loved one to take care of me get a sibling to empathize with me get a friend to lighten up encourage a child to be self-reliant seek a friend's advice buy someone's silence get a lover to share my dream get a bud to give me a break force someone to see the errors of her ways get a friend to grow up get a loved one to let me go get someone to admit his or her guilt force a stranger to apologize get a co-worker to do my bidding steer a friend away from the truth Sample actions

  20. Action + Obstacle = Conflict Conflict = Drama (desire plus danger equals drama) The dramatic equation

  21. Break

  22. Action + Obstacle = Conflict Conflict = Drama (desire plus danger equals drama) The dramatic equation

  23. What does the action mean to you personally? It’s as-if… Step four: The as-if

  24. (Ben and Georgi are brother and sister.) BEN: I won’t ask you again. GEORGI: I don’t believe you. BEN: I wouldn’t ask you unless I really needed it. GEORGI: What you really need is help, Ben. BEN: Please. 300 bucks, that’s it. GEORGI: I won’t. I can’t. A quick example

  25. The scene’s literal activity: Ben is literally asking his sister for money. The want: Ben wants his sister to give him three hundred bucks. The essential action: get someone to help me out of a bind. The as-if: It’s as if I’m trying to get my wife, who works, to stay home with our sick kid, so I can go to rehearsal. A quick example: step Four

  26. What does the action mean to you personally? Something you would love to do or must do. Same action as the character’s, not the same situation. Is a current and unresolved action in your life. May have imaginary circumstances, but the target must be a real person in your life. Step four: The as-if

  27. Improvised As-If Scenes share

  28. Why making it personal is so important A working knowledge of The Four Steps of Practical Aesthetics A newfound power to dig deeper with your students, to help them connect their personal lives to their art. recap

  29. David Mamet “Always tell the truth. It’s the easiest thing to remember”

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