"Introduction to Object Exercises"/"First Contact with the Play"

This week we are exploring the given circumstances of our practice and how we approach the play for the first time. In "First Contact with the Play",( in our case scenes from a play) Hagen asks us to think about the possible themes for the play. When you read your scenes, what general themes come to mind? What is the scene about? What human relationships does the playwright explore? What if you just read the scene for the given circumstances alone without making decisions about your part and what you will "play"? Ask yourself, how can I plan a score for a play/scene I do not completely understand?

When you blog this week think about the given circumstances of your scene and how they work together or in opposition. What skills have you developed thus far in your technique that enable you to answer the question "Who am I in this play?" Can you work without the knowledge you as the actor possess through interpreting the entire scene? Before you play particular ACTIONS, do you think you have to know why?

'Identity" and "The Basic Object Exercise" - Hagen Week 2

This week we are focusing on exploring who we are and idetifying tactics that we can use to explore the multiple "selves" that we inhabit on a day to day basis. Uta Hagen argues that the more we know about ourselves, the more we can bring to our work. Think about the two quotes below and ask yourself how much you rely on one particular facet of your idenity while others are rarely used? What might you do to make yourself available to the multiple possibilities of yourself, the good and the bad, that can be used in your work as an actor?
"Your own identity and self-knowledge are the main sources for any chracter you might play."(Hagen 1973,"Identity" pp.29)
"We must overcome the notion that we need to be regular."(Hagen,1973, pp.31)

Welcome to Acting 2 at The University of Kansas, Department of Theatre

Welcome to Acting 2!

This course will help you on your journey as you continue to develop your craft as an actor. I look forward to working with you this semester. This blog serves as a space for you to share ideas about our work in class, obstacles and triumphs as well as the readings we do from Uta Hagen's Respect for Acting. Your first posts begin next week. Start observing the world around you and take notes! You will need them as you go...

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Nicole Hodges Persley, Ph.D.