Character Private Moment
The character private moment is a portable exercise that allows the actor to explore and create based on the super objective (overall objective) of the character. This drive is also known as the unfulfilled need of the character.
The actor can read and reread the play in order to get the character's heartbeat, their central purpose (objective) that drives them and affects every choice they ever make. The writer gives us the clues about what this central drive is, but we must find a way to not only recognize it but also to live it, but to put it in our body.
Think of a moment in your life when you were totally driven by a need. A need for love or for approval or recognition or security or control. How strong was it in your body? What choices did you make as a result of this heightened need? Need directly relates to the choices we make.
Once we are ready to try a choice for overall objective, we can get out of our analytical mind and into our body and our creativity by setting aside 15 minutes for our character private moment. The exercise is based directly on the personal private moment. Place is crucial, where would the character go for their privacy? Three private activities that the character would use to deal with being in need and not being able to satiate that need. [In other words, if the character gets the need met, then their struggle is all resolved. This doesn't happen in the script, so the exercise addresses the life of the character in their need.] Three private activities that the character would NOT do if someone showed up. Private music, you can place a playlist for that character.
The exercise allows us to step into the exploration of the need (the life) of the character, the exercise is not rehearsed. It is like an improvisation- we set it up and then enter into it. Maybe an activity really helps us, maybe it doesn't- it's okay either way. Just enter that exploration.
**If we omit the need, we omit the driving force, the spine of the character. Need and purpose affect our choices, they affect the character's choices. If we minimize or omit need of the character, the choices have a chance at being irrelevant to the character's spine as given to us by the writer. The need is the central driving force. How do we get there? We can use our own experience to connect with it and/ or we can use our imagination. If there are elements we don't know about regarding the life of the character, we do the research. In it's simplest form, acting is a game we play. We get the setup and then we enter. This exercise can be approached with this spirit.
This exercise is affirming of our art and in 15 minutes gives us the seeds of connection to our character, in a language that our own instrument speaks. The mechanism of this approach is not in obligation but in our own instrument's creative problem solving.
We utilize the strengths and weaknesses of our instrument, and instead of thinking, we get on our feet and explore. There is no wrong- only what serves and what does not. This is process work. Our own creativity gets a chance here to create and start to build not only the life of the character, but a direct connection from it to the core of our instrument. Risk taking is encouraged. Facing fear is supported. Ask questions any time.
The actor can read and reread the play in order to get the character's heartbeat, their central purpose (objective) that drives them and affects every choice they ever make. The writer gives us the clues about what this central drive is, but we must find a way to not only recognize it but also to live it, but to put it in our body.
Think of a moment in your life when you were totally driven by a need. A need for love or for approval or recognition or security or control. How strong was it in your body? What choices did you make as a result of this heightened need? Need directly relates to the choices we make.
Once we are ready to try a choice for overall objective, we can get out of our analytical mind and into our body and our creativity by setting aside 15 minutes for our character private moment. The exercise is based directly on the personal private moment. Place is crucial, where would the character go for their privacy? Three private activities that the character would use to deal with being in need and not being able to satiate that need. [In other words, if the character gets the need met, then their struggle is all resolved. This doesn't happen in the script, so the exercise addresses the life of the character in their need.] Three private activities that the character would NOT do if someone showed up. Private music, you can place a playlist for that character.
The exercise allows us to step into the exploration of the need (the life) of the character, the exercise is not rehearsed. It is like an improvisation- we set it up and then enter into it. Maybe an activity really helps us, maybe it doesn't- it's okay either way. Just enter that exploration.
**If we omit the need, we omit the driving force, the spine of the character. Need and purpose affect our choices, they affect the character's choices. If we minimize or omit need of the character, the choices have a chance at being irrelevant to the character's spine as given to us by the writer. The need is the central driving force. How do we get there? We can use our own experience to connect with it and/ or we can use our imagination. If there are elements we don't know about regarding the life of the character, we do the research. In it's simplest form, acting is a game we play. We get the setup and then we enter. This exercise can be approached with this spirit.
This exercise is affirming of our art and in 15 minutes gives us the seeds of connection to our character, in a language that our own instrument speaks. The mechanism of this approach is not in obligation but in our own instrument's creative problem solving.
We utilize the strengths and weaknesses of our instrument, and instead of thinking, we get on our feet and explore. There is no wrong- only what serves and what does not. This is process work. Our own creativity gets a chance here to create and start to build not only the life of the character, but a direct connection from it to the core of our instrument. Risk taking is encouraged. Facing fear is supported. Ask questions any time.
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