Thursday, June 19, 2008

WORDS TO LIVE BY: ACTION - OBJECTIVE - JUSTIFICATION - BE SPECIFIC

What follow are some exchanges of notes with regard to the T-Shirts. Thought they might be of use here:

"Greetings

Yes, the T-Shirt idea came about because in conversations with John T. and others, it seemed that where the actor meets the script, is where so many of the disciplines of Drama come together, and that those concepts of ACTION, OBJECTIVE and JUSTIFICATION and the great value of SPECIFICS, which are all so important to an actor's craft, also, so strongly inform the writing and of course the directing process.

But, for some reason these basic principles seem to [so often] get lost in the shuffle, where Style, and other concepts can take precedence. But, without these basics, Drama can seem rather pointless."
AND
"(If you go to the link above and see what I'm working on, vis-a-vis the T-Shirt, I realize, that perhaps some of you would not be caught dead in such a garment. But, so . . . let the shock of this gesture, serve as notice that every "Actor's Director" wears [these] words on their soul.)"
AND
Student response:

"[T]his is hilarious ... we get t-shirts that are like cheat sheets for passing our directing the actor's final exams.

i wear a small, and i like bright colors but anything is cool.

looking forward to your class."


My reply:

"That is a very very good and very close assessment of the situation. Yes, the T-Shirt can be looked at as the "cheat sheet" for the course. Meaning that if in each exercise you address and communicate those concepts to and with your actors, that would be a 100% successful accomplishment.

What are they doing? (Action)

To get what they want? (Objective)

"Why" - or what's at stake, to lose or gain? (Justification)

Stated in the most specific [of] terms.

As for the concept of 'exam' as I'm sure you [already] know, in the arts, the only passing grade is "to deliver. . ."

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"The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king."

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