ACTIVE VERBS

	Accelerate
	Accommodate
	Accomplish
	Accumulate
	Achieve
	Acquire
	Act
	Activate
	Adapt
	Add
	Address
	Adjust
	Administer
	Advertise
	Advise
	Advocate
	Aid
	Aide
	Align
	Allocate
	Amend
	Analyze
	Answer
	Anticipate
	Apply
	Appoint
	Appraise
	Approve
	Arbitrate
	Arrange
	Articulate
	Ascertain
	Assemble
	Assess
	Assign
	Assist
	Assume
	Attain
	Attend
	Attract
	Audit
	Augment
	Author
	Authorize
	Automate
	Avert
	Award
	Bargain
	Begin
	Bolster
	Boost
	Bought
	Brief
	Broaden
	Budget
	Build
	Built
	Calculate
	Calibrate
	Canvass
	Capture
	Care
	Catalog
	Catalogue
	Categorize
	Cater
	Cause
	Centralize
	Chair
	Charge
	Chart
	Check
	Clarify
	Classify
	Co-operate
	Coach
	Code
	Collaborate
	Collate
	Collect
	Combine
	Comfort
	Commence
	Communicate
	Compare
	Compile
	Complete
	Compose
	Compute
	Conceive
	Conceptualize
	Conciliate
	Conclude
	Condense
	Conduct
	Confer
	Confirm
	Connect
	Conserve
	Consider
	Consolidate
	Construct
	Consult
	Contact
	Contract
	Contribute
	Control
	Convert
	Convey
	Convince
	Cooperate
	Coordinate
	Copy
	Correct
	Correlate
	Correspond
	Counsel
	Create
	Critique
	Cultivate
	Customize
	Dealt with
	Debate
	Debug
	Decide
	Decrease
	Dedicate
	Deduce
	Defend
	Defer
	Define
	Delegate
	Deliver
	Demonstrate
	Depict
	Depreciated
	Derive
	Describe
	Design
	Detail
	Detect
	Determine
	Develop
	Devise
	Devote
	Diagnose
	Diagram
	Differentiate
	Direct
	Discharge
	Disclose
	Discover
	Discriminate
	Discuss
	Dispatch
	Display
	Dissect
	Disseminate
	Distinguish
	Distribute
	Diversify
	Document
	Draft
	Draw
	Drew
	Earn
	Edit
	Educate
	Effect
	Elect
	Elicit
	Eliminate
	Emphasize
	Employ
	Enable
	Encourage
	Enforce
	Engineer
	Enhance
	Enlarge
	Enlighten
	Enlist
	Enrich
	Ensure
	Enter
	Entertain
	Enumerate
	Equip
	Establish
	Estimate
	Evaluate
	Examine
	Exchange
	Execute
	Exercise
	Exhibit
	Expand
	Expedite
	Experiment
	Explain
	Explore
	Express
	Extend
	Extract
	Extrapolate
	Fabricate
	Facilitate
	Familiarize
	Fashion
	File
	Filter
	Finalize
	Fine-tune
	Fix
	Focus
	Forecast
	Formulate
	Fortify
	Forward
	Foster
	Found
	Frame
	Fund
	Furnish
	Further
	Gather
	Gauge
	Generate
	Govern
	Grade
	Grant
	Greet
	Guide
	Handle
	Head
	Help
	Highlight
	Hire
	Host
	Identify
	Illustrate
	Impart
	Implement
	Import
	Improve
	Improvise
	Incorporate
	Increase
	Index
	Individualize
	Influence
	Inform
	Initiate
	Innovate
	Inspect
	Inspire
	Install
	Institute
	Instruct
	Insure
	Integrate
	Interact
	Interface
	Interpret
	Intervene
	Interview
	Introduce
	Invent
	Inventory
	Investigate
	Involve
	Join
	Judge
	Justify
	Label
	Launch
	Lead
	Learn
	Lecture
	License
	Lighten
	Liquidate
	List
	Listen
	Litigate
	Lobby
	Localize
	Locate
	Log
	Maintain
	Manage
	Manufacture
	Map
	Market
	Master
	Maximize
	Measure
	Mechanize
	Mediate
	Mentor
	Merge
	Methodize
	Minimize
	Mobilize
	Model
	Moderate
	Modernize
	Modify
	Monitor
	Motivate
	Narrate
	Navigate
	Negotiate
	Notify
	Nurse
	Nurture
	Observe
	Obtain
	Officiate
	Offset
	Operate
	Orchestrate
	Order
	Organize
	Orient
	Orientate
	Originate
	Outline
	Overhaul
	Oversaw
	Oversee
	Package
	Participate
	Perceive
	Perfect
	Perform
	Persuade
	Photograph
	Pilot
	Pioneer
	Plan
	Practice
	Predict
	Prepare
	Present
	Preserve
	Preside
	Prevent
	Print
	Prioritize
	Probe
	Process
	Produce
	Program
	Project
	Promote
	Propose
	Provide
	Publicize
	Publish
	Purchase
	Qualify
	Quantify
	Quote
	Raise
	Ran
	Rank
	Rate
	Read
	Reason
	Recall
	Recognize
	Recommend
	Reconcile
	Record
	Recreate
	Recruit
	Rectify
	Reduce
	Refer
	Refine
	Register
	Regulate
	Rehabilitate
	Reinforce
	Relate
	Related
	Release
	Remodel
	Render
	Renew
	Reorganize
	Repair
	Replace
	Report
	Represent
	Research
	Reserve
	Resolve
	Respond
	Restore
	Restrict
	Retain
	Retrieve
	Revamp
	Reveal
	Review
	Revise
	Revitalize
	Route
	Sample
	Save
	Scan
	Schedule
	Screen
	Script
	Scrutinize
	Search
	Secure
	Segment
	Select
	Serve
	Service
	Set goals
	Set up
	Settle
	Shape
	Share
	Show
	Simplify
	Simulate
	Sketch
	Sold
	Solicit
	Solve
	Sort
	Speak
	Spearhead
	Specialize
	Specify
	Spoke
	Stage
	Standardize
	Start
	Stimulate
	Straighten
	Strategize
	Streamline
	Strengthen
	Structure
	Study
	Submit
	Substantiate
	Substitute
	Suggest
	Summarize
	Supervise
	Supply
	Support
	Surpass
	Survey
	Sustain
	Symbolize
	Synthesize
	Systematize
	Tabulate
	Tail
	Target
	Taught
	Teach
	Tend
	Terminate
	Test
	Theorize
	Time
	Tour
	Trace
	Track
	Trade
	Train
	Transcribe
	Transfer
	Transform
	Translate
	Transmit
	Transport
	Transpose
	Travel
	Treat
	Triple
	Troubleshot
	Tutor
	Uncover
	Undertook
	Unify
	Unveil
	Update
	Upgrade
	Upheld
	Use
	Utilize
	Validate
	Value
	Verify
	View
	Visit
	Visualize
	Vitalize
	Volunteer
	Weigh
	Widen
	Win
	Withdraw
	Witness
	Write

FREE DICTIONARY

(Amazon Link)

Book Description:

ACTIONS: The Actors' Thesaurus is a vital companion for actors in rehearsal—a thesaurus of action words to revitalize performance.

Actors need actions. Actors cannot ‘act’ adjectives, they need verbs. Verbs are an aim to achieve, an action to perform.

‘Actions’ are active verbs. ‘I tempt you.’ ‘You taunt me.’ In order to perform an action truthfully--and therefore convincingly-- an actor needs to find exactly the right action to suit that particular situation and that particular line. That is where this book comes in….

ACTIONS is a thesaurus of active verbs that the actor can use to refine performance until s/he hits exactly the right one to help make the action come alive. ACTIONS: The Actors’ Thesaurus by Marina Caldarone & Maggie Lloyd-Williams has gathered together the (formerly) dogged-eared photocopied lists of action verbs from greenrooms and rehearsal rooms and put them together in this pocket-sized thesaurus. All with a view to helping actors get to the heart of meaning and to a great performance. This thesaurus of action words is indispensable in developing mood, line readings, and acting choices for each and every line.

From the Publisher
This new book just released by Drama Publishers gathers together -- for the first time -- the acting community’s –- formerly — secret lists of action words and makes them available in an organized and comprehensive format.

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

ON MIKE LEIGH

reprint from:
The Villager is published by
Community Media LLC.
The Villager | 487 Greenwich St., Suite 6A | New York, NY 10013
Phone: 212.229.1890 | Fax: 212.229.2790

Mike Leigh, director of numerous films and plays including “Abigail’s Party,” now at the Acorn Theater, likes his actors to start without a script.

The master of improvisation

By Jerry Tallmer

Mike Leigh has for 40 years now employed his own unique method of starting and building a play or a movie, and he has built plenty of both, gathering praises and prizes along the way. “First, the actors take part without any idea of the process,” he says. “Second, each actor only knows what his character would know.”

What then ensues is improvisation.

Leigh, here in New York for the opening of “Abigail’s Party,” leaned back, stroked his scrubby bit of a beard, and said: “That last scene in ‘Secrets and Lies,’ the big barbecue, was a massive improv. Then we rehearsed it and fixed it and pinned it down, so what you finally arrive at—by the time I shoot it or put in on stage—is very precise.

“That’s the whole thing in a nutshell.”

The 1996 “Secrets and Lies,” about a capable young British black woman who discovers herself to be the daughter of a baffled working-class British white woman, won a Golden Globe and a host of other awards around the globe including Oscar nominations for Brenda Blethyn as the mother, Marianne Jean-Baptiste as the daughter, and Mike Leigh as writer/director.

“Abigail’s Party” is another cup of tea, or, rather, a tumbler of the gin-and-tonic that domineering Beverly, the wife of workaholic two-bit rental agent Laurence, forces on her guests whatever their own tastes may be. The guests on this occasion are Angela, an over-striving, under-brained registered nurse; Angela’s boorish husband Tony, a computer technician and onetime soccer star; and Sue, the neighbor, a recuperating divorcee who’s come over for the evening because her own house is packed with the teenagers her daughter Abigail has invited to a party.

We never get to see Abigail. We do get to see the spiritual and societal poverty of the bourgeois-Brit adults here in Laurence and Beverly’s house, as layer after layer of their varying pretensions are stripped off by themselves in a give-and-take under the whiplash, so to speak, of their hostess.

The New Group/Theatre Row production that’s at 42nd Street’s Acorn Theater is the American premier of a work that originated in July 1977 at London’s Hampstead Theatre. An author’s note emphasizes that it “evolved from scratch entirely by rehearsal through improvisation.”

“That was nearly 30 years ago,” Mike Leigh says now. “Very interesting to see how it stands up. Having done it as a play at the Hampstead, it was then [in November 1977] wheeled into a [BBC] television studio.”

What was the spark that set you creating it in the first place?

“Not easy, that kind of question.” He thought a bit. “I guess, the whole thing of not being true to what we are. The aspirational aspect [to be on some higher economic and social level]. Received ideas, misguided relationships. Consumerism. Something I do all the time” [write about such matters].

This is the fourth Mike Leigh play done in New York by director Scott Elliott. “He finally decided to do this one, and the bonus is Jennifer Jason Leigh” as pile-driving Beverly. Ms. Leigh’s stage mates are Max Baker as husband Laurence, Elizabeth Jasicki as Angela, Darren Goldstein as Tony, Lisa Emery as Sue.

“Next month it will be 40 years since the first play I ever did this way,” Leigh said. “That was ‘The Box Play,’ December 1965. About a family that lived in a box—a cage. I was 22—a long time ago. Now I’m 62.”

How did the improv-ing start?

“How—or why?” Leigh amended. “Well, I was trained as an actor at RADA [the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts]. It was rather dead. Uncreative. Formula stuff. Old-fashioned boulevard theater. You know, you learned lines and didn’t pull over the furniture.

“Then I went to art school, were you did life drawing. It suddenly hit me that what we were doing as art students we were not doing as theater students. Working from life.

“Then I did some directing, and found it uninspiring. I was writing, as well. And I suddenly found you could direct and write at the same time. At some point it just made sense.”

Hadn’t Elia Kazan, among others, been doing just that, in a sort of way, here in the United States?

“Yes, but I hadn’t seen any of his [stage] work. It was also what [Britain’s] Peter Brook was doing, and, you know, [John] Cassavetes [in movies]. My first love, always, was film.”

Do you always work this same way, not telling the actors, and so forth?

“Yes, yes, yes.”

Leigh has a new play running now at the Britain’s National Theatre.

“It’s called ‘Two Thousand Years’ and it’s about Jews. In particular, it’s about a couple of old left-wing Zionists whose son becomes Orthodox, much to their secular horror.”

Mike Leigh was born in Salford, “a city attached to Manchester—like Buda and Pest”—February 20, 1943.

“My father, Abe Leigh, at that point in time, was serving in His Majesty’s forces in Southwest Africa. When he died of a heart attack, 20 years ago, I was in Australia. Sort of a poetic pattern. Didn’t get to see him at either end.”

How many Jews were there in His Majesty’s forces in Southwest Africa?

“Interesting question. My father was there because he was a doctor. My mother was a nurse. She was a Londoner, Phyllis Cousin, whose father was a kosher butcher. My grandparents were all from the Ukraine, Russia, Germany. A new film you haven’t seen, ‘Vera Drake,’ about a back-street abortionist [an admirable one], is dedicated to my parents. Who were not abortionists.”

Leigh is himself the father of two sons, one an illustrator, the other a filmmaker—“good guys”—in their 20s.

You know, Mr. Leigh, that unseen Abigail in your play, the willful teenager whose pals are turning her mother’s house into a smoke-filled zoo, would seem to be a bit of a horror.

“Well, she is,” Leigh said, “with every earmark of ending up a little Beverly. But I think she has a healthy streak, a certain freedom down the road.”

Give or take 30 more years and we’ll see. Improvisationally.

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

ON VALIDATING YOUR ACTORS' CONTRIBUTIONS

Many don't know that TCD*S, emerged from listening to my students' frustrations with the casting process. TCD*S is a direct result of listening to the suggestions of three students. Molly Asher, Perry Blackshear, and Cole Wiley.

During our afternoon session yesterday, Jarreau Carrillo mentioned working with actors during the writing process. And so, I asked actors about their willingness to workshop new scripts with our writer/directors, during the writing process.

This group came about: http://the-casting-directory.ning.com/group/actordirectorlab

The actors in this group are quite open to our writer/directors reaching out to them "directly" during the writing process toward helping develop their material and establishing collaborative relationships in the process.

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

THE FITKIT

"Self Improvement through health and fitness"

(CLICK THROUGH FOR FREE SAMPLE)

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THE BEST INFORMATION ON THIS SUBJECT THAT I HAVE EVER COME ACROSS

FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER SPECIAL EVENT 25TH ANNIVERARY SCREENING OF "DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN"

José Angel Santana with Madonna in scene from "Desperately Seeking Susan."

Desperately Seeking Susan
Directed by Susan Seidelman
25th Anniversary Screening!
Thursday, September 23 at 7:30pm

The Film Society of Lincoln Center's
The Walter Reade Theater
165 W. 65th St.

Ticket Information

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