Unit 3 - Character
Module 3: Developing Character
Lesson 2 - Working Internally (Hotseat)

Introduction:
The purpose of this lesson is to familiarize students with a variety of internal rehearsal techniques.

Objectives:
- to use improvisation to contribute to creations of works of dramatic art
- to express ideas and emotions appropriate to particular characters
- to use breath control.
- to become confident at communicating character through speech.

Resources:
(pdf) Rehearsal Techniques, simple costume pieces

CELs:
C, CCT, IL, PSVS

Components:
Creative/Productive

Activities:

Activity 1 - Warm Up:
A. "Saying Hello, Waving Good-bye"
Two very simple instructions. What becomes important is how it is done. What is the objective? Ask each student to try it on their own - thinking about who they are and to whom they are saying hello and waving good-bye. Do the first action, pause, turn your back and pause, then turn around and do the second action. What has happened in the pause? What have we not seen? Can the student make it clear?
Watch each other and discuss observations. (various amounts of time, depending on class size)

B. "Pouring a drink"
The student will make an entrance, pour a drink and make an exit. Three simple instructions. Students may use simple props (or mime) to define who and where they are. What are all the ways in which this can be expressed? For example: first ever drink; peer pressure; in a panic; hate the taste; making a toast; see a bug in the glass, etc. Allow students to make some decisions. For example, do they drink it, spill it, look at it, leave it? What is the objective? What is the obstacle?
Watch each other and discuss observations about character.
What do you notice about the physical actor? (various amounts of time, depending on class size)

Activity 2 - Breathing:
"The deeper in your body you breathe, the stronger and more personal your emotions will feel. In rehearsal and performance, when you don't believe what you are saying you will discover that you have not placed your breathe deeply enough. What is happening is that your head is doing all the work and your body isn't involved." (Acting Skills for Life. Ron Cameron. The Dundurn Group, Toronto. 1999.)

Think of the cry for example. If you refer to a thesaurus you will find there are many shadings to the word. As you read the words, think about the breath attached to each, is the sound in the nose, the chest, the head - where is the tension, the focus?

Each student can demonstrate a word to a partner - look for where the sound is coming from in the body. Breath has a source, an intensity. A whine, for example, is placed in the head, usually in the pharynx or nasal cavity. It is a long sustained sound and the breath is placed very high in the chest and throat. A moan, on the other hand, is much lower in pitch, is placed at the back of the throat, and is less energetic than a whine.

Ask the students, "What other words can you do this assignment with?" Allow the opportunity to be creative.

Remind students of the following: "Remember there are no rights or wrongs in acting, just choices. Depending on whether you choose one action word or another, the images and emotions, physical action, the same line of text can be strikingly different." (5 minutes).

Activity 3 - Choosing rehearsal techniques:
Rehearsal Techniques (pdf)
Rehearsals can be an exciting time for discovery and exploration. It is not the time to worry about memorizing lines (this should be well rehearsed already). Some actors will tell you to memorize the words and then forget them, just use the words inside you. It will be more natural then.

Try some of these techniques as a way into the character - they ask the student to take on and imagine the whole character (details not given in the script, but which exist nonetheless). (20 min.)