• Stand in the neutral position (feet shoulder width apart, pelvis tipped in, hands at your side).
• Loosen your neck by moving your head in a slow roll; drop your shoulders and push down with your hands, then bring shoulders up as high as you can while scrunching up your face, repeat several times.
• Close your eyes and take a deep breath in through your nose, hold a moment, and release out through your mouth. Repeat several times.
• Reach your hands up over your head and reach for the ceiling, first with one hand, and then the other. Stretch the side muscles.
• While still reaching up, take a deep breath in through the nose.
• Exhale through the mouth as you let your upper body collapse over and reach for your feet. Let your knees flex, hands, head and shoulders hang loosely. Stretch out the backs of your legs.
• Don't forget to breathe.
• Imagine your spine is made of building blocks. As you come up, imagine you are stacking those blocks one on top of the other. Pelvis tilts in. As you straighten, keep head and shoulders loose. Don't lift your head until the shoulders are in place.
• You should be in a good posture form. Breath in slowly, aware of each breath. Exhale through the mouth. Repeat several times.
• With each exhalation, let it come out with a soft sound.
• Be aware of breathing with your diaphragm, not your stomach.
• Begin to move about the space, use good energy in your body, swing arms, move on toes and then heels, and use vocal warm ups (vibrate lips like a motor, too-taw-tee, mee-moo-maw, sing)
• As you move be aware of your body, where to stretch, what needs loosening.
• Find a space to lay down on your back and relax all muscles. Close your eyes and focus on breathing. Visualize your body filling up with air and becoming light and weightless. Visualize a small leak which deflates the body softly and slowly.
• Stretch and yawn (loudly) and then sit up. (10 min.)

Journal: Actors need to prepare themselves for performance. It can be very strenuous work and they need to feel fit, flexible and have stamina. Relaxation and concentration can help you focus better and helps you have control over your body. It also controls "stage fright". Have students record their responses to the following two questions as the first half of a journal article: 1. How did the warm up exercise make you feel? 2. How might you adapt it to better suit your needs? (5 min.)

Activity 3 - Using Rehearsal Techniques

Rehearsal Strategies (pdf):
Directors and actors try out various strategies in their rehearsals in order to explore character and relationships. Sometimes a scene may seem dry or affected, and it's difficult to know what the problem may be - exploration through these techniques can sometimes lead to an "ah hah" moment of realization. Sometimes just trying something - silly though it may seem - can help open creativity.

Have students read through the rehearsal strategies and select at least two to apply to their monologue rehearsals. If possible, ask students to document the rehearsal with video so that they may watch it objectively. If video is not available, then ask students to work in small groups of monologues, so that they might help one another. Most of these strategies require more than one person. Monologues must have someone they are addressed toward - we just don't see them on stage. In this case, the person addressed is there in the rehearsal. (20 - 30 min.)

The following are the activities and the instructions for students:

Touch	As you say each line you must find a way to touch the other person, in a way appropriate to the line. Helps you find ways to make the lines mean something to the person you are speaking to.
Slap	Stand facing a partner with your hands out, under the partners outstretched hands. As you say your lines, try to slap your partners hands on any important lines or lines which change emotion. The partner is to try and avoid the slap. Helps put energy onto each line.
Tug-o-War	Stand facing a partner with a rope held between you. Your objective is to win the tug-o-war while saying your lines. The partner also wants to win. Helps you overcome an obstacle, while focusing on your objective.
Brackets	As you speak each line you must pause at the end and say what is actually being done as if in brackets (you know, what is not actually said, but is understood). Can really help you understand the subtext (and find pauses).
Opposites	If it is a sad scene, then play it as a stand up comedian trying to get laughs. Find the opposite of the scene to play - or an opposite in your character to play. Can help open up character exploration that has gone stale and seems cliché.
Verb It	On each beat (or change in tone) call out the verb that applies. Refer to the Actable Verbs handout for a huge list of possibilities. Helps to understand objectives in a script.
Melodrama	Play the scene as a melodrama - way over the top in expression and movement. The bigger the better. Helps to unblock self conscious movements.
Absolutely Still	Play the scene without moving at all. Just look at the audience - don't use your hands or move your feet. Don't even move your weight from one hip to the other. Helps you to become aware fidgety behavior.
Animals	Imagine your character is an animal - what would it be? Keep those animal characteristics foremost in your mind as you play the scene. What does it do to your voice, movement, contact with other people? Helps you visualize other aspects to the character.
Mime	Play the entire scene without words. Make it very clear what the feeling is - what is the objective? Don't try to use charades for words. Express what it is saying with your body. Very interesting to watch, the actor must be very clear in their objectives.

 

Journal - ask students to respond to the following questions as the second half of the journal article: 1. How did you feel using these rehearsal strategies? 2. Were there any which led you to seeing the role in a different light? 3. Are you planning to change anything for the performance? (5 min.)

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Instructional Strategies:
Learning activity packages, peer-practice, role playing, games

Evaluation:
Participation in rehearsal strategies may be evaluated, journal entries will be evaluated as a group, once or twice per year

Alternative On-line Activity:
Students should record a written log of their experiences in warm-up and rehearsal technique. This log could be e-mailed or faxed to the teacher, along with the journal and glossary definitions.

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