Chapter 2 Understanding & Analyzing the Selection

Selecting your Text Where to Look… Libraries Technology College Libraries College Bookstores Used Books Audio Resources Newspapers Internet Testimony Can you think of others?

Selecting Literature Consider Yourself Consider Your Capabilities Consider Your Audience Consider Literary Value Consider Appropriateness

Understanding the Text Speaker Scene Audience Act Agency Purpose

Introductions should… …prepare the audience …allow the audience to meet you …provide essential information …establish a mood

Introductions should focus on… …how you relate to the selection …the category’s requirements …social issues …the writer’s purpose …an element of the selection

Introductions should avoid… …running out of time …spoiling the experience by giving away too much …asking trite rhetorical questions …copying someone else’s introductions …either reading or performing your introduction

Analyzing your text Denotative meaning Explicit meaning Connotative meaning Suggestions, overtones Persona The narrator Locus Physical & psychological state

Structural Components, cont’d Climax Logical content Repetition Rhyme Emotional content

Aesthetic Components Unity What holds the piece together Ex. Persona, Locus Connectives: and, then, later… Harmony Sentence structure layout

Aesthetic Components, Cont’d Variety Associations are similar, but different (ex. Twins) Contrast Associations are opposite/different (Ex. “the Quiet noise”

Aesthetic Components, Cont’d Balance & proportions Rhythm Stressed & Unstressed syllables Rhythm Content

Technical Challenges Preparing script Using Excerpts Placing action Introduction Author of selection Prepare audience for events Establishes persona Adopting author’s language

Cutting Literature for Performance Read the ENTIRE selection Thoroughly analyze the work as a whole Continuity is critical! Beginning, Middle, End Stay true to author’s intent Avoid cutting vivid passages Cut repetition (in prose) Cut tag lines Cut subplots Cut references to something you’ve already cut

Rehearsal Techniques Establish regular schedule 110% Seek audiences Mark your manuscript Videotape Audiotape Work with other interpreters