1. Making It Personal Practical Aesthetics:
Four steps to help your students connect to a character’s actions
Peter King – EdTA Conference
September 27 – 28, 2013
Put out six piles of scenes and have participants pick one as they come in.
Pick up a 3x5 card as you pick up your scene.
Ancient Game: Follow the Leader – small children of Peking, China
Making It Personal

2. Making it personal Warm-up Introductions Goals Background
Practical Aesthetics
The Four Steps
Share
Recap and Questions
Making it personal
Introductions: What show are you working on or would like to work on.
Me: NU, BU, RADA, NWSA not Julie Louis-Dreyfus but Laura Innes Dr. Kerry Weaver on ER
PERSONAL 3x5 Card: Something you MUST do or would LOVE do to with someone when you return from the conference.

3. Goals
Learn the background of the technique known as Practical Aesthetics
Form a working knowledge of Practical Aesthetics (The Four Steps)
Know the importance of personalizing work
Feel empowered to dig deeper with your students
Do any of you know or use PRACTICAL AESTHETICS?
You will creatively MODIFY and ADAPT all of this to work with YOUR SITUATION

4. Background Practical Aesthetics: a rehearsal technique
David Mamet, William H. Macy, Gregory Mosher
Based on Stanislavsky’s and Sanford Meisner’s work
A Practical Handbook for the Actor, Lee Michael Cohn
The Atlantic Acting School
My own idiosyncratic evolution
Article: Making It Personal in the journal, Teaching Theater
No Step Two (the want) in the book
Designed for REALISTIC ACTING
Good for FILM
Article uploaded to LIBRARY on the Community Board

5. The Four Steps 1. What is the character literally doing?
2. What does the character want in the scene?
3. What is my essential action?
4. What is the action like to me? It’s as if…
The Four Steps
First two steps have to do with the script and the literal circumstances on the page.
The second two steps are about YOU and you are AMAZING and might be after the break

6. The Four Steps 1. What is the character literally doing? Lords
2. What does the character want in the scene? Wear
3. What is my essential action? Ancient
4. What is the action like to me? It’s as if… Apparel
The Four Steps
Anagram: Lords Wear Ancient Apparel
Have scene partners find each other or rearrange.
Ok, you may work with your best friend OR take a RISK
Love your new role and new scene partner.

7. Step One: The character’s literal activity
The Popcorn Test
Any guesses as to what we mean by “literal” activity?
Do bad acting popcorn test

8. A quick example
(Ben and Georgi are brother and sister.) BEN: I won’t ask you again. GEORGI: I don’t believe you. BEN: I wouldn’t ask you unless I really needed it. GEORGI: What you really need is help, Ben. BEN: Please. 300 bucks, that’s it. GEORGI: I won’t. I can’t.
Have volunteers read the scene.

9. A Quick example: step one
The scene’s literal activity: Ben is literally asking his sister for money.

10. Step One: The character’s literal activity
A non-interpretive, non-judgmental statement about what’s going on in the scene. Includes everything that happens in the scene or unit of action in a single descriptive clause.
Includes what the character says (the script).
Includes stage business.
What we say versus what we mean.
Partners determine literal in their scene.
Then have partners stand and read their scripts for popcorn scene.
Send someone out of the room to get sodas.
WHY is LITERAL important?
Brigadoon Example
Horse costume on a horse
A lot of inexperienced actors stop their analysis here.

11. Step two: The character’s want
Within the literal confines of the scene, what specifically does your character want?
The test will be in the other character.
Will have a clear cap (a visual or verbal sign the character has gotten what she wants).
Should be as concrete and as physical as possible.
Should be physical not emotional: wants such as Gabi wants Mica to feel ashamed for betraying her can get the actor stuck in an unactable tangle of psychological manipulation.

12. A quick example
(Ben and Georgi are brother and sister.) BEN: I won’t ask you again. GEORGI: I don’t believe you. BEN: I wouldn’t ask you unless I really needed it. GEORGI: What you really need is help, Ben. BEN: Please. 300 bucks, that’s it. GEORGI: I won’t. I can’t.
Ask for volunteers to read out loud.
What does Ben WANT?
What does Georgi WANT?

13. A quick example: step two
The scene’s literal activity: Ben is literally asking his sister for money.
The want: Ben wants his sister to give him three hundred bucks.

14. Step two: The character’s want
Within the literal confines of the scene, what specifically does your character want?
The test will be in the other character.
Will have a clear cap (a visual or verbal sign the character has gotten what she wants).
Should be as concrete and as physical as possible.
Should be physical not emotional: wants such as Gabi wants Mica to feel ashamed for betraying her can get the actor stuck in an unactable tangle of psychological manipulation.
Determine WANT in your scene.
Read them out loud.
Ask class what want is.
Most actors and directors stop here – at the literal level of the scene.
Leads to cliché acting because it’s not PERSONAL yet.

15. Step three: My action
Essential Action: the physical pursuit of a specific goal with a partner on stage.
Text vs. Subtext Improvisations
Now we CONNECT the scene to YOU personally using the Action and the As-if.
Practice: get a jerk of my back or make someone jealous
Wash the car improve to show Text vs Subtext

16. A quick example
(Ben and Georgi are brother and sister.) BEN: I won’t ask you again. GEORGI: I don’t believe you. BEN: I wouldn’t ask you unless I really needed it. GEORGI: What you really need is help, Ben. BEN: Please. 300 bucks, that’s it. GEORGI: I won’t. I can’t.
You’ve never needed to borrow $300. Or you’re in a movie where your character tortures someone, etc.
Make the action your own.

17. A quick example: step three
The scene’s literal activity: Ben is literally asking his sister for money.
The want: Ben wants his sister to give him three hundred bucks.
The essential action: get someone to help me out of a bind.
Have a couple of actors do the scene with the actions.
Georgi: get someone to take care of themselves.

18. Step three: My action
Essential Action: the physical pursuit of a specific goal with a partner on stage.
Is an intersection between the character’s wants and your own.
Has a test in the partner and a cap.
Phrased in a way that you can attach your as-if
Determine the action(s) in your scene. Write it down. Come up with a simple ACTIVITY to be doing in your scene.
Practice actions and activities while doing the scene out loud. Show AFTER the BREAK.

19. Sample actions get a friend to divulge a secret
get a loved one to take care of me
boost someone’s self-confidence
get a sibling to empathize with me
gain a friend's trust
get a friend to lighten up
urge a friend to take a big chance
encourage a child to be self-reliant
gain a sibling’s sympathy
seek a friend's advice
beg for a friend's help
buy someone's silence
force a friend to face his problems
get a lover to share my dream
lead a friend astray
get a bud to give me a break
console a lost sheep
force someone to see the errors of her ways
get someone to respect my beliefs
seek a potential ally's support
get a friend to grow up
get a someone to respect my boundaries
get a loved one to let me go
get someone to admit his or her guilt
get jerk off my back
force a stranger to apologize
make a special person accept a change in our relationship
get a co-worker to do my bidding
steer a friend away from the truth
Practice your scene as a one line scene.
Then practice whole scene.
The meat, the heart is the personal work after the break, So COME BACK.

20. The dramatic equation Action + Obstacle = Conflict Conflict = Drama
(desire plus danger equals drama)
The dramatic equation
Desire plus danger equals drama

21. Break

22. The dramatic equation Action + Obstacle = Conflict Conflict = Drama
(desire plus danger equals drama)
The dramatic equation
Desire plus danger equals drama.

23. Step four: The as-if
What does the action mean to you personally? It’s as-if…
Get a child to be brave. WA
Look back at your 3x5 card – this would make a great as-if. Come up with an action that matches. Do out loud anybody?
Do Quick Example

24. A quick example
(Ben and Georgi are brother and sister.) BEN: I won’t ask you again. GEORGI: I don’t believe you. BEN: I wouldn’t ask you unless I really needed it. GEORGI: What you really need is help, Ben. BEN: Please. 300 bucks, that’s it. GEORGI: I won’t. I can’t.

25. A quick example: step Four
The scene’s literal activity: Ben is literally asking his sister for money.
The want: Ben wants his sister to give him three hundred bucks.
The essential action: get someone to help me out of a bind.
The as-if: It’s as if I’m trying to get my wife, who works, to stay home with our sick kid, so I can go to rehearsal.

26. Step four: The as-if What does the action mean to you personally?
Something you would love to do or must do.
Same action as the character’s, not the same situation.
Is a current and unresolved action in your life.
May have imaginary circumstances, but the target must be a real person in your life.
Come up with As-Ifs for your scene.
Do as-if game with scenes.

27. Improvised As-If Scenes
share

28. recap Why making it personal is so important
A working knowledge of The Four Steps of Practical Aesthetics
A newfound power to dig deeper with your students, to help them connect their personal lives to their art.

29. “Always tell the truth. It’s the easiest thing to remember”
David Mamet
“Always tell the truth. It’s the easiest thing to remember”