Acting 1

Acting Syllabus

ACTING TERMINOLOGY AND PERFORMANCE SKILLS

• PA630.Cr3.1.I.b - Explore physical, vocal and physiological choices to develop a performance that is believable, authentic, and relevant to a drama/theatre work.

STUDY A VARIETY OF ACTING STYLES

• PA630.Pr5.1.II.a - Refine a range of acting skills to build a believable and sustainable drama/theatre performance.

PERFORM IN A SMALL ENSEMBLE PRODUCTION​

• PA630.Pr6.1.I.a – Perform a scripted drama/theatre work for an audience.

READING AND ANALYZING SCRIPTS

• PA630.Re9.1.I.a - Examine a drama/theatre work using supporting evidence and criteria, while considering art forms, history, culture and other disciplines.

CRITIQUING

• TH.Re7.1.I.a - Respond to what is seen, felt, and heard in a drama/theatre work to develop criteria for artistic choices of a drama/theatre work.​

THEATRE HISTORY

• PA630.Cn11.1.8.a - Use different forms of drama/theatre work to examine contemporary social, cultural, or global issues

QUIZ #1

• BODY LANGUAGE.     The process of communicating nonverbally through conscious or unconscious gestures and movements.
• BLOCKING.     The physical arrangement of actors on a stage.
• COUNTER CROSS.     Moving in the opposite direction of another actor that is moving.
• BALANCE.     Arranging of the actors and set in a strategic way to produce a desired effect.
• FLOOR PLAN.     A scale diagram of a stage from above and used especially for planning blocking. 
• FOCUS (staging).     Seeing the stage so that an audience is directed to look in a certain area. 
• QUADRANTS.     Breaking a stage into four areas for blocking. This could be directions (North, South, East, West)
• SIGHTLINE.     Anything an audience member can see from their seat in the house.
• SCHTICK.     a contrived and often used bit of business that a performer uses to steal attention
• TABLEAU.     An arrangement of actors who do not move or speak, and who represent a view of life or an event.

 
QUIZ #2

• CHARACTERIZATION.     Putting together all facets of a character to bring life and interest to that character.
• INTENT.     The inner force driving a character's behavior.
• OBJECTIVE.     A character’s pursuit of a specific goal in a scene.
• OBSTACLES.     A conflict and stumbling block to a character’s struggle in pursuit of an action or objective.
• TACTIC.     A method used to achieve an objective.
• SCRIPT SCORING.     The marking of a script to indicating interpretation, pauses, phrasing, stress, beats, objectives, obstacles, tactics, etc.
• EMOTIONAL RECALL.     The emotions from an actor’s memory of personal experiences that are used to connect the actor to the character, and meet the emotional needs of the situation in the play or film.
• ILLUSION OF THE FIRST TIME.     A situation in which an audience is led to believe that each performance is the first.
• SUBTEXT.     The underlying message being conveyed by a piece of dialogue. This is the unsaid meaning that is between the lines.
• THROUGH-LINE.     A method used by actors and directors to give a performance direction. It links individual objectives to the theme or central idea of the play. 

 
QUIZ #3

• PRINCIPALS.     The main characters in a play or the named characters in a musical play.
• ASSISTANT DIRECTOR.     The person who acts as the liaison between the director and the cast and crew and who takes charge of the rehearsal when the director is absent.
• CHOREOGRAPHER.     A person who designs dance for the stage or for film.
• LIBRETTIST.     The person who writes the lyrics for the songs in a musical.
• BOOK WRITER.     The person who writes the script for a musical.
• STAGE MANAGER.     The person in charge of the smooth running order of a performance. While each technician knows what their job is for any specific cue, this person makes sure that all of the cues happen at the right time.
• CHORUS.     The singers or ensemble in a musical or a play.
• CHARACTER PART.     A role in which enactor portrays traits that differ from his or her own to produce a desired character.
• INGENUE.     A young lead in a play, musical, or film.
• BREAK A LEG.     A superstitious and widely accepted alternative to 'Good Luck' 

 
QUIZ #4

• AUDRA MCDONALD.     An American actor and singer who is primarily known for their work on Broadway. This performer has won six Tony Awards, more performance wins than any other actor, and is the only person to win all four acting categories.
• BERNADETTE PETERS.     An American actor and singer who is primarily known for their work on Broadway. They have received seven Tony Award nominations, winning two (plus an honorary Tony Award). Four of their Broadway cast albums on which they have starred have won Grammy Awards. They were the original witch in Into the Woods.
• DENZEL WASHINGTON.     An American actor, director, and producer. They have received two Golden Globe awards, one Tony Award for Fences and two Academy Awards. They have been nominated for the Academy Award nine times. 
• HUGH JACKMAN.     An Australian actor and singer who is best known for playing Wolverine in the X-Men film series. They are a two-time Tony Award winner, a four-time host of the Tony Awards. They were P. T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman.
• IDINA MENZEL.     An American actor and singer. They originated the roles of Maureen in Rent and Elphaba in  Wicked, for which they won a Tony Award. They also voiced the role of Queen Elsa in Frozen. This actor also appeared on the TV show Glee, and the movies Enchanted and Bridesmaids.
• JOSH GAD.      An American actor, comedian, and singer who is known for voicing Olaf in Frozen and Elder Arnold Cunningham in the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, and LeFou in the live action adaptation of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. 
• MERYL STREEP.     An American actor who has been nominated for a record 21 Academy Awards, and won three for Kramer vs Kramer, Sophie's Choice, and The Iron Lady. They played the witch in the 2015 film version of Into the Woods. This actor is known for their roles in The Devil Wears Prada and Mamma Mia!
• NATHAN LANE.     An American actor who is known for playing Albert in The Birdcage, Max Bialystock in the musical The Producers, Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, and Roy Kohn in Angels in America. Their voice work includes Timon in the animated version of The Lion King. They have received three Tony Awards.
• RAMIN KARIMLOO.     An actor and singer recognized mainly for his work in the lead roles from The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables. They played the Phantom in the filmed version of The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall. They have also played the Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance.
• SUTTON FOSTER.     An American actor, singer and dancer who is known for their work on the Broadway stage, for which they have received Tony Awards as Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes. They originated the role of Fiona in the Broadway production of Shrek that was filmed for TV.

 
QUIZ #5

• EMOTIONAL ACTING (INTERNAL).     The playing of a role in such a way that the actors feels or believes their character.
• PANTOMIME.     The art of exaggerated movements, to create imagined props in a scene with dialogue.
• MIME.     A theatrical technique of suggesting action, character, or emotion without words, using only gesture, expression, and movement.
• TECHNICAL ACTING (EXTERNAL).     Use of learned skills of acting, movement, speech, and interpretation to create roles.
• VIEWPOINTS.     An acting technique adapted for stage by Anne Bogart. It is an improvisational system that trains an actor to use their body in space, shape, time, emotion, movement, and story to create meaning. 
• PRACTICAL AESTHETICS.     An acting technique originally conceived by David Mamet and William H. Macy. It is based on the practice of breaking down a scene using a four-step analysis that entails the following: The Literal, The Want, The Essential Action, and The As If.
• ​STANISLAVSKI’S SYSTEM.     An approach to training actors that was the first to involve something more than merely physical and vocal training. This system begins internally, but also includes external acting to create an honest character. It is detailed in The Actor Prepares, Building a Character, and Creating a Role.
• STRASBERG’S METHOD.     A training and rehearsal technique that seeks to encourage sincere and emotionally expressive performances, through psychological truthfulness. This technique involves combining improvisation and affective memory to create the appropriate emotions demanded of the character
• MEISNER'S TECHNIQUE.     A training and rehearsal technique that seeks to encourage sincere and emotionally expressive performances, through behavioral aspects. This technique focuses on the reality of doing, as well as living truthfully under imaginary circumstances.
• ADLER'S PRINCIPLES.      A training and rehearsal technique that seeks to encourage sincere and emotionally expressive performances, through sociological aspects. It focuses on the development of independent actors, the power of imagination, the importance of action, script interpretation, and the cultivation of a rich humanity.

 
QUIZ #6

• CATS.     a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber based on a book by T. S. Eliot. The musical tells the story of a tribe of felines and the night they decide which of their group will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life.
• GUYS AND DOLLS.     A musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser about the relationships that develop between a pair of high-rolling gamblers, a puritanical missionary, and a showgirl. 
• LES MISERABLES.     A musical by French composer Claude-Michel Schönberg with lyrics by Alain Boubilwith. Based on a novel by Victor Hugo, it is set in early 19th-century France and follows the intertwining stories of a cast of characters as they struggle for redemption and revolution. 
• PETER PAN.     a musical adaptation of a play by J.M. Barrie  with music mostly by Mark "Moose" Charlap, with additional music by Jule Styne, and most of the lyrics were written by Carolyn Leigh, with additional lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.The story is about the boy who won't grow up and the children he takes on an adventure with the lost boys and pirates.
• THE MUSIC MAN.     A musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson. The plot is about a con man who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk. He falls in love with the town librarian and has to make a decision on whether to skip town with the money or stay with her and face the music. 
• LOST IN YONKERS.     A play by Neil Simon about two young boys in the early 1940's that have to move in with their Grandmother and their disabled aunt while their father works elsewhere to make enough money to bring the boys back home with him.
• THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST.     A farcical comedy by Oscar Wilde in which the protagonists maintain fictitious persona to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways.
• TWELFTH NIGHT.     A comedy by William Shakespeare that centers on a sister and brother who are twins. After being separated in a shipwreck, the sister (disguised as boy) falls in love with a duke, who in turn is in love with countess. Upon meeting the sister, the countess falls in love with her thinking she is a man.
• DRIVING MISS DAISY.     A Pulitzer Prize winning play by American Alfred Uhry about the relationship of an elderly white Southern Jewish woman and her African-American chauffeur from 1948 to 1973. 
• ​DEATH OF A SALESMAN.     A Pulitzer Prize winning play written by American Arthur Miller. It won the 1949 Tony Award for best play, as well as three more Tony Awards for best revival of a play. It chronicles the downfall and suicide of Willy Loman, a ceaselessly struggling New England salesman driven by dreams of success far greater than he can achieve.