Edith Weiss is the author of several published children’s plays, including six with Pioneer Drama Service. A lot of Edith’s writing time goes into her stand-up comedy routine, which has taken her all over the country and on three overseas military tours. Besides writing, she also acts and directs in both children’s and adult theatre.
Make an Entrance!
by Edith Weiss
You know that an actor’s entrance should signal a new beat in a scene. The actor enters, the audience’s eyes are on him, waiting to see what his character will bring to the scene, and then... nothing?! Your actor doesn’t actually enter, he just kind of moseys onstage, crosses to where he should be, and then starts “acting.” Meanwhile, the pace slows, and the momentum of the play comes to a halt!
Undoubtedly, this actor does not understand that before saying a word, a character’s entrance should signal who he is, how he feels about being there and the reason he’s there. As the director, how do you show an actor the importance of an entrance? Notice I say “show” and not “tell.” People learn best by doing and experiencing the right way of doing something.
Here’s an exercise to help you demonstrate this point. (When doing an exercise like this, I ask everyone to do it, because I don’t like putting an actor on the spot. No one gets singled out or feels insecure, which is the worst thing an actor can feel.) I give the cast a simple entrance line: “There’s a knock at the door.” Then, one at a time, each actor enters saying that line, but instead of walking, he or she has to enter in one of these ways: ramble, run, skip, jog, creep, crawl, saunter, shuffle, shamble, march, stomp, trudge, stagger, plod, inch, lunge, lurch, limp, glide, back onstage, sidestep, trot, dance, waltz, wander — you get the idea. Tell everyone their action verb ahead of time and have them make their entrance delivering the line. It’s fun to see them create a character and situation just by their physical entrance and saying one line.
In volume two of The Theatre Machine (available through Pioneer Drama Service), author and drama teacher Al Viola expands this concept to all stage actions. He defines a Simple Physical Action as the process of performing a physical activity and knowing the reason why. Yes, we’re talking the classic, “What’s my motivation?” To give your students more practice in shaping their stage actions to fit the situation, have them try these pantomimes:
- You are ironing some clothes because...
- ...you are going to a wedding.
- ...you are going to a funeral.
- ...you are going on a first date.
- ...you are being punished with the chore of doing all the ironing for your family.
- You are packing for a trip...
- ...to visit grandparents you have not seen in a long time.
- ...your parents won a two-week Hawaiian vacation for the family.
- ...you just found out an out-of-state family member is seriously ill.
- ...you are being sent to your cousin’s house while your parents take a two-week Hawaiian vacation without you.
Knowing the reason WHY you are doing WHAT you are doing will tell you HOW to do it. Whether making an entrance, an exit or performing any other stage action, once your actors can consistently convey their motivation through their actions, your stage will be alive with energy!
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