JUN
24

How to Hone Your Craft Between Shows

By Christina Hamlett 

Former actress and director Christina Hamlett is an award-winning author whose credits to date include 52 books, 278 stage plays and squillions of articles on the performing arts.  www.authorhamlett.com. 

When I first started out in theatre, there was a fellow actor who used to declare, “I just live for auditions!”  She was very passionate about this and there’s no question she aced just about every try-out she went for.  Unfortunately, she was absolutely beside herself every summer because all of the summer shows had already been cast and try-outs for fall productions wouldn’t be announced for some time.  Yes, when one is an actor, those long days in-between seem to crawl like molasses.

If your own students (or you!)  are prone to restlessness and lamenting what to do with themselves when they’re not acting, here are 30 ideas to not only keep them busy but also help them to become better performers when auditions once more swing into view.

1. Read as many plays as possible and in a wide range of styles.  Your students can sign up at no charge for Pioneer Drama Service’s newsletter, which offers approximately a dozen free plays each month, plus occasional “three free e-view” promotions.  In addition, along with your school library, New York Theatre Guide is a good place to start browsing, as well as New Play Exchange.
2. Start a readers theatre group with fellow students and take turns choosing which scripts to read aloud and study.  If your group is small, it’s a great way to double/triple the roles assigned so everyone can practice using different voices and accents.
3. Watch plays.  While live performances are preferred, there’s no shortage of online resources to stream or rent such as Digital Theatre (https://www.digitaltheatre.com), National Theatre Home (https://www.ntathome.com/all-plays), Filmed Onstage (https://www.filmedonstage.com) and Broadway HD (https://watch.broadwayhd.com).
4. Take singing lessons.
5. Take dancing lessons.
6. Take yoga classes.
7. Check out a book of poetry and read every poem out loud.  Other resources for inspiration include Poetry Foundation (https://www.poetryfoundation.org), Poets.org (https://poets.org/poems) and Poetry.com (https://www.poetry.com).
8. Read Shakespeare’s sonnets aloud (https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/sonnets/sonnets.php).
9. Study books on the craft of acting.  Pioneer Drama has several good, easy-to-read resources for students, including Lessons:  The Craft of Acting, Acting for Young Actors, and The Complete Tips — Ideas for Actors.  Students are likely to find these and others helpful books in Pioneer’s Barely Dinged online discount textbook catalog.
10. Do vocal warm-ups every day.  Check out Pioneer Drama’s Vocal Warmups:  On the Way! Other options include Virtually Vocal (https://virtuallyvocal.com/Home/Exercises), Tone Gym (https://www.tonegym.co) and Vocal Routine (https://www.vocalroutine.com).
11. Exercise at least three times a week.
12. Join or start an improv group.  Pioneer Drama has several helpful books about improv, including the most fantastic book of scene prompts, Improvisation Starters.  There’s also an online scene generator that yields some fun prompts for starter lines and emotions:  https://englishprompts.com/improv.
13. Watch/read actor interviews to understand their respective approaches to acting.
14. Volunteer to work backstage and learn tech.
15. Become an attentive people-watcher.  Observe how they walk, talk, eat, and interact with others.  Make up your own backstories about them.
16. Build your vocabulary by learning a new word every day and how to pronounce it correctly.
17. Make a short film.
18. Pick your favorite musical and hum (not sing) every song that’s in it.
19. Watch a television show and analyze what changes would need to be made to adapt it to a stage play.  Do the same thing with a movie of your choice.
20. Practice your oral storytelling.
21. Join a theatre-centric group on social media.
22. Write a theatre blog or keep a journal on what acting means to you.
23. Learn a foreign language online or through an app.
24. Take up a new hobby that stretches your mental margins and requires concentration.
25. Study the craft of playwriting and create your own play.  Find friends to perform it and take the helm as director.
26. Memorize monologues and/or famous speeches from history.
27. Read stories aloud to preschoolers and appreciate what it takes to keep their attention spans.
28. Learn to juggle...  but not with hatchets or fire!
29. Experiment with makeup and different hairstyles to discover how many ways you can change your physical appearance.
30. Meditate and embrace mindfulness.

Of all of these, I can’t emphasize #30 enough for your students.  My message to them is to be in the moment and in the world around you.  This will not only help you better handle the stress of auditions, rehearsals, and performances but also make you value that life does indeed go on even when you’re not onstage or obsessing about your next role.  It’s these observational opportunities and chances for self-reflection which will keep you grounded when you’re on hiatus and make you a better performer when the houselights dim and the curtain once more goes up.