MAR
4

Stage Voice for Grandpa Cletus

By Alexi Alfieri 

Alexi Alfieri began writing plays for her middle school class to perform.  This led to writing holiday show scripts that incorporated every student in the school.  And soon enough, she was writing fractured fairy tales, old-fashioned western melodramas, mystery dinner shows, and comedies of all kinds.  Now a professional playwright and director, she believes the most important thing a great production should start with is a great script. 

All in all, my drama students know I’m a fun and flexible play director, but they also know I’m a real drill sergeant about a few key things.  One of those is “stage voice” — especially when we’re not working with the luxury of a sound system.  To kids, I explain it as the “teacher voice” that carries across a room.  It’s the volume and enunciation needed so that everyone in the audience can hear the dialogue, including Grandpa Cletus in the back row with two hearing aids.  There is no possible way a performance can be funny, suspenseful, or engaging if no one in the audience can hear or understand it.  Honestly, at one time or another, haven’t we all been that frustrated audience member?  You’re sitting there with a hunch that the play is good, but you can only understand small snippets of dialogue?  It’s agony, I tell you.

If you’re working with microphones, then you definitely have an advantage.  However, rehearse with them to know when loud is too loud.  Let’s not bust anyone’s eardrums!  I also suggest several rehearsals practicing stage voice without the microphones.  What if (eek!) your sound system goes kaput just before the curtain goes up or (yikes!) in the middle of a scene?  The show must go on!

Now, naturally, there is a range of volume within “stage voice.”  An actor will need to adjust their voice according to whether they’re shouting, conversing, or whispering on stage.  It will take practice for every word of the dialogue to be at the appropriate volume and heard clearly at the same time.  The exercise below can help your cast practice this particular skill.

What I definitely want to emphasize is this:  stage voice is critical to the success of a show.  When every member of the cast can pull off a good volume and clear enunciation of their lines with or without a microphone, believe me, the audience will be impressed...  and Grandpa Cletus will be relieved!

Hot Seat

An Exercise to Build Stage Voice

It makes sense that stage voice will feel different for everyone.  The wallflowers feel like they’re bellowing.  The class clowns feel like they’re talking at a perfectly normal volume.  With that in mind, one excellent way to practice stage voice is to have you and your entire cast stand in the back row furthest from the stage.  Then, one by one, each cast member stands center stage in the “hot seat” and says a few of their lines.  Anyone who can hear them clearly from the back row gives them a thumbs-up.  If the thumbs-up vote is unanimous, they can exit the stage, and it’s the next cast member’s turn.  If they don’t receive a unanimous thumbs-up, they need to repeat their lines louder and clearer until they do.  This exercise works like a charm for the naturally soft-spoken or reluctant cast members, because they are forced to raise their volume in order to get off the hot seat.  It’s also an opportunity for the confident kids to model good volume.

Now add a variation or two to this exercise.  Have them each practice a stage yell and then a stage whisper with one of their lines.  Thumbs-up when they have a stage voice that can be heard clearly and easily regardless of volume.

I love this exercise, because in the end, everyone gains a very personal sense of how loud they need to be for the performance. 

Another Hint

If you find yourself constantly interrupting rehearsal to tell kids to speak up, I suggest you grab a maraca.  When they hear you shake it, they know from that subtle cue they have to repeat their last line louder.  They start to hate the maraca.