JAN
10

Stage Acting vs. Screen Acting

By Edith Weiss 

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.   

By the time a person gets to middle school, they have seen thousands of hours of television and movies.  On the other hand, some of them have never even seen a play, and those who have can probably count on their fingers the total hours they’ve spent watching live actors onstage.  We as directors would do well to remember this.  Our young actors often come to us thinking that the acting they’ve seen on screen is no different than what works on stage.  This leads to a terrible, horrible, no good situation.

Let’s go through some preconceived notions our young, screen-saturated actors might have.  For each, I’ll try to suggest how you can help your actors improve in a “show, don’t tell” manner.

Notion Number 1:  I’m only acting when I say my lines.

In screen acting, the camera is almost always on the person talking, not on the person listening, and certainly not on anyone else in the vicinity.  So our stage actors have to learn that acting includes listening and reacting to what’s happening onstage.  Yes, that means acting even when they’re not delivering a line.

Exercise:  What Are We Watching?  Have half the cast sit together onstage, looking out at the audience.  Have the rest of the cast watch from the audience.  Tell the actors onstage what they are watching – perhaps a sad movie, a horse race, a wedding, or a speaker at a funeral.  Their job is to communicate to the audience without speaking what they are watching.  They can only use their actions and reactions to communicate with the audience.  The actors will have to make sure they are all looking at the exact same place, which means they will have to focus and pay close attention to each other.  Now, have the groups switch.

Notion Number 2:  The audience is not part of the production.

On television, it is rare to see the audience.  Even when there is a laugh track added to the show, the sound engineers make sure we always hear the actors over the laugh track.  Stage actors have to be able to listen to each other, say their lines, AND keep an ear out for the audience as well.  The biggest challenge is that every audience will react differently.  One of the most important things to teach young actors is how to hold for laughs.  If they don’t and they step on the laughs, the audience will stop laughing in order to not miss any dialogue.  This is sudden death for a comedy.

Exercise:  What’s So Funny?  Of course, there is no better way to practice this than to actually have an audience present, hopefully laughing, when you do your final rehearsals.  However, for most publishers, having an audience attend a dress rehearsal requires an additional royalty payment.  Failing that, bring in a laugh track (or download one from iTunes) and play it during a rehearsal to teach your actors what you mean by holding for laughs.  (If you’re technically challenged like me, ask one of the students to do it for you.)  Put laughs where your actors might not expect them, hold some laughs too long, cut others off quickly...  the point is to train your actors to always tune in to the audience’s reactions, which will be different for every performance.

Notion Number 3:  If I’m not part of the dialogue, I can relax a bit since the audience isn’t paying attention to me.

“So I can look at the audience, or think about how hungry I am, or just generally drop my concentration until it’s my turn to talk again.”  I understand why they might think this.  With film or video, the camera shows the audience what to focus on.  It really is an “out of sight, out of mind” thing when watching TV or a movie.  With stage acting, however, it is up to all the actors onstage to indicate where an audience should focus.

I was racking my brain trying to figure out how to explain this to a young cast, so I used a football analogy since here in Denver almost everybody watches football.  I asked, “Have you guys ever seen a receiver drop the ball and hear the announcer point out that he took his eye off the ball?”  Every single player on that field focuses at all times on where the ball is.  Likewise, every single person on this stage, unless the director tells you otherwise, should focus on who is talking.  The audience will follow your eyes.  I also made the point to these actors that movement catches people’s eye.  Even if they’re way upstage or in the back of a crowd, if they scratch their head or sway from leg to leg, this will catch the audience’s attention and distract them from where they should be focusing.

Exercise:  Who’s Got the Ball?  Go through rehearsal with the actors throwing a ball to the person who is speaking.  This gets goofy, physical, and fun – it’s a great warm up.

Notion Number 4:  The best acting I can do is to copy my favorite character from a TV show.

This is why you see young actors mimic mannerisms and use inflections and actions that don’t fit the show you’re doing.  Most television acting is forced and inauthentic, especially in comedies.  It is painful to see that type of acting done onstage.  You need to teach your young actors to trust their own instincts and create original characters.  There are any number of character development exercises out there.  If you see your actors mimicking rather than acting, it would serve you well to have them create and write out their character’s background and help them build a unique character.

Exercise 1:  Whisper/Shout.  Have the actors improvise a scene using their own words.  As they are going through the scene, side coach them by saying either “whisper” or “shout,” alternating back and forth unpredictably.  Not only is this a fun energy builder, it’s almost impossible to copy someone else’s character when whispering or shouting.  You can also have your actors play Whisper/Shout with a scene from the actual script.

Exercise 2:  Another way to get your actors to create their own character is by asking them to use an accent.  Having them wear hats, wigs, or costume pieces also gives them something else to experiment with as they develop a unique character.

Notion Number 5:  I should use a lot of pauses for dramatic emphasis.

As I watched one rehearsal, it was getting harder and harder not to scream.  The pacing was so slow, you’d never believe I had started the rehearsal talking specifically about pacing.  I asked my first time actor, “Why are you pausing before every line?”

He said, “You’re supposed to.  I see them do it in movies and TV shows all the time.”

That night, I watched a two person scene of The Good Wife going from close-up to close-up and saw exactly what he meant.  Before responding, each character paused, then moved an inch closer, sighed, or gave a rueful smile.  This acting style is also prevalent in soap operas.  The purpose of the pauses is to leave room for editing.  Of course, not only is editing or shifting camera angles not a part of live theater, but all these actions are too small and subtle to be effective onstage.  With stage acting, there are no close-ups.

Exercise:  Double Time and Slow Mo.  Start at the top of the play and go through a few pages in double time.  When their energy starts to flag, remind them, DOUBLE TIME!  PICK IT UP!  Pauses disappear.  Sluggishness disappears too, and often you’ll find a pace that works, at least for some scenes.  Next, have them slow motion it.  This will be excruciating, and they will naturally want to pick up the pace.  Remind them, SLOW MO!  Your actors will experience firsthand how important pacing is.  It will also train their ears and bodies to recognize when the pacing drags, so they can correct it.

Final Thoughts:  Keep it fun.  After all, your young actors are new to stage acting and you want them to love it.  So remember, whenever you’re working with young actors, the process is more important than the final product.

May all your shows get standing O’s.