Writing about the working craft
Long-form reference pieces on auditioning, representation, technique, and the working life.
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How to rehearse a monologue so it does not turn to wood
Over-rehearsal is the main reason monologues turn stale. The piece becomes a track you perform rather than a thought you are having right no…
Script analysis: the three reads every actor should give a script
Most actors read a script twice: once for fun, once for their part. That is not enough. A full script analysis takes three passes with three…
Objective, obstacle, tactic: the three tools that do the work
Objective, obstacle, and tactic are the three foundational tools most actors first learn in a Stanislavski class and then spend the next ten…
Reading script structure: where your character sits in the scene’s arc
A scene is a small story. It has a beginning, a turn, and an end, and every line sits somewhere on that shape. If you know which line is the…
The subtext pass: what is being said when nothing is
Subtext is what the character is saying underneath the words they are using. It is usually the opposite of the surface line, or at least ask…
Character development for screen: building a life around three scenes
Screen characters are often built from three or four scenes. You will not get a hundred pages to live with them. You will get fragments. The…
Backstory: how much is useful, how much is a distraction
Backstory is the cheapest drug in acting: a lot of it feels like work, most of it does not land on camera, and some of it actively distracts…
Physical life: the three character choices the camera actually sees
The camera is a documentary recorder of physical life. It sees weight, tension, and the speed at which a body moves. It does not reliably se…
Character research: interviews, documentaries, and the books that actually help
When a role asks for specific research (a profession, a condition, a subculture), most actors default to a general internet skim and call it…
Meisner, Chekhov, and Stanislavski: how the three relate
Meisner, Chekhov, and Stanislavski are three of the most influential acting techniques in Western training. They are not competitors and the…
Voice work for actors: what a daily warm-up should cover
A daily vocal warm-up for an actor is not a marathon. Fifteen minutes, done consistently, will do more for your voice than an hour twice a w…
Resonance, placement, and what the camera actually hears
Microphones hear differently from a theatre’s back row. They pick up breath, they register tension in the throat, and they amplify every res…