ACTORS (short paper)
Write a character study of your part in five “W’s”. WHO are you? (background, education, age, ideals). WHAT is at stake for you in this scene? (I.e.,
WHAT are you fighting for?) WHERE is the
scene taking place? WHEN is this taking
place? WHY do you behave the way you
do? What motivates your character in
this scene? (Write your answers in the first-person singular! For example, “I am a Greek princess. My parents are dead. There are only two important people in my
life: my sister Ismene, and my
boyfriend, Haemon.”)
Learn your lines by heart.
DIRECTORS (paper)
Write a paper on the dramatic shape of your scene: beginning, middle, and end. What is the dramatic “arc” of your
scene?
What does the playwright want the audience to feel? What issues does the playwright want the
audience to think about?
Help actors to memorize by drilling them on their lines. Help your actors to write their papers.
DESIGNERS (drawings)
Create a ground plan and an elevation drawing of the stage
for your scene. The ground plan should
show the exact arrangement of the furniture that you and your group intends to
use on March 3-4. The elevation drawing
should show an ideal sense of the stage – the way this scene would look
in a real production.
Fill in as an “understudy” if one of your actors is
missing. Help actors memorize. Work with your Director on the ground
plan. Find meaningful props for your
scene (i.e., rehearsal props, not expensive “real” props).
