Episode 3: “Acting For Stage”
Dante gets the inside scoop from Jasmine on everything you need to know about acting for the stage, including memorization tips and tricks!
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[INTRO]
DANTE
Dante’s Acting Adventures!
[THEME MUSIC]
Hey everybody! It’s me, Dante and welcome to our third episode! Today we get the inside scoop on what it’s like to be an actor on the stage! Meet Jasmine! My guest for today. Jasmine’s favorite food is-
JASMINE
Sushi.
DANTE
And when she’s not doing theater, another thing she likes to do is-
JASMINE
Travel.
DANTE
Let’s get into it!
[MUSIC FADES]
JASMINE
Hi Dante, how is it going?
DANTE
I’m doing pretty good Jasmine, how are you doing today?
JASMINE
So good! Thanks so much for having me, I’m excited to be here.
DANTE
I’m excited that you’re here with me! I do have one thing to say, I’ve never had sushi before.
[SAD TRUMPET SOUND EFFECT]
JASMINE
Okay, that’s fair. I know people either don’t like sushi, or they’re scared of it,
[GASP SOUND EFFECT]
but you should try it sometime.
DANTE
I’m beginning to think I’m going to really like it. I’ll let you know how it goes.
JASMINE
That sounds good.
DANTE
Well Jasmine, this is episode three of my podcast. I’ve learned about being an actor, and what an audition is.
JASMINE
That’s fantastic Dante! Tell me a little bit about what you’ve learned.
DANTE
Well, I’ve learned that being an actor means that you get to tell stories, all kinds of stories, and sometimes you even get to dye your hair green. I’ve also learned that auditioning is really important, so that directors know what part fits you best and I’ve also learned that saying a nice thing about yourself before an audition will help you do even better.
JASMINE
I love those things Dante, I think those are fantastic things to learn.
DANTE
Well, without further ado, let’s get started.
[TRANSITION MUSIC]
DANTE
Well Jasmine, I have a big question for you today. What happens after you get cast from an audition?
JASMINE
Well, it depends on what kind of acting job you get from your audition. You might be in a role in a theater or stage production, if you are auditioning for film or tv work, that will be a different process, or even voice-over work, is going to be a different process after the audition. Most often there are rehearsal times, but for things like voice-over and even film or television, the rehearsal process is going to look a lot different than stage acting.
DANTE
Wow, there are so many different things to do as an actor. Well I think I want to learn about acting for the stage! What do you think about that, Jasmine?
JASMINE
I love that idea, because acting for the stage is my favorite kind of acting. I will give you the inside scoop on it.
DANTE
The inside scoop!
[BOUNCY SOUND EFFECT]
JASMINE
So Dante, there are a lot of different elements to stage acting but I am going to tell you about six different elements to acting for the stage.
DANTE
That sounds awesome! Let’s get to the first element.
[SOUND EFFECT]
JASMINE
So, the first element is, stage positions.
DANTE
Stage positions.
JASMINE
So Dante, with stage positions and specific terminology, this is how directors, actors, and technicians- everybody working in a stage play- this is how we know where certain areas of the stage are and what to call them. To explain, you have stage left, stage right, upstage, downstage, and centerstage.
DANTE
Wow, that’s so many things! How do you remember all of them?
JASMINE
That is a great question Dante, because it can get really confusing. When an actor is on the stage, you will go off of the actors’ right or left. When you’re standing on the stage looking into the audience, or the house, you will be using the right that is on your right and the left that is on your left. If you’re sitting in the audience, stage left is actually going to be your right. It gets a little crazy and a little confusing, but it’s nice because no matter where you go, any stage or any theater in the world, that is how you’ll be able to tell the difference between right and left. If they say stage left, you’ll know (if you’re standing on the stage) you can just go to your left.
DANTE
That’s so cool. I never knew that before! So just to make sure I understand, you mean the audience is also called the house?
JASMINE
That’s right and sometimes even stage managers will let actors and the other performers know that the audience is going to start coming in when they say, “the house is open”. You can all the audience, the house!
DANTE
Wow, house left, house right, actors left, actors right, I forgot the other ones.
JASMINE
That’s okay, there’s a lot of different directions. The other three stage positions are upstage, downstage, and centerstage. You have upstage and downstage-
DANTE
Oh! Wait a second! I know upstage and downstage! in my episode with Jordan, we learned about raked stages and how the stage was on a slant and the actors would go upstage, so that they could still be seen by the audience.
JASMINE
That is exactly right Dante. Even though stages aren’t raked anymore, when an actor needs to go to the back of the stage, we say they are going upstage and when an actor needs to go to the front of the stage, we say they are going downstage.
DANTE
Wow, I know more than I thought I did!
JASMINE
Okay. Dante, are you ready for the second element?
DANTE
I’m ready! Let’s do it.
[SOUND EFFECT]
JASMINE
Fantastic. The second element of stage acting is finding your light. Everything we do onstage, is to be seen by the audience and once you start performing a play or musical there are all kinds of technicians that help you to be seen by the audience. One of the most important things is the lighting. As an actor, if you’re able to notice where the light is on the stage and make sure you are in that light, that is the sign of an awesome actor.
DANTE
Wow, that’s really cool. There’s a lot of help that goes into being an actor.
JASMINE
It’s so true! Any play and any musical would not be able to function without the people that work behind the scenes, so any of the technicians, the stage managers, all those people work together to make sure it runs smoothly.
DANTE
I want to be an awesome actor that knows how to help everybody out.
[SOUND EFFECT]
JASMINE
The third element for acting for the stage is vocal and physical work. Oftentimes you’re doing a play and you won’t have a microphone. It’s the actor’s job to make sure they can be heard by every single person in the audience. There are lots of warm-up and vocal exercises you can do to get your voice ready and project so that you’re not hurting your voice.
DANTE
That sounds like a lot of hard work.
JASMINE
It can be. It can be a lot of work but if you do it right, you can prevent injury.
DANTE
Wow. I didn’t even know you could really injure your voice.
JASMINE
Unfortunately, Dante I have done it many times.
DANTE
Oh no.
JASMINE
But I’m going to teach you a small vocal warm-up, so that when you start projecting on the stage, you won’t make the same mistakes I did.
DANTE
Well, that sounds good!
JASMINE
Great. So this one, you might feel a little silly doing it, but that’s okay. That just means you’re doing it right. What you’re going to do is squish your lips together. So you’re kind of making a fish-kissy face.
DANTE
[Squishing lips together]
Bluh-bluh-bluh-bluh.
JASMINE
That’s exactly right Dante and now you’re going to buzz your lips. Okay so-
[Buzzes lips]
DANTE
[Buzzes lips]
JASMINE
That’s excellent. You sound like a motorcycle.
DANTE
I do!
JASMINE
So now we’re going to do what’s called a siren. So you know an ambulance, a police car, things like that. So we’re going to start really high and go low, but it’s going to be while we are buzzing our lips. Okay. So I’m going to try it and then I want you to try it. Okay. Ready?
DANTE
Sounds good.
JASMINE
[Buzzes siren]
DANTE
[Buzzes siren]
JASMINE
Nice! That’s great. Now I want you to try again, and I want you to do it even higher.
DANTE
Alright. Here goes nothing.
[Higher buzzing siren]
JASMINE
Excellent work Dante! What that does is that warms up our lips so that we can project and we can enunciate and it also warms up our vocal chords so we don’t strain them.
DANTE
Wow, I should start doing that before my podcast recordings.
JASMINE
That’s a great idea! That way you’ll be nice and warm and ready to go.
DANTE
I’m excited!
JASMINE
Now we’re going to practice projecting a line. So, to project a line, you’re not screaming because that can kind of hurt, you know like when you’re on a roller coaster?
DANTE
Yeah
JASMINE
But when you’re projecting, you’re speaking really loud and you’re using your diaphragm. Do you know where your diaphragm is?
DANTE
No, I don’t know where my diaphragm is.
JASMINE
Okay, so your diaphragm is underneath your stomach, in your guts, and it’s almost like this weird balloon thing and when you breathe deeply, it’s almost like you’re breathing into your stomach, so take a big deep breath, and try and fill up your stomach with air. Can you take a big deep breath in?
DANTE
[Breathes in]
JASMINE
And now just let out a big sigh using that diaphragm.
DANTE
[Sighs]
JASMINE
Nice. Now this time I want you to take a big deep breath into your lungs but picture it into your stomach, and then I want you to say “HELLO”, nice and projected.
DANTE
[Breathes in]
HELLO!
JASMINE
That’s perfect Dante! So when you are using a projected, supported voice, not only are you going to prevent injury, but everyone in the audience is going to be able to hear you and understand you as you’re telling the story.
DANTE
It won’t be long until I’m the best actor yet!
[APPLAUSE]
JASMINE
So now that we’ve talked about vocal projection and vocal work. Now we’ve got to talk about the physical work. So, just like projecting your voice is how everyone can hear you, you also want to have big physical movements so everyone can see what you’re doing. When acting on the stage, you may notice the actors are very big in their movements. Way bigger than in real life, and it may even feel silly to you as an actor, but when the audience watches you- what you’re doing will make sense to them. Because they’ll be able to see you, hear you, and understand you.
DANTE
That makes sense. That sounds like a lot of hard work, but a lot of fun work too.
JASMINE
Exactly.
DANTE
Let’s keep going!
[SOUND EFFECT]
JASMINE
Element four for acting for the stage is blocking and cheating out.
DANTE
Woah.
JASMINE
Yeah, so these are two new terms. But blocking is the movement of actors in a play or musical. The director helps tell the actors where to move and when to move to create the story.
DANTE
Well, that sounds like mostly just directors need to know about blocking.
JASMINE
Well, they do need to have an idea of what they want the stage picture to look like, but it’s very important for an actor to memorize where they’re supposed to go. So, if it’s a specific line that they say or maybe somebody else’s line, they need to know where to stand, whether it’s stage left, stage right, upstage, downstage, or centerstage and they also need to know if they’re standing, sitting, or interacting with other actors.
DANTE
Wow, that’s a lot of things. Blocking and stage positions sound kind of similar.
JASMINE
They are. They definitely go hand in hand, because when an actor is getting blocking directions from the director, it would get way too confusing if they just used left and right, because the director’s left is going to be the actor’s right. So, that’s why we have to use those stage positions. Just like your vocal work and your physical work, blocking is just another way for the actors to help tell the story.
DANTE
Wow, all things really come back to telling a story, don’t they? Let’s get into cheating out, what does that mean?
JASMINE
Cheating out is turning your face or your entire body towards the audience, at an angle. So, that way the audience isn’t only seeing your side or your back. So, Dante, if you were in a play and you were doing a blocking rehearsal with the director, and the director tells you to cheat out, would you turn upstage or downstage?
DANTE
Hmm. This feels like a trick question, but I’m going to get it. I think downstage because that is towards the audience.
JASMINE
That’s exactly right and it may feel a little bit weird when you turn towards the audience, because normally when we talk to people, we talk to them face to face. But if you cheat out then the audience becomes part of your conversation.
DANTE
Then they’ll be able to hear the story that you’re telling. Let’s get into element number five.
[SOUND EFFECT]
JASMINE
Element number five for acting for the stage is memorization and the rehearsal process. The rehearsal process is a big part of stage acting. It’s possibly one of the most important parts besides just the performance part. During this time, part of your job is to come prepared with knowledge about the play and the character you’re playing. And it’s always good to have an idea of some of the choices you could make and some of the ways you could say your lines, but it’s even more important to be willing to change those choices as you continue to rehearse.
DANTE
You said the rehearsal process was one of the most important parts of stage acting, but do you not do this kind of rehearsal process in film or tv?
JASMINE
Actually, no. In film acting and voice acting, a lot of the time the rehearsal process is really short, if any at all.
DANTE
That’s really fast.
JASMINE
Yeah, it can be really difficult because of that, but the actors get multiple takes to make sure they get it right.
DANTE
Wow, so the rehearsal processes just look a little different.
JASMINE
The rehearsal processes look different, but so do the performances. Because film actors and voice actors, they get multiple takes, and they can make sure they get it right. The rehearsal process is so important for stage actors because they only have one change during a performance to get everything right.
DANTE
Well it sounds like memorization is a really important part of stage acting. So, if actors only get one chance to perform everything right each night, memorizing your lines sounds like a really important part of stage acting.
JASMINE
Memorization is a very important part of acting on stage. In the rehearsal process you will have different deadlines for memorization and then eventually you’ll need to be ‘off-book’ which means ‘completely memorized’.
DANTE
That scares me. You know, I have dyslexia, so what if I don’t get all my lines memorized by the ‘off-book’ date?
JASMINE
Well, the ‘off-book’ date is usually fairly far into the process, but I think it’s important to communicate with your director and see what you need help with, when memorizing.
DANTE
That makes me feel a lot better. Let’s jump into the last element of today!
[SOUND EFFECT]
JASMINE
Great. Element six for acting for the stage, is getting notes and collaboration. A big part of rehearsals is getting notes from your directors, choreographers, musical directors, and sometimes even the stage managers. Remember that getting notes is not a bad thing. It’s actually a really good thing in theater, especially if you are applying the notes that you get. I know sometimes it can feel overwhelming or frustrating if somebody is telling you, you did things wrong, but when you’re getting notes from your directors or any leadership in the production, they’re actually just telling you ways that you can do things better. Because they want you to be the best you can be.
DANTE
So, everyone kind of has your back.
JASMINE
Absolutely. Everybody there is working towards the same goal, which is a really great production. So, they’re never going to tell you anything that’s going to make you look silly or make the production worse.
DANTE
That’s nice.
JASMINE
Yeah. It’s really good when you can take those notes and realize it’s not saying that you’re bad, it’s just ways that you can do things better.
DANTE
So it sounds like I should probably just trust the directors and the people on the production and then I’ll have my best performance.
JASMINE
Exactly. So, that goes right into collaboration. No matter what kind of acting job you get, it’s really important to be a good collaborator. Have you heard the word collaborator?
DANTE
No, that’s a really big word. Collaborator.
JASMINE
It is a big word. A collaborator is someone who works really well with others. So, is a good team player.
DANTE
Oh, I know what that means!
JASMINE
Yeah, so you can be a good collaborator with your classmates, you could be a good collaborator with your family, or you could be a good collaborator with a team you’re on. And the same goes for a production you’re a part of. A good collaborator not just works well with others, but they’re also prepared. So you do your part and you’re open to other people’s ideas and taking the director’s notes.
DANTE
Well, that sounds pretty easy. I’m all about being a good collaborator. Well Jasmine, you helped me learn a lot today but before we go, would you help me with one fun-fact on today’s episode?
JASMINE
Absolutely! I’d love to!
DANTE
Alright! Take it away!
[FUN-FACT MUSIC]
JASMINE
So, I know earlier you had mentioned that you’re a little bit nervous about memorization and I have a confession. I am horrible at memorization. And it’s something that I’ve had to work really hard on to get better at.
DANTE
Really?
JASMINE
Yeah. So, I’ve had to get really creative with some memorization tips and tricks and I thought I would share one with you!
DANTE
That means a lot, thank you!
JASMINE
Of course! When I’m memorizing my lines, what I dois, I will write out the first letter of every word in the line that I’m trying to memorize. That way, when I’m running lines with someone, they’ll say the line before mine, and I’ll look at that piece of paper and the first letter of every word will remind me what word comes next!
DANTE
Wow it’s like a little short cut!
JASMINE
Exactly, it’s like a little cheat sheet.
DANTE
How fun!
JASMINE
So, we’re actually going to memorize a little line from Shakespeare and we’re going to use that tip!
DANTE
Alright. I’m a little nervous, but let’s do it.
JASMINE
We got this. So to practice our memorization tip, you and I are going to memorize a line from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”.
DANTE
Hey, I was in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” once.
JASMINE
Oh! So you already know Shakespeare!
DANTE
Just a little bit.
JASMINE
Well, now you’re going to know a little bit more. So, the line we’re going to memorize is, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players”.
DANTE
That’s a long line. Alright.
JASMINE
Yeah, but we got this. So, we’re going to write out, A-T-W-A-S-A-A-T-M-A-W-M-P.
DANTE
Alright.
JASMINE
Alright, so if you look at this piece of paper, we have the letters in front of us, we don’t have the words, but we can practice memorizing the words by looking at those letters.
DANTE
Okay.
JASMINE
Okay, so to remind ourselves, we’re going to read the line one more time and then we’re going to use our cheat sheet, our memorization tips and say the line together.
DANTE
Sounds good!
JASMINE
Okay.
BOTH
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players”.
JASMINE
Great. So now I’m going to put away the script. And we’re going to look at our extra page, and we’re going to say it. We’ll go slow.
DANTE
Here we go, let’s do this.
BOTH
“All the world’s a stage…
DANTE
…and all the men and women merely players”.
JASMINE
Perfect! I stopped half way through because I wanted to see if you could do it on your own, and you did!
DANTE
Wow, that’s so exciting!
JASMINE
Fantastic, so hopefully you can use that memorization tip in the future when you are acting on the stage.
DANTE
I’ll use it in my first big role! Thanks for coming on my podcast today Jasmine!
JASMINE
It was so good to be here today Dante, thank you so much for having me.
DANTE
I hope we get to talk again soon!
JASMINE
I’ll see you on the stage!