Episode 6: “Professor Laurie”
In this episode, Dante talks with a college professor about what taking an acting class is like and why acting classes are helpful to become a better actor.
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[MUSIC]
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[INTRO]
DANTE
Dante’s Acting Adventures!
[THEME MUSIC]
Hey everybody, it’s me Dante! This is Episode 6 of my podcast. Today I have a very special guest. Laurie. Laurie is a college professor at Utah Valley University. Laurie teaches classes about acting and movement and is the coach of the improv team! Laurie’s favorite season is-
LAURIE
Autumn.
DANTE
And she’s not acting or teaching, she like to-
LAURIE
Swim in the ocean.
DANTE
Let’s get learning!
[MUSIC FADES]
Hello Laurie. Welcome to my podcast.
LAURIE
Well, thank you.
DANTE
It’s good to have you today. I’m really excited for what we’re going to talk about.
LAURIE
It’s nice to be here.
DANTE
I wanted to start by asking you why you started teaching?
LAURIE
Well, I was actually taking classes in college and I already had a degree, so they asked me if I would teach acting and it scared me to death.
[GASPS]
DANTE
Really?
LAURIE
Yes. It’s funny isn’t it, that it would be scary to teach?
DANTE
That is funny.
LAURIE
Yes, but I started teaching and I loved it! I found out that I liked teaching so much that I stopped taking classes and just kept teaching.
DANTE
Oh my goodness. You teach college classes, correct?
LAURIE
Yes I do.
DANTE
Wow. Well, how long have you been teaching?
LAURIE
I have been teaching for 25 years.
DANTE
Wow, you must be pretty good at it then.
LAURIE
Well, I don’t know. It’s sure fun though.
DANTE
Well what kind of acting classes do you teach?
LAURIE
I teach scene study classes and I teach classes where we work on our movement and I teach improv classes. That’s where you make up stories in the moment.
DANTE
Make up stories in the moment. That’s a whole other kind of acting I didn’t even know about.
LAURIE
Yes, it’s pretty fun.
DANTE
Wow, I’ll have to give that one a try. Well, what is your philosophy of teaching acting?
LAURIE
I believe that everyone has something to share artistically, so whether you’re a professional actor or you’re just beginning, you should trust yourself and share what you have to say.
DANTE
So you mean that taking acting classes is kind of about building your confidence as an actor?
LAURIE
Yes, it is.
DANTE
Alright, well tell me more about what an acting class looks like.
LAURIE
Well, you might come into the class and we’ll all gather together and start with a warm-up.
DANTE
Oh. Okay.
LAURIE
So we might practice our voices. We might say some funny words that get our mouths warmed up so that we can speak clearly and then we might do some exercises, we might stretch, or run around the room, or do things that make us feel really easy and fun in our bodies.
DANTE
Well, I have a question for you. One time my older sister was in an acting class and she was playing a game where you had to say ‘zip, zap, zop’. Is that a theater game?
LAURIE
It is a theater game and it’s a fun warm-up.
DANTE
Wow. I’ll have to give that one a try one day. Alright, well tell me more about what you do and learn in an acting class about acting.
LAURIE
Well, you learn how to know what emotion your character might be feeling and then how to move and how to speak because of that emotion that you’re feeling. And the thing that causes that emotion is what your scene partner says or does.
DANTE
Your scene partner? What’s a scene partner?
LAURIE
A scene partner is the person that you’re doing your scene with. They are going to say a line and then you’re going to have a line and then they’ll have a line. But you don’t just say the lines. Your scene partner says something and that makes you feel something and think something so you’ll move and then you’ll say your line because they said that line and then they’ll feel something and move and say their next line because of what you did, and so it’s just like two people having a real conversation.
DANTE
Wow. That makes acting sound really exciting.
LAURIE
It is exciting and it’s a lot of fun to make it look real.
DANTE
That leads me to my next question. Why should I take an acting class?
LAURIE
Well, if you want to be an actor, or you want to be in a play, this can teach you how to do it. And it can build your confidence, like we were talking about before. It teaches you all the pieces of acting and how to tell a story really well.
DANTE
Telling a story. That really seems to be the most important part of acting.
LAURIE
It is. That’s what your audience wants to see, a story, and you want to tell it in a way that makes them believe that it’s real; pulls them into the story and makes them feel and have those emotions that you’re having as an actor.
DANTE
Theater is so cool. Can you only take acting classes in college?
LAURIE
No, there are lots of ways to take acting classes. You should look in your community and see if perhaps a theater teaches acting classes to children.
DANTE
You mean I could just sign up for an acting class, like in my neighborhood?
LAURIE
Yes.
DANTE
Wow. Now I’m going to go see if there’s any acting classes in my neighborhood!
[APPLAUSE]
Well, how can I get the most out of taking an acting class?
LAURIE
Well, you should know that everyone there is just as nervous as you are.
DANTE
Phew. That’s good to hear.
LAURIE
That’s right. So you should just explore. Whatever the teacher asks you to do; try it out. Know that you can try this many times and you’ll get better and better the more you do it. Try all the tools, all the things that the teacher gives to you, you just do it and accept it; have fun. That’s the most important thing, is to have a lot of fun, because acting is a lot of fun.
DANTE
Hm. I think I can do that one.
[UPBEAT GUITAR MUSIC]
Well thanks so much for coming onto my podcast today and talking to us a little bit about teaching acting.
LAURIE
You’re welcome.
DANTE
It was a lot of fun to have you and I have to say that it was really neat for me to be able to talk to a college professor.
LAURIE
Well, it was really nice to meet you Dante.
DANTE
You too! Oh, and before we leave today, would you mind helping me with our fun-fact for today’s episode?
LAURIE
Sure!
DANTE
Let’s do it!
[FUN-FACT MUSIC]
For today’s fun-fact I wanted to see if you knew anything about acting techniques and how you learn about them in acting classes.
LAURIE
I do know something about that. Did you know that a long time ago, actors used to pose whenever they said a line. They’d feel something and so they’d pose. If they were sad they would make a sad pose. If they were happy they would make a happy pose. Well, an actor named Konstantin Stanislavski decided he didn’t like that kind of acting.
DANTE
Hm.
LAURIE
He decided that he wanted it to look real; just like real life people. So he created an acting method. So other actors learned from him and also created different techniques building upon what he taught and created their own acting techniques.
DANTE
Wow.
LAURIE
Yes, Lee Strasberg decided that actors should think about their own life and things that happened to them, and if they found a sad memory, they could use it on stage. And that could help them become sad on stage.
DANTE
Like a sad memory from your real life?
LAURIE
Yes, like a sad memory from your real life. But other actors didn’t like that idea. Stella Adler was a famous acting teacher, and she decided that actors should just create it from their imagination. They should use their imagination to create ideas and emotions so that they didn’t have to feel the things that they had experienced in their own life.
DANTE
I didn’t know acting could get that complicated.
LAURIE
Sometimes it is complicated. Then an actor named Sanford Meisner decided that the actor should just use the things that the actor saw on-stage; that the audience would see. Like things that the scene partner did or said, or how the room made the actor feel.
DANTE
Oh. So do you learn about all these different acting techniques in acting classes?
LAURIE
Yes, you do. You learn how to use them and then you can decide which acting technique works best for you.
DANTE
Oh, I see. And then you can use whatever one works best for you in all of your acting.
LAURIE
Yes!
DANTE
That sounds really interesting. Thanks for sharing so much about it.
LAURIE
You’re welcome Dante.
[THEME MUSIC]
DANTE
Wasn’t that great? I can’t believe I got to talk to Laurie, a college professor. A big thank you to Laurie for joining me on my podcast. I know Miss Griffin is going to think it’s pretty cool that I got to talk to a college professor, all about acting and acting classes. Tune in next week for Episode 7. See you soon!
[MUSIC FADES]