Changing Direction: A Practical Approach to Directing Actors in Film and Theatre

Appendix A: Additional Exercises for Workshop or Classroom

Repetition Exercise

Take two actors and assign the same line of dialogue to each actor. The sentence should be complete and simple, i.e., “I really like the snow,” or “Did you get here on the subway?” or “You’re wearing that suit again.” Each actor will continue to say the same line, but with the action that responds to the action the other actor has just pursued. The group watching, armed with pencil and paper and making a column for each actor, will try to identify and write the instinctive action choices as the actors are making them. Select the actor who will start and caution the pair to take time to react to the action received before they respond. The exercise might ...