Exercises for Embodied Actors: Tools for Physical Actioning from Focal Press builds on the vocabulary of simple action verbs to generate an entire set of practical tools from first read to performance that harnesses modern knowledge about the integration of the mind and the rest of the body. Including over 50 innovative exercises, the book leads actors through a rigorous examination of their own habits, links those discoveries to creating characters, and offers dozens of exercises to explore in classrooms and with ensembles.
The result is a modern toolkit that empowers actors to start from their own unique selves and delivers specific techniques to apply on stage and in front of the camera. This step-by-step guide can be used by actors working individually or by teachers crafting the arc of a course, ensuring that students explore in physically engaged and dynamic ways at every step of their process.
1. Curiosity & Attention
2. Action
3. Translating Physical Language
Part 2. Seeing yourself
4. The Physical Action Journal
5. Creating Palettes
6. Diagraming Identities
7. The Pasta Maker
Part 3. Building an Embodied Role
8. Mapping Their World
9. Making Text Physical
10. Building Bridges to You
11. Special Circumstances
Part 4. Experiments for the Classroom and Ensembles
12. With a Partner
13. With Three or More
14. Skills Gymnasium
Part 5. Program Notes
15. Would Stanislavsky Disapprove?
16. Will My Brain Get in My Way?