[KBecks]

I'm taking adult acting classes at a theatre and our first assignment is an open scene, with pretty vague dialogue but some dramatic statements .

We need to decide the relationship, the situation, motives ....etc. etc.

I'm having a hard time understanding what the point is, and I'm afriad that I might be getting distratcted by all the details. We are thinking of doing our scene as a hairdresser / customer who is freaking out.

The teacher wants no pantomime, we can bring in props.

Would anyone please give more clues as to what we should be focusing on for an open scene? Some of the lines may not fit the situation all that well, we'll have to do the best we can with it.

Anyway, we'll be working on this for the next 2 classes and I'd like to get the most out of the exercise. I'll ask the teacher for more direction next class too as to where to put the energy. We did some simple communication and improv exercises in the first class and this is our first scene work.

I'm not doing this for any kind of credit, so I see no reason not to get others' insights. I'm doing the classes to get prepared for a summer community theatre audition. Thank you!

[NoticeMeHorton]

The point, IMHO, would be for developing one of the fundamentals of acting - making strong decisions. You have to decide who (is your character?), what (is going on?), where (does this take place?), when (does this take place?) and why (is this taking place?), in relation to the dialogue you've been given. This is the perfect exercise to give your character a back story - your instructor may even ask you about your character's back story or motivations. Then you have to act on those decisions.

If nothing else, I would think it's to show you that even vague, empty dialogue can take definite form and tell a story when the actor makes strong decisions about their character and in their acting.

(I am by not by any means an authority on this, and I am hoping the more experienced of this group will add to or correct what I have stated. lol)

The hairdresser/client idea sounds good. Just be sure to know (i.e. make up) enough about them so you can explain their reasons for saying what they are saying. Best of luck!

~Holly

[Melody]

I just did an open scene for my Fall Finals. What we had to do was think of a contrasting objective...an example is to get *Fred* (my brother) out of the house because I just had sex with his best friend and my partner's was to get me to sit down so that he could tell me that he was gay and in love with his best friend.

Two contrasting objectives within the same scene. It made for some interesting ways of acting--and fun too. An open scene is a way for professors and directors to know whether or not you can make strong decisions and make them your own and really connect to them.

My professor told me that the actions and the tactics that we did to try to get our objective done makes the open scene exciting to watch and it's not the vague, empty dialogue anymore.

Hope this helps.

[Cake_in_Song]

High stakes! Make it high stakes!


After watching a bunch of people do really bad scenes, all I can say is, put everything on the line, or don't even bother.