Tag: Chris Cole Harris

Adult Acting tought by Chris Cole Harris

Posted on

5 W’s in Acting Class

Acting class started last night. Delayed by one week to allow for additional registrations. The class consists of 8 people: Kelly Howell and I, (sister and brother), Matt and Jeff McGahren (brothers), Jayne Jacobs and Ryan Bauer (mother and son) and two others unrelated to anybody else in the class. A real family affair mostly.

It’s good being back in class again. A refresher is never a bad idea. Questions I had forgotten that I need to remember during auditions when doing a cold reading or a monologue:

Who
What
Where
When
Why

Followed up by the second question: How does that make me feel?

Some are unknowns. Items not provided in the context of the script but that could help in understanding the character, in providing a “back life” for the character. The questions more specifically:

Who am I? How does that make me feel?
Who am I talking to? How does that make me feel?
Who/What am I talking about? How does that make me feel?
What is/was the event? How does that make me feel?
Where am I now? How does that make me feel?
Where was the event I am talking about? How does that make me feel?
When was the event I am talking about? How does that make me feel?
Why am I talking about it? How does that make me feel?

And any other Who, What, Where, When, Why that can be asked. You can and probably will provide the incorrect answers to these questions, but that?s ok. Make a decision and play the character with those answers.

Pay Attention! Listen to what the other character is saying. Act and React to the situation. A lot of what acting is is reacting to your fellow actor. To do that you need to pay attention. It’s not good enough to just spit out the next line when there is a pause.

I do know this, but it’s funny because Tammy and I were watching Inside the Actors Studio and Robert Redford was the guest. Mr. Redford was talking about his first acting class and having to do a scene with another student. The other student refused to listen and just spat out his line whenever Redford paused. When they went to perform the scene for the class, Redford finally had enough, grabbed the other student, shook him and then sent him sliding across the stage. That is a reaction, but I am sure it is not the one the other student was looking for. Well the other student was not looking (listening) at all.

Posted on

Actor’s Showcase with Chris Cole Harris

I would encourage everyone to signup for this class. Yes it is a class, educational and all that, but with the performance at the end. What that does for you is gives you two notches on your resume: One under training, the Second under Stage experience. The performance at the end falls under the category of “Repertory Theatre”

Encyclopaedia Britannica Online lists Repertory Theatre as:
Play production by a resident acting troupe, in which a number of plays are always ready for performance; thus acting company alternates plays, and individuals various roles, on a regular basis, while occasionally adding new plays to its repertoire.

Webster’s Online Dictionary says:
Properly, repertory is a style of a number of repertory companies which rehearsed and performed plays in a fortnight. Originally a British idea, these were professionals but due to time restraints and commercial restraints they played like amateurs. The largest repertory theatre company was and still is in Liverpool. There was a form of touring repertory called fit-up which involved carting round the set for about five different plays. The plays were shown on consecutive nights. Nowadays repertories perform just once or twice a year. The term is used in the theatre to refer to any number of two or more plays which are rotated within a season, usually alternating with different plays every night for a period of time. Plays are rehearsed at all once or in rapid succession, and often feature the same actors or company in several plays.

Even though we are not an official troupe or more actually a maintained organized group, the Actor?s Showcase still qualifies. We will have a set of monologues and one acts that we will perform on a single night. And all those monologues will add to your personal repertoire.

Class & Performance Details:

Actor’s Showcase
Instructor: Chris Cole Harris
When: Mondays, 6:30 – 9:30 PM
Dates: September 19 – November 7, 2005
Cost: $176 + Supply Fee
Where: Pinckneyville Community Center
Description: Basics of Acting: monologues, scenes and improvisation with a showcase on November 11, 2005 from 6 PM to 9 PM. Note: price increase due to class length.

Actor?s Showcase Performance
When: Saturday, November 12, 2005, 6 PM – 9 PM
Where: Pinckneyville Community Center
Cost: $5
Description: Delightful acting experience as our adult acting class demonstrates monologues/scene studies in a fun atmosphere. Followed by dessert and coffee. Call (770)417-2200 for more Information.

See Gwinnett LIFE for Registration Information

Posted on

Actor’s Showcase with Chris Cole Harris

Actor’s Showcase
Instructor: Chris Cole Harris
When: Mondays, 6:30 – 9:30 PM
Dates: September 19 – November 7, 2005
Cost: $176 + Supply Fee
Where: Pinckneyville Community Center
Description: Basics of Acting: monologues, scenes and improvisation with a showcase on November 11, 2005 from 6 PM to 9 PM. Note: price increase due to class length.

Actor’s Showcase Performance
When: Saturday, November 12, 2005, 6 PM – 9 PM
Where: Pinckneyville Community Center
Cost: $5
Description: Delightful acting experience as our adult acting class demonstrates monologues/scene studies in a fun atmosphere. Followed by dessert and coffee. Call (770)417-2200 for more Information.

See Gwinnett LIFE for Registration Information

Posted on

Beau Jest: Off Book

Thus ends the first week of being off book. Acts 1 and 2 went extremely well according to Lane. He was very pleased. No one asked for lines. We skipped a few and went over that section again but all went well. For Act 3, we bogged down. Several of us had to ask for lines including me. I was just happy that I was not the only one, me being the newbie and all.

On Thursday night we had character development discussions. Other than in acting class with Chris Cole Harris, I have never been though a formal process. It was very interesting. In class it was nothing more than a few questions related to the character and how they might behave. Lane had questions for us in which we went over for each character.

Thursday night was also a big boost for me for Lane said he was very please with my character in Act 3. The first two times we ran through Act 3, we cut up, had problems with out lines, etc. So Lane kept us late to go though Act 3 a third time and in all seriousness. JOEL came together for me and the interaction with SARAH was very strong. It felt right. And well Lane said it was what he wanted to see.

Opening night is just 2 weeks away.

Play Details and Photos

Posted on

The Sunshine Boys – Update

This definitely is a learning experience. You know I was suggested for this small part (2 parts actually: EDDIE and PATIENT) by Jayne Jacobs a few weeks after rehearsals began. Not that this is an issue with learning lines. It’s just the figuring out of the being where I need to be and doing what I need to do during the rehearsals. The physicality. Everybody else already knows. As Chris Harris told us in class “memorizing the lines is just a technicality”.

What I have learned in just two nights of rehearsals: You do need to know, memorize, own your lines, but you also need to be intimately aware of the other actor’s lines to know your queue. You need to be aware of what the other actors are doing. You need to know how other actors react.

An example of the last statement: At one point I (EDDIE) come rushing onto the stage to step in between WILLIE and AL who are in an argument. WILLIE is saying his sentence, I have hold of him to keep him from AL, and I am waiting to say the next line. Well the actor playing WILLIE will keep going in a rant until I start my line. But of course I am waiting for him to end so I can say my line. Everybody was waiting on me. What I learn here is that if I know how the actor acts and what his lines are I should know how and when to “interrupt” correctly.