Focus

It’s common for young or beginning drama students to get wiggly or fidgety onstage, especially if they’re part of the ensemble or not speaking, singing, or dancing at that moment. It’s as though they’ve forgotten that even though they aren’t the immediate focus of the scene, they’re still visible! And if they’re fidgeting, they’re likely pulling focus, and not in a good way. If your actors seem to have ants in their pants onstage, read on for three tips to help them embrace the beauty of stillness. 1. Actively practice stillness.Have your students actively practice stillness. Teach your students about neutral position and how to get into it. The neutral position is where students are standing in a strong, relaxed, supported state, ready to work and to take on a character. It’s like a blank canvas or lump of clay — absent of character traits and ready to create something with. First, have students stand with their feet slightly apart and flat on the floor. Legs are strong and knees are not locked. Spine is straight. They should keep their arms by their sides (not fixing their hair, adjusting clothes, or scratching), with soft shoulders and fingers. Heads should be up so audience members can see the actors’ faces, not the tops of their heads. Students should imagine a long string is pulling them up so their back and neck are straight, shoulders are back and relaxed, and they are standing tall. Faces should be kept in a neutral position too, with a calm, relaxed jaw and forehead. Have students choose a focal point at which to direct their gaze. And just because at least one student will always ask — yes, students can always blink and breathe while practicing neutral. Once students are in the neutral position, using a timer, have them hold the position for five seconds. Five seconds doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s more challenging than students tend to think. Each day, have students practice taking neutral and holding the pose for at least the five seconds, or add on another second of stillness. Try to build up to 30 seconds of stillness. The more students practice stillness, the easier it will become. This stillness can then be practiced onstage during group scenes. Have students stand in neutral offstage, take a breath (both inhale and exhale), and enter the scene. If students feel that they’re about to fidget, have them come back to neutral and remember the feeling of stillness. Be sure to check out the Reflecting on Neutral Position questions at the bottom of this article. 2. Get super specific.Sometimes it helps for students to have a specific task that their character is doing to help them remain in character and in the moment of the scene. Have students re-read the scene and determine what action(s) their character might be doing, and why. This is especially important for background or ensemble actors, or larger cast scenes. Why is their character in that scene, beyond “The director told me to enter and stand there”? Each student should have some specific “thing” to do that is appropriate for the scene that’s occurring and for the character they are playing. For example, if the scene is set in a classroom, the actors might be writing in notebooks, studying, drawing pictures on the chalkboard, or asleep at their desks. If the scene is set at the beach, the actors might be building sandcastles, applying sunscreen, or playing volleyball. Get even more specific and determine which students are working together on their activities, or if they will switch activities/character groups partway through the scene. Give students exact cue lines of when to change activities, move to a different part of the stage, or exit altogether. Practice miming those activities individually or in small groups (as the director determines), then have students practice the actions as a large group onstage, to ensure everything times out well and that actors aren’t pulling focus in a negative way. This way, students’ actions are purposeful and planned, rather than fidgety. 3. Meet students where they’re at.There might be a non-theatrical reason why students are fidgeting. Maybe their costume is itchy or too tight and it’s bothering them. If so, get the student a different item to wear. Some students might benefit from having a prop to hold, to give their hands something to do. Other students might benefit from having a small, discreet fidget item that they can hide in a pocket or in the palm of their hand, to squeeze if they feel like they need to wiggle around. Maybe it would be easier for the student if they could be seated during the scene, rather than standing in one place for a long time. Some students might also just not be ready to be onstage in the background for the full length of the scene, and that’s ok. As long as it works with the script, give those students specific entrance and exit cues during the scene. Alternatively, a student may need to be removed from the scene altogether, which again, is ok — not everyone has to be onstage for every scene in every show. Bonus Tips: • Students might benefit from having specific physical ways of portraying the emotions their characters are feeling. • Students might be nervous. Help them to deal with their nerves using various mindfulness techniques. • Try doing a more rigorous physical warm-up to help students expel some excess energy before the performance. • Here are some additional beginning actor mistakes and how to solve them; they might be applicable to your current students’ performances.

Countless hours are spent in rehearsal: learning, reviewing, and practicing material. Let’s focus on the first aspect: learning. At the beginning of the rehearsal process, everything is new. From the content of the play to insights about the character, students discover new and exciting things during each rehearsal. Then, near the end of the rehearsal process, all sorts of other new aspects pop up: props and costumes; working with sets, lights, sound effects, and music; making discoveries and changes when students are actually on the stage instead of in a rehearsal room. But what about the period in the middle of the rehearsal process? That’s where things tend to get a little blurry – students are still learning their blocking and developing their characters, but the newness of the show has worn off and opening night seems far away. How can we keep our students on track and keep them moving forward in a positive way?When approaching a scene, directors often focus on what has changed from the beginning of the scene to the end of the scene. What happened? What new information have the characters learned? What is different? This pushes the action forward. We can take that similar thought process and apply it to the actual practical work that is being done in rehearsals. Encourage students to continue to focus on “newness.” Your students’ goal at every rehearsal should be to come away with something new, something different, or something that has evolved or changed. Thinking about what has changed at each rehearsal helps students to heighten their awareness of what’s going on around them. It encourages them to keep a curious and open mind when approaching their rehearsal work. This could be artistic or theatrical – something related to their character, or something they have discovered about the show in general. Or it could be practical, such as a new rehearsal technique, or a new theatrical skill that they’ve learned that will benefit them in future rehearsals. Focusing on what has changed can be challenging, because it’s going much deeper into self-reflection. This takes courage. Acknowledging what has changed since their last rehearsal forces students to take responsibility for their own learning and development. Students must look honestly at their rehearsal habits and effort given to figure out what they’ve learned and what has changed. If they feel that they aren’t growing and changing, then why is this not happening? What has changed is going to be different from student to student, and will have different effects on each student. Learning a new piece of choreography may be no big deal to one student, but to another student it may be a huge success. Not all changes are going to be big ones, but students should not discredit or judge what they learned. (Oftentimes, a series of small learned lessons grows into a big breakthrough!) It’s also important for students to acknowledge their failures as well as their successes. If they had a bad rehearsal, what did they learn from it? How can that negative experience be turned into a positive, or at least be used to increase the potential for success in a future rehearsal? Use the Reflection questions below to help students think about the work they’ve done in each rehearsal. Have students keep a rehearsal journal and take five minutes at the end of each session to jot down some notes about what happened at rehearsal and what has changed. This will be a great tool for them to look back on at the end of the theatrical process and see how far they have come in their learning.

Do you consider yourself a theatrical specialist with one definite focus? Or are you more the multi-passionate type? I certainly don’t ascribe to the “jack of all trades, master of none” train of thought. I believe that taking a chance and trying out a new area helps you to become that much more knowledgeable, creative, useful, and appreciative in the theatre world. Teachers, encouraging your students to try new theatrical areas can really help to grow your drama program. The more students you have available with different experiences and skills, the better. Plus, they can reach out to other students, to help lead and mentor them for future productions. Having volunteer experience in different theatrical areas could help your students if they decide to apply for post-secondary education. But it’s also important for teachers to try new theatrical areas as well! Teachers must always continue to grow and develop their skills in order to educate and guide their students in the ways of the ever-changing theatrical world. So, teachers and students alike, I challenge you to try out a new theatrical area this year. If you have students who are normally technicians, encourage them audition to be part of the cast. If you are a director, try set-design. If you are a props maker, try operating the lighting board. If you are a choreographer, try designing the program or the show poster. Here are three reasons you should try a new theatrical area: 1. Grow your skill set and develop an appreciation for the hard work of othersThe more skills you have, the more you can contribute to a theatrical production and the more opportunities can become available to you. You never know where your theatrical journey will take you. And who knows, you might find a new passion! Trying new theatrical areas also gives you a greater appreciation of how hard other departments work. It takes a variety of talented people to make a show happen, and being able to understand and appreciate the time and talents of others only makes you a better theatrical leader. This also gives you the opportunity to then pass along your knowledge to others and help to develop a new crop of theatre people. For example, my primary focus in my youth was acting. I even wrote in my eighth grade yearbook that my goal for the future was to become a professional actress. While that didn’t pan out, I still act at the community level, and acting did lead to my love of stage combat, which led me to training to become a fight director. After I graduated from university, I worked at a summer theatre camp, which gave me the opportunity to direct and start teaching. It’s especially wonderful when you see and hear your students going on to do wonderful things in the world of theatre (and beyond) in lots of different areas, and how they’ve applied their learning beyond the classroom. It has all come around full circle, and it’s been a lot of fun! 2. Challenge yourselfYou might think you’re not crafty or tech-savvy, or that you don’t have the proper background or all the knowledge you should have. But be open to learning. Just try it and see what happens. You don’t have to jump immediately to heading a department. Start small. Join a backstage team and work with people who are experienced. Find a teacher or mentor, check out YouTube tutorials, find books on the subject, and read theatre blogs (like this one!). Last year, my friend offered me the opportunity to be the dance choreographer for her show, which I took on even though I was terrified. I love to dance and I have taken lessons on and off over the years, but I do not have the dance vocabulary or extensive dance background that most choreographers have. I’m so glad I took the chance though – I had a blast! I still have lots of room to grow and I hope I get the opportunity to choreograph another show in the future. 3. Demonstrate life-long learning to your studentsIt’s okay to be new at things. I think that many teachers struggle with this. We expect ourselves to know everything and to have all the answers. But that puts a lot of stress and pressure on us. Everyone was once a beginner at everything they do, and everyone has to learn somehow. We ask our students to try new things every class, to be brave, to put themselves out there. Let’s lead by example and demonstrate bravery to our students. If you are taking on a new area in your current production, share your growth with your students and reflect on your learning. Discuss challenges that you’ve had and listen to your students’ suggestions (e.g. “Here’s what I did. Does anyone have suggestions of how this could have been done differently or better?”). Demonstrating vulnerability and the concept that adults are always learning, making mistakes, and growing from those mistakes is so valuable for students to see. Learning doesn’t end once school is done. If you do try a new theatrical area this year, drop us a line and let us know how it went. What were your challenges and triumphs? What did you learn?

Here’s a New Video Tip. Today’s topic is “How do I Control Uncontrolled Energy?” View it here.