AboutJESSICA MARLOWE KING Expertise YES = TEXT ANALYSIS, PERFORMANCE PROTOCOL, *MONOLOGUES, *AUDITIONS, DEVISING THEATRE, IB THEATRE ARTS,
NO = scenic design and technical design, royalites/rights
Experience PROFESSIONAL THEATRE - OFF BWAY & REGIONAL CREDITS, BEST ENSEMBLE AWARDS [Time Magazine]
FILM - TELEVISION - VOICE-OVER - MODELING
FACULTY - INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE IN THEATRE ARTS
WELL READ - OVER 1000 PLAYS IN HOME LIBRARY FROM SHAKESPEARE TO SARAH KANE
28 YEARS TEACHING BOTH ADULTS AND YOUTH THEATRE, ALL AGES
Organizations ACTORS EQUITY ASSOCIATION
NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION
Publications THEATRE REVIEWS: THE STRANGER, SEATTLE WA
Education/Credentials MASTERS IN FINE ARTS WITH HONORS
PROFESSIONAL ACTORS TRAINING PROGRAM: UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
COMPLETED COURSEWORK: SECONDARY EDUCATION, CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
ANTIOCH UNIVERSITY
Awards and Honors BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A FILM 2006: WOMEN IN FILM AWARD FOR WORK IN "APART FROM THAT"
Past/Present Clients UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
CORNISH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA
PERSEVERANCE THEATRE COMPANY
SEATTLE CHILDREN'S THEATER
SEATTLE REPERTORY THEATRE
FREEHOLD STUDIO
RATO BANGALA SCHOOL/NEPAL
STANISLAVSKY INSTITUTE/RUSSIA/JAPAN
SANFORD MEISNER THEATRE
WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF PERFORMING ARTS
STUDIO EAST
NORTHWEST ACTORS STUDIO
YOUTH THEATRE NORTHWEST
I am just wondering what techniques would actors use when preparing for a performance?
Thanks
Reuben
Answer It depends on the type of performance. What show are you preparing for?
Certainly you need to warm up your voice and your body, but more importantly you need to warm up your nervous system.
Kristin Linklater's Classical Progression warm-up activities for the voice can be found in Freeing the Natural Voice.
There is an abundance of fun warm-ups, both individual and group available in books.
Elizabeth Swados has great exercises for teen actors. Anne Bogart uses choreographer
Mary Overlie's Viewpoints to warm up the actor to the stage space and ensemble. The book is called Viewpoints. A lot of directors use these exercises for devising theatre pieces as well.
Standard warm ups typically include rolling up and down the spine, stretching through the limbs,neck and head, all over, shaking, jumping, juggling - you name it.
I knew someone who created an i-pod of songs to get her emotionally connected to her character and she played it to herself when she warmed up.
Articulation exercises for strong enunciation, singing, tongue twisters.
I used karate stances to ground myself prior to performance, and I also used to rise off the balls of my feet from a squatting position all the way to an almost on toe position, extremely slowly while reciting a piece from the Trojan Woman:
O splendor of sunburst breaking forth this day
Whereon I lay my hands once more on Helen my wife; (breath)
and yet it is not so much for the woman's sake I came to Rome (breath)
But against that guest proved treacherous
Who like a robber carried the woman from my house. (breath)
I would go all the way up, reciting the entire text, and all the way down repeating the entire text. I would only breathe twice during the text. These squats would bring my breath way down into my belly and I felt very grounded in my voice.
