UTA HAGEN

By: Sydney Dotson, Taylor Bryant, and Martin Pandola 1919-2004

Background

• Originated Martha in 1963 in the Broadway premiere of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”

• Won 3 Tony’s and was inducted to the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981

• Taught at the HB Studio- founded by her Husband, Herbert Berghof

Part One The Actor

Representation Vs. Presentational

• Representational (external)

• Presentational (internal)

Mask Vs. Embodiment

• Be in the moment.

• Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not.

Identity

• Your identity and self-knowledge are the main sources for any character you may play

• Get to know yourself

• Reject stereotypes

Substitution

• “Find Yourself” in the part

• “Make believe” in the literal sense by substituting the time, place, and surrounding

Emotional and Sense Memory

• Emotional: Find your release object. Avoid the examination of any unexplored past experiences. Find the moment in you, which mirrors the emotional reaction you need.

• Sense: Don’t think something and expect it to happen. Localize one area and remember the sensation. Dictate the sensation, don’t let it dictate you.

Conditioning Forces

• The condition must be established with the necessary components in order to allow you to believe in it.

• No condition is static or remains with you to the same degree of intensity.

The Five Senses

• The more intense and highly developed your senses are, the more available the potential of you as an actor.

• “Find the extraordinary

in the ordinary”

Thinking

• Enlarge the circle of inner objects for your new self.

• Use the objects to produce the character’s “thinking” in a true life style

Walking and Talking

• Every second counts; each word and step should reveal something new about the character

Improvisation

• Use to discover new things about your character.

• Don’t let your imagination skew you from the script.

Reality

• In your search for genuine emotion, sensation, truthful behavior, and action, we should never forget that selection is our goal. Nor should you forget the obligation to the playwright.

Part Two The Basic Object Exercise

Three Entrances

• What did I just do?

• What am I doing now? Hi

• What am I about to do? Hi, how are you?

Good, yourself?

Good thanks!

Nice to see you!

(exercise)

Endowment

• Almost nothing in a character’s life is what it is- but we make it so!

(exercise)

Immediacy

• Balance thinking and being in the moment; don’t show that you know what comes next (Don’t play the end of the scene)

(exercise)

Fourth wall

• Create a wall where the audience should be, “secondary fourth wall”

• Endow it with objects to make it real but don’t go overboard.

Talking to yourself

• Find scene physically before approaching the verbal aspect

• Be specific!

Part Three The play and the role

First Contact

• Work subjectively through the play to discover the roots, to discover what “you” want, what “you” do

Character

• Discover your new “self”

• When confronting a character, ask yourself, “who am I?”

• (exercise)

Circumstances

• The circumstances you are in will help you find your motivations, and reason for action and non-action.

Relationship

• Find connection with every object and character in the room

• Use that to discover

who “you” are

Objective

• Our actions are governed by what we want.

• The categories of objective; the overall objective of the play, of each scene, and moment-to-moment objectives.

Obstacle

• You must know what is in your way in order to get what you want

(exercise)

The Rehearsal

• The best actor is the hardest working actor

• Never go with anything less than your best

“ If we realize our individual responsibilities to an art form, we must not only live up to it as individuals, but remember the collective form of this art, and that more than anything else it is one for all and all for one.” –Uta Hagen