Acting Theories - Uta Hagen

Uta Hagen:

German American actress and theatre practitioner
-Born: June 12, 1919 Germany
-Died: January 14, 2004 NYC

Wrote many books and won a tony award for best lead actress in a play
Has been in 22 broadway productions
Wrote "Respect for Acting" which is used as a textbook in many college theatre and acting classes

The nine questions-

• Who am I?
• What time is it?
• Where am I? 
• What surrounds me? 
• What are the given circumstances? 
• What is my relationship? 
• What do I want? 
• What is in my way? 
• What do I do to get what I want? 

Respect for Acting (Chapters of teqniques and the process of mastering them):

Chapter one - concept

• An actor needs: talent, imagination, a grip on reality, desire to communicate, character and ethics, point of view, understanding of human behavior, total discipline.

Chapter two - identity

• Fill a warehouse with sources upon which to draw for construction of character. Object exercises (C11 – 20) help build self-awareness.
• Your own identity and self knowledge are the main sources for the characters you play.
• You experience most human emotions by age 18.

Chapter three - substitution

• Find yourself in a part vs. losing yourself in a part.
• Substitution: transference from your own experiences and remembrances; put them in place of the fiction of the play.

Chapter four - emotional memory

• Sub in order to release that big burst of tears, shriek of terror, etc.
• EMOTION OCCURS WHEN SOMETHING HAPPENS TO US WHICH MOMENTARILY SUSPENDS OUR REASONING CONTROL AND WE ARE UNABLE TO COPE WITH THE EVENT LOGICALLY.
• Uta uses a RELEASE OBJECT to bring about emotion; trigger objects; a verbal or physical action (fist) can also be used.

Chapter five - sense memory

• Concentrate on a body part. EX. don’t think “hot”, focus on underarms: perspiration, sweaty, stickiness; attempt to overcome heat; adjust blouse; whole body will feel hot. For “cold”, focus on chill on back of neck; adjust to get warm; overcome sensation.
• Stimulate the Remembrance; fight against the sensation in one focused area (drunk - fight to be sober)

Chapter six - five senses

• Cologne could make you remember old boyfriend; use it.
• Alert taste buds for taste of liquor.

Chapter seven - thinking

• Real thinking is active.
• Get out of the habit of verbally analyzing your thought process.
• To act is to do; not think.

Chapter eight - walking and talking

• Total animation of the body is about correctly incorporating the surrounding circumstances.
• Action of words: how you send them, for what purpose and to whom, under what circumstances- what do you want or need at the moment.

Chapter nine - improvisation

• Used for a better understanding of the reality of the character, circumstances, time and place, emotions, and varied action.

Chapter 10 - reality

• Truth in life is not truth on stage; Ex. you can’t really hurt someone.
• You must adjust to tell the story.

http://actingtruthfully.jimdo.com/hagen-technique/

In the dramatic arts, method acting is a group of techniques actors use to create in themselves the thoughts and feelings of their characters, so as to develop lifelike performances.