Picnic: How to Rehearse

OK -- what I've been doing has been good, I think: I take a pad and pen and I write out my lines from memory and then Rosemary's line, and I look at this as a "trigger," i.e., I explore how it hits me. This exercise really helps me to discover what Howard wants and what he's doing -- by focusing on what Rosemary wants and is doing. The writings in this journal have come out of this exercise.

However -- after the pen and pad exercise, what I've got to do is immediately get on my feet and run through it.

What I've been doing is spending too much time doing a 'write-up' of the scene, i.e., beat-scene analysis (see my 11/19/05 and 11/25/05 notes). Now, that analysis seems to have taken me about 80-90% of the way, but to really nail what's going on, I've got to run through it. And as I run through it, I hope things will get more clear, more focused -- I need to really find the essential heart and simple truth of Howard in this scene (i.e., what he wants). Great acting is so simple -- that's what I want: focus, simplicity and clarity.

So -- 1st) analysis, the way I've been working in my workbook, pen and paper. 2nd) run through it. 3rd) write it up here. Goals -- the "beats" need to be SIMPLE: about one thing.

. . . I hope all this effort pays off.