7.1: Staging/Blocking/Technique
The playwright tells the story through the dialogue they have written. Designers tell the story through color, line, texture, and materials. Actors tell the story through emotion. The director tells the story visually through movement and stage pictures. When staging a show the more experience you have with staging, the more effective your show can be. There are many lessons that can be gained from staging exercises and this is where your true training lies. This is your gym. Learn as much as you can and stage as much as you can, so that you can hone and improve your skills. The majority of the scenes in your training will be silent and that is because you need to understand and experience how much of storytelling in non verbal and that is the contribution you give to the production. Each lesson builds off of the others and you are expected to utilize all of the previous knowledge gained from prior lessons and apply it to the next exercise. Each of these exercises will take roughly one class period but as you work through them you will develop leadership and communication skills, workshop ideas, and learn from the artists around you. When you are a director lead and listen and when you are an actor, TAKE DIRECTION. Do not try to direct a scene if you are not the director, model the behavior a good actor.