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7: Lessons in Staging
7.10: Lesson 9- Creating a World with Movement

7.10: Lesson 9- Creating a World with Movement

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Sometimes you will not have the money for a set. This is not a problem it is an opportunity. What you do have are actors and actors create. Actors can be characters and help create a set through their physicality. One example I often use with students is creating a wild west saloon using only actors bodies to create the environment. Two actors stand in profile with one arm extended becoming saloon doors. One actor leans over and becomes a bar or counter. Another actor becomes the bartender and I have two other actors sit in imaginary seats around a card table. Finally one additional actor is used as the cowboy entering the saloon. A confrontation happens followed be a stand off and one of the actors creating the saloon door transforms into a tumbleweed and rolls across the stage.

You can take your audience to any location and actors can transform, through a spin or other creative ways, into any person or object needed for the scene. You can also transition between locations as long as all of the actors spin in the same direction, at relatively the same speed, and reach their positions at roughly the same moment.

If you learn to stage utilizing the movement skills of your performers not only will your shows be more creative and unique, you can stage in any location.

Staging Exercise

Create a scene with a beginning, middle, and end that uses the actors as the set.
Your scene must include at least one transition
Rehearse for 1 hour and then present
Discuss and critique each scene
Remember to always focus on successful elements first. People need to know what they are doing well more than they need to know what to improve. Encourage progress and try to give 5 positive comments to each suggestion for improvement.
Rehearse for an additional 15 minutes in order to incorporate notes.
Present scenes a final time without notes or critique.