Energy! Energy! Energy!
Pace! Pace! Pace!
Volume! Volume! Volume!
Diction. Diction. Diction.
Concentration. Concentration. Concentration.
Focus. Focus. Focus.
Pick up the cues! Pick up the cues! Pick up the cues!
Listen to each other. Listen to each other. Listen to each other.
Listen to the audience. Listen to the audience. Listen to the audience.
(Listen to the music. Listen to the music. Listen to the music.)
Hold for laughs, hold for laughs, hold for laughs.
Stay in the moment. Stay in the moment. Stay in the moment.
Don’t fuck up. Don’t fuck up. Don’t fuck up,
but if you do; Have Fun! Have fun! Have fun!
This is what I consider the actor’s mantra. These words have been a cast warm up exercise in the past few shows I have been doing. I think that it really embodies values that actors hold while on stage. When everyone in the cast comes together to practice it, it becomes something like a prayer. A reminder to everyone of what the goals of the performance are. It’s important to remind everyone of principles before you go onstage. Everyone is fussing with hair, clothing, makeup, remembering lines and blocking, thinking about who is watching tonight’s performance. Somewhere in all that, we forget how to perform onstage. You can practice a hundred times, but its always different when you are standing in front of a room full of people. Things you thought were memorized suddenly become fuzzy and unstable. The lights are hot and blinding. Someone misses a cue, or flubs a line. Actors have to be able to take whatever is handed to them with grace and then proceed onward like nothing was wrong. Preparedness is key, and this mantra provides a reference point for an actor to compare themselves to while they are on stage. Hopefully, it provides strength and stability.
Fjorlorn 