THEA 230-01, Stage movement, Spring 1999

Abstract

It is difficult to define educational goals in terms of a student learning in the performing arts as the ability “to learn” is dependent on the individual’s personal development. An actor’s basic instrument is the self ... the voice, body, mind, and heart. What creates living believable characters, however, is an intangible; an ability to join the instrument with an awareness of life. Exposure to other’s belief systems, cultures, coping mechanisms, stresses and sufferings, as well as joys, enhances the student’s understanding of characters and their views and needs. It is this awareness mixed with the understanding of the integration of all aspects, that allows life to created characters.