TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword v
1. The First Word 5
2. Reading the Play 11
First Reading—Defining the Story 13
Second Reading—Defining the Event 16
Third Reading—Defining the Character 18
Character Interview Worksheet 25
3. What do I want? 29
The Super-objective 31
The Scene Objective 33
4. What is in my way? 39
5. What do I do to get what I want? 45
Beats 47
Tactics 48
Pivotal Point 53
6. Creating the world of the character 57
Magic If 59
The Moment Before and the Moment After 61
The Inner Monologue and Subtext 62
Endowment 63
Stage Business and Secondary Activity 65
Secret 66
7. Into rehearsal 69
Bringing Choices to Life 71
Tools for Rehearsal 72
Rehearsal Journal 73
Troubleshooting–When Nothing is Working 78
The Final Word 83
APPENDIX: The Anatomy of a Scene 85
Acknowledgements 97
Notes 99
Bibliography 101
Index 103