ABSTRACT
The actor’s instrument consists of their body and imagination. Much like painters use brushes to paint and cellists use cellos to make music, an actor uses their body and imagination to tell stories. Even when the role is that of an off-stage voice, having unnecessary tension in the body and voice will limit the expression. The more an actor fine-tunes their instrument, the more notes they will be able to play. The Repetition Exercise starts with two actors standing about 10 feet apart. They face each other and put themselves in a creative state. The creative state can be described as being open, slightly alert, and curious. With the class spread out through the acting space, guide them to notice a particular object across the room. Once they have identified it, instruct them to simply ask their body to fill up with an impulse to walk across the room and discover something new about that object.
