ABSTRACT
Actors and directors interpret the script’s subtext, consider the character’s goals, and identify story themes. There are several poor choices, including giving line readings to actors, for dealing with inexperienced actors. The actor, with the director’s guidance, interacts only with other actors. They seek to convince, dominate, fool, and flirt with other characters. The best reason to adjust a performance is that the current choice does not work; the worst reason might be because it is not exactly how the director imagined it should look or sound. Once directors realize that using emotions as a way to adjust the performance produces results that feel empty or trite, they often seek other tactics to communicate with actors in a way to get exactly what their thorough script analysis suggests.
