Thursday, January 29, 2009

The World Entered

An astronaut steps onto the moon, Dorothy into a Technicolor Oz, and a freshman into something called a dorm.  None of them knows exactly what to expect in this new world. An actor is cast in a Greek chorus, a Shakespearian romance, a rock musical fantasy.  

All offer adventure beyond real life. So why do some adventures survive, prosper, and conquer while others are squelched, humiliated and eliminated?  Why are some travelers Indiana Jones, some Walter Mitty, others Accidental Tourists?  Some are better at figuring out what is going on in a world and then acting.

Here are some categories in which great travelers and actors make style decisions to ensure their survival and long-range success in the worlds they enter:

  1. Time: tempo & history
  2. Space: public & private
  3. Place: surface & safety
  4. Values: truths & beliefs
  5. Structure: control & change
  6. Beauty: models & expression
  7. Sex: recreation & procreation
  8. Recreation: watching & doing
  9. Sight: looks and image, movement and contact
  10. Sound: speech and song, music and dance

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Welcome to Acting Presentational Styles

Acting Presentational Styles at Lehigh University began Tuesday 1/13/09 with 7 students.  
This blog is a meeting place for the class in cyberspace.  Journal entries, comments, jokes, incriminating pics - it's all good!