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Not everyone is comfortable reading out loud. In fact, most of us, actors and world leaders included, have great difficulty and anxiety about reading out loud. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. There are tips galore to help us along. Here are some tips from our mentor on Reader’s Theatre, Aaron Shep:

Preparing

• Highlight only words you will speak (Yellow non-fluorescent marker is best.)
• Underline words that tell about anything you’ll need to act out
• Read through your part silently. If there are words you’re not sure of, look them up in a dictionary. Mark any places where you will need to pause with a couple of slashes, //. (For instance, you may have to pause so the audience will know there’s a change of scene or time in the story.)
• Read through your part out loud. If you’re a character, think about how that character would sound. Should you try a funny voice? How would the character feel about what’s happening in the story? Can you speak as if you were feeling that?
• Get up and read through the script again, trying out faces and actions. Would your character stand or move a special way? Can you do that? If possible, do all this in front of a mirror.

Rehearsing

• Hold your script at a steady height, but make sure it doesn’t hide your face. If there’s anyone in the audience you can’t see, your script is too high.
• While you speak, try to look up often, not just at your script. When you do look at it, move just your eyes and keep your head up.
• Talk slowly. Speak each syllable clearly.
• Talk loud! You have to be heard by the little old deaf lady in the back row.
• Talk with feeling. Audiences love a ham!
• Stand and sit straight. Keep your hands and feet still, if they’re doing nothing useful!
• If you’re moving around, face the audience as much as you can. When rehearsing, always think about where the audience will be.
• Characters, remember to be your character even when you’re not speaking.
• Narrators, make sure you give the characters enough time for their actions.

To help you get full vocal power, check your breathing by placing your hands on your stomachs and inhaling. If you’re breathing fully, your hands will go out. (The diaphragm muscle pushes down on the stomach to let the lower lungs expand.) If your hands go in, it means you’re breathing with only your upper lungs.

To help you hold yourselves straight, imagine a string tied to your chest, pulling up. Tongue twisters and other vocal exercises can help you speak more clearly. In fact, you may want to warm up with vocal exercises and stretches before rehearsals and performances.

Performing

Before an actual performance, consider the “what-ifs”:

• If your audience laughs, stop speaking until they can hear you again.
• If someone talks in the audience, don’t pay attention.
• If someone walks into the room, don’t look.
• If you make a mistake, pretend it was right.
• If you drop something, try to leave it at least till the audience is looking somewhere else.
• If a reader forgets to read, see if you can read their part instead, or make something up, or maybe just skip over it. But don’t whisper to the reader!
• If a reader falls on their rear end, pretend they didn’t.

Finally, Above all – Remember to HAVE FUN!!! I am sure you will all do a great job!!!

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 17th, 2009 at 1:08 am and is filed under Drama. You can follow responses to this entry through the Comments RSS Feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your site.