LESSON ONE:
Ensemble and Object Exercises
The exercises and improvisations we make use of will primarily be designed to encourage communication between the actors, work with imaginary and real objects, and explore group improvisations.
Materials
The class will work from the film and the final shooting script of ON THE WATERFRONT. In this lesson plan we will work on scene 12 & 13. We will use facsimile props and objects that would be true to the scene (i.e. beer mugs, beer bottles, etc.)
Description:
Scene 12: Terry and Tommy are on the rooftop with Terry's pigeons. Edie is hurrying across the rooftops toward Terry. The actors will work through the dialogue and actions of the scene with special attention on handling imaginary pigeons and pigeon eggs. After one work-through with the dialogue, they will improvise the scene.
-
1. Actors will memorize scene 12 and continue rehearsing paying special attention to the use of the imaginary objects in the scene.
-
2. After work on the above scene, the actors will improvise Edie and Terry walking to the neighborhood bar. This scene is not in the film or script. The actors are finding the life of the characters from their own imaginations. This improvised scene is the "immediate previous circumstance" for scene 13.
Scene 13: In this scene Terry and Edie are having their first date. The place is a neighborhood bar. They are sitting at a table and Edie is having her first drink. After reading the script, the actors will watch the scene in the film.
The actors playing Terry and Edie and the bartender will begin the scene with scripts on the bar table. The place will be set up as close to the scene in the film as is possible with real objects and facsimile props.
-
2. The two actors will begin their work on the scene as a "first reading" exercise. Since they have not memorized the scene, their scripts will be beside them. The actors (not concerned about picking up cues at this point) will look at their scripts, "pick up their lines" and say their lines to their partner with continuous eye contact. In this exercise the actors are beginning their work by REALLY looking and listening to each other; they will pick up nuances of thought and feeling from each other that will color their physical and vocal expressions.
-
3. Students will improvise the wedding reception in a banquet room in the bar. They will each develop a specific character with objectives.
B. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
(1.) Background:
A Streetcar Named Desire
is a record of the 1947 Broadway stage performance, directed by Elia Kazan and featuring most of the actors from the original production, except for Vivien Leigh as Blanche. Jessica Tandy played Blanche in the Broadway production, but was not considered enough of a "name" to play the lead in the film. Most of the film was shot on a soundstage and it is a harsh and powerful translation of Tennessee Williams's poetic drama.
Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh), a faded Southern belle, comes to New Orleans to stay with her sister, Stella (Kim Hunter) and Stella's husband, Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando). She is horrified by the squalor of the French Quarter where they live.
She is revolted by Stanley, yet attracted to him. She overstays her welcome by five months, during which she constantly attempts to break up his marriage. She tells her sister that he is common and animal like, pleading with her "not to hang back with the brutes". Stanley takes revenge by dragging up her sordid past and stripping her suitor, Mitch (Karl Malden), of his illusions about her. He eventually rapes her, driving her over the edge into madness.
A Streetcar Named Desire
is an extremely and peculiarly moral play, in the deepest and truest sense of the term. The rape of Blanche by Stanley is a pivotal integral truth in the play without which the play loses its meaning, which is the ravishment of the tender, the sensitive, the delicate by the savage and brutish forces of modern society. It is a poetic plea for comprehension.
11
The above is a portion of a letter to the censor Joseph Breen written by Tennessee Williams in 1951 before the filming of his play
A Streetcar Named Desire
. The Breen office was the censoring arm of Warner Brothers Studio and they wanted to cut the rape scene from the screenplay.
My primary interest in our study of this film will be to look carefully at Kazan's
Notebook on Streetcar
. His character outlines will be our guide to the student actor's work on building a character.
Kazan organized his notebook by descriptions of the four major characters, beginning with a statement of the "spine" of each part. He used this familiar Method term because his mentors in the Group theatre had learned it from their mentor in the late 1920s, Richard Boleslavsky of the American Laboratory Theatre, who learned it from his teacher, Stanislavski. "Spine" is used as a handy metaphor to describe two things: (1) the play's main action and (2) a character's main action.
Kazan describes the "spine" of the four major characters in
Streetcar
as follows:
12
Blanche wants to "find protection."
Stanley wants to "keep things his way."
Stella wants to "hold onto Stanley."
Mitch wants to "get away from his mother."
Compounded, these desires account for much of the conflict. These characters are each other's given circumstance.
In his notebook Kazan refers only to the character's "spine," which means the character's "throughline" (tenet 2). The "throughline" is the dominant action of a character's soul that unifies his varied activities and lends structure and coherence to the actor's work on and in the part. In orthodox Stanislavskian practice, the key to defining a character's spine is to use an infinitive verb or phrase, usually with an object at the end ("to get to Moscow," "to avenge my father's death," "to wait for Godot"). The verb phrase pictures a spine as "the movement of the psyche, not a passive state, like a mood," In a dramatic role, the best kind of spine is a line that turns into an arrow--it is a DESIRE. Directors in a rehearsal frequently call to the confused actor, "But what do you want?"
Kazan has said; "I put terrific stress on what the person wants and why he wants it. What makes it meaningful for him. I don't start on
how
he goes about getting it until I get him wanting it."
The next step in this process is to introduce the actor to "the circumstances under which he behaves; what happen before the scene begins". This is what Stanislavski calls "the given circumstances." (How do I as the character behave in this situation?) Kazan says, "I will say nothing to an actor that cannot be translated directly into actions. The life of a play is in behavior."
Credits:
13
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (the play) was produced by Irene Selznick at the Barrymore Theatre in New York City on December 3, 1947 (Movie 1951). It was directed by Elia Kazan, and the setting and lighting were by Joe Mielziner.
The cast was as follows:
Negro Woman-Gee Gee James
Eunice Hubbell-Peg Hillias
Stanley Kowalski-Marlon Brando
Stella Kowalski-Kim Hunter
Steve Hubbell-Rudy Bond
Harold Mitchell (Mitch)-Karl Malden
Mexican Woman-Edna Thomas
Blanche DuBois-Jessica Tandy
Pablo Gonzales-Nick Dennis
A Young Collector-Vito Christi
Nurse-Ann Dere
Docter-Richard Garrick
A few nonspeaking parts, a sailor, supernumeraries.
The scene is the two rooms of the Kowalski apartment in the French quarter of New Orleans. The action of the play takes place in the spring, summer and early fall.
The production won a Pulitzer Prize for drama and a New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best original American play (Williams's second such award). Jessica Tandy won a Tony for the 1947/48 season as Best Actress for her Blanche.
Academy Awards for this film were: Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (Black-and-White)
(2.) STRATEGIES:
I have chosen four lessons that will focus on aspects of the objectives of this curriculum unit. These lessons relate both to the film and play of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. Before beginning the specific lessons, the students will have viewed the film, discussed it, read the play and viewed the film again. (This procedure will be true of all the films and texts in this curriculum unit).
LESSON ONE: The objective is to increase the students' critical thinking skills in analyzing the themes of the film. The students will read and discuss the handouts of Kazan's
Notes on Streetcar
. They will already possess knowledge of Kazan's working methods with actors.
LESSON TWO: To develop the students writing skills, each student will select any character from the play and write an in-depth character study. The actors will ask themselves these questions: What do the other characters say about my character? How do I relate to each character in the play? What do I say about the other characters? In my study of the text, why do I say each line? What do I want in each scene? When I break the scene down into beats what do I want in each beat? (A beat is the smallest unit of action in a scene).
LESSON THREE: Students will rehearse the "trunk scene" (Act I, ii) and " the poker night" (Act I, iii), having as their objective the exploration of each character's "throughline" or "spine". They will also explore their objectives in three ways.
-
(a) They will break the scene down into beats.
-
(b) They will improvise each characters "immediate previous circumstance" before the scene begins.
-
(c) They will explore the scenes through place and object exercises. (See Sample Lesson Plan).
LESSON FOUR: Students will rehearse each scene in the play beginning the scene with an improvisation on the "immediate previous circumstance" for each character. Students will also work on sensory exercises for the scenes, especially on heat, drunken behavior, and any other sensory exercises that they feel are pertinent to the scene.