Acting and Teens – LATTE Theater

On Developing Your Stage Versatility and Persona

To thine own self be true! As you continue to succeed in acting, it is so crucial that you decide what type of mentor you one day wish to be. What influence as a leader would you like to have? Which of your directors would you want to emulate? Which ones would you not want to be? As you develop your on-stage brand in the acting industry, it is important to delve deep and ask the right questions.

What kind of versatile actresses and actors would you want to be considered like as you age? What sort of roles do you respect? Look at the versatility of Benedict Cumberbatch and Meryl Streep. They do not allow themselves to be pigeonholed into only acting one type of role but develop a multitude of skills to give them the ability to conquer within the industry.

What sort of demographics do you tend to gravitate to? Who are your stage and screen target audiences? You may think that you’re just starting your acting journey, but asking deliberate questions, in the beginning, can save you a lot of frustration in the middle. You should also reassess your progress and growth as you add more diverse roles to your acting toolbox.

And though these questions are challenging to answer, they present much motivation into what sort of characters you create on stage and what kind of character you are offstage. what emotions you gravitate to presenting on stage, and which ones you want to get more confident with.

Just as an artist paints with very broad strokes of a brush in the beginning, you need to be able to know how to start creating your artwork on the stage. As you spend more time in the industry you want to deliberately create the masterpiece that is you.

So who would you like to be? And what feedback have you been given to help you grow, stand out, self-assess, and acknowledge your weaknesses so you can develop them…. and your strengths? This is vital to your success on stage, and in life.

Emotional Wellness and the Stage

Teens have very full lives with competing responsibilities. Positive emotional framing encouraging resiliency goes a long way toward promoting emotional success. And in rehearsal and the performance spotlights, it can set a tone that can propel a teen forward with balance, self-awareness, internal motivation, and confidence. This tone affects how we think, handle stress, relate to others, our thought patterns, and much more! We especially need to respect that teens have brilliant brains that are still developing. The good? Teens thrive on challenge and engaging in creative activities like acting, which can strengthen healthy patterning and help the brain mature.

Much of that development is tied to social experiences in adolescence. And the Performing Arts are the definition of social, as we interact onstage. So it is VERY important that teens develop healthy acting skills that support their emotional wellness. We should never be “playing” for just one role or one show…. but for life! This need to protect the psyche and development is imperative until the mid to late twenties (when the prefrontal cortex is responsible for skills like planning, and healthy decision-making). So we want to nurture strong peer relationships, and social experiences. Seek out approaches that give maximum good and limit unnecessary strain. I always say, “Push yourself, but do not push yourself over”.

Because of this progressive development, it is essential to recognize possible emotional triggers (both positive and negative) and practice effective coping techniques that help teens use stress management. When you work with emotions and mental processes on stage for a character, you need to frame the material in a way that allows you to develop healthy awareness and separation from your core personality. Promoting overall well-being for teens means working consciously to develop executive functioning and project management skills, and “build in a buffer” that limits anxiety and feeling overwhelmed. This encourages emotional wellness as teens triumph and move from being overwhelmed by the plethora of responsibilities that demand their attention, to making conscious choices on balancing their time and resources to succeed best. And know, it is all about “Progress, not Perfection”!

A challenge to Percolate – Building in a Buffer!

Take a project for stage or school and build a timeline. Put in extra lead time in case of boredom, ennui, other projects, apathy, or crisis,

Choose a character from a movie or a monologue that is unlike you. Then, think how you are different than that character and how you might be similar with movement and your reactions.

The Java Jive: Fatal Flaws and Fantastic Strengths.

As you develop your character, think of them in terms of their strengths and weaknesses. What fatal flaws will they conquer? Which of their strengths will help them triumph? What other characters of the stage have complimentary faults that together, could be their undoing? Which combined strengths could be used to help them triumph over adversity? Tag team with your fellow ensemble to create this. Are the tensions internal or external? How can they be heightened? When the audience is sitting in the darkness, what “magic” you created will make them lean forward in their seats?

Create an emotional scavenger hunt for the audience. Before the “moving action” of the play takes place, ask where can you embed foreshadowing. Where might you build tension early on to give the audience inklings of what might happen? Remember, it is only through your action, and little “tells” that anything can be visualized. Your breathing. Your eye contact – or lack of. Your posture changes. Yes. these gifts to the audience allow you to create the backstory to bring forth the tension and build the dynamics of your role, so that the play is going someplace.

Challenge to Percolate:

Pick up a script and take some time to “play”. Choose two areas to build tension as “the stage is being set” in the first scenes.
Think about your favorite movie characters. Write down bits about her that make her/him character authentic – that make you “root” for them well before the crisis.
Choose a character in a show you hope to act some day. Create a few journal entries, in their voice, over a week. These can even be from a decade before or after the story we know takes place. There are no limits. Just have fun! Play!
Look at the relationships between family members in the show. What habits stretch generations? Which are a character developing their autonomy or rebelling?

~ Felicia Pfluger