Learning Activity

Acting: How to Memorize Your Lines for Your Scene, Monologue, or Play

Subject Area

Arts Education

Grade(s)

9, 10, 11, 12

Overview

Memorization of lines is the FIRST step to learning how to act on the stage.  This memorization exercise is a surefire way to help kids learn their lines, even if they doubt you. This technique will work for monologues, scenes or full length plays; any acting exercise that requires memorization.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 09-12 - Theatre

AE17.TH.PRO.11

Explore various acting techniques to expand skills in a rehearsal or drama/theatre performance.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.TH.PRO.11

Vocabulary

Research
  • motivation
  • origin
Analysis
  • rising actions
  • climax
  • protagonist vs antagonist
Vocal
  • Alexander Technique
  • diction
  • consonants
  • vowels
Movement
  • motivated movement
  • blocking
Characterization
Design
Theatrical production

Essential Questions

EU: Theatre artists develop personal processes and skills for a performance or design.
EQ: What can I do to fully prepare a performance or technical design?

Skills Examples

  • Students will discuss in a classroom setting the differences in dealing with friends, family, fellow workers, employees or a boss: how you speak, listen and react differently in each of those relationships.
  • Students will have improvisational scenes using those roles as starting points in the scenes.
  • Students will study Viola Spolin techniques in class and use those techniques in classroom scene work.
  • Students will research scenic painting and how it can enhance scene aesthetic for their various plays and performances.
  • Students will create Living Newspapers for their classroom audience, using modern articles, various roles for each student and rehearsal to refine the final performance.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 5: Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 09-12 - Theatre

AE17.TH.PRO.13

Perform a scripted drama/theatre work for a specific audience.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.TH.PRO.13

Vocabulary

Research
  • motivation
  • origin
Analysis
  • rising actions
  • climax
  • protagonist vs antagonist
Vocal
  • Alexander Technique
  • diction
  • consonants
  • vowels
Movement
  • motivated movement
  • blocking
Characterization
Design
Theatrical production

Essential Questions

EU: Theatre artists share and present stories, ideas, and envisioned worlds to explore the human experience.
EQ: What happens when theatre artists and audiences share a creative experience?

Skills Examples

  • Students will discuss in a classroom setting the differences in dealing with friends, family, fellow workers, employees or a boss: how you speak, listen and react differently in each of those relationships.
  • Students will have improvisational scenes using those roles as starting points in the scenes.
  • Students will study Viola Spolin techniques in class and use those techniques in classroom scene work.
  • Students will research scenic painting and how it can enhance scene aesthetic for their various plays and performances.
  • Students will create Living Newspapers for their classroom audience, using modern articles, various roles for each student and rehearsal to refine the final performance.

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 6: Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.

Phase

During/Explore/Explain
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

Students will explore various techniques to help with memorization during rehearsals.

Students will utilize the acting technique when performing a scripted drama for their target audience.

Activity Details

  1. Ensure that students have selected the scene and chosen a cutting that works for the time requirements of the work for this class. Before the activity begins, share the digital tool with all of the students and allow them about ten minutes to read the ideas from the article, or break it up, and have individual students read sections aloud to the class. This gives students some alternative options for memorizing, just in case the activity that they complete today does not work fully for their minds. It also brings to light, in section two, that other professionals follow similar methods to help them with memorization.

  2. Let students know that today’s focus will be on memorizing all lines of their scene or monologue. An appropriate time requirement for this activity would be monologues that are between one to two minutes long or scenes that are between two and four minutes long.

  3. Have students highlight all of their lines from their scripts (each student should have a hard copy of their script).

  4. Students should create a Google Doc and share it with their partner.

  5. Both students should be logged onto the Google Doc so that both students can type into the document.

  6. Each student should type their first line on the Google Doc.

    1. No matter the length, the line should be typed (or written) three times.

    2. After the first line is typed (or written) three times, the next scene partner should type (or write) his/her line three times as well. As the second partner is typing his/her lines on the Google Doc, the first partner is having a chance to re-read his/her three lines that they just typed helping secure the lines in their mind.

  7. Each partner takes turns typing his/her lines three times on the Google Doc (one right after the other) until they are done typing all their lines throughout the whole scene.

    For Example, if the line is "I'm going to marry that girl." The Google Doc would look like this:

    I'm going to marry that girl.  I'm going to marry that girl.  I'm going to marry that girl.

  8. Then scene partners should practice running the scene with their scripts in hand, while not looking at their lines unless completely necessary.

Assessment Strategies

Assessment Strategies

  1. Check each student or group for memorization of lines.
  2. As the group or student moves through the scene, the teacher should have one copy of the script that is performing. Either underline or highlight lines that were misspoken or said incorrectly, so students can study them later.
  3. If students don't know their lines yet, allow them to keep doing the exercise. 
  4. Check their Google Doc to ensure that they actually typed each line three times.

Variation Tips

If students don't have access to technology, make them write the lines three times. Each line has to be written or typed three times in order to reinforce the memorization in the mind of the student.  Having the students write or type the lines helps inform the teacher that the students have completed the exercise. If you simply tell students to read over their lines three times, they might not do it. But if they write/type their lines they are doing this:

1)  Looking at the line each time they type/write it.

2)  Writing or typing it with their fingers.

3)  Seeing it again on the paper/screen after they've written it.

That means that every time they write/type their lines (one time) they are getting it three times in their head. So after they have written/typed the lines (three times); they are actually processing those lines nine times.

Background and Preparation

Background / Preparation

Steps if using classroom computers/Google Docs:

  1. Assign students a partner(s) to do the scene work with for this exercise.

  2. Ensure each group has a scene to perform.

  3. Do preliminary read-throughs of the scenes before ever working on memorization.

  4. Each student will need to have a Gmail account and access to a school/personal computer to log into Google Docs, while their partner is logged in as well.

  5. Pull laptops, iPads, or other devices available for this day for this ‘learning activity’.

  6. Make sure you are in a spot where all students can get online and work with Google Docs at the same time.

  7. Allow students time to work on their devices to do the writing/typing that will help reinforce the memorization during this exercise.

  8. Ensure all students have a hard copy of their script that they are currently working with for this activity. The teacher should always have a hard copy backup in case a student says, "I left my lines at home or my lines got sucked up by a funnel cloud last night." Students not having their lines is not an excuse to fail the activity.

    Before this activity takes place the entire class or individual students are encouraged to read the entire play (from which their scene was pulled). (Play/scene will be selected by the teacher or student/group.) The play can be a full length, a one-act, or a ten-minute play.  Scenes might also be pulled from Scenebooks or collections of scenes for actors, though it is always more useful to ask students to pull scenes from complete plays so they can understand the character in the context of the complete story/play (after reading it).

     

     

Digital Tools / Resources

How to Memorize Lines Fast
https://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors/backstage-experts/3-fastest-ways-me…

Approved Date

Owner (Author)

mcmerritt
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