Uta Hagen Vocabulary

MOMENT BEFORE

• Knowing what happened prior to your entrance or within the given circumstances of your character that leads you to this moment in the play. Playing a strong moment before brings you onstage in character with determination and a strong emotional life.

• The technique of considering the past, present and future before making an entrance, playing each believably for the audience. To guide an actor for a strong entrance, Hagen gives us 3 questions: What did I just do? What am I doing right now? What is the first thing I want?    

• What your character wants at a specific moment in the scene.

• To give objects or actions realistic qualities or characteristics that it possesses in reality, but should not possess on the stage, because an actor could get hurt, or because of expense or other danger.

THREE ENTRANCES

• The imaginary wall that separates an actor on stage from the audience watching. On a proscenium stage, the 4th wall is downstage facing the audience. On an arena stage, a 4th wall may be created on all sides. The actor makes believe and visualizes that the wall of the set exists with objects, etc. and does not acknowledge the presence of the audience.

• Using your strong powers of recall relating to smell, sound, taste, touch as well as sight to enhance the emotional power of an acting moment or situation. Recalling physiological sensations such as heat, cold, hunger, pain, fatigue to help you connect believably to an acting moment.

• The technique of considering the past, present and future before making an entrance, playing each believably for the audience. To guide an actor for a strong entrance, Hagen gives us 3 questions: What did I just do? What am I doing right now? What is the first thing I want?   

• The conditions that accompany the scene, the actor or event. It’s who, what, where, when and why given to us by the playwright, the director or circumstances that we develop to flesh out a scene and character.

OBJECTIVE

• Knowing what happened prior to your entrance or within the given circumstances of your character that leads you to this moment in the play. Playing a strong moment before brings you onstage in character with determination and a strong emotional life.

• The act of putting a person or thing in place of another that serves the same purpose. Transferring the essence of that experience to the scene.

• Using imaginary objects on the 4th wall without actually taking a specific action to them. For example, glancing at a “clock” on your 4th wall and realizing you are late.

• What your character wants at a specific moment in the scene.

ENDOWMENT

• Putting together sensory influences on stage such as heat, cold, darkness, etc. in a believable way so that the audience can relate to and understand the given circumstances of your scene.

• To give objects or actions realistic qualities or characteristics that it possesses in reality, but should not possess on the stage, because an actor could get hurt, or because of expense or other danger.

• The act of putting a person or thing in place of another that serves the same purpose. Transferring the essence of that experience to the scene.

• The moment when the actors do acknowledge the presence of an audience.

CONDITIONING FORCES

• Putting together sensory influences on stage such as heat, cold, darkness, etc. in a believable way so that the audience can relate to and understand the given circumstances of your scene.

• Using your strong powers of recall relating to smell, sound, taste, touch as well as sight to enhance the emotional power of an acting moment or situation. Recalling physiological sensations such as heat, cold, hunger, pain, fatigue to help you connect believably to an acting moment.

• What your character wants at a specific moment in the scene.

• To set a “spike” mark for imaginary objects on the 4th wall. For example, if an actor repeatedly “uses” a mirror on the 4th wall, he must return to the same spot as where the “mirror” is on the wall.

SUBSTITUTION

•  Using your strong powers of recall relating to smell, sound, taste, touch as well as sight to enhance the emotional power of an acting moment or situation. Recalling physiological sensations such as heat, cold, hunger, pain, fatigue to help you connect believably to an acting moment.

• The imaginary wall that separates an actor on stage from the audience watching. On a proscenium stage, the 4th wall is downstage facing the audience. On an arena stage, a 4th wall may be created on all sides. The actor makes believe and visualizes that the wall of the set exists with objects, etc. and does not acknowledge the presence of the audience.

• The act of putting a person or thing in place of another that serves the same purpose. Transferring the essence of that experience to the scene.

• Using imaginary objects on the 4th wall without actually taking a specific action to them. For example, glancing at a “clock” on your 4th wall and realizing you are late.

GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES

•  To give objects or actions realistic qualities or characteristics that it possesses in reality, but should not possess on the stage, because an actor could get hurt, or because of expense or other danger.

• The conditions that accompany the scene, the actor or event. It’s who, what, where, when and why given to us by the playwright, the director or circumstances that we develop to flesh out a scene and character.

• Knowing what happened prior to your entrance or within the given circumstances of your character that leads you to this moment in the play. Playing a strong moment before brings you onstage in character with determination and a strong emotional life.

• The technique of considering the past, present and future before making an entrance, playing each believably for the audience. To guide an actor for a strong entrance, Hagen gives us 3 questions: What did I just do? What am I doing right now? What is the first thing I want?    

SENSE MEMORY

• To give objects or actions realistic qualities or characteristics that it possesses in reality, but should not possess on the stage, because an actor could get hurt, or because of expense or other danger.

•  Putting together sensory influences on stage such as heat, cold, darkness, etc. in a believable way so that the audience can relate to and understand the given circumstances of your scene.

• The conditions that accompany the scene, the actor or event. It’s who, what, where, when and why given to us by the playwright, the director or circumstances that we develop to flesh out a scene and character.

• Using your strong powers of recall relating to smell, sound, taste, touch as well as sight to enhance the emotional power of an acting moment or situation. Recalling physiological sensations such as heat, cold, hunger, pain, fatigue to help you connect believably to an acting moment.

FOURTH WALL

• The imaginary wall that separates an actor on stage from the audience watching. On a proscenium stage, the 4th wall is downstage facing the audience. On an arena stage, a 4th wall may be created on all sides. The actor makes believe and visualizes that the wall of the set exists with objects, etc. and does not acknowledge the presence of the audience.

• The moment when the actors do acknowledge the presence of an audience.

• To set a “spike” mark for imaginary objects on the 4th wall. For example, if an actor repeatedly “uses” a mirror on the 4th wall, he must return to the same spot as where the “mirror” is on the wall.

• To take specific realistic action with an imagined object anchored on the 4th wall. For example, to primp before a “mirror.”

BREAKING THE 4TH WALL

• To set a “spike” mark for imaginary objects on the 4th wall. For example, if an actor repeatedly “uses” a mirror on the 4th wall, he must return to the same spot as where the “mirror” is on the wall.

• To take specific realistic action with an imagined object anchored on the 4th wall. For example, to primp before a “mirror.”

• The moment when the actors do acknowledge the presence of an audience.

• Using imaginary objects on the 4th wall without actually taking a specific action to them. For example, glancing at a “clock” on your 4th wall and realizing you are late.