Reading Between the Lines

Before I start this post, let me remind everybody that you need to be commenting here at least 2x a week. If I ask you to post something (like those survey results or your monologue selection), that counts toward your 2x. But I'm also looking for you to be commenting on other people's comments and on posts like this one.
And remember that 2x a week = B+. Comment more often or impress me with your thoughtfulness if you want an A for the week.

Be sure you read Friday's post about your monologue project.

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"Read between the lines." I bet you've all heard that one.

And I bet you've had one of those conversations where the other person is saying one thing, but their body language, tone of voice, or facial expression is saying the exact opposite. Like,

"No, no. It's fine. Don't worry about losing my favorite pen." *rolls eyes, stomps off*

Some people practice the art of implying far more than they say. They expect you to "pick up" on their hinted meaning. You guys out there probably think girls operate this way all the time ... and we kind of do. Girls are far more likely to "read" social signals, watching for subtle hints in body language or vocal inflection that suddenly become huge issues. But I've known my share of men who try to do this too.

Wife: "Honey, did you like dinner?"
Husband: "It was fine."
Wife turns to the dishes in the sink and starts crying
Husband, puzzled: "What on earth is wrong?"
Wife: "You hate my cooking!"

Don't laugh too much at that until you've been married. ;)

In real life, you need to put the brakes on hint-dropping and reading between the lines. Anyone (guy or girl) who tries to "read the signals" will get it wrong at least half the time -- and I've witnessed plenty of broken relationships and angry fights when kids or adults think they can base confrontations on intuition.

But in acting . . .
You need to think about the "between the lines" part of your text. This is called subtexting. What fails in real life to produce godly relationships (because we mis-read the hints) is actually vital to the actor.

If you don't give your character motives, emotions, and opinions to back up the words on the page, your characterization will be "flat." The audience will hear all the words but yawn in the listening. You've got to fill in the gaps with subtext ... and then base your physical acting (gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, posture, movement) on the subtext. And it's the subtext that makes your interpretation of a text different than mine ... and that's good. =)

We'll talk this week about filling in the gaps.

Question for you to ponder:
Look at your monologue text.
What emotions do you see there? How does a person feeling that way often act?