A Seminar In Cold Reading



 Lee speaking to 400  SAG Actors

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Many actors and even their coaches don't really believe that you can learn a technique for cold reading audition sides.  They and many actor groups simply sit and read scenes and scripts, one after another, thinking that will help.  Instead, it just makes the actors ingrain the same mistakes. 

The following seminar program was created at the request of the SAG Foundation and presented multiple times:  New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Washington D.C.

                          
                             "DROP-DEAD" COLD READINGS*
                                                                  with Acting Coach, Lee Kelley

Major problems:
                       written word for the eye vs. spoken word for the body
                       how to quickly inhabit the character

Step-by-Step technique:

                 - Training the Actor's instrument
                         
                         Michael Chekhov - "The Actor's Body and Psychology" from To The Actor
                         Finding Mental Center - where the twin perspectives of actor and character reside
                         Connecting to Physical Center - release point of voice, emotion and movement 
                         Working with, not against, gravity
                         

                  - Getting specific with the Creative Circumstances

                             Immersion the the state of "I am"  NOT my character is.....
                            Definition of a moment-to-moment, as physical, not words
                            Imagining an exact "Moment Before": not a scenario, a word, a look, a movement
                            The 4 Who's:  Who I am, to Whom I am speaking, Who is around me in the scene,
                                                  and Who not present I reference
                            Establishing time and place
                            Selecting and testing for an objective that will drive and hang the scene together

                    - Thinking  Like a Writer

                            Avoiding flat generalized readings that will earn you a "Thank you" from the Casting Director
                           Charting the emotional and/or action through-line

                     - Breaking the Rhythmic Code

                            Accept that rhythm not words are the "actor's lifeline."
                         Elements
                                    Thought groups vs. word-to-word readings
                                    Ebb and Flow
                                    Trust, don't rush the pauses:  think through them
                                    Freeing emotion and movement by releasing energy  
                                    The way into character-  energy shapes                                  
           

Each concept understood, each practiced will eventually synthesize into one spontaneous, physical, vocal and emotional response to any text.  Cold readings can then approach performance level.

*  The title of the program "DROP-DEAD" COLD READINGS was inspired by a major bi-coastal talent manager who told me all the casting directors only wanted submitted, in their words, "Drop-Dead" cold readers.