Uta Hagen Lesson Plan
Uta Hagen Lesson Plan
Uta Hagen Lesson Plan
c. What am I wearing?
b. Where am I? (What city, neighborhood, building, and room do I find myself in?
Or in what landscape?)
c. What surrounds me? (The immediate landscape? The weather? The condition of
the place and the nature of the objects in it?)
d. What are the immediate circumstances? (What has just happened, is happening?
What do I expect or plan to happen next and later on?)
3. What Are My Relationships?
a. How do I stand in relationship to the circumstances, the place, the objects, and the
other people related to my circumstances?
4. What Do I Want?
a. What is my main objective? My immediate need or objective?
5. What is My Obstacle?
a. What is in the way of what I want? How do I overcome it?
7. What is Transference?
Physical Destination
Purpose:
o The purpose of this exercise is to test those things that send us from one place to
another, that determine the logic of physical life.
Presentation:
o Explore two to three minutes of your behavior in the pursuit of a simple task.
Choose circumstances that necessitate an entrance from the wings into the playing
area and eventually an exit into the wings.
Keep in mind:
o While occupied with the task on stage, you may also choose to leave momentarily
to get or leave something in another room before reentering the playing area.
o As in all of the exercises, your story should have a clear beginning, middle and
end.
o In the examination of your selected actions, put your destinations under a
microscope to discover how many are consciously motivated, how many occur by
reflex, and which of them are subconsciously instigated.
Moment to Moment
Purpose:
o The purpose of this exercise is to help the actor address one of the most difficult
technical problems: how to repeat selected actions at every performance from
moment to moment, as if for the first time. It is achieved by a suspension of
knowledge of what is to come, by "forgetting" everything except what is needed
at the moment with the profound innocence that is part of an actor's soul.
Presentation:
o Select specific circumstances for a two to three minute event, during which you
will search forand eventually findan object that you have mislaid or believe
to be lost.
Keep in mind:
o The final presentation of this exercise should truly test your ability to direct your
full attention to one need at a time. Make yourself believe in the existence of each
new moment.
o Be sure that the missing object has meaning to you, so that your stakes remain
high while looking for it.
o As in all of the exercises, your story should have a clear beginning, middle and
end.
Moment to Moment
Purpose:
o The purpose of this exercise is to help the actor address one of the most difficult
technical problems: how to repeat selected actions at every performance from
moment to moment, as if for the first time. It is achieved by a suspension of
knowledge of what is to come, by "forgetting" everything except what is needed
at the moment with the profound innocence that is part of an actor's soul.
Presentation:
o Select specific circumstances for a two to three minute event, during which you
will search forand eventually findan object that you have mislaid or believe
to be lost.
Keep in mind:
o The final presentation of this exercise should truly test your ability to direct your
full attention to one need at a time. Make yourself believe in the existence of each
new moment.
o Be sure that the missing object has meaning to you, so that your stakes remain
high while looking for it.
o As in all of the exercises, your story should have a clear beginning, middle and
end.
Finding Occupation While Waiting
Purpose
o The purpose of this exercise is to test the bodys experience while pursuing a
psychological goal
Presentation
o Explore two to three minutes in which you are waiting for an event or person.
Choose a situation in which you are psychologically occupied. Avoid situations
that demand a variety of interesting activities such as a return from a trip, when
you might be carrying books or suitcases.
Keep in mind
o Try to find true inner and outer occupation with a minimum dependence on
tangible objects, strip yourself of all but the essential objects.
o Do not attempt to re-create imaginary animated objects such as people, animals,
or cars. This does not mean, however, that you cannot be waiting for a person or
car, but you should exit towards them not have them come onstage to you.
E.g. waiting in the park for a ride, once you see the car exit towards it with
a wave, etc.
o As in all of the exercises, your story should have a clear beginning, middle and
end.