This discussion of the term "style" as it relates to the arts points to the need for reform in the terminology and the conceptual system of the drama profession. The paper first lists the basic tasks of conceptual and terminological reform and then outlines the steps necessary in reforming a particular term. These procedures are applied to a…

An organic approach to style in acting can lend credibility and power to performances and can enhance the clarity and extent of what is communicated to audiences about other social worlds. The organic approach is based on the following principles: mental experience and expressive behavior are inseparable and reciprocal; experience in either mode…

That a play has one central action which is its formal cause is the most influential interpretative idea to emerge among theatre writers since the old model of situation/incident/complication/climax/denouement. Unfortunately, the action concept has been insufficiently developed, excessive hopes have been pinned on it, and it has become a reductive…

Directors of plays can make rehearsals interpretively productive, but they must first reject directorial approaches such as beginning rehearsals without analyzing the script, projecting images of the play as it is read, and using the script merely to summarize meanings, static themes, morals, and nothing more. Making rehearsals interpretively…

In recent years, theatre faculty have come to understand that advanced degrees do not guarantee that a person is qualified for the subtle, complex, and dangerous job of teaching acting, and that actor training has more to do with the problems of human behavior than with the theatre. The fundamental problem with acting is the fear that controls…

Since a fundamental problem of acting--fear--is a fundamental human problem, the basic job of acting teachers is to help their students become the kind of people who can act. Acting teachers need to help their students cast off their fears, free their bodies and their imaginations, and learn all the skills of self-knowledge, self-control, and…