The What’s Beyond is the scene that sets up a scenario where your character cannot exit the current scene until they learn something from the other character.

I realize that everyone comes from a different acting background, but I hope that what I am saying, although maybe using a different vernacular, are things you have all heard before. I use Spolin, from her book entitled, “Improvisation for the Theater”. I studied with Stella, but most of what I learned comes from W. Duncan Ross, the doyen of English acting teachers, with whom I studied at USC.

I have been working and hiring actors in Chicago and LA for over twenty years and there are a few constants. First, pick up your cues; simply picking up your cues can cover a great deal of bad acting. Second, stand still, internalize that energy; do not dissipate it by moving around—in film it is all in your eyes anyway. And, there are no extraneous movements when acting; everything you do is connected to achieving your intention in the scene. Each move an actor makes should come from the circumstances. Third, make and keep eye contact. Think of it this way, the first person to ‘break’—look away, loses. This works well when you are playing with unskilled actors, which is why it impresses casting people so much, it pulls them into the scene with you.

Try turning down the volume and watching a scene in a film or on TV. Is the acting real? Organic? Truthful? Well, on film, there is less movement than real life. Most acting you will do standing in place. And trust me if you move around in front of a filmmaker in an audition it will constantly cost you work, no matter how emotionally connected you are.

On Scene Breakdown, I wanted to write down a few things so it is clear.

When you get the scene ask yourself the big questions. What scene is it? Name it. What is going on? Is it a seduction? Disagreement? If you have only one minute to prepare a scene make sure that you at least know in a general sense what is going on in the scene so that you do not play the words. One way to tell if you are playing the words is to ask yourself, am I still playing the punctuation? Or are the lines coming out organically, attached to what I am trying to do with them.

Try and imagine—visualize, the ‘scene before’ or the What’s Beyond. Make it vivid and specific in your mind—raise the stakes. Ask yourself, what led directly to this scene? Make it immediate. Make the What’s Beyond, the moment before. Then ask yourself, what do I want from the other character in this scene that I cannot leave the scene without? And what will they do if I get what I want?

Ask yourself, what is the cost for my character to achieve their goal in the scene? You will usually find that on a scale of one to ten the cost is more like ten where most actors are working in the two to three range. This does not mean to be louder. It means being more focused, more intense if you will. When the stakes are high you cannot sit with your legs crossed casually or lounge around. When stakes are high you are on your toes, the edge of your seat, literally.

I am often asked about ‘taking chances’ in an audition. I prefer to think of it as stakes. You have my permission to raise the stakes to the level that the scene requires. In a good scene like the ones chosen for castings the stakes are pretty high and your going there will make casting people nervous, and drag lesser actors into the scene with you.

Think of it this way, if your character is not trying to advance their agenda in every scene then your scene is at risk of being cut; if nothing happens in a scene the editor will remove it. You should never play a scene without structuring your What’s Beyond so that you need something from the other character—before the scene the ends. Even if it is just to confirm a suspicion. This is sometimes called arcing a scene.

Then reveal it to the audience. How does your character feel about the information? Ask yourself, How does that make me feel? Let them see you think, not act. What you want is an organic reaction to what is happening in the scene, what the audience sees is happening in the scene, not you trying to nail some stage direction. If your mind is active in this way then you will not have to fill moments with ‘acting’.

Stop acting. Do not act when you are not talking, period: listen. Be. Trust me, when you see yourself  ‘acting’ you will not be pleased.

The trick finally is to have something happen each time you do the scene that never happened before. It is not to try and do it the same way every time. Until discovery occurs you are not in the circumstances, you are in your imagination. You’re in your head.

Technique, by the original Greek definition is ‘a productive capacity’ informed by an understanding of intrinsic rational. It is this ‘productive capacity’ we will practice and hone.

Taking on the Bad Scene

Ask yourself honestly. Can you tell the difference between a good scene and a bad scene? Knowing the difference cannot only save embarrassment it can save time and money.
 
The focus of this workshop is to learn to play the scene, good or bad, deep or shallow, fun to read or just plain dull.
 
What is a good scene? What is a bad scene? How do you know? At the end of this workshop actors will know the difference. Can a good actor fix bad writing?
We’ll find that out too.

In this class we take real scenes from current castings and make them so good we can actually showcase them in front of a live audience so you'll know it works. In a short time the actors will get so they enjoy breaking down new scenes so much they will fight to be first to show it. Learning to break down and attack the kind of scenes you get to read in actual auditions will give you a leg up on booking.
 
Think of it. Getting a ten-page audition scene and being excited to do it. Really excited, knowing you’re playing a scene, not reading words. Once the actor learns to forget the words and play the scene with the other actor, not on the page, they will see how easy acting really is. They are having fun in the challenge instead of surviving the process, playing to win.

If you have had a high level of Meisner or Adler or Strasburg or Hagen, this workshop is for you. Robin is well versed in these techniques and employs Viola Spolin's advanced acting exercises dealing with what is beyond the words and how to structure scenes so that you are always feeding off the other actor. The audience sees the character struggling to achieve something then roots for them to achieve it. Do this and audiences will always empathize with your characters.