INSTANT (almost) LINE LEARNING

       Thumbnail sketch, the complete breakdown is in Ken's book,

        "ACTING IS STORYTELLING©"

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STEP 4.  LEARN THE DIALOGUE - SEQUENCE OF
           EVENTS - NEVER MEMORIZE IT -

    **(DIALOGUE SHOULD NEVER BE ADDRESSED
UNTIL YOU KNOW THE STORY
AND HAVE ALREADY
  CREATED YOUR CHARACTER)**

     KNOW THE STORY -The story only happened one way.  Only
     one thing happened first, then one thing happened
     second, etc.  Break each scene into French scenes or
     Natural breaks and break those into 3 equal parts:
     BEGINNING, MIDDLE and END. (A French scene is the
     entrance or exit of an energy or life force) This is done to
     help the brain absorb the information faster.  The brain
     retrieves top down and bottom up.  By making more tops
     and more bottoms, it is easier for the mind to retrieve the
     middles.  Never highlight only your dialogue; that very
     act forces the focus on only one set of lines at the expense
     of the story and takes you out of the moment.  Highlight or
     underline only the IMPORTANT WORDS (TO YOU) in each
     line of dialogue (for ALL characters).  These words are the
     IDEAS or EVENTS of the line, focus on them only.
     Sequence these events or ideas in order of occurrence by
     writing them on a separate page.  This procedure ensures
     that the actor is focusing on and learning the sequence of
events of the story.  Write only the underlined/highlighted
     words, all other words put "dashes" (the dashes should be
     the approximate length of the words they are replacing).
     Work only one section at a time.  Then read aloud from
     the page you have just written,  but, focus on the story,
     filling in the "dashes" orally without looking at the copy.
     You should be able to fill in 95 to 100% of the dashes.
     Continue rereading the page until you can fill in all
     dashes correctly and without hesitation.  Then turn the
     page over, you will find that you probably will know all
     the dialogue for all the characters.  You will work with
     each section (beginning, middle and end) separately until
     the sequence of events is clear.  THEN JUST TELL THE
     STORY.

          WITH PRACTICE, THIS ENTIRE PROCESS SHOULD TAKE LESS THAN
   10 MINUTES PER PAGE OF DIALOGUE!!

      REMEMBER, YOU KNOW THE DIALOGUE,... YOUR CHARACTER
       DOESN'T.  NOR DOES HE KNOW WHAT THE OTHER CHARACTERS ARE GOING TO SAY.  YOU MUST GET OUT OF THE WAY AND LET HIM
CREATE IT AS HE LISTENS.

  "DON'T ASK WHAT MY STORIES WERE MEANT TO EXPRESS;
  ASK YOURSELF WHAT THEY MEAN TO YOU"
 - EUGENE O'NEILL -

"WORDS ARE THE POOREST FORM OF
   COMMUNICATION." - KF

        "DIALOGUE IS LIKE A CLAY POT;
  IT'S WHAT'S INSIDE THAT'S IMPORTANT
- KF

"SHAKE THE DIALOGUE UNTIL ALL THE WORDS FALL AWAY,
WHAT IS LEFT IS TRUE ACTING."
-KF

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