Teaching Statement:
“My Scene Study 1 class will delve into the initial steps and fundamentals of text analysis. Through the exploration of a play, we will breakdown the story and its characters using a series of tools that aid the actor to organize the information contained within the play and to set the foundation for character development, interpretation, and the eventual playing of the role. Using Uta Hagen’s A Challenge for the Actor and Mike Alfreds’ book Different Every Night, we will explore tools like the Categories of Given Circumstances, The Character Lists, Titling the Script, Super Objectives, Actions & Beats, and a host of other concepts and tools to get at the heart of the playwright’s intentions. After mining the text for the facts and the clues contained within it, we will engage in meaningful interpretation and conjecture using our discoveries to arrive at concrete and imaginative choices that spur the actor into action.
“My Scene Study 3 course is structured in two parts. Part A will focus on foundational tools of Text Analysis and the application of them using a play for exploration. In Part A we will be going in-depth in the tools of the Given Circumstances, Titling of Texts, Character Lists, Character Development, Life Objectives & Scene Objectives, Actions & Beats. The discoveries made will help the actor make strong interpretive choices about the character and the play itself, all rooted in rigorous script analysis. In Part B, we will quickly review the tools explored in Part A and quickly move to apply them in a new play. The actor will demonstrate their understanding of the tools and will apply them to the scene that they will be performing. In Part B, there will be more improvisational tools used to help the actor embody the character physically. We will explore, at an exploratory level, the work of Uta Hagen’s Exercises, Michael Chekhov’s psychological gestures, The Animal Exercise, Lucid Body’s Shadow & Chakra work, Laban efforts, Meisner’s Repetition Exercise, Imagination & Improvisation all as a means of converting the text analysis into a living, breathing character that pursues something in the world. The required text for this course is Mike Alfred’s Different Every Night. Recommended reading is Uta Hagen’s A Challenge for the Actor.”
Bio:
Paul Pryce is on the MFA Acting faculty at Brooklyn College and he is the Director of the Hagen Core Training and the Hagen Summer Intensive programs at HB Studio. He has taught master classes and workshops at Yale, NYU Tisch, M.I.T. Music & Theatre, Amherst College, New York Film Academy, as well as universities and acting studios in Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago and South Korea. He is a proud member of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers and The Actors Center. He earned an M.F.A in Acting from the Yale School of Drama. As an actor he appeared on recent television shows like Marvel’s JESSICA JONES on Netflix, UNFORGETTABLE on A+E and on stage playing iconic roles in Shakespeare’s HAMLET, JULIUS CAESAR, OTHELLO, PERICLES among others. He has performed in numerous plays across the United States and internationally. As a writer and producer, Paul’s debut film COME OUT, COME OUT World Premiered at 2017 Cannes Short Film Corner and his sophomore project THE DELIVERER has screened at multiple film festivals around the world. His original television series SERPENTS MOUTH won Best Pitch and the Audience Award at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. Paul was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago.