(upbeat music)
-: Okay.
Hello my name is Steve Sneed and I am an acting teacher.
I'm located at South Lake High School
in Seattle, Washington.
If you saw the first
video,
you know that
I talked about warming up,
and that's a lot of preparation as well
for presentation of any material.
So today we're gonna talk about presentation.
And I've got a couple pieces
I'm going to present to you.
And I'm gonna talk,
I'm gonna use the skills and drills that we
were referring to in the earlier video.
Okay, so, I'm gonna present the poem.
It's a piece written by James Lawley,
a good friend of mine that I went to college with.
And
it's from a musical we did a while ago
called Streetlife,
but I will read it and demonstrate
some of the things that
you should be concerned with
as you're presenting or reading or reciting
or a monologue, all of those things.
Okay.
All right.
I'm gonna move the stool over just a little, all right.
"It shouldn't be like this.
"It just ain't fair.
"That some reach the stars and I can go nowhere.
"I'm just as able as anyone else.
"Why must my capabilities
"be put on a shelf?
"It shouldn't be like this,
"It just ain't right.
"That before you listen
"I got to fuss and fight.
"I wanna reach some goals,
"things I've never tried.
"Why must all my dreams be tossed aside?
"We all have dreams.
"We wanna reach the sky.
"All God's children got wings.
"Why won't you let
"me fly?
"It shouldn't be like this.
"It's just all wrong.
"That's some seemed to fit
"and I don't belong.
"Why can't I live?
"Why can't I be me?
"When will you understand?
(exhales)
"When will you see?"
Okay.
So
the piece
is,
I mean I like the piece.
That's why I selected it
and it can be done as an individual,
or you can do it with groups,
the way I do it with my class
is I have each class member say a portion of it.
But I'm gonna play around with some lines
to help you listen,
'cuz acting is listening
and observing as much as it is presenting and talking.
It's just as much.
Okay.
"It shouldn't be like this."
Okay.
Did you hear the different phrasing?
I'll take another line.
And another thing about that is
directors like it
when they can give you a direction
and you change.
A lot of times in auditions,
you'll see that happen.
Might be the person auditioning you will say,
"I like that.
"Now, read it with less anger."
And they're testing you to see
if you can actually take that direction
and make that change.
"It shouldn't be like this.
"It's just
"all wrong."
"It shouldn't be like this.
"It's just all wrong."
"It shouldn't be like this it's just all wrong."
(laughs)
That was kind of funny,
but that I'm demonstrating
I make myself laugh,
but I'm just demonstrating
the way in which you
can read a line and present it differently.
So, I want you to listen,
really listen to that because it's hard to do.
We get focused on how we say something.
So again,
look in the mirror,
say it,
and then
see if you believe yourself.
Okay,
now I'm gonna do this other piece.
This one I've got memorized.
And this is actually written by
Rico Bembry
for
a play called
Peer Pressure
that we did years ago.
The piece is called Let's Make a Statement.
"Let's make a statement
"about drugs and crime.
"All the things on our mind.
"Brother,
"sister, dies before their time,
"killed by the violence and the crime.
"Let's make a statement about the dropout rate,
"the schools, and our fate.
"Let's make a plan,
"make a plan
"to have a better land
"before it's much too late.
"Let's make a statement
"about the boy that you just met
"and having babies when you're not educated to support it.
"Let's make a statement about drugs and crime.
"All the things on our mind,
"a brother, sister dies before their time.
"Killed by the violence and the crime.
"Let's make a statement about going high,
"getting high,
"your friends know,
"but you try to lie.
"Why deny?
"Get straight?
"You're dreaming dope pie in the sky.
"The only truth is that you soon die.
"Let's make a statement.
"Let's make a statement!"
Okay.
So
those are two pieces
and
you can try to capture the lines if you like,
or you can have your own piece.
But the next video we'll do,
we'll talk about
preparing for your own.
Okay.
Steve Sneed,
acting instructor
at South Lake High School,
shout out for them.
Seattle, Washington.
Thank you.
(upbeat music)