These days, young actors are being asked more and more to come to auditions with scripts fully memorized, even if they’re provided with pages the night before. Obviously, this is a difficult and daunting task for actors of any age, but especially so for young actors.
So how can you make the task a bit easier and more manageable? Glad you asked! When it comes to memorizing lines—whether for a production or audition—the way you learn the words are just as vital to the way you perform them. As such, we have found in working with so many young actors on this exact task that learning lines by rote is the best, most effective way.
What does it mean to learn something “by rote”? In short, it means rewriting the lines completely free of stage direction and punctuation…basically a long run-on sentence. If it’s a whole scene, write your lines and the other characters’ lines without capitalization, punctuation, or stage direction.
And why do we think learning lines by rote is the best course of action?
Because it means you learn the words without meaning and without any concern for how you will deliver them. Since punctuation and stage directions are the
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