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Explain that our voice relays emotion, intent, and purpose by the way we use volume, pitch, and emphasis on each word.  As an actor, you’re given lines, but they’re just words till you use your voice to convey the meaning. A line can mean something completely different depending on how you say it. The meaning behind a line is called the “subtext.” 

• Give each student a specific character and circumstance. Then, one by one, let students deliver the line: “What are you doing?” as their character might in that situation. For example, you might tell a student, “I want you to say ‘What are you doing,’ as though you were a girl walking into her own surprise birthday party.”
  

• Point out how completely different the same line sounds in different situations and with different subtexts. 
  

• Note: If you want to add variety, after letting a number of students use the line, “What are you doing,” you can switch to a new phrase, e.g,. “I can’t believe you did that,” or “You know what happens next.” 

Suggested Characters and Circumstances:  

a child just learning to read
a pet owner talking to a cute puppy
a preacher giving a sermon
a nursing home aide talking to a resident who is hard of hearing
a burly policeman catching a boy stealing
a frightened child at the doctor’s office being given a shot
a mom catching her child disobeying
a teacher addressing a rowdy classroom
a lawyer cross examining a witness
a girl receiving a Valentine’s gift
a teenager being awakened by a parent in the morning
a student watching a friend set up a prank while the teachers back is turned
a mother talking to her baby in a crib

 You can also switch it up by having the students just count from 1-10 as if they are:

counting pennies at a table
 counting out a man in a boxing ring
 counting people in a crowded room
counting off in an exercise routine
counting the number of clowns coming out of a tiny car
counting the number of mistakes the teacher marked on your exam paper
counting backwards till a rocket blasts off

© 2023, Friends of the Groom Theater Company

Curtains Up Curriculum by Friends of the Groom Theater Co. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Curtains Up is a training program designed for young actors sponsored by Friends of the Groom Theater Company.
It is available to the general public for free under the terms of the Creative Commons License above.