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Top Ways to Remember Your
Acting Lines
The fastest
ways to remember large
scripts and monologues…
Remembering lines can be one of
the most challenging things for
any actor, especially the lead.
With all the lines and scenes
and beats and emotion changes,
some actors spend weeks and even
months learning their acting
lines. But you don’t have to.
While every actor learns
differently and needs to find
his/her own method, the
following techniques can be very
helpful in learning your acting
lines in no time.
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Recite them out
loud and with movement
Silently reading
lines from a script is not a
very effective way to learn and
remember lines. That’s because,
silently reading your acting
lines doesn’t do enough to
stimulate the senses that allow
us to learn efficiently. Sensory
stimulation while learning has
been proven to be far more
effective than just reading.
Reading your acting lines out
loud and with movement forces
you to vocalize, as well as
hear, the words for faster
learning and memorization.
Further, the movement puts your
words into actions; actions that
help you remember the lines more
easily.
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Say them with
an acting partner
Even if you have
to make your mother play the
opposite acting role, rehearsing
with a partner is much easier
than learning alone. Reciting
lines with a partner helps you
interact to remember cues and
beats better and remember how
your character fits into the
overall scene. Further, saying
lines with an acting partner
allows you to remember a
lifelike, three-dimensional
scene, instead of a group of
static lines.
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Say them using
different emotions
Recite funny
lines seriously and serious
lines comically. Speak loud
lines softly and soft lines
loudly. Say tearful lines
laughingly and laughing lines
tearfully. This allows the actor
to stretch his/her ability to
say and remember the lines
without the necessity of being
in character.
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Record yourself
Say your lines
into a microphone and record
them. Then listen to yourself in
character while you jog, ride
the subway, or take a nap. In
essence, take your character and
your lines wherever you go. Even
if you cannot speak or recite
your lines out loud, you can
still listen to them.
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Recite them at
different speeds
Say them fast,
and then say them slowly. This
“change-of-pace learning” forces
you to remember the lines and
only the lines, instead of
simply remembering the way in
which you have always said the
lines.
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Recite lines in
odd places
In the car,
walking the dog, in the shower,
or wherever you go, take some
time to recite some of your
lines. Changing scenery,
locations and stress levels
present great opportunities with
which to activate your memory.
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Play a game
Consider how
Kindergarten children learn,
remember and develop quickly,
even at the early stages of
their lives. They use flash
cards, pictures, sounds, music
and games to learn, all of which
stimulate various senses,
helping them learn much faster
than if they simply read a
children’s book or have one read
to them. You can:
Use index cards as your “flash
cards”
Use improvisation as your
“games”
Use visualization of the acting
scene as your “pictures”
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