guidance of the director, who both controls and is controlled by the actors and the situation. Only some

such belief can justify dramatics as a worth-while cultural and educational process.

Methods of Accomplishing First Step

There are several methods by which the actors may become familiar with the play.

1. They may study the play individually before there is any general meeting. This process, with young actors, may be wasteful, as there is no way of correcting false impressions and of seeing that the actors agree on their general conceptions. Nevertheless, it enables the actor to use his ingenuity and imagination in the quiet of his study; and some actors work much better after a preliminary study of this sort.

2. The play may be read to the cast by the director, or the author. This reading usually gives every one a clear conception of the play, and of the various characters, which is a most desirable thing where time is short. It has the disadvantage of imposing the director's ideas, and sometimes even his mannerisms, on the actors. If important lines or scenes are read by the director in a certain way it is almost inevitable that many actors will thereafter read them in that way. The better reader and actor the director is, the more is this likely to be true.

3. There may be a general reading, each actor reading the lines of the character he is to play. The original impression thus comes from the actor. Such a reading frees the actors, but puts on the director the

burden of seeing that the conceptions are correct. If a general reading is the method used, the actors should be seated in a group or around a table. They should not be allowed to walk through their parts until the play has been read once or twice without movement. Some directors like to have the play read in this way as many times as possible in an evening, perhaps five or six times in the case of a one-act play; others, after one reading, begin immediately on the second step, and start to work out the movement.

Each director must find out for himself which method is best for him. If he has plenty of time, and wishes to develop the initiative of the actors, probably he will find the last method best; if he reads well, and has only a limited number of rehearsals, he will find the second a great time-saver. The third method is, perhaps, the most "educational." The first method is, perhaps, more adapted for groups of actors who are so inexperienced that they need the previous study to make a general reading of any value, or who are so experienced that they can do much for themselves.

B. THE SECOND STEP: WORKING OUT THE MOVEMENT

Function of Second Step

The function of the second step in rehearsal is to "block out" the movement of the play, to determine where actors are to come in and go out, and to decide their positions while they are on the stage. Incidentally, the general conceptions of the play should be clarified during this process. For a short play, one rehearsal, or a part of one rehearsal, may be sufficient

for this purpose. For a longer play, this process must be gone through for each act, perhaps several times. During this time, every one should be concentrating on the idea of movement. There should be no special attempt to have lines read with proper emphasis, for example; although gross errors should probably be corrected. But the fewer times the play is interrupted for anything but movement the better.

The Idea of Design

In working out the movement of a play, the director is like an artist designing a picture. Therefore, in order to be certain that the movement is worked out properly, he should know the settings and the costumes that are to be used, and all the other things that go to make up the picture. A stage model, and a set of costume plates (See Chapters IX and X) will be of greatest value. Some directors work out the movement of the actors in advance of rehearsal, using chessmen, or pins, as puppets to aid them to visualize the play. If the play is not being rehearsed on the stage where it is to be played, it is important that the size of the stage be known. A chalk line on the floor, showing the limits of the space, and the placing of the doors and windows, is helpful. The director must keep in mind the general ideas of picture composition. He must try to produce proper spacing, balance, emphasis, and mass and color value. One of the chief ideas that he should remember is that a well-grouped picture must have a center of interest, and one center only. He must decide what the important action is, and em

phasize that by his grouping. The ancient idea of the triangle is a tried and true device. If A is a character that is the center of interest, he should, as a rule, be made the apex of a triangle which has its base parallel

must be nothing mechanical about the movement; it must be made to seem as free and natural as possible.

Symbolic Movement

The idea of symbolic movement is exceedingly useful, also. That is, the lines of force created by the movement of the play may be used to reënforce and help interpret the idea of the play. This idea is well explained by Mitchell, in his invaluable chapter, "Rehearsal," in Shakespeare for Community Players. He states that "every dramatic crisis is resolvable into terms of conflict, intervention, enmeshing, or the deliberation of delicately poised forces." 1 The "conflict" should be shown by the balancing of the forces opposed. Thus, Shylock and his friends should occupy one side of the stage, and across from them may be

1 Roy Mitchell, Shakespeare for Community Players (E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1919), page 35.

the opposing force of Antonio, Bassanio, and their followers. "Intervention" occurs in the same scene, when Portia appears to solve the conflict. She intervenes by coming between the two groups, and turning from one to the other. The same scene may also show the idea of "enmeshing" if, after the decree against Shylock is pronounced, Gratiano, Bassanio, and others of the court gradually surround him and separate him from his friends who fall away from him, thus showing by symbolic movement what is happening psychologically. Movement that is real and lifelike will tend to be symbolic, whether or not the director and the actors are conscious of that term. When one actor separates two who are struggling, by forcing himself between them, that is symbolic movement. When an actor shows that he has changed his mind by leaving one group and walking over and joining another, that also is symbolic. But many a less obvious situation may be quickly and easily solved if the director has this idea of symbolic movement consciously in mind.

Some Suggestions

There are a few other general suggestions that should be kept in mind during this step of rehearsal. Properties should be used from the very first for all bits of business that require them. Even the movement may have to be changed if some property that has not been used earlier is introduced near the end of the rehearsals. Actors should be sure to work out to the limits of the stage. Amateurs especially are likely to huddle behind pieces of furniture or behind one