Uta Hagen three minute exercise
Homework:
“Explore two to three minutes of your behavior in the pursuit of a simple task, taking into careful consideration the six steps. For the purpose of the given technical problem, choose circumstances that necessitate an entrance from the wings into your playing area, and eventually an exit into the wings. If your main action takes place in a living room, for instance, it is inconsequential whether you enter through the front door or come from another room. The same holds true for your exit. While occupied with the task on stage, you may also choose to leave momentarily to get or leave something in another room before reentering the playing area. This will further test your faith in creating continuity of life between the physical realities on stage and those that you imagined off stage.
In the examination of your selected actions, put your DESTINATIONS under a microscope to discover how many are consciously motivated, how many occur by reflex, and which of them are subconsciously instigated. An hour of actual rehearsals should be the minimum. Lying in bed to think about what you will do doesn’t count!”
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(I will add, sleeping/napping doesn't count!)
Taken from chapter 11 of Uta Hagen’s A Challenge for the Actor.
Uta Hagen Exercise Questions
Written Assignment Format
(To be completed for each exercise and turned in prior to the presentation)
I. Objective
Very simply, this is what you want in the exercise. Think in terms of needs; the more dynamic and essential the need, the more fuel you'll have to make your story interesting and compelling. There should be two objectives: one that is a long-term, overriding objective, the other should reflect a short term objective that you will attempt to accomplish over the course of the exercise that will help you move closer to achieving the larger objective. This section can -- and should -- be stated in two sentence: "I want to _____________. In order to get this, I have to _______________."
II. Obstacles
What is in the way of you getting what you want? There are two segments to this that should be clearly and explicitly identified: internal andexternal. External refers to all of the things outside of yourself that keep you from achieving your objective. Internal refers to those things inside of you that get in your way. Internal obstacles are usually best thought of in terms of fear, i.e., what you are afraid will happen if you achieve your objective. All obstacles work toward creating tension and conflict, which are essential to an interesting story.
III. The Scenario
This is a beat-by-beat account of the story you are telling. Tell it in the first person, present tense, making it as active as you possibly can. In other words, this story is happening to you and it is happening now. Your scenario should begin prior to the start of the exercise and continue past the end point of your exercise. In writing the scenario, the more detailed you are, the better, but make sure that all of the details contribute in a significant way to the telling of the story. While there are many ways to tell a story, your story should, in some way, address the following questions:
1. WHO AM I?
For the Uta Hagen exercises, you will always be yourself. But in life, you are always different, depending on the very specific circumstances that you're engaged in. Who are you this time? What is your present state of being? How do you perceive your self? What are you wearing and how does that affect how you perceive yourself?
2. WHAT ARE THE CIRCUMSTANCES?
Basically, this is everything that affects the story that you are telling. Be very thorough and specific in your exploration of the circumstances that surround the story you are telling. Explore questions such as
• What time is it? (The year, the season, the day? At what time does your selected life begin?)
• Where are you? For the Hagen exercises, your story should always take place in doors in a room that you are very familiar with, preferably a room in your house, apartment or dorm.
• What surrounds you? (The immediate landscape? The weather? The condition of the place and the nature of the objects in it?)
• What are the immediate circumstances? (What has just happened prior to the start of your story? What do you expect or plan to happen next and later on?)
3. WHAT ARE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS?
These include everything that surrounds you, including the people who affect the story that you're telling. It also includes your relationship to the circumstances, the place and the objects that you connect with during the course of your story.
4. WHAT DO YOU DO TO GET WHAT YOU WANT?
This is probably the most important aspect of your storytelling, for these are the actions that drive you toward achieving your objectives. This is what you do, moment by moment, in pursuit of your objective. It should also take into account how you adjust to what happens as you pursue your objective.
Uta Hagen Exercise
An Excellent Example of the Uta Hagen Exercise Questions
Uta Hagen Exercise
Sample Written Preparation
The following is an example of an excellent written preparation for the Uta Hagen Exercises by one of the students in an earlier class:
Finding Occupation While Waiting
1.
A. I want to get to school in the morning. I follow a similar routine every morning, but not exactly identical. I spend most of it at home and then head to the bus. I don’t want to be late or make my friends wait.
B. I am anxious, restless, and not very confident in any of my actions, all thoughts made worse by how tired I was.
C. I am a freshman in highschool. I am relatively smart and rather confident in my grades, however I tend to get anxious and procrastinate. I am tired very often, with my main motivators to wake up being a mix of caffeine and anxiety. My actions in the morning vary from extremely slow to extremely rushed. I tend not to speak unless spoken to, except occasionally when I’m around people I trust. Even then, I’m quiet, and will not even join conversations with friends simply because I don’t want to impose. I try to take up as little space as possible away from people. Most of my time is spent reading, writing, or using my phone as a way to avoid unwanted interaction.
2.
It is tuesday morning on April 3rd. I am lying on the couch in the living room to begin with; as the scene progressives I go down the stairs to the front door and walk outside. There’s a blanket over me. In the living room there is a table in front of me, where my backpack sits and many of my school materials are strewn about. A book is also there, along with my coat. The dining room is next to the living room and my mom sits at her computer at the dining room table. There is a cup of coffee in front of me. My phone is in my hand, my headphones are near me.
I’d spent most of last night doing homework, and I didn’t get all of it done, however it turns out that I didn’t have that class this day anyway so my loss of sleep was basically pointless. I always wake up way earlier than I need to, and my first severally minutes were just spent staring at the ceiling. At this point I am awake enough to worry, and was just spending the last 40 minutes alternating between reading, checking the time on my phone, and saying brief sentences to my mother. My lunch is made, my water bottle is right in front of me, and I have my keys and bus card, but that doesn’t stop me from constantly checking for them. I have a few minutes left until I need to get going to meet my few friends and acquaintances at the bus stop. I always leave earlier than I need to because I don’t like making people wait and being inconvenient.
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D. My mom is in the other room, she’s great; she helped me get ready and I occasionally talk to her during the scene. One of the blankets next to me is stained; I’d spilled soy sauce on it last night and almost reached for it before I remembered I needed to clean it and chose another blanket instead. My things a strewn about; despite being so early, I don’t put them away until the start of the scene because I lack the motivation to do so. I check my keys and bus card multiple times; I still forget to take my bus card out at first. I’m reading a book which has two stories written which makes it hard to flip between them; I’m conscious about how weird I must look reading it. I don’t like having to put on my coat because I hate that it’s still so cold, but I do anyway. I adjust my binder a few times; it’s uncomfortable but I’m glad I could have it today, I hate not wearing it. I check my phone often for the time, I feel anxious when I don’t. I keep forgetting I have any coffee so it’s not warm enough by this time; I’ve only taken a few sips.
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E. (Scenario)
I’m finishing a chapter in my book and put my bookmark back it, and then check the other side of the book to make sure both chapters even, checking each side a few times because I can’t be sure; they aren’t, but I can catch up to the other side later. I put down my my book and remember that my coffee is there. I take two sips before I put it down and promptly forget about it again. I put the mug down and quickly reach for my phone; I turn it on and as soon as I look at the time I turn it off. I still have plenty of time, I know I have plenty of time, but it’s not as much as last time I checked so I start trying to get every last step done. I check today’s schedule in my agenda, then check it again on my phone simply because I do it always to make sure. Once I know, I stand up, I take out yesterday’s class materials from my bag and put in today's, along with the book. I’m self-conscious about my posture and attempt to fix it but that just makes me more uncomfortable so I try to ignore it. “Is my water bottle here?” I ask my mom; of course it’s here, I knew it was here already. I put it in the left side pocket of my bag. I check if my key’s attached and feel through my back for the bus card through the front pocket. When I stood up my binder got out of place, so I pull the edge of it back and try to ignore it. I love wearing it but I hate thinking about it, since it doesn’t make any difference in how anyone else sees me. I sit back down; I don’t put the blanket back on. I check my phone, scrolling through a blog for a moment, just for something to do with my hands even though I don’t process any of the writing. I check my grade portal; I’m glad that they recently changed my name on it to my actual name rather than my birth name, and that's enough to make me happy for a brief second. I put down my phone. “How cold is it?”. My mom responds that it’s only going to be up to the low forties today. I thank her and I sigh, mumbling to myself about how much I hate the cold, I’m always so cold. I stand up I put on my coat. I remember that my coffee is there and drink a bit. I don’t like how cold it is now, but I still take another small sip. I look at my keys again. I check the schedule online again and make sure I put the right things in my bag. Then I zip up my backpack. I look at my phone again. I turn off the alarm that I have set to go off at 7 telling me to go. I have alarms set for everything in the mornings so I’m not late, but I always go before the alarm anyway. I switch over to my music and plug in my headphones. I take a minute to choose what to listen to; I’ve been listening to a bunch of Cavetown albums over the past few days and I don’t want to get sick of his songs, but I love the music and can’t think of anything else I want to hear. I sip from the coffee for the last time; it’s still filled almost completely to the top. I check the time again. 6:57, finally time for me to go. I put my phone in my pocket, holding the headphones. I say goodbye to my mom and go down the first step before I check my other pocket and realize my bus card that I kept checking isn’t in there, it’s still in my bag. I rush back up into the living room and to the dining room. I don’t want to have to take it out from my bag, it would take too much time; in the moment I don’t think about just taking it out at the bus stop, it’s off of my routine and it’s far too early for me to deal with things off of my routine. I act calmer than I am when I ask my mom to please get it out for me. She takes a second longer than I prefer to find it in the very front pocket, but I have it now. I thank her, tell her that I love her,say goodbye again, and rush down the stairs. I put on my shoes as fast as I can and unlock the door before opening it. Outside it’s still cold and very clearly too early for people to have to be awake. Before I leave, I check the time again. It’s 6:59, technically still before I need to go. But it’s still not the right time, I wanted to be out at 6:57. It feels like those extra few minutes are taunting me.