for actors and understudies

Uta Hagen’s “Nine Questions” Uta Hagen: “Respect for Acting”

1. Who am I? (character-search for character’s life prior to play’s/scene’s beginning)

2. Where am I? (environment: location, conditions)

3. What surrounds me? (persons, objects, color and texture)

4. What time is it? (hour, minute, date, year, century, era)

5. What are the given circumstances? (those events, facts, and conditions occurring before or during the play/scene that affect the character and /or action)

6. What is my relationship? (to all of the above and to other characters-solid or shifting?)

7. What do I want? (Objectives or Intention –includes the overall character objectives as well as more immediate beatto-beat intentions).

8. What’s in my way? (Obstacle)

9. What do I do to get what I want? (ACTION – VERBS; physical, verbal, psychological)