Conservatory Presents Using the Psychological Gesture On-Camera

Where: 521 Ala Moana Blvd. Homer Maxey Conference room, 2nd Floor Honolulu, HI 96813

The acting technique called the Psychological Gesture is an amazing acting tool developed by the great Russian actor, director and teacher, Michael Chekhov.

So how did this nearly 100-year-old technique become the hottest new acting technique in Hollywood today? It is especially valuable for use on camera work. In fact, this technique has seen a huge resurgence in recent years and, is now being used on TV and film sets around the world, by many, great actors including Jack Nicholson, Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Depp and others. 

The Psychological Gesture was designed to get the actor instantly into character.  It is a movement that expresses the psychology of the character. Chekhov defines the Psychological Gesture as a physical expression of the thoughts, feelings and desires of the character, incorporated into one movement.

So, in one short movement, the Psychological Gesture awakens the essence of the character in you. When this happens, your walk, your expressive mannerisms, your voice and line delivery are all informed and inspired by this one moving image. You can perform the gesture PRIOR to your scene to physically ‘step into character’ but you can also use it DURING the scene, if your inspiration weakens or your feeling ‘out’, you simply envision the gesture in your imagination - as you are acting - and it will revitalize you!

Mr. Chekhov was deeply admired by Stanislavsky, Meisner, Strasberg, Adler and Hagen. Many thought his brilliant acting was un-teachable genius, but he believed otherwise and dedicated his life to developing and inspiring genius in other actors.

You can actually learn to use this technique in just one day!  This workshop will teach you the steps to take to choose the right gesture for your character and how to use this technique, in your work on set, to step into your character’s skin.  We’ll use Lecture, Q&A, and exercises during this workshop.

 

Location details: Map for reference. Look for a street called “Channel St.” coming off Ala Moana Blvd. Turn “Makai” on Channel and then take the FIRST RIGHT after the parking lot. It’s easy to miss this right turn so look for a sign that says “HOMER A. MAXEY.” Drive past the sign and follow the road until it ends. Park and enter the glass doors. We’re upstairs.

 

Cost: SAG-AFTRA members $10; non-union $40. This class is open to a limited number of non-union participants.

 

RSVP: To register and pay, please click here. ONLY PAYMENT CONFIRMS YOUR RESERVATION.

For more information, please email mericia.palmaelmore@sagaftra.org. 

About the Instructor:
Scott Rogers served as acting coach for 20th Century Fox Studios under a multi-year, exclusive contract for television projects. He served as acting coach on the feature film Princess Ka`iulani starring Barry Pepper, Will Patton, and Q’orianka Kilcher. Rogers has coached principal actors, for more than 3000 hours on the sets of motion pictures and national television shows. He has produced, cast, and/or directed more than 100 professional productions and he’s written, directed, and produced dozens of TV commercials. He was the full-time, on-set, Acting Coach for the Fox-TV series North Shore and was previously the full-time Acting Coach for the hit TV show Baywatch.

 

In the mid-1980s Scott began to coach, produce and direct hundreds of working actors, including: Donna Mills (Knotts Landing), Steve Allen, Jayne Meadows, Pat Morita (Karate Kid), Brooke Burns (Dog Eat Dog), Dominic Purcell (Prison Break), Charles Grodin, Catherine Oxenberg, Susan Blakesley, Richard Kline, Vincent Gardenia, Charles Grodin, Florence Henderson, Robert Reed, John Astin, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Ted Lange (Love Boat), Denver Pyle (Dukes of Hazard), Timothy Bottoms, Tony Bennett and many others.

 

In 1994, after living and working in Los Angeles for more than 25 years, Rogers moved to Hawai`i with his wife, Jeanne, in order to raise their (soon to be) two children in a safe and sane environment. They opened their school in 2000, to train actors for film and television. Scott's clients include series regular and principle actors on shows like LOST, Hawaii Five-0, Friday Night Lights and actors appearing in: Indiana Jones & the Crystal Skull, 50 First Dates, ER, Pearl Harbor, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Rundown, Tears of the Sun, Blue Crush, Lilo & Stich, and many more.  In 2013 Scott opened a second studio, this one in Portland. Within a year, almost all of his Portland students were regularly booking roles on national TV shows like Grimm, Portlandia, and The Librarians.

 

Scott is a 35+ year member of Actors Equity Association, AFTRA and the Screen Actors Guild (now SAG-AFTRA), where he sits on the National Board of Directors and serves on several national committees including the National Executive Committee (a first for a Hawaii member!).  He also serves as co-chair of the SAG-AFTRA National Conservatory Committee, charged with providing support for the training of professional actors across the country. He’s taught acting to hundreds of actors, in classes from Los Angeles to Florida, from Seattle to San Francisco, from Washington D.C. to Guam (yes, Guam!). He has auditioned more than 15,000 actors for various productions and his clients appear on television, Film, and on Broadway, daily.