Catherine Weidner
“The best thing about Acting Heightened Text: The Basics is that it doesn’t just apply to heightened text. There is no script that I work on that I don’t clearly mark beats/shifts; or perhaps if my character uses language/vocabulary that I don’t normally use, I will employ the line-out method to put the language into my own words. I use hooking to highlight the connective tissue between what I am saying and what another character has said. If there is an operative word that will help me land my action or intent more clearly, I mark it. Catherine Weidner taught me how to use tools that I continue to use today to ensure I truly understand what I am saying and that what I am intending to communicate is clear, whether it is considered heightened text or not.”
KiKi Layne, Actor/Producer, If Beale Street Could Talk, The Old Guard
About the Book
Acting Heightened Text: The Basics offers a foundational understanding of heightened text in drama, fused with a truthful, contemporary approach to acting.
Using detailed text analysis and dynamic rehearsal exercises, actors and students bring heightened language to life by cultivating a joyful curiosity. A three-step homework process focuses attention on demystifying the intricacies of verse and prose, conveying meaning, clarifying changes in action (subtle shifts and beat changes), playing actions, and utilizing tactics. An innovative technique called hooking sparks energy between partners, and focuses actors on responding to impulses to create a wide variety of textually-supported choices. The book includes up-to-date practical approaches to effective auditions, callbacks and rehearsals, specific tools for handling rhyming couplets, complex rhetorical arguments, and materials to support a lifelong pursuit of engaging with dramatic material with rigor and passion. To support the learning process and enhance the understanding of the lessons from the book, additional materials include scenes and monologues for practice, real-life examples of students using these techniques, and detailed examples from the Try It! sections within each chapter, such as line-outs, action verbs, rhetorical maps, and hooking.
Hear an Excerpt:
From the Book
“This book strives to teach you how to prepare, what to look for, and what to do next that best serves the story.”
“The goal of this book is to offer actors, directors, students, teachers, and lifelong learners the knowledge and skills to overcome the challenges and reap the rewards that heightened text provides.”
“This book helps you find buried treasure within heightened language, and bring it to life in your acting through tangible steps you take on your own and in rehearsal with others.”
"The words in heightened text will never disappoint you; they tell a particular story with passion and specificity. Knowing how to begin, figuring out what to do next, and embracing the process of homework as a source of discovery are the pathways to confidently and capably inhabiting heightened text.”
Reviews & Testimonials
“Acting Heightened Text: The Basics is an essential guide for actors and directors tackling the demands of challenging language. With infectious enthusiasm, Catherine Weidner, veteran actor, director, and inspired teaching artist, provides the most sensible proven pathways to speaking heightened text believably, spontaneously, and convincingly. She has charted a sound course, a scholarly yet down to earth roadmap, in a refreshingly gritty way, mainly because she has spent her entire career in the trenches with the actor, speaking their language, both literally and figuratively.”
“Catherine Weidner’s knowledge and expertise surrounding heightened text helped me to demystify the language, while simultaneously simplifying Shakespeare and acting into relatable terms: do the work. In theater, much is made of talent and instinct, but heightened text has a way revealing an actor’s preparation, whether it be substantial or lacking. What Acting Heightened Text: The Basics provides is a toolbox for the modern actor, equipped with a variety of insights and immersions that invites the artist to delve into the work as deeply as they wish.”
“Catherine Weidner’s teaching profoundly influenced how I understand and use language, particularly in how it can both reveal and conceal deeper meanings. The lessons in Acting Heightened Text: The Basics provided me with a valuable tool to recognize that a single word can have various meanings based on context, intent, and timing. This insight has greatly enriched my approach to my work, both past and present, allowing me to explore what lies beneath the surface of what’s being said. It’s a gift that continues to benefit me in my work."
Connect with Catherine
Educators: Consider adopting this book for a course. Schedule a campus visit with author Catherine Weidner, including a workshop/demonstration with your teachers, students, and actors.
Actors, Directors, Dramaturgs & Lifelong Learners: Attend an event in a city near you, or invite Catherine to appear at your event, attend a rehearsal, or lead a workshop.
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