Welcome to The Shurtleff Technique: An Application!

Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Part is a intriguing guidebook by Michael Shurtleff. Audition details twelve acting guideposts that he feels an actor must know and apply to any character in order to create a true and honest performance. Whether you're a beginner in the acting realm or even an experienced acting professional looking for ways to better your skills, you will find here the valuable acting guideposts by a renowned casting director.

The twelve acting guideposts are:

• Relationship (How do I feel toward my scene partner?)
• Conflict (What am I fighting for?)
• The Moment Before (How did I get to this point?)
• Humor (What makes this scene funny?)
• Opposites (What are the hidden tensions within the scene?)
• Discoveries (What can I do for the first time that will reach my goal?)
• Communication and Competition (How do I talk to my partner?)
• Importance (What are the stakes for my character?)
• Find the Events (What is really happening in the play?)
• Place (Where are we and how do we use the theatre space?)
• Game Playing and Roleplaying (What is the game I am playing in this situation?)
• Mystery and Secret (What is going on unknowingly within my character?)

But are these guideposts enough? Is it really "everything an actor needs to know to get the part"? Has Michael Shurtleff narrowed down all of the world's acting tips and tools (theatre and film) into twelve simple guideposts? Do these acting tips require supplemental methods for a thoroughly developed character, such as Meisner or Stanislavski? Do they work for only a full-on theatre production, only film, or only at an audition?

The only way to answer those questions is by personal application. As a college theatre student just learning these guideposts by Michael Shurtleff, I am working to determine whether they are sufficient for creating an honest performance. I will be doing three things three posts for each Audition guidepost: summary of the guidepost, application of the guidepost, and an exercise for the guidepost so that the actor may be able to apply it to his/her own scene. In my application, I will also critique how well the acting tips work for myself personally.

At the end of the day, different methods (and combinations of) work for different actors. You can only know what works for you by application. Be sure to leave no acting stone unturned! Because of that, you can also find acting resources, information on Michael Shurtleff himself, reviews from others who have read Audition, as well as many other helpful resources for the theatre actor and the character.