Hagen Object Exercises
Please read A CHALLENGE FOR THE ACTOR by Uta Hagen for the definitive explanation of this process.)
Developed by Uta Hagen through the challenges of her own legendary Broadway career and her fifty years of teaching top New York actors at HB Studios and throughout the world.
Ten specific exercises which reveal the thought impulse of all action. Ten investigations of human behavior that support the actor’s imaginative belief in every second of life on camera and stage.
1. Physical Destination:
Tests the cause of action
2. Fourth Side:
Tests the ability to imaginatively maintain faith in the character’s physical world
3. Changes of Self:
Explores the many aspects of our persona
4. Moment to Moment:
Tests the ability to repeat rehearsed actions as if for the first time
5. Recreating Physical Sensations:
Tests the ability to produce sensations according to the physical demands of the script’s realities
6. Bringing the Outdoors On Stage:
Tests ability to recall and recreate physical adjustments to nature
7. Finding Occupation While Waiting:
Tests the body’s experience while pursuing a psychological goal
8. Talking to Yourself:
Investigates the need/cause of speech when alone
9. Talking to the Audience:
Tests the creation of imagined relationship with the camera or audience
10. Historical Imagination:
The culmination and application of all previous exercises which test our ability to believe in the "other" worlds of the writer.
