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Rehearsals: Giving line notes - a real novice question

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JenniferEver:
How are line notes usually given?

In college we always gave line notes verbally after the director's notes.

On this site I've seen paper forms for giving line notes. Is that the norm?

With the show I've just started working on now, the director walks aroudn the room and gives individual notes, so I've been sort of doing the same with line notes simultaneously to not take up too much time.

What is usually done?

ljh007:
I always give line notes in hard copy so the actor can go home and study them (though I wonder sometimes if my paperwork goes right into their kitchen trashcan...). It also gives you a sense of which lines they are consistently missing, and which actors are missing the most lines consistently. If an actor is so weak with his/her lines that the director/producer ever needs to take up the issue with them, your line notes can be proof of error (again, provided they're not rotting under yesterday's coffee grounds). I just hand the pages to the actors before they leave rehearsal/performance. I don't go over them individually, and I don't make comment (except occasional praise - "You only have one tiny line note today, Jeff!" or something harmless like that). But I do always put the line note sheet in their hand personally. I don't ask ASMs to do it, and I don't leave the sheet at their dressing table. That way, I can guarantee that the sheet went from my hand to the actor's hand. If they don't know the line at the next rehearsal, I know I did everything I could.

uSMp:
Printed line notes are my preference - because at the end of the week, I look through all of the line notes for each actor and start to piece together a 'map' of which parts they are having problems with. If there is an actor who is obviously having a hell of a time with a certain area of the script, I can tell the director that - and if the director does not want to spend much more time on that area, I can offer some assistance to that actor - be it reading the other parts in a 1:1 line learning session, or recommending some good books to browse. I can also use the notes to build up a hazy sort of image of where the show is at as far as lines go. It also provides a means of fallback if you have issues with the publishing company believing you have contract violations (written records of trying to fix it) and also provides a means of fallback if the actor wants to take out their frustation on someone ('You never told me I was having trouble with XXX', 'I handed you line notes just last week that dealed with that act. It was certainly on there')

BalletPSM:
I take line notes on post its --

put the actors' character name or even an abbreviation of said name, the page # and at least the first few words of the line dropped or messed up.  if i have time I try to jot a quick note as to what happened ("dropped" or circle the word missed).  as we go through the run I make a stack for each actor and hand them out at the end of rehearsal.

This usally tends to work great -- an actor who has gotten a thick stack after a few nights starts to get embarrassed and shapes up and learns his lines!

I have been told I'm too anal retentive -- but that was only one isolated occasion and at the end of the run said actor actually thanked me for being so on the ball.  =)

MatthewShiner:
I believe written notes are the standard, and also the best way for actors to deal with them.

If you give them verbally to them, then they have to write them down or look over them, so handing them the written notes is the best way.

Now, I can not help you in keeping actors from dumping them in the trash can on the way out of the rehearsal room.

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