, 1892-01-16

plays will teach a deal about the best
Cf literature; learning their lines Is good
exercise for the memory; TO make ones
aalf heard on the stage one must learn
q enunciate distinctly, and a pleas
ant stage presence requires grace and ease
OF physical carriage. All these things are
also desirable in ordinary social life.
II a number of young people decide to go
81 for amateur theatricals. the first thing
they should do is TO organize a club and
formulate rigid rules. The next thing they
should do Is to keep the rules. 1t is ad-
visable, generally, to have the membership
sDout evenly divided between the sexes,
. he expenses OF the first performance
should be shared equally by the men and
the receipts put into the club treasury to
pay the cost of subsequent entertainments.
The selection of plays Is a matter which
ought TO receive great care. First of all,
Amateurs should never, in any circum-
stances whatever, attempt to perform
ShHkespeare's ~plays-there are very few
professionals qualified to do them even a
sniall measure OF Justice. Simple comedies
are best to begin with, and the characters
FL them should be as nearly Of equal
strength as possible. After a time such
plays AS 1.-THE Ticket OF Leave Man, al
most "A Life" "Esmeralda," etc, may be
tied II the club insists-as most clubs do
OIL doing something ambitious"
Right here is a good place for a word OF
" arning to amateurs. Most plays worth
producing are copyrighted. To produce n
copyrighted play without the consent OF
ii owner is an act OF piracy of which no
Ole should be guilty. 1t Is theft. More
over, it is punishable-and rightly so-by
tie iutliction OF heavy penalties. 1t is gen
orally possible for amateurs to buy the
right of producing copyrighted plays at
single performances by paying a small
rpyAlty-generally ten dollars; but it Is
often difficult to find to whom the money
ought to be paid. Very likely the safest
and best way Is to obtain catalogues OF
plays from the various firms which make
a business of publishing those suitable for
RinRteurs. Select fifteen or twenty, which
scem likely from the number Of characters
quired and general style to be good (sin-
gle copies cost from ten to twenty-five
q nts each), and make the final choice after
htving carefully examined them all.
After this has been done by vote of the
members OF the club, n stage manager
al,ould be chosen. He should of course
b. the member Of the club who knows
most about acting. and after his cleo
ton his word must be the law OF the
club In all matters relating to rehearsals
and performances. II 1t is not, there is lit
tie chance that the club will do creditsble
work. His election should be unanimous
or some one will surely be dissatisfied. A
good amateur stage manager is hard to
find, and after he has been found 1t Is hard
q ~alwaysdo as he says without grumbling.
But both are necessary to success. The
mum selected for this most important posi-.
ton must be AS nearly impartial as human
nature allows, cool headed and firm willed.
BE will Of course make mistakes some.
times, but even then the fact that the con.
duct Of the stage is under the control OF
one man will insure concerted and more or
Il - harmonious action.
To this stage manager should be left the
distribution Of parts among the players.
b. deciding who is best qualified to play
tie different roles, he will ut first have TO
b. guided largely by physical appearance.
u is well for him to h:iTr several careful
rehearsals Of the play de-. , upon, chang
ing the parts around among the members
Of the club ut each rehearsal before finally
formulating IA cast. BY doing this he can
gauge each actors ability pretty accurately
and find what line Of parts he Is fitted to
play.
The actors should be required to
thoroughly learn the lines of their parts
before rehearsals OF the play begin in earn
est. A forgotten word, even at the first
rehearsal, is inexcusable.
1t is quite impossible in "A newspaper ar
tcle or anywhere else to tell how to act.
II II club can afford to have IA professional
"coach" or instructor 1t will be n great
help. In such "A case the professional
should of course be made stage manager.
But plenty OF good performances, in which
professionals had no hand, have been given
by amateurs. 1t goes without saying that
u good deal can be learned by studying the
work of professionals appearing at the
local theaters.
a hundred valuable hints on stage bust.
n-ss"-gestures and actions explanatory
o. the dialogue-can be picked up by
MI intelligent amateur from careful OBJ
h-rvation of any good professional perform
Aiice, whether the play resembles the one
III which the amateur is to take part or
not. But the plan which amateurs and
professionals alike have to carry out, In or
der to give n performance which in any
way approaches perfection. is to study
their own parts witt II view to forming an
fdea of how a living person would speak
aud act in real life II placed in n position
similar to that of the character in the play.
The most important thing for amateurs
H. learn land not u few professionals might
ponder It with proft) is told in the two
words-act fast. They ought to be painted
81 red letters and hung up where they will
be seen at every rehearsal. Never allow
the performance to lag for a fraction OF IA
Hcond. While the curtain is up let the
play progress with vim, vim. A good
deal of bad acting will be passed over un-
noticed II the attention OF the audience Is
held by II rapid sequence of events on the
Mage.
When | say act fast, F" however, | by no
means mean speak fast" Every word
should be given time enough to guarantee
complete separation from every other
word, and every syllable should be heard
and understood by every member of the
audience. In order to accomplish this it is
not necessary to scream. II each vowel
sound is given its full value an ordinary
tone will be found to nave astonishing PEN
etration. Attention to this point has been
tie secret of many pronounced successes.
EDWARD MARsnALL-
For the Children.
I'm buying a cough medicine for emil
dren." says q. A. Walker. a prominent
druggist OF Ogden. Utah. never be