Tough-Love Tuesdays: Just Call for Line.

At that first off-book rehearsal, you are nearly one-hundred percent likely to forget at least one line. This is normal. It's not only normal, it's to be expected, for a variety of reasons. Here's the main one: Without the script in hand, you are actually acting, you are more emotionally vulnerable, and therefore your impulses are stronger. You're finally allowing the character to drop into this reality you and the cast and designers and director have been working together to create; it's no wonder the actor might temporarily forget what what the playwright prescribed.

Now, we've all worked with the actor (or, admittedly, been the actor) that has to call for line dozens of times because they haven't actually done the work between rehearsals that one has to do to get off-book. So, the next time you're cast in a play, figure out how you need to change your personal process so that this doesn't happen again.

When it comes to handling the moment when you have this temporary lapse in memory, nearly every director and acting teacher in the world introduces the same protocol: Stay in the scene, keep your intention (or verb, or action, or whatever the local vocabulary word is), and just simply say the word "line," ideally supported by the subtext of whatever is going on with the character in the moment. Someone at the stage management table will feed you the line, and as soon as you have enough, pick it up (even if it means interrupting or cutting off the person feeding you the line) and continue the scene. Then, in the case of most college- and professional-level shows (and I wish more high schools would do this because it's such a great teaching tool for actors and stage managers), somebody designated by stage management (usually the person on book) will make a note of whether you called for line, paraphrased, skipped, or some other line-related mistake, and give you a list of notes at the end of rehearsal.

Why do directors want you to stay in the scene and just call for line and keep going?

• It keeps everything moving forward.

• It helps the other actors on stage stay in the scene.

• Having a list of line notes helps the actors do their homework and fix trouble spots before the next rehearsal.

So why are some actors so weird about it? I think for many of us, there is guilt and embarrassment for making a mistake, or the concern that others will assume they aren't prepared. An actor may think, "I shouldn't be screwing this up, and I better let everyone know how sorry I am so they won't be mad." Well, unfortunately, when you act weird about calling line, that's when you run the risk of making a director mad (though odds are higher the director would just be annoyed, peeved at most). And, most directors preface the first off-book rehearsal with a statement of blanket forgiveness for whatever lines are forgotten; take them at their word and press on in the way they are asking you to.

In a polite society, we are supposed to mind our pleases and thank-yous and make sure everyone knows that we don't want to be rude. But at what point does showing off your manners become a weird flex? I once worked with an actor who, when he needed to call for line, made a point of breaking the fourth wall, turning toward the stage management table, saying, "Line, please?" and then waiting for them to read the whole thing before saying "Thank you," and then making a clunky re-entrance into the scene. Who was this guy impressing? It didn't help his fellow actors, it busted up the flow of the scene in progress, and it sort of made the rest of us cringe.

Here's a suggestion: If you want to thank the person who's been on book at rehearsal, thank them at the end of the night or send them an email. If you want to be sure everybody knows you're thanking them, do it on social media.

Sometimes professional protocol is counterintuitive. But if you want to demonstrate respect for your director and fellow artists, you'd be wise to get over your discomfort about calling for line. It also has a cascading effect: the more consistently a large number of actors demonstrates the ability to stay in the scene while calling for line, the more its benefits will be demonstrated, and with any luck, the less awkward this simple skill will become.