Actor Training Exercises - Justifying Your Movements by Walking with Purpose

When I was outlining this article, I kept having visions of one of my first theater performances. While my scene wasn't being rehearsed, I stuck around in the theater to watch my fellow actors prepare for their scene. There was this one man, probably in his early twenties, and the director kept yelling from his seat, "No! You're not walking with purpose!! Why are you walking?"

At first, I was confused about this statement. Walking with purpose? After several hours of watching the director breakdown "walking with purpose" it was like a lightbulb went off in my mind. When you think about it, none of our movements are void of purpose - even the most mundane of tasks. When you get a cup of water, your movement is based on the foundation of fighting off dehydration. When you're walking to class, it's to not be late or to get the best seat in the room.

Because walking with purpose is one of the most important skills any actor can obtain, I have cultivated an exercise all actors should take part in throughout their daily life. This exercise can be used in acting class, or just when you have a couple of actor-friends together.

Step 1:

Instruct the actors to walk around aimlessly within the room. Make sure the actors do not walk in circles, but rather make random movements.

As an actor performing this exercise, take note of the placement of your feet, arms, your walking gate and where your center is located. Continue walking however you choose.

Step 2:

After the actors have walked around the room for several minutes, call out different "Purpose Walks" and allow the actors to perform the actions for a minute or two before moving on. The goal is to have the actors move their body as if the "Purpose Walk" was their actual purpose. Take note of actors, and give direction as needed.

Examples of "Purpose Walks" include: a fashion model on a runway, elderly person crossing the street, an infant learning how to walk, an infant first learning how to crawl, a serial killer hunting his next prey, a hormone-driven teenager approaching his crush, a burglar trying to sneak his way out of the a crime scene, shopping in the grocery store, etc.