Comprehending and utilizing the events, people, and relationships connected with your character as the engine that drives the actor’s choices throughout a film or play. (Includes clips from To Kill A Mockingbird, Gone With the Wind and more)

Learn to investigate the political, economic, social, religious, and cultural issues of the historical period and locale of the script, including all aspects of the character, which must be explored by the actor. (Includes clips from The French Lieutenant’s Woman)

Become skilled at finding and using the emotional, psychological, and physical elements of a character. (Includes clips from A Room with a View, Mean Girls and more)

Discover how to use the circumstances of the story, as well as your fertile imagination, to create full, three-dimensional relationships with all other characters in a film or play. (Includes clips from Friends with Kids, The Way Way Back)

Become competent in creating a thorough sensory connection to the physical setting of a scene, which frees the actor from tension, stimulates the creative imagination and conditions character behavior. (Includes clips from Romeo and Juliet, All the President’s Men)

Apprehend how to identify and pursue the individual needs, wants and desires of your character throughout the course of a film or play. (Includes clips from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Lincoln and more)

Ascertain how to identify the problems, impediments, and stumbling blocks that your character encounters in the story, to overcome them and achieve your character’s goals. (Includes clips from The King’s Speech, 127 Hours and more)

An exploration of the varied verbal and physical behavior of your character, which will give your acting specificity, variety, and range. (Includes clips from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, A Streetcar Named Desire and more)

Perceive how to break a script down into units, providing you with a clear understanding of the arc of your character’s journey in each and every scene. (Includes a clip from The Social Network)

Decipher the three possible methods of getting into the skin of your character, creating an unwavering belief, not only in the role, but also in the character’s circumstances, relationships and needs. (Includes clips from Tootsie, Brokeback Mountain and more)

Learn to honestly access your character’s emotions, tying it continually to character interactions. (Includes clips from Terms of Endearment, The Kids Are All Right and more)

Discern how to image your character’s words, using components of the five senses to transform dialogue into the living, breathing embodiment of character memory, emotion, and intent. (Includes a clip from Sideways)

Learn to connect with your character’s unspoken thoughts in every scene, enabling a free-flowing performance. (Includes a clip from Psycho)

An examination of the true, full, real — and sometimes hidden — meaning of your character’s dialogue, creating an exciting and revealing performance. (Includes a clip from Ordinary People)

Discover the usefulness of an ongoing physical activity, serving to ground the actor in the scene and eliminating nervousness. (Includes clips from On the Waterfront, All About Eve)

Learn how to convincingly incorporate extreme physicality such as fatigue, inebriation, and headache into your acting. (Includes clips from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Blue Jasmine)

Perfect the art of honest moment-to-moment listening and responding in order to ensure a new and fresh performance for every take or scene. (Includes clips from Silver Linings Playbook)

Each chapter contains a section which includes not only acting exercises, but also games, improvisations, advice, and recommendations. Some are physical and vigorous, some quiet and cerebral, some exhilarating and thrilling, and some focused and interactive. But all Tasks for Understanding are engaging, stimulating, and formulated to facilitate the growth of the actor and acting student.