In this series on rehearsing using the five senses, we have covered SOUND and now move on to TASTE. Yes, taste. How do we taste the words? We play with the words in our mouths. We practice tasting the words whenever we use technical terms, terms of art, jargon, foreign words, acronyms, and names. It’s also helpful if we find ourselves tripping over certain words or phrases. When in the play, The Other Place,by Sharr White, there was a particularly sticky phrase I could not pronounce without slurring, tripping, or dropping the words. It was a simple phrase, “What good would it have done?” However, I could not get it out of my mouth. In my warm-up before walking onto the stage, I added a practice of…Read on.

“I know you bought airplane tickets, got a sitter, and booked a hotel, but DO NOT COME. It sucks. I’m awful. Really. It’s embarrassing. My performance is forced and boring and lifeless. I know it started off great, but trust me, it’s the worst thing I’ve ever done.” My family and dear friends have all received that call from me in the week or two before opening a show. In response they laugh and say, “Aha! You must be in tech week when everything falls apart. It’s going to be wonderful. I can’t wait! See you opening night!” They understand the rehearsal process and know that this phase, where everything falls apart and each line comes out like a thud, is a critical passage on the way to a free performance. It cannot be skipped. This is true for all rehearsal processes, whether we are practicing for an online power point presentation, a TED Talk, or a heightened conversation. But many of us do not know how to rehearse…Read on.