DRAMATICS • NOVEMBER 2005

ANALYZING
DRAMATICS • NOVEMBER 2005

THE SCRIPT
Conflict and objectives
SECOND OF TWO PARTS
BY BRUCE MILLER
AS ACTORS, it is essential that we
understand the story of the play we are
performing because ultimately it is our
job to make choices that will tell that
story well. In fact, telling the story of
the play is an actor’s primary job.
A playwright who knows her craft
will meticulously plan how her story is
to be told. The elements of a good
story work together like gears of a fine
watch. When it’s time to translate
what’s on the page to what is to be
done on the stage, we actors, charged
with fulfilling the playwright’s vision,
must make choices that tell her story
effectively.
Think about the last time you tried
to tell someone the story of the great
movie you just saw. It’s not easy, is it?
Though the story of the film was all
clear to you when you saw it, it’s very
difficult to get all of the details right,
and to deliver them to the listener in
an order that makes it possible for him
to understand the unfolding story. If
you have ever suffered through a story
told by an excited friend who has no
talent for storytelling, you know just
what I mean. Forgotten or misplaced
details fly at you like random machine
gun fire. It’s hard to tell what’s important
and what’s not, and how the
events of the narrative fit together. The
story’s disorganized presentation keeps
it from being clear or compelling.
The good storyteller knows how to
keep the story ticking along clearly
and in a sequence that works for the
listener. The good storyteller also
knows how to build the tension and
keep you asking “what will happen
next?” If you are to do your job effectively
as an actor, you must know the
storytelling gears and understand how
they work together effectively.
In the first installment of this twopart
article on script analysis, we began
our examination of a play to identify
the following elements:
• The given circumstances. The
who, what, when, and where of the
play. The more specifically you define
them, the more specific your choices
will become. Choices that are specific
are more likely to be clear and compelling
than generalized ones.
• Story. The narrative that unfolds
when character, plot, and dialogue are
combined, producing a particular effect,
feeling, idea, or all three.
• Arc or throughline. A map of the
journey a character makes through a
story. It can be literal or figurative in
that it marks the changes a character
undergoes during the course of the
action and provides moments that are
dramatic and revealing.
• Conflict. The engine of drama,
created when the opposing forces that
make a story interesting square off.
• Objective. What the character
needs and pursues at all times, resulting
from the conflict the playwright
creates.
• Moments. Specific islands of import
in the story’s progression or arc;
places in the script where moments
can be made, revealed, and/or portrayed
dramatically. Victories, defeats,
and discoveries are often made there.
• Physical actions. The things the
actor chooses to do physically to make
thought and feelings clear.
Last month we began an analysis of
the ten-minute play Eukiah by Lanford
Wilson. We accumulated a detailed set
of given circumstances, outlined the
story, and scored the chronological
cause-and-effect sequence of actions
from beginning to end. Our examination
was based on the premise that everything
a playwright puts into his
script is there for a reason, and our
ability as actors to effectively use what
is in that script will help us make
choices that are compelling to watch
and that will help tell the story in the
most effective way.
As we continue, we will take a
closer look at the actions contained in
the story. I think we will find that those
actions are painstakingly laid out by
the playwright, not unlike railroad
tracks that will take us to a predetermined
destination. When we follow the
railroad tracks the playwright has laid
down, we are much more likely to
serve both the story and ourselves as
actors than if we tried to make our
own path to the end.
In this article we are going to focus
on the conflict found in the play and
figure out its relationship to the characters’
objectives. We will then analyze
the script for possible objectives to
play, and then apply those chosen objectives
to the script directly. Ultimately,
we want to be able to divide
the play into beats, using objectives
and tactics. This will allow us to score
NOVEMBER 2005 • DRAMATICS

the story contained in the script and
reveal who the characters are through
the actions we choose to play and
how we play them.
First let’s read the play again on
the following pages.
Conflict
Even though you looked very closely
at the text last time, your understanding
of the machinery of the action is
still missing an important ingredient.
This ingredient is the catalyst that will
insure the story you tell will be a
good one. It is conflict, which is often
referred to as the engine of drama.
The action of any play centers around
its conflict. Invariably the characters in
the story are forced to choose a
course of action that is intended to resolve
the conflict, and the conflict will
continue to fuel the action until it is
finally resolved. In most stories, the
main conflict comes from the opposition
of characters who somehow stand
in each other’s way.
The basic conflicts possible in a
story include person versus person,
person versus himself, (an internal
conflict), or in rarer cases, person versus
nature. Keeping that in mind, see
if you can determine the answers to
the following questions about Eukiah:
• What conflicts are found in the
play?
• Which of these conflicts is most
important? Why and how?
• What are the connections between
the conflicts in the story and its
two characters? How do these conflicts
generate the action of the play?
The action in Eukiah has one central
conflict from which all the action
originates. Butch wants to eliminate
the problem created when Eukiah
overhears a conversation about Butch’s
insurance scheme, and Eukiah wants
to keep his beloved horses safe.
These goals are in stark opposition to
each other because Eukiah will not
permit the horses to be destroyed for
insurance money. In addition to this
central conflict, Eukiah goes through a
series of internal conflicts generated
by Butch’s tactics, which keep shifting
the way Eukiah perceives the situation.
DRAMATICS • NOVEMBER 2005
As with so much of the analysis process,
there are no absolute correct answers;
there are only answers that
work best to tell the story of the play
and your character. Eukiah, the character,
might be said to have both internal
and person versus person conflicts.
Though he will do anything to save his
horses, his wit is no match for Butch’s.
Butch keeps finding new ways to cast
doubt on Eukiah’s resolve, and each
time Butch pitches something new,
Eukiah must not only fend off Butch,
but must resolve his own conflicting
internal desires as well. Though he
wants to protect his horses, he doesn’t
want to be thought of as half-witted.
He doesn’t want to hold up dinner. He
would like to hear about Butch’s date,
and he certainly doesn’t want to lose
Butch’s friendship. In short, for a kid
with limited mental skills, Eukiah has a
lot to think through. It is these internal
conflicts that ultimately weaken his resolve
and eventually undo him. And
that, significantly, is what allows Butch
to achieve his goal.
Butch, on the other hand, must listen
at all times, analyze what seems to
be working and what does not, and
make adjustments accordingly. But he
never veers from his overall objective:
to seduce Eukiah out of hiding so that
the problem he is causing can be
eliminated permanently. The playwright
has given Butch many tactics to
use on Eukiah. It will be up to the actor
to show the audience when one of
his tactics succeeds or fails, and to
make clear the transition from one tactic
to the next as he observes his moment-by-moment
successes and failures
with Eukiah.
Notice how talking about conflict
automatically leads to a discussion of
objective. Just in case you are unfamiliar
or fuzzy about the term, an objective
(also referred to as intention,
need, want, goal, or action) is the
prize an actor as character must pursue
at all times. Unlike in life, where we
often carry out actions without realizing
why we’re doing them, an actor
must make choices for his character
even when the character may not consciously
be doing so. By playing a spe-
cific objective, and constantly pursuing
tactics to achieve it, the actor as character
is able to find effective choices
and to commit to them. This process of
choosing allows the actor to avoid random
actions that do not contribute to
the story. The strong choices that result
from playing objectives guarantee that
the story will be served. Since any
story is based on conflict, and in a play
that conflict consists of an actor’s objective
pitted against an opposing force, it
follows that by playing an objective at
all times, the actor will be serving the
needs of the script.
Tactics
If you accept the analysis laid out
above, then you are ready to go back
to the script and examine it more
closely. So far we have identified the
overall objectives of the two characters,
but we haven’t yet begun to define the
tactics that are used.
Let is say you are playing Butch, a
richly textured character who tries first
one tactical gambit, then another and
another and another. If you can define
this character’s tactics very specifically,
your work will become the more nuanced
and you will be able to show
many more colors about him. You may
have heard a performance described as
“one-level.” This description usually
refers to an actor who has stuck to a
single choice for smaller objectives or
tactics, resulting in a one-dimensional
character.
Eukiah is the more reactive of the
two characters in the play, and because
of his limited mental powers much of
his stage time will be taken up with
listening. It will be up to the actor
playing this role to define the places in
the script where what Butch says has
particular resonance for him and to react
accordingly. As Butch’s arguments
score points with Eukiah, the boy begins
to change his objectives. It will be
up to the actor to demonstrate why he
begins to talk, why he comes out of
hiding, and why he chooses to move
closer to Butch. When is it that coming
out of hiding to talk to Butch becomes

EUKIAH
A short play by Lanford Wilson
Characters
BUTCH
A horse farm hand
EUKIAH
A boy
The present. A dark empty stage represents a long-abandoned
private airplane hangar. The space is vast and almost entirely
dark. A streak of light from a crack in the roof stripes the
floor.
Butch walks into the light. He is a young, powerful, charming
man; everybody’s best friend. He is also menacing. Nothing
be says is introspective. Everything is for a purpose. During
the indicated beats of silence be listens: for Eukiah to
answer, for the sound of breathing, for the least indication of
where Eukiah is. The play is a seduction.
Voices have a slight echo in here.
BUTCH: Eukiah?
(Beat.)
Eukiah?
(Beat.)
Barry saw you run in here, so I know you’re here. You’re
doin’ it again, Eukiah, you’re jumping to these weird conclusions
you jump to just like some half-wit. You don’t wanna
be called a half-wit, you gotta stop actin’ like a half-wit, don’t
ya? You’re gettin’ to where nobody can joke around you, ya
know that? What kind of fun is a person like that to be
around, huh? One you can’t joke around? We talked about
that before, remember?
(Beat.)
Eukiah? What are you thinkin’? You thinkin’ you heard Barry
say something, you thought he meant it, didn’t you? What did
you think you heard? Huh? What’d you think he meant?
Eukiah?
(Beat.)
Copyright 1991 by Lanford Wilson
CAUTION: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that Eukiah is subject
to royalty. It is fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States of
America, the British Commonwealth, including Canada, and all other countries
of the Copyright Union. Inquiries regarding performance rights and royalties
should be directed to Samuel French, Inc., at 45 West 25th Street, New York, NY
10010. Inquiries concerning rights (other than stock or amateur) should be
addressed to the author’s agent, Buddy Thomas, International Creative
Management, Inc., 40 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019.
You’re gonna have to talk to me, I can’t talk to myself here.
(Beat.)
Have you ever known me to lie to you? Eukiah? Have you
ever known that?
(Pause. He might walk around a bit.)
Okay. Boy, this old hangar sure seen better days, hasn’t it? Just
like everything else on this place, huh? Been pretty much a
losing proposition since I’ve known it, though. Probably you
too, hasn’t it? Hell, I don’t think they have the wherewithall
anymore, give even one of those ol’ barns a swab a paint.
You think? Might paint ’em pink, whattaya think? Or candy
stripes. Red and white. Peppermint. You’d like that.
(Beat.)
This’ll remind you of old Mac’s heyday, though, won’t it? Private
airplane hangar. Talk about echoes, this is an echo of the
past, huh? Ol’ Mac had some winners, I guess, about twenty
years ago. That must have been the life, huh? Private planes,
keep ’em in your private hangar. You got your luncheons with
the dukes and duchesses. Winner’s Circle damn near every
race. If they wasn’t raised by Ol’ Mac or their sire or dam one
wasn’t raised by Ol’ Mac, I don’t imagine anybody’d bother to
bet on ’em, do you? Boy that’s all gone, huh? Planes and limos
and all, dukes and duchesses—good lookin’ horses, though.
Damn shame we can’t enter ’em in a beauty contest somewhere.
I know, you’re attached to ’em, but I’ll tell you they
make damn expensive pets.
What was you? Out by the paddock when Barry was talkin’
to me? You think you overheard something, is that it? What do
you think you heard? You want to talk about it? I know you’d
rather talk to me than talk to Barry, huh? Eukiah?
(Pause.)
Is this where you come? When you run off all temperamental
and sulking? Pretty nasty old place to play in. Echoes good
though. Gotta keep awful quiet if you’re trying to be secret
like you always do in a place like this.
Why do you do that? You got any idea? I’m serious, now.
Run off like that. They’re waitin’ supper on you, I guess you
know. You know how happy they’re gonna be about it, too.
(Beat.)
Eukiah? What was it you think you heard, honey? What? Was it
about the horses? Cause I thought I told you never trust anything
anybody says if it’s about horses.
EUKIAH: (Still unseen.) I heard what Barry said. You said you
would, too.
(Butch relaxes some, smiles.)
BUTCH: Where the dickens have you got to? There’s so much
echo in here I can’t tell where you are. You back in those oil
drums? You haven’t crawled up in the rafters have you? Watch
NOVEMBER 2005 • DRAMATICS

yourself. We don’t want you gettin’ hurt. I don’t think those
horses would eat their oats at all, anybody gave ’em to ’em
’cept you. I think they’d flat out go on strike. Don’t you figure?
EUKIAH: They wouldn’t drink, you couldn’t get ’em to.
BUTCH: Don’t I know it. Pot-A-Gold, for sure. You’re the
only one to get him to do anything. I think he’d just dehydrate.
He’d blow away, you wasn’t leadin’ him. We could
lead him to water but we couldn’t make him to drink, isn’t
that right?
(Beat.)
What are you hiding about? Nobody’s gonna hurt you. Don’t
I always take up for you? You get the weirdest ideas. What
do you think you heard Barry say?
EUKIAH: He’s gonna burn the horses.
BUTCH: What? Oh, man. You are just crazy sometimes, these
things you dream up. Who is? Barry? What would he wanna
do something crazy like that for?
EUKIAH: I heard you talkin’.
BUTCH: Can you answer me that? Why would he even
dream of doin’ something like that?
EUKIAH: For the insurance.
BUTCH: No, Eukiah. just come on to supper, now, I got a
date tonight, I can’t mess around with you anymore. You really
are a half-wit. I’m sorry, but if you think Barry’d do
something like that, I’m sorry, that’s just flat out half-witted
thinkin’. It’s not even funny The way you talk, you yak all
day to anybody around, no idea what you’re saying half the
time; anybody heard something like that there wouldn’t be
no work for me or you or anybody else around here, ’cause
they’d just lock us all up.
EUKIAH: You said you would.
BUTCH: I would? I would what?
EUKIAH: You said it was about time somebody did
somethin’.
BUTCH: Eukiah, come out here. I can see you over by that
old buggy, my eyes got used to the dark. There ain’t no
sense in hiding anymore.
(Beat.)
Come on out, damnit, so we can go to supper. I’m not going
to play with you anymore. Come on. Well, just answer me
one thing. How’s burnin’ ’em up gonna be any better than
maybe splittin’ a hoof or somethin’ like that? Come on, crazy.
The least little thing happens to make a horse not run, it’s
the same as if he had to be destroyed, you ought to know
that.
(Eukiah is just visible now. He is maybe sixteen years old. He
is slow and soft; be has the mentality of an eight-year-old.)
EUKIAH: Yeah, but they already took Pot-A-Gold and Flashy
and that gray one, the speckled one, off. They already sold
’em.
BUTCH: Which one do you call Flashy, you mean Go
Carmen? The filly? And Old Ironside? Why would they do
that?
EUKIAH: Cause they’re the best ones. Then they put three no
good horses in their stalls, so nobody would know. And
DRAMATICS • NOVEMBER 2005
they’re gonna burn ’em and nobody can tell they ain’t the
horses they’re supposed to be, Butchy.
BUTCH: Nobody could run Pot-A-Gold somewhere else,
Euky. You know those numbers they tattoo in his mouth?
That’s gonna identify him no matter where he goes,
anybody’ll know that’s Pot-A-Gold.
EUKIAH: Some other country. They wouldn’t care.
BUTCH: Anywhere on earth.
EUKIAH: They got some plan where it’ll work, ’cause I
heard ’em.
BUTCH: I don’t know what you think you heard, but you’re
really acting half-witted here.
EUKIAH: Don’t call me—
BUTCH: Well, I’m sorry, but what would you call it? A person
can’t burn down a barn full of horses, Euky. What a
horrible thing to think. No wonder you get scared, you
scare yourself thinking things like that. Those horses are
valued, hell I don’t even know, millions of dollars probably.
Insurance inspectors come around, they take a place apart.
You tell me, how would somebody get away with a trick
like that?
EUKIAH: What was you talkin’ about then?
BUTCH: I don’t even know. Where it was you heard what
you thought you heard. You’re too fast for me. You’ll just
have to go into supper and ask Mac what Barry was talking
about, won’t you? Would that make you feel better? Instead
of jumpin’ to your weird conclusions. Now, can you get that
out of your head? Huh? So we can go eat and I can take a
bath and go on my date? Is that all right with you? Then I’ll
come back and tell you all about it. Got a date with Mary,
you’d like to hear about that, wouldn’t you?
(Eukiah begins to grin.)
Yes? That’s okay with you, is it?
EUKIAH: I guess. (He moves into the light, closer to Butch.)
BUTCH: You guess. You’re just going to have to trust me,
Eukiah, nobody needs money that bad. Not even on this
place. I don’t even think nobody could get away tryin’ to
pull something like that.
(He puts his arm around Eukiah’s neck and they start to
move off but Butch has Eukiah in a head lock. He speaks
with the strain of exertion.)
Not unless they was some half-wit on the place that got his
neck broke being kicked in the head and got burned up in
the fire.
(Eukiah goes to his knees. Butch bears down on his neck; it
breaks with a dull snap. He lets Eukiah slump to the floor.
Butch is breathing hard, standing over Eukiah’s body.)
I thought I told you. Never trust anything anybody says if
it’s about horses.
Blackout
Lanford Wilson’s many plays include Fifth of July, Lemon
Sky, The Mound Builders, The Hot L Baltimore, Burn This,
Redwood Curtain, and Talley’s Folly, for which he was
awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

important enough to sacrifice his safety?
When does going to dinner becomes
too important to give up? Why? Each of
Eukiah’s actions results from a change
in objective.
The actor playing Eukiah will also
have to demonstrate why each of the
physical actions defined in the script
occurs when it does. If you were playing
Eukiah, you would not necessarily
be obligated to do physically all of the
things mentioned in the stage directions.
Nor would you necessarily have
to do them at the exact times suggested
by the playwright, unless, of course,
the dialogue specifically refers to that
action. You would, however, need to
tell the story of Eukiah’s step-by-step
emergence from hiding in the most
clear and compelling way possible.
Therefore, the playwright’s stage directions
will need to be studied closely.
Charting the beats
Now you are ready to return to the
script and see how many objectives and
tactics (specific ways of achieving your
larger objective) you can identify. What
tactics does Butch use? When and why
do these tactics change? What is the
specific point at which Eukiah is won
over by Butch’s tactical moves? What
specifically is his response and how exactly
did Butch manage to produce that
response in him?
With these questions in mind, go
back to the script and mark in possible
objectives that each of the characters
will be playing and note where in the
script they occur. Also note the transitional
moments when objectives and
tactics change. What we’re doing here
is charting the beats of the play. A beat
is a section of a script during which an
actor plays a particular objective or tactic.
When the objective or tactic
changes, a new beat begins.
Draw a line after the last line of an
objective, just at the spot where the
change to a new objective or tactic occurs.
Then write in the new objective or
tactic right below that line. Charting the
transitions this way will help you recognize
that you have indeed come to the
end of a beat and remind you to begin
playing the new one you have marked
in. Mark the beats now, and then we’ll
go into a little more detail.
Were you able to find where the
beats of the play change? A beat ends
when an objective is won or lost, when
new information is introduced or a discovery
is made that will change the
character’s need, or when there is an
interruption imposed by outside forces
that must be dealt with. (This last one
does not happen in this play.) Whenever
a beat ends, for any one of these
reasons, it is the actor’s job to transition
from one beat to another clearly
and believably. Sometimes this can be
done without fanfare; other times it is
necessary for the actor as character to
show how and why this change happens.
These transitions from one objective
to another are likely to create
powerful moments on stage if you are
able to shape them fully and clearly.
Butch’s tactics
Let’s look more closely now at the tactics
that Butch might pursue. There are
no right or wrong answers, but your
goal is to tell the story of the play and
your character as clearly and as compellingly
as you can. Here is a partial
list of smaller objectives or tactics the
actor playing Butch might use in his
“seduction” of Eukiah.
To make Eukiah think he can’t win.
To make him feel crazy.
To make him feel stupid.
To make him feel like an outcast.
To make him feel he has no sense
of humor.
To make him feel guilty.
To make him feel like a friend.
To make him feel important.
To make him realize that Butch
loves and cares about the horses.
To make him talk about what he
heard.
To make him think he heard incorrectly.
To make him feel selfish.
Do any of these tactics match some
that you came up with? See if you can
find where these tactics could be
played in the script. Remember, each
choice of tactic will affect the way the
story unfolds and how the audience
perceives that story and its characters.
Each choice will affect the manner in
which the story moves forward, and
give more information about the characters
to the audience. As an actor, you
are responsible for creating an effective
library of information that tells the audience
things about your character and
that will make the story work the way
it should. That is your job.
In his opening monologue, for instance,
Butch tries a series of tactics, all
intended to start the process of fulfilling
his objective. Before he can win his
overall objective, he first must locate
Eukiah. The simplest way to do this
would be to get Eukiah to talk. But
there are certainly other ways, including
looking for him physically. The
playwright has Butch talk to Eukiah
without beginning a physical search.
Why do you think it is written this way?
What does it tell us about Butch? Notice
how the playwright helps the actor by
actually reporting beat changes in
Butch’s first long speech. What is
Lanford Wilson telling the actor? Even if
you don’t follow his suggestions exactly,
Wilson is certainly, at the least,
offering up clues as to how you might
choose to play these important transitional
moments. See if you can identify
the tactics in each beat, if you have not
already done so. Then try reading the
script with those tactics in mind. Note
how many colors and changes you can
find by doing so.
Physical actions
Playing objectives refers to both psychological
and physical action. Though
Butch especially relies on psychological
action during the course of the play,
there are some very important physical
actions related to objective playing that
must be dealt with as well. For instance,
Eukiah’s decision to show himself
will be carried out physically. Doing
so is part of playing his newly
revised objective. What does showing
himself, or choosing to talk to Butch,
tell us about his objective, or how it
has changed? How the actor executes
important moments like these will help
tell the ongoing story and give the au-
NOVEMBER 2005 • DRAMATICS

DRAMATICS • NOVEMBER 2005
dience a lot of information regarding
what Eukiah is thinking and feeling at
that moment. Moving closer to Butch
will have similar dramatic power. The
actor must make choices that are as
clear and as gripping as he possibly
can make them.
It is important to keep in mind that
all actions have beginnings, middles
and ends, and for the actor playing
for Eukiah, getting up and showing
himself begins not with the action itself
but with the decision to do so. If
the actor takes himself through the
decision making process it will inform
and affect the manner in which he actually
gets up. Further, if he can
somehow demonstrate his thinking
process to the audience (assuming
that he is visible to them) by what he
does physically, then the actor is telling
the story in the best possible way.
Butch, on the other hand, will no
doubt have a reaction when Eukiah
actually reveals himself. What should
that reaction be? And how can Butch
physic-alize that reaction believably
and let the audience in on what he is
feeling and thinking? Or perhaps, it
would be better for the story if Butch
does not reveal what he is thinking
and feeling to the audience. Why
might this be the case?
A moment like this is a major one
in the story and for the characters—
one that results in a transition and
change of objective. Once Butch sees
Eukiah, he will be on to the next tactic
in fulfilling his overall purpose, which
is to end Eukiah’s threat to the insurance
scam. Eukiah has changed as
well. If he feels safe enough to expose
himself, he must no longer think his
horses are in immediate danger, and
his objective has become more about
getting back into good graces with
Butch than one that is concerned with
the horses. The actors will need to
know their new objectives and/or tactics
and play them effectively.
There is another important storytelling
issue here that was hinted at in
the preceding paragraph. What should
the audience be thinking and feeling
about Butch and Eukiah? Should the
audience like Butch? You might assume
that since ultimately, he turns
out to be a very bad guy, that the audience
should not like him. But does
that really tell the story in the best
possible way? What if we, like Eukiah,
are totally charmed by Butch? Might
not that give the ending a surprising
and powerful punch? If that is the
case, then the manner in which he
carries out his objective is very important.
So it becomes not only what he
does but how he does it. These are
only questions for consideration, and
two actors will not necessarily come
up with the same answer. But issues
like those raised here need to be considered,
because your answer will affect
the kind of choices you make regarding
objectives and tactics.
Not every answer needs to be arrived
at during your script analysis, by
the way. In fact, you will learn much
more during your active rehearsal process,
but the more you explore your
obligations to the story at the outset,
the better prepared you will be to find
in-the-moment answers later as you
rehearse.
If you come to rehearsal without a
clue, you are not is likely to be available
for inspiration. The clueless actor
is nervous and busy dealing with himself.
He is likely to be able to respond
in the moment. The actor who has
done his homework and is confidently
relaxed is much more likely to be focused
outside himself and ready to respond
to input. And this is often where
the acting magic will happen.
Tuning the objectives
Now that we have discussed the play a
bit, you might want to go back to your
notes on the script to see whether the
objectives and tactics you have charted
are really specific enough, and
whether they best serve the unfolding
story and character. Look very closely
to see if each objective and tactic has
its fulfillment, whenever possible, in
the other character. An objective that
has its completion in another character
guarantees that there will be conflict to
overcome. In other words, Butch
should really be targeting Eukiah, and
Eukiah should really be targeting
Butch. Objective phrases that begin
with “to make [someone] do [something],”
or “to keep [someone] from
doing [something]” can be particularly
effective phrasing for targeting the
other character. It forces a connection
between objective and target.
Remember, a playwright creates
conflict whenever possible between
characters—moment by moment and
scene by scene—because he wants the
story to be as gripping as possible.
When an actor finds an objective that
has its fulfillment in another character,
you can be sure that the other character
will somehow provide an obstacle
to the fulfillment of that objective. It is
up to you to hunt down these obstacles
so that you can use them in
your work effectively. In Eukiah, the
title character has a good deal of internal
conflict as well. It would be your
job as the actor playing Eukiah to find
the conflict and obstacles that exist
within him and use them to relate to
the conflicting overall objectives between
him and Butch.
If you have carefully gone through
the analysis process with me in this
article and in the one that appeared in
the October issue, you should have a
very clear understanding of the
storytelling mechanism of Eukiah and
its individual gears. You have a pretty
good idea of who the characters are,
what they need, and what’s keeping
them from getting it. You know the
conflicts found in the story and the arc
of the story as Butch and Eukiah move
toward fulfilling their objectives. You
also have a good idea of the
storytelling moments found in the play
and the kind of choices you will have
to make to bring those moments to
their maximum dramatic light.
During the rehearsal process you
will deepen your understanding and
make adjustments in accordance with
the no doubt slightly different version
of the story that is created when your
choices are merged with those of the
other actors and your director. You
will have to give up some of your
choices in order to create a uniform
shared vision that works seamlessly
together. Since theatre is collaborative

and developmental, nothing you have
created in your homework process
should be considered anything but a
starting point. The understanding you
will be bringing to the table, however,
ensures that the time you spend in rehearsal
will be productive and enlightened.
If you are able to do this, you
will have done the kind of preparation
that is expected of a professional.
Bruce Miller is director of acting programs
at the University of Miami and
the author of The Actor as Storyteller
and Head-First Acting.
NOVEMBER 2005 • DRAMATICS