theater GOTE assignment

Goal Other Tactics Expectations (GOTE) Sheet

Taken from Acting One by Robert Cohen and Respect for Acting by Uta Hagen

On a separate sheet of paper, answer the following questions about your character using as much detail as possible. Use your imagination. Research. Do your homework on each character! Answers should be in narrative form and in first person. Answers should be longer than one word or one sentence.

1. Basic information about the character:

Name:

Sex:

Age:

Marital Status and History:

Education Level:

Economic/Social Status:

2. What do you really want in the scene? When do you want it?

3. What are the obstacles standing in your way? What are your fears or worries?

4. Tactics: How can I get it? What can you do to get what you want?

5. Expectation: Why do I expect to get it? What will I do when I get it?

6. What time is it? Century, year, season, day, minute. What was happening in politics, sports, weather, etc. at this time? How do the above things affect you?

7. Where am I? Country, city, neighborhood, house, room, area of room?

8. What surrounds me? Animate and inanimate objects. Describe them in detail. How does the time of day affect what surrounds me?

9. What are the given circumstances? Past, present, future, and the events. What took place two minutes before this scene? What are you expecting to happen two minutes after this scene? What do you expect to happen now?

Goal Other Tactics Expectations (GOTE) Sheet

from Acting One by Robert Cohen

Goal The character’s quest which the actor assumes; Everything onstage must be seen, first and foremost as the character pursuing a goal. The goal should be specific and outgoing. It is the character’s objective.

Other The person(s) with whom, for whom, or from whom you seek your goal. There is always an ‘other’ in acting. It is what makes achieving a goal difficult-the chief obstacle. The struggle to overcome obstacles to achieve goals (and remember the other is also in pursuit of goals) creates the dynamic of acting. The struggle to overcome obstacles on stage should make you sweat.

Ask: What is my goal?

Who is/are the other person(s) who affect my gaining it?

How can they help me?

How can they hurt me?

How are they my obstacle?

How can I demand/induce/encourage their help? How can I overcome the obstacle they pose?

What should be my tactics?

Tactics The character’s means of trying to achieve goals; they are what gives acting it’s “guts”. Utilizing tactics are what make acting real. The lines may be the playwright’s but the tactics are the actor’s.

Expectation Characters don’t just desire goals, they crave them. Therefore they have certain expectations. Expectations should incite enthusiasm, excitement, and energy. Characters not only have wants, they have passion. Making the goals the prime goals of your life.