Adapted from Stella Adler's The Technique of Acting,
New York City: Bantam Books, 1988.

This exercise uses naiveté and imagination and encourages students to think fast. Have your students spread out in the room. Have them sit with pen and paper. Now tell them to close their eyes and to concentrate on your voice. In a quiet, but reassuring voice take your students on an imaginative journey. Tell the students to imagine the following series of events:

• Imagine going to a window and looking out.

• See a balcony.

• See a pigeon on the balcony.

• Watch the pigeon fly away and look at the mess it left behind.

• Look down over the balustrade.

• See a UPS delivery truck with the back of the truck open.

• Look at the color and shape of the truck.

• See a child skipping rope past the truck.

• Look at the shoes she is wearing.

• Look at the UPS driver taking a package out of the back of truck.

• Look at the way he is dressed.

Now, tell your students to open their eyes and immediately sketch the street and the scene that they have imagined. Their level of artistry is irrelevant -- it is their ability to fill in the details prompted by these few images that is key.

Then discuss the following ideas: These snapshot images are analogous to the limited details supplied in a dramatic text. Actors must use -- and train -- their imagination to fill in the blanks and complete the picture.