Spare Scenes is a delightful collection of "neutral" but engaging material for use by student actors at any level of ability. Easy to learn and provocative, these short scenes encourage the student actor to use his or her imagination in a freer and more enticing way than traditional scenes.
—Dr. Robert Benedetti, Author of The Actor in You, Second Edition; The Actor at Work, Ninth Edition; and ACTION!: Acting for Film and Television
Spare Scenes is a very useful tool for both the actor in training as well as those training them. Timmerman provides coherent and concise explanations of acting exercises as well as imaginative scenes with which to practice their craft.
—Kyle Donnelly, Director, the Graduate Acting Program, University of California at San Diego
In theatre, context is everything. So what do you do when there is no context? Spare Scenes contains 60 open, circumstance-free scenes that promote growth in craft by forcing you to create context by determining character, relationship and action.
Each brief scene places you into a two-person scenario where something is at stake, but where the dialogue offers no specific clues about the clash, forcing you to make choices that demonstrate the who, what, why, where, when, and how. But these skeletal scenes aren't just for actors, directors can use them to develop their skills in creating relationships, conflict, tone, and other theatrical dynamics.
Whether you are an actor honing your ability to create a character and play an action or an acting and directing teacher who wants a fun and challenging alternative to traditional script-analysis and character-building lessons, Spare Scenes is a fresh tool for learning, teaching, or practicing the craft. Pick up Spare Scenes, and find out what you'd do when the context is...nothing.
