Evolve limp. Drop entire arm. energy in the same manner from shoulder to finger-tips. Drop entire arm. Energize entire arm to finger-tips and withdraw to knuckles, to wrist, to elbow, to shoulder, and drop entire arm. 59. To Shake Relaxed Fingers.Let the left hand be entirely limp. Grasp it with right hand, placing fingers in palm of left hand, and shake. Reverse. 60. To Shake Hand, Forearm, and Arm.-Shake left hand by placing right hand above wrist of left. Reverse. To shake forearm, energize arm to elbow, leaving forearm and hand limp. Elbow is elevated and moves forward and back vigorously. To shake arm, let entire arm hang limp and bend body and sway it so that the arm, hanging quite free from the body, will move in obedience, in all directions.. 61. Both Arms in Front Devitalized.-Energize both arms forward, as high as shoulder-level. Drop hands, forearms, entire arms. 62. Both Arms at Sides Devitalized.-Energize both arms straight at sides. Drop hands, forearms, entire arms. 63. Both Arms Fully Extended Overhead.-Energize, by elevating elbows, wrists, hands, and devitalize in sections, dropping entire arm. 64. To Devitalize from ShoulderTips.-Energize both arms at sides, turning palms up, flex hands toward shoulders until finger-tips touch. Unfold arms in sections, reverse palms and drop arms. 65. Head Forward, Neck Relaxed. -Incline torso forward. Surrender head to its weight; relaxing neck perfectly. Head drops on chest. 66. Head Backward, Neck Relaxed. -Incline torso back. Head drops back, according to the law of weight; neck is devitalized. 67. Head Drops Right. - Bend shoulders to right. Head drops on right shoulder. If the shoulders are bent to the left, head drops on left shoulder. 68. To Roll Head Right and Left. -Relax neck, bending forward. Head drops on chest. Sway torso on hips right and left. Head rolls like a ball from right to left. Repeat. If we drop head to right and bend shoulders forward and back, head will roll forward and back. 69. To Roll Head Forward and Back.-Drop head to left and bend shoulders forward and back. Head rolls forward and back. 70. To Roll Head in a Circle.Drop head forward. Shoulders describe a circle. Head rolls in a circle. Reverse, rolling head both ways. 71. A Circle with Energized Neck. -Describe a circle with shoulders, the neck being strongly energized. 72. To Energize Shoulders and Chest.-Relax shoulders and chest, letting arms hang limp in front. Energize to very positive chest, and set shoulders. Repeat. 73. To Surrender to Waist-line.Sitting far on the edge of a chair forward, devitalize neck, shoulders, and entire waist to the right. Arms hang off to the right. Reverse. 74. To Energize to Waist Right and Left.-Hands on hips, bend to right, neck, shoulders, and waist, fully energized. Reverse. 75. To Surrender to Hips Right and Left.-Relax entire body above hips, letting it drop forward, hands hanging to floor. Sway hips right and left, letting the entire body above hips sway right and left. 76. To Energize Entire Body and Devitalize.-Raise arms straight overhead and rise on toes, the entire body being rigidly energized. Devitalize arms in sections and entire body to hips falling forward, hands to floor. Repeat. 77. Circle Movement above Hips. -Devitalize to hips; move hips in a circle, letting the devitalized waist, head, and arms swing in circular movement, as by weight. This exercise should be performed very slowly, when it will be found useful to stimulate a torpid liver and to allay indigestion. 78. To Relax the Jaw.-Utter the syllable ah, letting the chin drop, and remain in place. Place fingers at extreme of jaw-bone, each side, and push with side movement, alternately right and left; also place fingers on chin, moving it in all directions and making it entirely obedient to the movement of the hand. 79. To Control Energy in the Tongue.-Press tongue hard to the roof of mouth as though about to utter d; drop tongue and jaw together instantly. Now utter dah as rapidly as possible, making a distinct movement of jaw. Nature teaches the infant to do this as a preparatory talking process, with many other similar exercises, much needed, but forgotten in after years. 80. To Exercise the Facial Muscles.-(1) Contract muscles used in laughing, then relax suddenly. Raise under lip at centre by energizing the chin muscle. Relax suddenly to normal position. (2) Elongate the face, with lips closed, eyebrows raised, and chin dropped. Relax suddenly to normal position. (3) Widen the face with lips closed. Use muscles as in laughing. Relax suddenly. (4) Draw down corners of mouth as though weeping. Relax. (5) Raise corners of mouth as in laughing. Relax. 81. To Devitalize Lower Leg.Bend knee and raise upper leg at right angle to torso; let entire leg then drop to floor. Reverse and repeat. This exercise is an excellent remedy for cold feet. To avoid too much jar let the toe only touch the floor. 82. To Devitalize Entire Leg.Stand with strong leg on a slight elevation and let the other leg hang off perfectly limp from hip. Move body so that the limp leg will move in obedience, forward and back. Shake foot. Grasp limp leg above the ankle with both hands, and shake the foot in all directions. 83. To Devitalize to Floor.-Take kneeling-position and withdraw energy until there is an entire surrender, by falling on thigh of sustaining knee, and the floor is reached. Re verse. 84. To Energize from Knee.-Energize upper leg to horizontal posi tion. Count 1, 2, throw energy to the toe, straightening lower leg to horizontal position. Count 3, 4, and let entire limb drop to the floor. 85. Foot Bound.-Sit and spring one foot, raising heel very high, and coming down on toe. The foot will bound up and down, striking toe each time. This gives pleasant exercise, without jar, to the entire leg. Reverse. Also exercise both feet at once, by alternating motion; also let both toes strike at the same time. 86. Foot and Ankle Spring.-Stand and raise on toes; come down, but do not let heels touch the floor. Repeat the spring until toes leave the floor and you continue to bound constantly higher and higher. Come down on toe each time. Do not jar the floor in the least. This exercise simply requires control of energy in the foot and the ankle. 87. To Straighten Drooping Shoulders. Place hands high up under arms, pressing shoulders directly up as far as possible. Hold there an instant and let hands glide down the sides to hips, suddenly. 88. To Strengthen Abdominal Muscles. Clasp hands in front below the waist-line. Draw back elbows, pressing hard upon the bowels. This immediately raises the chest. Breathe with deep inspirations several times. Contract the abdominal muscles and hold the bowels in the same position for some time, while hands are re moved. Relax and repeat until the abdominal muscles may be so restricted without the hand placing. Do not fail to poise forward while trying this exercise. The hips should be well drawn back. Many try to reduce abdominal proportions in this way on a heel poise, but it is injurious. 89. Leg Forward, Back and Across Swing. Stand on one foot, leg and hip being strongly energized. Leave the other entirely limp. Bend forward at hips; the foot swings backward. Count 1, bend back; foot swings far forward. Count 2, it swings in front of and past the strong knee. Count 3, it swings forward again. Count 4. Repeat and reverse. This gives the knee of the moving leg fine exercise, as it passes in front of the other. The proper angle of foot should not change. 90. Circle Foot Exercise.- Have weight on one foot, describe a circle with the other, sufficiently energized to guide it. The knee must be entirely straight and the instep extended. The body may sway in a manner to assist its movement. Gradually withdraw the energy, continuing the circular motion. Reverse. The circle may start with front and back movement, alternating. 91. Wrapping Hand Movement.— Let both arms be a little energized and straightened. The shoulders then begin a rotary movement, which throws the right hand hard on the left shoulder, and the left hand on the right shoulder, alternating. 92. Hip Doubling; Elongation.— Energize with hands overhead. Bend forward at hips, striving to make finger-tips reach the floor. Hold position, entirely relaxed above the hips. After a certain acute angle is acquired at the hips, failing to reach the floor does not show want of skill, but of certain anatomical proportions, which do not favor this exact centre doubling. The knees are supposed to be straight. This exercise. is beneficial in reducing flesh around waist-line, favoring digestion and liver action. It also strengthens weak shoulder-muscles, which cause drooping shoulders. It is also improving to short-waisted people. It also reduces abdominal flesh to muscle. This is a very popular exercise. It is well to remember that surrender exercises, especially such as liberating the entire body and falling to the floor, should be used with great discretion. These falling exercises may be and have been practiced to a harmful excess. The utility of surrender is to be able to energize fully, and to use much or little energy in one, two, or more parts of the body at once, and to do this quickly or slowly. A slow falling movement with continuous mental supervision, until the floor is reached, and then slowly energizing to a standing-position, is very strengthening. EEING a play is, in a sense, like being introduced to a company of people to whom one is a stranger. In the case of my simile one is able to grasp the general character of the assemblage, just as in fact one grasps the general purpose of a play in seeing it. But as one can not pretend fully and completely to understand - the assemblage until one personally knows the people of which it is composed, so one can not completely understand a play until one has knowledge of just how it is written, and how it is staged, and of the various influences that distinctly affect it in one way or another. I can not, for instance, explain to my reader how to criticize the stagepictures or the action of a play until I have made known to him what "action" and stage-pictures are, and who is responsible for these, and the process by which they are produced. I can not tell him how far and for what to hold a playwright responsible, until I have related what the playwright's duties and responsibilities are, and where these duties and responsibilities end, and where those of the star and the stage-manager and the various stage-mechanics begin. manager and of the actors, of the carpenter, painter, and propertyman, and of all that has to be accomplished by these various stage-people before the curtain can be rolled up on the night of the play's first production. II. If you wish me to define a playwright, I hesitate (for they are so various in kind), but answer that he is one who knows all that it is necessary to know in order to write a successful play. The difference between the man I have censured and him whose knowledge I have described is one of years of properly made effort. For it must be understood that one can not become a playwright as one can a doctor or a lawyer, or even a novelist, by studying from many books; it is almost entirely a matter of personal acquirement and what the playwright finally gets to know about the stage he discovers by his experience in work. What has he to guide him save his dramatic instinct? How can he learn to improve save by that fruitful source of wisdom,—his failures? You will agree that he is self-taught in a greater degree than the novelist, when you learn that the current literature of the stage, the new successes, are all in inaccessible manuscript form. The novelist has all the masters of literature from Moses to Stevenson to get his knowledge of good and evil art from. Your modern Moses keeps your modern playwright from such opportunity. You have probably gone ahead of me and asked yourself why this martyr Copyrighted, 1897, E. L. Atherton. In order that he may get this knowledge in as direct a way as possible I shall speak first of how a play is written (by this I mean the actual writing of it by the playwright), and then I shall describe all of the developments of the process by which it is completed. I shall tell about the duties of the star and of the stage of emotional letters does not go to the playhouse for his instruction; and I answer that the very possession of the emotional instinct, which is so large a part of the playwright's endowment, argues his inability to use what he sees in a play for his personal benefit. But the plays which are in print are mostly stories in play form, or they are of an antiquated dramatic form. To follow them would be equal, in point of sense, to following Chaucer's style and spelling. There There is only one way in which a playwright can succeed, I repeat, and this is to work on and on until by the accumulative knowledge gained by his work he becomes sufficiently knowing to write a play which someone accepts and produces. The "putting on "of this play is to him what a college education is to a writer, it molds his knowledge into form and shows him how to use it to the best advantage and what is useful about his work and what is not. I am aware that there have been books written on how to write plays, but they are practically of no assistance, as they usually contain a varied assortment of eminently useless information on a variety of equally useless subjects, and when our playwright has mastered the contents of these books he is left about where he began, or with a partly paralyzed intelligence and a confused idea about exits and entrances. Now that, in a measure, we have educated our playwright or explained how he must educate himself, we may at once, in perfect accord with the natural logic of events, describe how he writes one of his successful dramas. The reader, if he has read the long essays on Shakespeare which the learned analysts of that poet are continually writing, will suppose that all playwrights have, like those analysts, a holy respect for rules (and for that kind of rule which it is very difficult for the lay mind to understand). In the actual writing of the play there is of course required a good deal of technical knowledge, but the principles of dramatic form either come as naturally to the playwright as his breath, or they do not come at all. Those of you who have read these long treatises on how Shakespeare wrote such and such a play and what principles he applied in its writing have a more or less imaginative idea that the poet must first have written a book of rules, and then like your analyst have spent the rest of his life in proving them. In my opinion, Shakespeare put what he had to say on paper with nothing better to guide him than his own instinctive knowledge of what was artistically right, and that knowledge has made the rules. Expediency is the watchword of the modern playwright. He wishes to get his plays produced, and he wishes to make a living and perhaps a fortune by their production. He does not, therefore, follow any antiquated methods, nor does he choose subjects which no manager would consider and no star be pleased with. In the selection of subject, in treatment and in suggestion, his work has a definite aim; it is written to suit some particular company or some particular star, and even when it is written and submitted with none of these in view (if it is accepted), it is changed to meet the needs and the wishes of the manager or the star, and so it comes to the same thing in the end. From this the reader will see that, for a large part, the manager and the star are the real shapers of the destiny of the modern drama, and it is well to remember this. When you are at the play, and you see a piece which is finely constructed, which is full of fine lines and situations of unusual brilliancy of effect, but in which there are also, in spots, a deadly dulness or in other parts a |