Overview
Line-Run is a tool to help actors to learn their lines and - of equal importance - their cues.
Computer-generated actors speak the other parts of the script, pausing when they reach one of your own lines. Line-Run can then reveal the line a word at a time, or give you an audible prompt, to jog your memory. When you think you know the line, it is displayed for verification. Alternatively, using speech-recognition software for input, you can speak the line and have Line-Run compare it with the actual line in the script!
(Please note that Line-Run does not include speech-recognition software, but should work with most commercially available speech-recognition applications.)
Line-Run replaces several techniques employed by actors to learn lines:
- moving a card down a page to reveal your cues (too easy to cheat or lose concentration);
- recording your cues onto an audio-cassette with appropriate gaps (too fiddly to get right, with all the consequent rewinding/fast-forwarding/accidental recording over);
- getting a friend to read-in all the other parts (they often enjoy it the first time, but repetition breeds contempt).
One of the key advantages of using Line-Run is that you learn by listening to your cues and responding to them, rather than by following a mental image of the layout of the printed page. It is all too easy to focus on anticipating what you are supposed to say next, at the expense of listening to what is being said - a habit which can carry through to performance and inhibit truthful communication between actors. Learning by hearing and analysing your cues promotes better listening on stage and in front of the camera.
To keep lines fresh, Line-Run can help you to hear them anew by taking you through the script in random sequence, with cues only, or with a shortened cue-length (as in a Shakespearean cue-script).
Line-Run comes with a selection of "actors". These actors use standard Microsoft Agent technology, so any "Microsoft Agent characters" installed on your computer can be employed as actors, simply by copying them into the Line-Run "Actors" folder.
Currently, Line-Run is only available for the Microsoft Windows operating system (95/98/2000/Millenium Edition/XP).
THE PLAY'S THE THING
A growing library of play-texts is available for download from www.linerun.com, though this is limited to texts for which copyright does not apply.
Most new parts you have to learn will involve the initial chore of entering the script. However, this can be an important step in the learning process: many actors write out their own lines voluntarily to help commit them to memory, and either writing or typing your lines helps develop an awareness of the specific words that comprise them.
Entering the text of a whole play is a long job, but few parts require such completeness. If other characters speak at length, you can enter just your immediate cues. If a lack of keyboard skills makes such an exercise impractical, you can use speech-recognition software to dictate the script. Alternatively, you can use a scanner with optical character recognition (OCR) software to "scan" the text into your computer.
Line-Run includes a text editor for entering and editing your script, but will accept Rich Text files created by other word-processor applications.