Acting Technique · 3 min read
Uta Hagen’s Technique
Hagen’s nine questions and her substitution work - a craft-first technique grounded in transferable preparation.
Published April 22, 2025
Uta Hagen made craft transferable. Her nine questions still work.
Generic preparation produces generic acting. Hagen’s nine questions force specificity in a teachable structure.
The work, step by step
- Who am I?. Specific, particular, with biography.
- What time is it?. Year, season, day, hour.
- Where am I?. Geographic and immediate space.
- What surrounds me?. Objects, weather, atmosphere.
- What are the given circumstances?. Past, present, future of the play.
- What is my relationship?. To people, places, things in the scene.
- What do I want?. Specific, active.
- What is in my way?. The obstacle.
- What do I do to get what I want?. The active actions, scene to scene.
Common pitfalls
- Answering the questions on autopilot.
- Skipping the obstacle.
- Answering generically.
How Actry fits in
Answer the nine questions for any scene before opening Actry. Run the scene. The rating sharpens with the specificity of your answers.
Frequently asked questions
Where to learn?
Respect for Acting and A Challenge for the Actor - read both.
Substitution exercise?
Replace fictional given circumstances with personal ones to ignite truth.
Hagen vs Method?
Hagen is craft-forward. Method is feeling-forward. Different doors to truth.
Filed under Acting Technique. Tagged: hagen, technique.