Directing MicroMoments

In Playing the Arcs (published in Director’s Line and Associated Content), we learned about giving the character an arc to follow in a scene. He comes in at one level, is taken to a new level by the action in the scene, and comes down from that new level to the end of the scene. Looking at a scene from that perspective can be very helpful.

Within the scene, you’ll find several moments in which the same arc takes place on a smaller scale. Sometimes they can be short. I call them micromoments, like this scene, which comes at the top of a five minute sketch. It takes place in a pretentious restaurant. Harley is well dressed in “business casual” clothing. Dolores is dressed to the nines. The waiter enters.

1 WAITER Would you like a refill of your Coke?

2 HARLEY Don’t say Coke like its poison. Yeah, as long as it’s free.

3 WAITER It’s free, sir.

4 DOLORES Harley, don’t be so rude.

5 HARLEY (to Dolores) Everything on their menu has all these weirdo ingredients, like crushed walnuts pesto and ginger/thyme bruolee. I don’t know if they give free refills or not.

6 WAITER Well, there is a Taco Bell on the corner. They give you free refills.

7 HARLEY Listen here, sunny boy…

8 DOLORES Harley, don’t. You’re embarrassing me!

9 HARLEY …I’ve bought and sold dumps like this a million times over. The only reason I’m sitting here now is because some dimwit asked me to meet him here so that he can plead his case. So don’t go sticking your nose up at me. I’m asking you for a free refill. Do you think you can handle that?

10 WAITER Of course. And would the lady like a free refill as well?

11 DOLORES Yes, please…

12 HARLEY No. She’s had enough.

13 DOLORES Harley, I want to have…

14 HARLEY (Harley fixes eyes with the waiter) She’s had enough Coca Cola for today.

15 WAITER (Pauses) Very good, sir. (exits)

The purpose of this exchange is to show the coarseness of Harley’s character. In line 6 the waiter suggests that the Harley might not be up to the restaurant’s standards. He has the potential of insulting Harley’s wife in line 10. Is the waiter baiting Harley? In line 6, it looks like he is.

The key to playing the waiter is to give him an air of supreme self confidence. If we know that the restaurant is pretentious, we can assume the waiter is as well. He has complete control over Harley’s food, Harley’s dining experience, and even over Harley himself. However, the waiter’s performance should build from the waiter’s assumption that Harley fits in at line 1 to his awareness that Harley is coarse at line 6 to a mocking pretentiousness at line 10. The waiter’s character cements in when he and Harley lock eyes at line 14. “She’s had enough Coca Cola for today, beat beat beat, Very good, sir”

The waiter drags out his response during those three beats, showing the audience that waiter is wresting control from Harley.

In this micromoment, it becomes clear that Harley is a self-made man, as he explains in line 9. We can see in lines 2 and 5 that he feels like a fish out of water. Dolores’ Coke becomes a metaphor for Harley’s struggle for control. And Harley feels that he wins the struggle in line 14, although Dolores pays the price.

Playing Harley in this short moment offers a rich panacea of nuance. He swings from a somewhat self-conscious novice in the culinary world at line 2 to taking control in line 14. He can flare his temper in line 9, but needs to rein it back in by line 14. Although the moment could devolve into a fistfight, Harley’s steely-eyed glare at the waiter locks his power and control over the circumstances in place.

The point of this exercise is to demonstrate how much character and power you can pull out of a 45-second moment. This micromoment, if carefully directed, can set the tone and flavor for the rest of the sketch.

Keep your eyes open for micromoments in every scene. They come in little places, like glance-exchanges between characters. Playing them well makes all the difference between a volunteer show and a professional presentation.

Scene excerpted from Big Spender, available at www.reinharthouse.com/scripts