Core Action Verbs for Young PerformersTo Get Someone To...

• Convince
• Persuade
• Encourage
• Inspire
• Motivate
• Challenge
• Teach
• Explain

To Affect Someone Emotionally

• Comfort
• Reassure
• Support
• Impress
• Excite
• Entertain
• Flirt
• Celebrate

To Gain Power

• Control
• Command
• Demand
• Pressure
• Threaten
• Confront
• Expose
• Blame

To Protect Yourself

• Defend
• Justify
• Excuse
• Hide
• Avoid
• Escape
• Distract

To Connect

• Apologize
• Forgive
• Thank
• Compliment
• Trust
• Invite

The "Acting Methods Top 20"
If you could only use twenty verbs, I'd probably choose:

1. Convince
2. Persuade
3. Encourage
4. Comfort
5. Reassure
6. Support
7. Challenge
8. Inspire
9. Teach
10. Explain
11. Impress
12. Excite
13. Flirt
14. Control
15. Demand
16. Threaten
17. Confront
18. Defend
19. Apologize
20. Celebrate

These are:

• Easy to understand
• Easy to play physically
• Useful in almost every scene

A Useful Rule for Students
Good action verbs answer this question:

• "What am I trying to get the other person to do, feel, think, or believe?"
  

For example:
Instead of playing:

• Sad
• Angry
• Nervous
• Happy

Play:

• Convince
• Comfort
• Challenge
• Demand

The emotion usually emerges naturally from pursuing the action.


A Fun Exercise
Put these verbs on slips of paper.
Two performs:
Line A: "Can we talk?"
Line B: "Sure."
Each performer secretly receives a verb.
Examples:

• Convince vs Avoid
• Comfort vs Blame
• Inspire vs Doubt
• Defend vs Expose

Performers quickly discover that the same words become completely different scenes depending on the action being played. This is often the moment when action verbs stop being an abstract acting concept and become a practical rehearsal tool.