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Garrett Ayers

Garrett Ayers has worked for over a decade as a professional director, teacher, and acting coach. In addition to his work as a freelance director, Garrett is the founder of HowToRemember.com, a company devoted to teaching actors how to train and improve their memories, and is also a professor of Acting and Directing (Adjunct) at Colorado State University. Garrett is an Associate Member of SDC, an alumnus of the 2009 Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, and was the Charles Evans Fellow (Directing) at the Tony Award-winning McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ for their 2010-11 Season.

Memorizing Lines
Essay

Memorizing Lines

The Forgotten Fundamental

4 April 2014

Over the course of my freelance directing and teaching career, I have observed a troubling trend. The professional actors I direct, and the undergraduates I teach, are having an increasingly difficult time remembering their lines. Some, alarmingly so. When I encountered this initially, I sloughed it off as something particular to that actor, style of material, or time constraints. I made lots of excuses. But with each occurrence, over many years, actors’ inability to memorize has become harder and harder to ignore.