1) Do a round robin read-through to hear the words, stopping at periods, questions marks, semicolons, colons, or exclamation points.
2) Do the round robin a second time; start with a new person.
3) Paraphrase each line so you know exactly what is being said; answer questions about the language. Figure out what’s happening.
4) Cast and read again, this time in parts.
5) If needed, cut lines, but only to make the scene clearer.
6) Get up on your feet and add movement.
7) Determine objectives for each character (the objective is what each character is in the scene or what he or she wants in each scene).
8) Isolate several lines and practice inflections to show subtext.
9) Practice the scene until you can communicate the scene to an audience.
10) Memorize the lines.
11) Run the scene.