What It Is
Rehearsal 2
What It Does
Helps you learn your lines and explore your character with a variety of iOS-specialized tools.
Where to Buy It
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rehearsal-2/id408873298?mt=8
What It Costs
$19.99
Technology has simplified many things about the actor’s life, but line learning may have benefited the most. Having an easier-to-read and searchable reference always at hand on your phone—to say nothing of a permanent, unblinking scene partner and constant access to the Internet for doing quick research—makes a frequently tedious and usually unpleasant process much more bearable. We’ve covered apps to help you with this before, but none to date has been quite as big or feature-packed as Rehearsal 2 (for iOS).
All you need is a Word- or PDF-formatted script. (You can even open them in Rehearsal 2 directly from e-mail messages.) Once you have that in place, you can use whatever method best helps you tackle memorization.
Do you prefer to do it strictly by rote? Just highlight your lines in any of several colors and go to town, breaking a larger script (or sides) down into more manageable, scene-sized chunks if you want. (Have a ridiculously long speech to master? You can divide it into individual beats.) Because some people memorize better by ear, you can record your dialogue, then play it back, using your phone as a teleprompter. Once you think you’re set, enter “blackout” mode to test how well you’ve done—you’ll only see your lines when you want to.
Rehearsal 2 also contains tools to help you find your character. Add comments to the script with text, audio, photos, or videos that might help you better understand the character you’re playing. Tap on the icon that appears at that place in the script to bring that note up again.
If you also do voiceover work, Rehearsal 2 has a handy function there, too. Import your script, give it the full treatment, then record it and save it to an MP3—all within the app.
The one big drawback with Rehearsal 2 is its cost. At $19.99, it’s definitely one of the more expensive apps you’ll find in the App Store for acting—or for pretty much anything. But given the varied and useful tools it provides to assist with what can be a dreary, chore-like task, for many performers that steep price should be seen as a worthy investment.