How to SCREAM without killing vocal chords?

As Grant said, there are definite limits on how realistically you can scream without hurting your vocal chords. Personally, I've never ever heard a 'genuine' scream when at a professional play. And there is good reason for that - it shreds your vocal chords like nothing else, and if you want to be acting for any length of time then that is a VERY bad thing. The best thing you could do (albeit an expensive way) is to go to a professional theatre production where you know there is a good chance of a scream being involved, and listen to what they do. You'll notice that 99% of the time when a performer is supposed to scream they DON'T actually scream - instead they just make a loud high-pitched wail that doesn't actually 'grate' like a scream. There are 2 reasons for this: - firstly, a genuine grating scream is actually quite unpleasant for an audience to listen to: and NOT in an artistically interesting 'make-them-feel-uncomfortable' kind of way. There is a big difference between seeing something on stage and on film - on film there is an instant separation from what you are seeing, whereas when someone is hurting themself while standing in front of you on stage there is an instinctive reaction amongst most audience members to feel mildly ill. People can HEAR that you are damaging your voice, and whilst they might not think about too much, its unlikely that they'll enjoy the performance more because of it. - and, more importantly, that high-pitched wail can be done every night for a full run without damaging your voice, so long as you warm up adequately before each show. Its a matter of pushing the air with your stomach and chest muscles in order to, well, project - like you would if you wanted to project into an ampitheatre without straining. If projection is something new to you then I'm not the best person to explain how, but there are numerous books and voice coaches around, and if the show you're in is a community theatre one then frankly every good community theatre organisation I've ever encountered has had at least a few experienced codgers that are well-versed at passing on that kind of knowledge. Other reasons why 'genuinely' screaming in a play is not as good an idea as if you were doing it in a film are: - in a film the sound editor can take the scraping and grating out of the sound, making it not quite so off-putting for the audience; -in a play whatever it is you're doing is going to have to be repeated throughout the rehearsal season, and then through-out the performance. Consequently it's no good coming up with something that will work great once or twice -it has to be safe enough to be repeated indefinitely. This might be crossing over into condascending-know-it-all territory, but always remember when you're doing ANYTHING that could damage your body on stage that illusion is part of the craft. I have encountered numerous people who, having seen seemingly-realistic violence etc in professional theatre, don't realise that most of it doesn't involve actual hitting or actual screaming, but instead requires a great deal more training and rehearsal to create an illusion of realism. Unfortunately, some of those people then go on to direct an play and demand that their actors actually get hit, or genuinely scream 'for the realism' of it. I remember about 6 years ago doing a play which involved a scene where my character got slapped in the face. The director insisted that the slap had to both be real and that the audience had to be able to hear the slap loud and clearly (requiring it to be done with a lot of force). The director had quite obviously never done any fighting - whether stage-fighting or competitive real fighting - in his life and was blissfully unaware that it is MUCH easier to knock someone unconscious with a slap then it is with a close fist (it's the pushing of the jaw...) and further that it only takes a light slap or cupped hand to accidentally go over the ear in order to burst someone's ear drum. I, on the other hand, was vaguely aware of the risks, but I had only been acting for a couple of years, it was my first ever lead, I hadn't done a lot of stage-fighting (as opposed to actual martial arts) and I wasn't game to insist on opposing the director. Frankly, the scene was a nightmare - trying to hold together a performance after being genuinely hit in the face is pretty much impossible (and this from someone who regularly gets hit in the face for sport:-)). But at least it taught me a valuable lesson - never EVER allow a director to talk you into doing something potentially damaging. No-one worth working with would ever hold it against you insisting on your own safety, even if it means losing the role - if anything, it means that you are committed to acting in the long-haul and that you realise the need to look after the tools of your craft. Sure, screaming might seem less damaging than getting hit during a play, but think again - it is targeting the most important tool you will ever have as an actor. Even if you DON'T think about the long-term and are only ever going to do this one play: how do you think killing your vocal chords with a scream each night is going to affect the rest of your performance? The audience isn't likely to notice the difference between a genuine scream and a non-straining projected high-pitched wail. However, if you do a genuine scream and damage your voice, the audience WON'T forgive you when you're rasping your way through the rest of the show. And if a director is insisting that a 'genuine' voice-damaging scream is the only way of getting the emotional effect that he or she wants from the scene, then frankly that is just advertising their incompetence as a director. Actor, martial artist and soon-to-be Philosophy post-grad student. Making myself less employable one step at a time:-)