This was one of the most unexpectedly difficult tasks I have ever undertaken as an actor: learning to (fake) smoke on stage. From day one of working with the cigarettes to closing night, continuous discoveries in technique were made, and I slowly learned the art of fake smoking for the stage.
For personal reasons, I had hesitations when it came to holding the cigarettes or putting them up to my mouth–hesitations I learned to extinguish for the benefit of learning this skill and for the cohesion of the story we were building.
In rehearsals, we used paper party-favor cigarettes to mimic the movements we would later have to perfect. Honestly, the first thing I did was google “How to smoke a cigarette” and skimmed through a WikiHow article that split the process into numbered steps with details on each section. The process included lighting the cigarette, holding it, tapping the ashes off, blowing the smoke out, putting it out, and more.
For these beginner cigarettes, all you had to do to produce “smoke” was blowing lightly into the filter end. This seemed easy enough, but what I was unaware of was that when the show cigarettes came in, the process would be much more realistic. Luckily for me, my castmate Mary was able to give me first-hand pointers on how to handle the cigarette–which would be very delicate in real life, how to tap off the ashes, and how to put the flame out when I was finished. Also, I found some footage from a Parliament Cigarette commercial produced in 1960 for a visual reference.
Our cigarettes for the actual performances were heavier and more intricate to operate. With these, I had to learn how to inhale the vapor without taking it into my lungs or holding it in my mouth for too long before releasing it slowly and effortlessly to create the puff of smoke.
The first time I inhaled the vapor, I choked and spattered everywhere. It was very embarrassing. Regardless, I saw this as a goal I wanted and needed to achieve in record time–so every chance I could, I would handle the cigarette to become more comfortable holding it and to make the inhalation process easier. Exhaling was never the problem–it was always about getting the vapor in without letting the minty flavor hit the back of my throat and cause me to sputter on stage.
In my research, I found a unique article about the psychology behind holding a cigarette and how each position is used to elicit a very specific meaning. Back in 1959, Caper Magazine featured an article by Dr. William Neutra, exploring personality analysis through cigarette-holding styles. After reading this, I spent a few rehearsals testing different manners of holding my cigarette to see what felt comfortable and justifiable for Juror #7! I settled somewhere between positions H and I.
