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This book examines how the persistent and deepening casualization and precarity of acting work, coupled with market pressures, has affected the ways in which actors are trained in the US and UK. It reviews the existing state of training, looking at various theories of what the actor does, debates about casting, and the impact of reality television and social media. In the increasing effort to find ways to overcome the precarious labour market for actors and other performers, the traditional emphasis on theatrical character has been replaced by the celebration of the persona – a public image of the performer as a personal brand. As a result, a physiocratic elite, that literally incorporates the collective labour of cultural workers into the star or celebrity body, has formed. This book explores how the star or celebrity's appearance and comportment are positioned as the rule of nature, formed and abiding outside capitalism as a mode of production. This book will be of interest to those studying theatre studies and performance, contemporary stardom and celebrity and the impact of technology on the formation of identity.

Exploring Character Through Structural Metaphor will help performers discover new and valuable insights into the characters they play. Grounded in a contemporary approach to understanding and applying the power of metaphor, it offers a practical guide for both actors and directors. This book introduces the idea of metaphor as a way of thinking rather than simply as clever comparison or figurative language. It demonstrates limitations of ways metaphor has traditionally been used in character development and presents a method for applying structural metaphor to discover rich, in-depth character insights. For directors, the model can serve as an option for guiding character analysis that is less individualistic and actor-specific and more wholistic and cast-inclusive, promoting stronger overall performance unity and production cohesion. In addition to offering a clear, followable guide for character analysis, the authors draw on personal experience to vividly demonstrate how applying this method for character analysis could impact performance and production. This book will be a useful addition to an actor's or director's set of character development resources.

In his bestselling book The Actor and the Target, Declan Donnellan laid out a fresh and radical approach to acting that has inspired actors around the world. Now, in The Actor and the Space, he develops and extends those ideas, exploring that most profound source of vitality in life as well as performance: the space around us. Tackling fundamental questions that face any actor – What makes performance better? How do I create a space for my character to live in? How do I tap into that space, and draw energy from it? – Donnellan offers a universal set of keys to unlock the mysteries of performance. Full of insightful precepts, acute psychology and practical, hands-on advice, the book presents a bold new way of thinking about acting, illustrated throughout with line-by-line analysis of scenes from Macbeth to show how it works in rehearsal and performance. Essential reading for any actor or theatre director, The Actor and the Space is also a fascinating distillation of the work of a world-leading director that will reward and enrich anyone with an interest in theatre.'A hand grenade of a book. It contains all the humility and chutzpah you need to work in the theatre.'Cate Blanchett'A wonderful book. Few directors think as deeply or perceptively about the art of acting as Declan Donnellan. This is an essential text for the actor, supremely useful, practical, elegant and profound.'Matthew Macfadyen'Beautifully clear. This generous vision takes a very complex art form and makes it all seem so simple. The whole book is a key. Unlocking the problems actors face as they try to accept another reality long enough to let the audience get a glimpse of the best our art can offer – a glimpse into themselves.'Adrian Lester'Declan Donnellan's profound insight and point of departure is that great theatre, like a child's sandcastle, inhabits a vulnerable and ever-changing space between the safe and the dangerous. There is a whole lot of wisdom in this book – about tragedy, human psychology, words, dread and about how great acting really works – conveyed with remarkable clarity and simplicity. It's worth sharing with non-actor friends for its insights into Macbeth alone. Most of all, it's a distillation of hard-won lessons learned from decades of immersion in the mysteries of theatre by one of the great directors of our day.'James Shapiro, Shakespeare scholar and author of 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare

Provides the first critical overview of acting, stardom, and performance in post-war Italian film (1945-54), with special attention to the figure of the non-professional actor, who looms large in neorealist filmmaking. Italian post-war cinema has been widely celebrated by critics and scholars: films such as Bicycle Thieves (De Sica, 1948) and Paisan (Rossellini, 1946) remain globally influential, particularly for their use of non-professional actors. This period of regeneration of Italian cinema initiated the boom in cinemagoing that made cinema an important vector of national and gender identity for audiences.The book addresses the casting, performance, and labour of non-professional actors, particularly children, their cultural and economic value to cinema, and how their use brought ideas of the ordinary into the discourse of stars as extraordinary. Relatedly, O'Rawe discusses critical and press discourses around acting, performance, and stardom, often focused on the'crisis'of acting connected to the rise of non-professionals and the girls (like Sophia Loren) who found sudden cinematic fame via beauty contests.

In What Actors Do, revered theatre director Mike Alfreds explores the wellspring of the actor's craft, tracing a pathway to creative freedom through the thickets of competing methodologies and confusing paradoxes that you will face throughout your training and career. How do you give life to a character that both is and isn't yourself? How can you be childlike and open in your work without becoming childish? How, when you know what's coming next, can you still be spontaneous? Frank, uncompromising and full of sharply focused insights, this book will help you strip away the inhibitions and habitual thinking that can shackle our imaginations. It will show you how to generate truthful performances by trusting your inner creativity and remaining radically open, responsive and present in every moment. Mike Alfreds has been directing plays for more than seventy years. In the 1970s he founded Shared Experience, and has since worked for the National Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe, the Royal Shakespeare Company and also extensively abroad. He is hugely respected within the profession, and is the author of two previous books, Different Every Night and Then What Happens?'If I was allowed to train again to be an actor, but I was only allowed one teacher, it would have to be Mike Alfreds. To me he is a genius when it comes to acting and storytelling'Mark Rylance

The classic book on acting, in an attractive updated edition Since its original publication in 1973, Uta Hagen's Respect for Acting has remained a durable classic and a must-read for all students of acting. As an acting instructor at the Herbert Berghof Studio, Hagen helped to develop the talents of world-class actors like Robert DeNiro, Matthew Broderick, Gene Wilder, Amanda Peet, Austin Pendleton, Whoopi Goldberg, and more. In this book, Hagen offers an indispensable account of the techniques that professionals use to elevate their acting to an art form. This updated edition illuminates Hagen's original text with a new foreword written by Katie Finneran, retaining the David Hyde Pierce foreword, along with added background on HB Studio—one of the original New York performing arts training and practice spaces—and an excerpt from Hagen's autobiography SOURCES. In working through this book, actors will learn physical, verbal, and emotional practice that empower them to connect their own self-concept to the characters they play. Specific, detailed exercises help actors learn to address a range of problems actors face, like maintaining immediacy and relevance, and developing the dimensions of a role over a long performance run. Respect for Acting is a book for actors and audiences who understand the need for truth in the creative process. Discover the acting book that has shaped professional theater performances for decades Learn the history and background of Herbert Berghof Studio, one of New York's foremost acting schools Practice the craft of acting with concrete exercises and instruction on technique Delve into the deep questions that arise when actors truly inhabit the lives of their characters Actors at all levels of their craft will love this stunning updated version of the essential Respect for Acting.

Ed Hooks'essential acting guidebook for animators has been fully revised and updated in this fifth edition, capturing some of the vast changes that have affected the animation industry in recent years. Written specifically for animation professionals instead of stage and movie actors, this book provides an essential primer for creating empathetic and dynamic character performance and, in the process, shows how the strongest storytelling structure works.Hooks applies classical acting theory – from Aristotle to Stanislavsky and beyond – to animation, as well as explaining scene structure, character development and the connections between thinking, emotion and physical action. Theory presented here applies to any and all character animation regardless of style or animation technique. Whether your project is stop-motion, 2D, 3D or a blend of techniques, audiences are audiences are audiences, and they have shown up at the theater or cinema so they can experience and enjoy your story.New to this fifth edition: Four new scene-by-scene acting analyses of animated feature films: Flee, Soul, Porco Rosso and The Triplets of Belleville A comprehensive and updated section titled'Classroom Notes'which includes a segment on experimental animation, a brief history of acting training for actors and guidance on Motion and Performance Capture technology Updated online database of Hooks'previous film analyses, all in one place Acting for Animators is essential reading for all students and teachers of animation courses.

In the 21st century, actors face radical changes in plays and performance styles, as they move from stage to screen and grapple with new technologies that present their art to ever-expanding audiences. Active Analysis offers the flexibility of mind, body, and spirit now urgently needed in acting. Dynamic Acting through Active Analysis brings to light this timely legacy, born during the worst era of Soviet repression and hidden for decades from public view. Part I unfolds like a mystery novel through letters, memoirs, and transcripts of Konstantin Stanislavsky's last classes. Far from the authoritarian director of his youth, he reveals himself as a generous mentor, who empowers actors with a brand new collaborative approach to rehearsals. His assistant, Maria Knebel, first bears witness to his forward-looking ideas and then builds the bridge to new plays in new styles through her directing and influential teaching. Part II follows a 21st century company of diverse actors as they experience the joy of applying Active Analysis to their own creative and professional work.

This book offers a critical account of film performances by nonprofessional actors. Nonprofessional actors — actors without previous acting training or experience — have performed in films since the days of the Lumière brothers. Generally associated with currents such as Early Soviet Cinema, Italian Neorealism and New Argentine Cinema, nonprofessional actors also feature prominently in the works of celebrated directors including Pier Paolo Pasolini, Robert Bresson and Joanna Hogg. Since the turn of the century and the rise of digital filmmaking, the performances of nonprofessional actors have remained a staple of independent cinemas from all over the world, including films associated with the loose trend often referred to as Slow Cinema. Despite their enduring presence in acclaimed and widely discussed films, nonprofessional actors have received scant scholarly attention. This book proposes to analyse exemplary nonprofessional performances from across the history of cinema as a means of illuminating their significance and celebrating the performers'contributions to the films.

What goes on in the body and mind of an endurance athlete at the limits of performance? How do they relate to the world around and prepare for the task ahead? Offering a refreshing perspective on training in the cross-lighting of aesthetic and athletic processes, this book focuses on the learning, mastery and creative adaptation of technique in performance. From traditional and physical actors to runners, boxers and other sports practitioners, it is about performers: their bodies, trainings and experiences. It interrogates what it means to prepare and train as a performer in the early 21st century.Writing from extensive experience in physical theatre and long-distance running, the author combines insights from both disciplines along with theatre history, sports science and perspectives like embodied cognition and affective science. From the kind of thoughts that go through the mind of an actor or a runner, to the economy and aesthetic of their movement and to how they feel about it, this book sheds light on the performing body and its capacities for action.Topics covered include attentional focus and distraction, affordances and equipment,'choking'and stage fright, physiological regulation and effort perception, pacing and play, optimal flow and creative improvisation, and intentionality and automaticity in expert performance. The volume presents an informative and thought-provoking account accessible to readers interested in theatre, dance, performance, running, athletics, and sport.

'The book all actors need – a vital manual to help you stay balanced in an increasingly demanding industry'Miranda Hart The Jobbing Actor is an innovative six-week coaching programme designed by accredited coaches to help you achieve your acting ambitions. It's not just another'how to'guide telling you what you already know; it's a professional self-development programme that's high on impact and low on bullshit. Week by week, it will guide you through a structured series of industry-focused and holistic exercises and challenges. Full of uplifting advice and practical hints and tips, it covers every aspect of building and sustaining a career – from auditions and self-taping, through dealing with rejection and other trip-ups, to networking, branding and diversifying. Also included are daily journal pages in which you'll set your targets and goals, and track your progress. Inspiring, empowering – and fun! – The Jobbing Actor is your own personal coach in handy paperback form. It'll empower you to take stock of where you are personally and professionally, instigate long-term, positive change, and reclaim ownership of your career. Anita Gilbert and Letty Butler (aka Bert & Butler) have between them over forty years'experience in the business. Anita has worked as a professional actor, as well as a theatrical agent, and is now a full-time voice and accent coach. Letty is a jobbing actor and comedienne, with extensive credits for stage and screen. She's also an award-winning writer and professional life coach.'Brilliant. A godsend to actors!'Eleanor Tomlinson'No-nonsense, practical advice delivered with humour, warmth and a real desire to help actors succeed'Peter Hunt (Head of Casting, Lime Pictures)

From the celebrated film critic and author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, a fascinating look at some of the cinema's finest actors and how they approach their craft'Open to any page and you'll become enthralled by the...tales of forgotten film lore, childhood memories, sexy gossip.”—Philip Kaufman, directorMeryl Streep, Marlon Brando, Anthony Hopkins, Carey Mulligan. When we watch these remarkable actors in a performance, we see only Sophie, Stanley Kowalski, Hannibal Lecter, or Cassie from Promising Young Woman. How are they able to transform our world in this way? How and why do they do what they do?In Acting Naturally, David Thomson sheds light on the actors who have shaped the film industry. He shrewdly analyzes these stars—among them, James Dean, Nicole Kidman, Denzel Washington, Louise Brooks, Riz Ahmed, Sir Laurence Olivier, Viola Davis, and Jean Seberg—revealing how a sly smile, an extra-long pause, even a small gesture of the hand can draw in an audience. And he takes us behind the scenes to examine casting and all the other moments leading up to “Action!”Through intimate anecdote, humor, and the insight born of a lifetime watching and analyzing film, Thomson explores the real reasons why we go to the movies and looks at how they influence our lives. This book is not only necessary reading for an insider's view of the industry but also a surprising investigation of the relationship between acting and living.

Acting Is Believing has trained generations of actors and remains one of the most popular and influential classic Stanislavski-based acting books over the past sixty years. Now in its thirteenth edition, ithas been reimagined for the art of acting in the twenty-first century.Stanislavski expanded our understanding of the mysterious process that results in truthful acting, devising practical steps to pursue the most elusive element of the artform—inspiration. Acting Is Believing: Stanislavski in the 21st Century, 13th Edition,introduces students to all the major concepts of Stanislavski's System of Acting, providing them with a logical process through which they can master this complex art. It breaks down even the most complex elements defining human behavior in ways that are easy to digest. This new edition has been greatly updated, including:Reworked chapters throughout to bring Stanislavski's theories to life in a language that speaks to today's actorsA new approach to entering Stanislavski's Creative State, broken into an innovative five-part processUpdated discussions on anxiety, physical tension, social inhibitions, and intimacy onstageModified solo and group exercisesExpanded appendix on self-directed scene study Refined and updated glossary of acting, theatre, and film terminology Acting Is Believing remains grounded in Stanislavski-based technique training, yet this latest text has evolved as a vital resource for twenty-first century artists pursing acting careers in theatre, film, and television. With a foreword by two-time Tony Award winning actor, Norbert Leo Butz, Acting Is Believing continues to set the gold standard in the art of acting for a new generation.

This work is a straightforward approach to the creative process of actor training. Combining principles of verbal and nonverbal communication with the basic tenets of Stanislavski's approach, it includes a step-by-step guide for reading, analyzing, and preparing a text for performance. The book also provides a template for rehearsing a sonnet, a soliloquy, and scenes from plays of heightened language ranging from Shakespeare, Moliere, and Congreve, to Ibsen, Shaw, and Lynn Nottage. Using improvisation, games and exercises with a series of tools designed to enhance the creative process, the book outlines the specific steps necessary to engage in the basic tenets of acting: overcoming obstacles and playing action-based objectives. Enlarging the field of study to include status, opposition, and releasing, as well as scansion and an emphasis on operative words and images, the actor emerges from this training process prepared to play any text, in any style, under any circumstance, with confidence, ease and a sense of joy.

Acting and Directing Shakespeare's Comedies: Key Lessons outlines a clear, effective process for acting Shakespeare's comedies.This book lays out core principles and useful exercises that help the reader better understand, expereince, and implement Shakespeare's comedic design. Building off of modern acting methods as well as contemporary Clown, classical Commedia, and verse-speaking techniques, the author guides the reader toward interpretive and performance choices that are original, justified, and entertaining. Included are clear examples and detailed case studies that illuminate and reenforce these key lessons.This accessible book is for actors, directors, students of Shakespeare, and those who want a fuller, richer awareness of the possibilities within Shakespeare's comedies and a clear, pragmatic process for creating those performances.

This book approaches film and television acting from an actor's perspective rather than that of an audience member, and therefore theorizes how screen acting works as a process that engages an actor's memory, imagination, emotions, and physical body in the creation of a character. It argues that film actors strive to perform profound empathetic connections with their characters and fellow actors, and then put themselves out there through performing to make those connections clear to the eventual audience. It combines interviews with working professional film and television actors, key insights and methods from Film, Television, and Theatre Studies, and theories of imagination and embodiment to show that screen actors are more than just the moving parts'of the mise-en-scene.'

Annie Morrison, creator of the Morrison Bone Prop, abandons the notion that language and thought are mainly processed in the left cerebral hemisphere, and coaches the actor to speak from the heart. Through this method, words acquire physical properties, such as weight, texture, colour and kinetic force. Think about Martin Luther King, Mao Zedong or Malala Yousafzai; potent speech impacts external events. And internally, it forms and shapes the world of the speaker. Seeing articulation as a purely mechanical skill is detrimental to an actor's process: it is crucial to understand what language is doing on a biological level. This workbook is invaluable for actors, both professional and in training, and also for voice and speech teachers.

In Mythic Imagination and the Actor, Marissa Chibás draws on over three decades of experience as a Latinx actor, writer, filmmaker, and teacher to offer an approach to acting that embraces collective imagination, archetypal work, and the mythic. The book begins with a comparative analysis between method acting and mythic acting, encouraging actors to push past the limits of singular life experience and move to a realm where imagination and metaphor thrive. In the context of mythic acting, the book explores awareness work, solo performance creation, the power of archetypes, character building exercises, creating a body/text connection, and how to be the detective of your own process. Through this inclusive guide for a new age of diverse performers traversing gender, ability, culture, and race, readers are able to move beyond their limits to a deep engagement with the infinite possibilities of rich imagination. The final chapter empowers and motivates artists to live healthfully within the practice and create a personal artistic vision plan.Written for actors and students of acting, American Drama, and film and theatre studies, Mythic Imagination and the Actor provides practical exercises and prompts to unlock and interpret an actor's deepest creative sources.

Become the actor you must be to turn your dreams into reality.For over 25 years, Bernard Hiller's revolutionary techniques and exercises have produced unprecedented success for actors, artists, and performers all around the world.Acting is always evolving, and in The Revolutionary Guide to Acting Bernard shares the latest methods to help you gain vital skills for success in this competitive industry. Set yourself apart at your next audition by using Bernard's unique techniques, and uncover the secrets to delivering unforgettable performances. Acting is a journey to self-awareness that will lead you to discover your true authenticity, empowering you to become unstoppable in show business. Cultivate the tools you will need for a long-lasting career and, ultimately, a more accomplished and happier life.

Want to be the next Andy Serkis as Gollum in Lord of the Rings? Or Zoe Saldana in Avatar? How about Seth MacFarlane in Ted? Or do you want to star in video games such as Fortnite, Call of Duty or Halo? If so, this book will tell you everything you need to know about acting for motion capture. This is the first book to provide an invaluable resource for the education of the next generation of performers in this exciting medium. Over the last 10 years, a revolution has occurred in digital production - video games have overtaken the film and TV industries in terms of production and revenues. Many video games derive their digital animation from human performance by means of motion and performance capture. Actors such as Andy Serkis and Troy Baker have won critical acclaim for their digital performance in games and film. The book includes contributions from practitioners working across the globe, including: actor Kezia Burrows; software developer Stéphane Dalbera; director Kate Saxon; a group of Japanese games directors; Jeremy Meunier, Head of Motion Capture at Moov studios, Montreal; Marc Morisseau, motion editor for Avatar; and a Chinese Motion Capture suit manufacturer.

Shortlisted for the STR Theatre Book Prize 2023With an exclusive focus on text-based theatre-making, Inside the Rehearsal Room is both an instructional and conceptual examination of the rehearsal process. Drawing on professional practice and underpinned by theory, this book moves through each stage of rehearsals, considering the inter-connectivity between the actor, director, designers and the backstage team, and how the cumulative effect of the weeks in rehearsal influences the final production.The text also includes: - Auto-ethnographic and fully ethno-graphic case study approaches to different rehearsal rooms- Interviews with directors, actors, designers and actor trainers- A consideration of the ethics of the rehearsal room and material selected for production- Practical exercises on how to creatively read a text from an acting and directing perspectiveInformed by over 20 years of directing experience in the UK and Europe, Robert Marsden's book offers a practical guide that ultimately demystifies the rehearsal process and challenges how the rehearsal room should be run in the twenty-first century.

Re-Purposing Suzuki: A Hybrid Approach to Actor Training introduces a system of text analysis that synthesizes physical, psychological, and vocal components in order to truthfully embody heightened texts and contexts.By understanding how the author has re-purposed Suzuki and other physical training methods, as well as Stanislavski, readers will gain an awareness of how to analyze a particular training method by extrapolating its key components and integrating it into a holistic, embodied approach to text analysis. The book explores a method of physical scoring via Rules of the Body and Rules of Composition, as well as a method of approaching heightened texts from Greek drama to post-modern playwrights that draws on the individual actor's imagination and experience and integrates voice, mind, and body. Readers will be able to either replicate this approach, or apply the logic of its building blocks to assemble their own personal creative process applicable to a variety of performance genres.This is a source book for actors, theatre students, practitioners, and educators interested in assembling tools derived from different sources to create alternative approaches to actor training. While the process outlined in the book evolves in a classroom setting, the components of the pedagogy can also be practiced by individuals who are interested in finding new ways to explore text and character and bring them into their own personal practice.

The Actor's Mindset:Acting as a Craft, Discipline, and Businessuniquely prepares actors to live a full, successful life as a performing artist. While most acting books focus on either the art or the business of entertainment, Archibald looks at the entire picture of what it means to be an actor, focusing on the foundations of both the artist and the entrepreneur to guarantee a complete and fully functioning approach to a career.The Actor's Mindset is divided into three distinct parts:'The Craft,''The Discipline,'and'The Business.'Archibald's unique experience as both an actor and a coach gives him an unparalleled perspective on the current industry landscape. While classic method texts still circulate, and there are actors who have written books that address craft, none have Archibald's depth of knowledge and experience in coaching, nor approach the art from a professional standpoint instead of solely a teaching one. The success of Craig's approach is exemplified by the success of his clients, a roster that includes Constance Wu, John Slattery, and two-time Academy Award Nominee Dan Futterman.

Congratulations! You got the part! Now what? Many actors of all levels find it challenging to apply classroom and studio techniques to the rehearsal process. Rehearsing for a class is vastly different than a professional situation, and a consistent, practical, and constructive method is needed to truly bring to life vibrant and intricate characters. Building a Performance: An Actor's Guide to Rehearsal provides tools and techniques through different stages of the rehearsal process to enable actors to make more dynamic choices, craft complex characters, and find an engaging and powerful level of performance. John Basil and Dennis Schebetta bring decades of acting and teaching experience to help actors apply the skills they learned in the classroom directly to the professional rehearsal room or film/television set. They show how to glean distinct choices from early readings of the script, how to add dynamics to their physical and vocal decisions, how to explore interactions with other actors in rehearsal, and how to address specific challenges unique to each role. While students will benefit from the practical applications and advice, intermediate and advanced actors will find exciting and new ways to engage with the material and with other actors at rehearsal. Actors of all levels will gain tips and techniques so that they can continue to discover more about their character. With these tools, actors will be inspired to dig into the text and build a dynamic performance.

A lively, conversational textbook dedicated to the art of acting from a master teacher. Act: The Modern Actor's Handbook is the result of 30 years of one of North America's most renowned acting teachers teaching some of the world's most talented screen actors. This is a full tour through the concepts at the heart of Rotenberg's techniques: states of being, primaries and secondaries, images that you elaborate up or distill down, modifiers, actions and beats, and more. Although his methods loosely draw on the great acting teachers like Hagen and Meisner back to Stanislavski, he teaches new techniques suited to the best of today's screen actors. This is a major new work in the actor's library and will be pulled off the shelf time and again to find that key into a scene, to prepare for an audition, or to find that right technique to make the art come alive again.

Acting for the Camera: Back to One is a'how to'book with practical steps to achieve a professional performance on camera. The book focuses on four distinct areas: how to prepare the character, how to execute the technical responsibilities that will assist the editor in creating the on-camera performance in post-production, tips from industry professionals, and how to create effective self-tape auditions. Part One: The Character's World is packed with tools to analyze the script and fully prepare the character before arriving on set. Part Two: The Actor's World focuses on developing technical acting skills for the camera that assist the pre- and post-production teams to create a dynamic on-screen performance. In Part Three: The Professional World, industry professionals provide tips from inside the film/TV audition room and how to navigate a career in the acting business. The final section, Part Four: Self-Tape Like a Pro, outlines how to build a self-tape studio in the privacy of your own home and submit high-quality self-tape auditions that will help you stand out from the competition. Written for students enrolled in Acting for the Camera courses, Acting for the Camera: Back to One explores techniques that can be practiced and mastered by actors of all levels, from the moment they audition for the part through to when they hear that director call'cut!'

Applied Meisner for the 21st-Century Actor develops Meisner's core principles for the contemporary actor and presents a Meisner-based acting technique that empowers practitioners to take ownership of their own creative process.In this book, the authors present the best, most applicable foundational components of Meisner's technique in a clear, pragmatic, and ethical manner, and advance Meisner's core principles with their own innovations. Drawing on the best practices of consent-based work, they outline a specific approach to creating clear boundaries for the actor and establishing an ethical acting studio. Filled with practical exercises, useful definitions and explanations of foundational principles, and helpful advice on how to recognize and overcome common acting traps and pitfalls, this book provides a replicable and flexible technique that puts the actor at the center of their training.Applied Meisner for the 21st-Century Actor offers actors and students of acting courses a workable technique that will foster growth and discovery throughout their career.The text also includes links to the companion website www.21CActor.com, where readers can engage with the material covered in the book and with Otos'and Shively's most up-to-date research, supplemental materials, and training opportunities.

Style for Actors is an award-winning handbook and the definitive guide to roles in historical drama. Anyone who has ever struggled with capes, fans, swords, doublets and crinolines should make this third edition their constant companion. The past is a foreign country, and this outstanding book is concerned with exploring it from the actor's point of view. Specific guides to each major period give readers a clear map to discover a range from Greek, Elizabethan, Restoration and Georgian theatre to more contemporary stylings, including Futurism, Surrealism and Postmodernism. New material in this edition covers Commedia dell'arte and non-Western forms of theatre, theatrical fusion and developments in musicals and Shakespeare. The book's references, images, resource lists and examples have all been updated to support today's diverse performers. Robert Barton takes great care to present the actor with the roles and genres that will most commonly confront them. Containing a huge resource of nearly 150 exercises, suggestions for scene study and applications not only for theatrical performance but also for stylistic challenges in the reader's own offstage life, this book is an invaluable resource for students and practitioners of acting and drama.

I Don't Need an Acting Class explores critical aspects of the technique of acting, utilizing conversations via email with countless actors. Some are aspiring students, others are seasoned professionals. The conversations document the challenges these diverse actors face as they digest what they have learned in a class or rehearsal while exploring in practical terms how to use their growing technique.Milton Justice first began receiving emails from actors in 2008. In this book, Justice brings together email conversations between teacher and student, along with observations and commentary about acting technique and craft. Not all of the emails in the book are overly thought-out or complete. Quite the contrary, they are meant to capture the feeling of a living, breathing process as it happens. When an actor sends a teacher or director an email with a problem, be it a simple comment or confusion, it is evidence of a creative artist exploring new ground. Many years ago, Stella Adler sent Justice a letter in response to a panicked note he had written to her while lost in the weeds during rehearsals for a new play. She set a tone for him as she succinctly defined the problem and reminded him of its elegant solution. He was overwhelmed by the care she had given him. That letter still hangs over his desk, perfectly demonstrating the power of a written exchange between a teacher and a student.

Experiencing Speech: A Skills-Based, Panlingual Approach to Actor Training is a beginner's guide to Knight-Thompson Speechwork®, a method that focuses on universal and inclusive speech training for actors from all language, racial, cultural, and gender backgrounds and identities. This book provides a progression of playful, practical exercises designed to build a truly universal set of speech skills that any actor can use, such as the ability to identify, discern, and execute every sound found in every language on the planet. By observing different types of flow through the vocal tract, vocal tract anatomy, articulator actions, and how these components can be combined, readers will understand and recreate the process by which language is learned. They will then be introduced to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and will practice using the IPA for narrow transcription of speech sounds. The book also offers both an intellectual and physical understanding of oral posture and how it contributes to vocal characterization and accent work. This approach to speech training is descriptive, giving students a wide and diverse set of speech sounds and skills to utilize for any character in any project, and it establishes a foundation for future accent study and acquisition.Experiencing Speech: A Skills-Based, Panlingual Approach to Actor Training is an excellent resource for teachers and students of speech and actor training, as well as aspiring actors looking to diversify their speech skills.

Somatic Voices in Performance Research and Beyond brings together a community of international practitioner-researchers who explore voice through soma or soma through voice. Somatic methodologies offer research processes within a new area of vocal, somatic and performance praxis. Voice work and theoretical ideas emerge from dance, acting and performance training while they also move beyond commonly recognized somatics and performance processes. From philosophies and pedagogies to ethnic-racial and queer studies, this collection advances embodied aspects of voices, the multidisciplinary potentialities of somatic studies, vocal diversity and inclusion, somatic modes of sounding, listening and writing voice.Methodologies that can be found in this collection draw on: eastern traditions body psychotherapy-somatic psychology Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais Method Authentic Movement, Body-Mind Centering, Continuum Movement, Integrative Bodywork and Movement Therapy Fitzmaurice Voicework, Linklater Technique, Roy Hart Method post-Stanislavski and post-Grotowski actor-training traditions somaesthetics The volume also includes contributions by the founders of: Shin Somatics, Body and Earth, Voice Movement Integration SOMart, Somatic Acting Process This book is a polyphonic and multimodal compilation of experiential invitations to each reader's own somatic voice. It culminates with the'voices'of contributing participants to a praxical symposium at East 15 Acting School in London (July 19–20, 2019). It fills a significant gap for scholars in the fields of voice studies, theatre studies, somatic studies, artistic research and pedagogy. It is also a vital read for graduate students, doctoral and postdoctoral researchers.

The MAP: An Actor's Guide to On-Camera Acting teaches on-camera acting in a practical and technical way—helping new actors understand the rules of on-camera acting as if they are learning a foreign language and applying that language to their acting skill set. The book gives actors a step-by-step technique on how to audition for on-camera acting jobs and what to do on set after booking them.Many on-camera acting books are written by established movie stars and aren't geared toward actors in an undergraduate acting program or those who are just starting to audition for on-camera jobs for the first time. Stef Tovar teaches his proven on-camera acting technique, shows actors how to make the perfect self-tape, and prepares them for life on set—detailing the differences between working in the theater vs. working in television and film. The author peppers the text with his own stories from set as examples, including auditioning for Lee Daniels and working with Matt Damon, Steven Soderbergh, and many others. The MAP is a funny and encouraging perspective from a seasoned actor who shares with aspiring actors things no one tells you before booking your first on-camera acting job.

“What is it that we're doing, when we're acting well?” This is the question famously posed by Earle Gister, the legendary head of the acting department at Yale School of Drama from 1979 to 1999. In Acting Action, actor, director, and teaching artist Hugh O'Gorman invites readers to explore the question in detail.Focusing on playing action—one of the essential components of acting passed on to renowned acting teachers Earle Gister and Lloyd Richards by Paul Mann—Acting Action is divided into two parts: context and practice. The first section provides a thorough examination of the theory behind the core elements of playing action. The second section presents a step-by-step rehearsal guide for actors to integrate playing action into their preparation process.Acting Action offers a foundation for how to get started and build the core of a performance. More precisely, it provides a practical guide for actors, directors, and teachers in the technique of playing action, addressing a void in the world of actor training by illuminating what exactly to do in the moment-to-moment act of acting.

This accessible, systematic guide will teach you how to memorise your lines quickly and effectively, and let go of the fear of forgetting them – helping you build confidence and focus, and reducing anxiety and stress around auditions, rehearsal and performance. Inside, you'll find dozens of tips, tricks and techniques such as Memory Palaces, Mental Maps, Creative Memorisation, Visual Cues and many more, along with exercises and examples to illustrate how they work in practice. Discover how to harness these tools to strengthen your memory, and develop a personalised line-learning strategy that works for you and your acting process – one that is easier, faster and more enjoyable. The Compact Guides are pocket-sized introductions for actors and theatremakers, each tackling a key topic in a clear and comprehensive way. Written by industry professionals with extensive hands-on experience of their subject, they provide you with maximum information in minimum time.

Active Analysis combines two of Maria Knebel's most important books, On Active Analysis of the Play and the Role and The Word in the Actor's Creative Work, in a single edition conceived and edited by one of Knebel's most famous students, the renowned theatre and film director, Anatoli Vassiliev. This is the first English translation of an important and authoritative fragment of the great Stanislavski jigsaw. A landmark publication.This book is an indispensable resource for professional directors, student directors, actors and researchers interested in Stanislavski, directing, rehearsal methods and theatre studies more generally.

Women, Method Acting, and the Hollywood Film is the first study dedicated to understanding the work of female Method actors on film.While Method acting on film has typically been associated with the explosive machismo of actors like Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro, this book explores an alternate tradition within the Method—the work that women from the Actors Studio did in Hollywood. Covering the period from the end of the Second World War until the 1970s, this study shows how the women associated with the Actors Studio increasingly used Method acting in ways that were compatible with their burgeoning feminist political commitments and developed a style of feminist Method acting. The book examines the complex intersection of Method acting, sexuality, and gender by analyzing performances such as Kim Hunter's in A Streetcar Named Desire, Julie Harris's in The Member of the Wedding, Shelley Winters's in The Big Knife, Geraldine Page's in Sweet Bird of Youth, and Jane Fonda's in Coming Home. Challenging the longstanding assumption that Method acting's approaches were harmful to women and incompatible with feminism, this book argues that some of Hollywood's most interesting female actors, and leading feminists, emerged from the Actors Studio in the period between the 1950s and the 1970s.Written for students and scholars of Film Studies, Cultural Studies, Theatre and Performance Studies, and Gender Studies, Women, Method Acting, and the Hollywood Film reshapes the way we think of a central strain in American screen acting, and in doing so, allows women a new stake in that tradition.

Games for Actors and Non-Actors is the classic and bestselling book by the founder of Theatre of the Oppressed, Augusto Boal.It sets out the principles and practice of Boal's revolutionary method, showing how theatre can be used to transform and liberate everyone – actors and non-actors alike! This new third English edition includes recently uncovered interviews and essays from the 1970s, some of which featured in the earliest Portuguese edition of this book, and a new essay by the theatre director Sergio de Carvalho, which looks at Boal's work in the context of Brazilian theatre and politics over the past fifty years.This is a vital handbook for theatre makers and activists of all kinds who want to deepen their understanding of the theory and practice of Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed. It is also an excellent introduction for those new to the system.

This book provides a groundbreaking exploration of silent film performance. It combines close reading of silent screen acting with theoretically informed analysis, stressing the overlap between different performative arts, such as film and stage acting, dance, mime, and pantomime. The boundary between silent and sound films is also challenged. Anna Pavlova's acting in The Dumb Girl of Portici is read through Freud's work on the uncanny, disability studies, and notions of intermediality. Vladimir Mayakovsky's performance in The Young Lady and the Hooligan is approached as a silent soliloquy and a representation of loneliness. Ivan Mozzhukhin's tour de force in The Late Mathias Pascal is discussed through a queer failure lens, while Pola Negri's presence in Hotel Imperial is analysed with the aid of texts on wartime anxiety. Harald Kreutzberg's stunning number in Paracelsus is examined in the light oftheories of mime and pantomime, arguing for its subversive potential in a Third Reich sound film.

The Invisible Actor presents the captivating and unique methods of the distinguished Japanese actor and director, Yoshi Oida. While a member of Peter Brook's theatre company in Paris, Yoshi Oida developed a masterful approach to acting that combined the oriental tradition of supreme and studied control with the Western performer's need to characterise and expose depths of emotion. Written with Lorna Marshall, Yoshi Oida explains that once the audience becomes openly aware of the actor's method and becomes too conscious of the actor's artistry, the wonder of performance dies. The audience must never see the actor but only his or her performance. Throughout Lorna Marshall provides contextual commentary on Yoshi Oida's work and methods. In a new foreword to accompany the Bloomsbury Revelations edition, Yoshi Oida revisits the questions that have informed his career as an actor and explores how his skilful approach to acting has shaped the wider contours of his life.

texts that document the Eric Morris system of “experiential acting.” This book is about SUBPERSONALITIES—what subpersonalities are, how they impact our lives and how we use them. It is exclusively written for actors. The journey of exploration starts with the origins and beginnings. Excerpts from books by Carl G. Jung, a Swiss psychologist who explored archetypes, are followed by the use and description of behavioral examples of personalities. The theory is then examined: who are the selves, how were they created and how do they function? The exploration continues with a technique that I created many years ago: THE ELEVENTH LEVEL OF CONSCIOUSNESS, which is totally explained. Then comes EXPERIENCE HUNTING—CHOICE HUNTING, detailing the various approaches used to find experiences and choices that can be used in one's acting. In the next section of the book, which is a very large section, I detail specifically the approach techniques for accessing subpersonalities, which are: VOICE DIALOGUE (a complete example of the process is given), WRITING IN JOURNAL FORM OR USING A TAPE RECORDER, USING MOVEMENT AND DANCE, USING ART AND DRAWING, USING CHOICES, USING MUSIC, AND ROLEPLAYING. All of those techniques and the approaches to them are explained in specific detail. In EXTERNALS I describe what that approach is and how to use it to access various subpersonalities. Externals is a'megapproach” and an important part of my work. A megapproach is such a powerful technique that it could be used as a total acting system. Externals is a process that includes getting a sense of animals, people, insects and inanimate objects and then translating that energy into human behavior. This technique is very impacting on eliciting various subpersonalities. The last of this group is IMAGING, also a megapproach. The next section explains HOW YOU KNOW WHEN YOU ARE INHABITED BY A SUBPERSONALITY. The actor must be able to distinguish between really inhabiting the energy of a subpart and faking it! The DAILY SUBPERSONALITY INVENTORY is an exercise the actor should do on a daily basis to be able to identify the difference between a mood swing and a subpersonality. The section on RESEARCHING THE CHARACTER explains how to identify the different character elements and find a subpersonality to fulfill those components. All of that is followed by a section about going back to historical events, such as the Second World War or the post-war years and exploring characters in plays and films o

Robert De Niro at Work is the first critical study to examine how Robert de Niro, perhaps the finest screen actor of his generation, works with screenplays to imagine, prepare and denote his performance. In categorising the various ways in which De Niro works with a screenplay, this book will re-examine the relationship between actor and text. This book considers the screenplay as above all a working document and a material object, present at every stage of the filmmaking process. The working screenplay goes through various iterations in development and exists in many versions on set, each adapted and personalised for the specific use of the individual and their role. As the archive reveals, nobody works more closely with the script than the actor, and no actor works more on a script than De Niro.

Whether you're applying for drama school, taking an exam, or auditioning for a professional role, it's likely you'll be required to perform one or more monologues, including a piece from a contemporary play. It's vital to come up with something fresh that's suited both to you – in order to allow you to express who you are as a performer – and to the specific purposes of the audition. In this book, you'll find forty fantastic speeches featuring female roles, all written and premiered since the year 2014, by some of the most exciting dramatic voices writing today. Playwrights include Mike Bartlett, Andrew Bovell, Chris Bush, Jez Butterworth, Vivienne Franzmann, Ella Hickson, Lucy Kirkwood, Chinonyerem Odimba, Frances Poet and Stef Smith. The plays featured were premiered at leading venues including the National, the Royal Court, Soho and Hampstead in London, prestigious theatres in Cardiff, Chichester, Edinburgh and Sheffield, and by renowned companies including Clean Break, Frantic Assembly and HighTide. Drawing on her experience as an actor, director and teacher at several leading drama schools, Trilby James introduces each speech with a user-friendly, bullet-point list of ten essential things you need to know about the character, and then five inspiring ideas to help you perform the monologue. This book also features a step-by-step guide to the process of selecting and preparing your speech, and approaching the audition itself.'Easy-to-use… The guidance is perhaps the most thorough I have seen in a monologue book'Teaching Drama on Trilby James's first volume of Contemporary Monologues Please note that some of the speeches in this volume contain strong language and themes which some readers may find inappropriate.

Whether you're applying for drama school, taking an exam, or auditioning for a professional role, it's likely you'll be required to perform one or more monologues, including a piece from a contemporary play. It's vital to come up with something fresh that's suited both to you – in order to allow you to express who you are as a performer – and to the specific purposes of the audition. In this book, you'll find forty fantastic speeches featuring male roles, all written and premiered since the year 2014, by some of today's most exciting dramatic voices from the UK and USA. Playwrights include Annie Baker, Andrew Bovell, Jez Butterworth, Caryl Churchill, Mark Gatiss, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Anna Jordan, Arinzé Kene, Rona Munro and Evan Placey. The plays featured were premiered at leading venues including the National, the Royal Court, the Bush and Hampstead in London, prestigious theatres in Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Manchester, and by renowned companies including Frantic Assembly and Paines Plough. Drawing on her experience as an actor, director and teacher at several leading drama schools, Trilby James introduces each speech with a user-friendly, bullet-point list of essential things you need to know about the character, and then five inspiring ideas to help you perform the monologue. This book also features a step-by-step guide to the process of selecting and preparing your speech, and approaching the audition itself.'Easy-to-use… The guidance is perhaps the most thorough I have seen in a monologue book'Teaching Drama on Trilby James's first volume of Contemporary Monologues Please note that some of the speeches in this volume contain strong language and themes which some readers may find inappropriate.

Un actor se prepara es la primera obra de pedagogía teatral de Konstantín Stanislavski. Aunque obra de carácter autobiográfico, adopta la forma narrativa de diario de un estudiante, llamado Kostya, durante su primer año de aprendizaje del'sistema Stanislavski', que no se presenta como un'método'particular sino como todo un análisis sistemático del orden'natural'de la verdad teatral. En él se abordan numerosos aspectos relacionados con las habilidades que tiene que desarrollar un actor en escena, desde la relajación de los músculos o la memoria emotiva a la concentración y motivación interna.

Performers make a crucial contribution to the achievement of narrative films. By moving through exemplary sequences, this book closely follows the movement and behaviour of screen performers – Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Stanwyck, Richard Widmark – and by emphasising their relationship to other aspects of film style – camera, location and plot – it develops accounts that are specific and involved. This study concentrates on films from the ‘Golden Age'of Hollywood and moment-by-moment descriptions enable fresh interpretations to emerge and evolve. These reveal the significance and intensity of a performer's engagement with the world of a film.

Intended for actors, directors, teachers and researchers, this book offers an exceptionally clear and thorough introduction to the renowned acting technique developed by Michael Chekhov. Sinéad Rushe's book provides a complete overview of the whole method, and includes illuminating explanations of its principles, as well as a wide range of practical exercises that illustrate, step by step, how they can be applied to dramatic texts. Part One provides an outline of the ideas that underpin the work, which help to prepare practitioners to become responsive and receptive, and to awaken their imagination. Part Two charts a journey through the foundational psychophysical exercises that can both orient an actor's training routine and be applied directly to the development of a role. Part Three focuses on more specific and elaborate methods of scene work, characterisation and the art of transformation. Drawing on the full range of Chekhov's writing in English and French, this book also examines unpublished material from the Dartington Hall archives and features interviews with actors who have worked with the technique, including Simon Callow and Joanna Merlin. It illustrates Chekhov's approach by referring to Rushe's own productions of Nikolai Gogol's short story Diary of a Madman and Shakespeare's Othello, as well as characters and scenes in Sarah Kane's Blasted and the contemporary American television series Breaking Bad. Michael Chekhov's Acting Technique is an accessible, comprehensive and contemporary point of reference for those already trained in the method, as well as an initiation and toolkit for practitioners who are just beginning to discover it.

Reframing Acting in the Digital Age: Nimbly Scaling Actor Training in the Academy refocuses how actors work in TV, film, and stage. In this refreshing text, Preeshl integrates original interviews with 25 theatre, film, TV, and digital media experts from leading international programs to create an essential contribution to actor training studies. These interviews cover diverse topics such as contemporary training methods, industry standards, and experiential learning, incorporating interdisciplinary recommendations from academics and professionals alike to navigate undergraduate actor training in the digital age.Digitally native undergraduates arrive at university being well versed in the digital and technological world, but as technologically savvy as these Millenials and Generation Z are, Preeshl and her interviewees show how acting and production degree programs can reframe these competencies to enable students to acquire and transfer digital skills. This phenomenological study bridges actor training methods across media to promote'scaling'to update undergraduate actor training for the digital age. By applying the recommendations of these experts to curricular practices, universities may increase market share, diversity, and graduate employability.This in-depth field study is a vital read for acting teachers, students, professional actors, and scholars within theatre and film programs.

In Search of Marie-Antoinette in the 1930s follows Austrian biographer Stefan Zweig, American producer Irving Thalberg, and Canadian-American actress Norma Shearer as they attempt to uncover personal aspects of Marie-Antoinette's life at the French court in the late eighteenth-century and to dramatize them in biography, cinema, and performance for public consumption during the 1930s. The first chapter establishes the core subject as an inquiry into the respective contributions of Zweig, Thalberg, and Shearer in formulating an “objective” or “authentic” image of “Marie-Antoinette.” The three chapters that follow examine in some detail how Zweig pursued research and drafted the psychological biography at his Salzburg home, Thalberg acquired film rights to the best-selling book and fought the censors to preserve the more sensational aspects of the screenplay at the Culver City studio, and Shearer worked closely with a new producer to give the script a strong romantic angle and to perform the character of the queen on the sound stage. The professionals'research standards and strategic objectives are weighed in the formulation of a new myth at once sensitive to the historical record and suited to the leisure market.

Elizabeth Taylor's electrifying performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The milkshake scene in There Will be Blood. Leonardo DiCaprio's turn as Arnie in What's Eating Gilbert Grape? What makes these performances so special? Eloquently written and engagingly laid out, Murray Pomerance answers the tough question as to what makes an exceptional, or virtuosic performance. Pomerance intensively explores virtuosic performance in film, ranging from classical works through to contemporary production, and gives serious consideration to structural problems of dramatization and production, actorial methods and tricks, and contingencies that befall performers giving stand-out moments.Looking at more than 40 aspects of the virtuosic act, and using an approach based in careful meditation and discursion, Virtuoso moves through such themes as showing off, effacement, self-consciousness, performative collapse, spontaneity, acting as dream, acting and femininity, virtuosity and torture, secrecy, improvisation, virtuosic silence, and others; giving special attention to the labors of such figures as Fred Astaire, Johnny Depp, Marlene Dietrich, Basil Rathbone, Christopher Plummer, Leonardo DiCaprio, Alice Brady, Ethel Waters, James Mason, and dozens more. Numerous scenic virtuosities are examined in depth, from films as far-ranging as Singin'in the Rain and The Bridge on the River Kwai, and My Man Godfrey. As the first book about virtuosity in film performance, Virtuoso offers exciting new angles from which to view film both classical and contemporary.