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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the precarious labour market for actors and other performers, the traditional emphasis on theatrical character has been replaced by the celebration of the persona – a public image of the performer as a personal brand.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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Launching the landmark Performing Landscapes series, Performing Mountains brings together for the first time Mountain Studies and Performance Studies in order to examine an international selection of dramatic responses to mountain landscapes. Moving between different registers of writing, the book offers a critical assessment of how the cultural turn in landscape studies interacts with the practices of environmental theatre and performance. Conceived in three main parts, it begins by unpicking the layers of disciplinary complexity in both fields, before surveying the rich history and practice of rituals, playtexts and site specific works inspired by mountains. The last section moves to a unique analysis of mountains themselves using key concepts from performance: training, scenography, acting and spectatorship. Threaded throughout is a very personal tale of mountain research, offering a handrail or alternative guide through the book.

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

Owning Our Voices offers a unique, first-hand account of working within the Wolfsohn-Hart tradition of extended voice work by Margaret Pikes, an acclaimed voice teacher and founder member of the Roy Hart Theatre.This dynamic publication fuses Pikes'personal account of her own vocal journey as a woman within this, at times, male-dominated tradition, alongside an overview of her particular pedagogical approach to voice work, and is accompanied by digital footage of Pikes at work in the studio with artist-collaborators and written descriptions of scenarios for teaching. For the first time, Margaret Pikes'uniquely holistic approach to developing the expressive voice through sounding, speech, song and movement has been documented in text and on film, offering readers an introduction to both the philosophy and the practice of Wolfsohn-Hart voice work. Owning Our Voices is a vital book for scholars and students of voice studies and practitioners of vocal performance: it represents a synthesis of a life's work exploring the expressive potential of the human voice, illuminating an important lineage of vocal training, which remains influential to this day.

Do you have to be an extrovert to succeed as an actor? This book offers ideas to create inclusive acting environments where the strengths of the introverted actor are as valued as those of their extroverted counterparts. As this book shows, many introverts are innately drawn to the field of acting, but can often feel inferior to their extroverted peers. From the classroom to professional auditions, from rehearsals to networking events, introverted actors tell their stories to help other actors better understand how to leverage their natural gifts, both onstage and off. In addition, The Introverted Actor helps to reimagine professional and pedagogical approaches for both actor educators and directors by offering actionable advice from seasoned psychology experts, professional actors, and award-winning educators.

Intercultural Acting and Performer Training is the first collection of essays from a diverse, international group of authors and practitioners focusing on intercultural acting and voice practices worldwide. This unique book invites performers and teachers of acting and performance to explore, describe, and interrogate the complexities of intercultural acting and actor/performer training taking place in our twenty-first century, globalized world. As global contexts become multi-, inter- and intra-cultural, assumptions about what acting'is'and what actor/performer training should be continue to be shaped by conventional modes, models, techniques and structures. This book examines how our understanding of interculturalism changes when we shift our focus from the obvious and highly visible aspects of production to the micro-level of training grounds, studios, and rehearsal rooms, where new forms of hybrid performance are emerging. Ideal for students, scholars and practitioners, Intercultural Acting and Performer Training offers a series of accessible and highly readable essays which reflect on acting and training processes through the lens offered by'new'forms of intercultural thought and practice.

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.

The Michael Chekhov Handbook is a practical guide to Chekhov's supportive techniques for actors, fully updated with new exercises that examine the relationship between the sensations of the physical body and the imagination.Lenard Petit draws on 25 years of teaching experience to unlock and illuminate Michael Chekhov's philosophy, and offers guiding principles and effective tools that actors can apply in rehearsal and performance. The second edition focuses on the building blocks of drama and an exploration of the five senses as an expressive springboard, with a new section on the function of the Archetype in the Chekhov method. Theory and practice are treated here with clarity and simplicity.Dedicated to students and teachers of acting, The Michael Chekhov Handbook provides readers with the essential tools they need to put the rewarding principles of this technique into use.

Few actors have had a career as dynamic as that Kathleen Turner's; success has followed her from the television screen to major blockbusters, from indie films to the theater stage. Over her forty-year career, Turner has developed an instinctual knowledge of what it takes to be a successful actor, and, in her conversations with esteemed film professor Dustin Morrow, she shares these lessons with the world. With her iconic wit on full display, Turner dazzles readers with her shrewd insights on the craft of acting and charming anecdotes from her own storied career. Touching on each of her roles, she expounds on the lessons she's learned and describes her journey of discovery in the world of acting. An epic and intense one-on-one master class in acting from the best teacher imaginable, Kathleen Turner on Acting is a must for acting and directing students of every age, established actors and directors, filmmakers, theater pros, and artists of every stripe.

“A workhorse of a book! Beautifully conceived and executed. Clues to Acting Shakespeare is a no-brainer purchase for acting collections in all libraries.” —Library JournalClues to Acting Shakespeare has become a popular guide for actors, directors, teachers and Shakespeare enthusiasts, selling over 15,000 copies of previous editions. This third edition retains the second edition's unique solutions to challenges that face directors and actors at advanced levels and is expanded to include an entirely new section for amateur and community theatre groups. In this new edition, readers will be delighted to find: New section to aid community theatres to perform Shakespeare's plays, including five recorded workshops of community theatre actors coached and trained by the authorUpdates to the successful sections on training student actors (MFA and BFA programs), and professional actors (including audition tips)—highlighted by twenty author-coached workshops with professional and advanced student actorsImproved section for teachers of high school and child actors with worksheets and sample lesson plansNew exercises and resources for all levels of acting and production To aid professionals, Clues to Acting Shakespeare offers a one-day brush-up for auditions and preparation to play Shakespeare immediately. Text analysis, character studies, and both classical British training and American methods are explored. The exercises and recorded workshops provide inspiring advice to all actors and demonstrate concepts discussed throughout the book. The critical skills required for acting Shakespeare, including scansion, phrasing, caesura, breathing, speech structure, antithesis, and more are covered in detail. The comprehensive exercises using the Bard's plays and sonnets teach actors to break down the verse, support the words, understand the imagery, and use the text to create vibrant performances.

Some people claim that audiences go to the movies for the genre. Others say they go for the director. But most really go to see their favorite actors and actresses. This book explores the work of many of classic Hollywood's influential stars, such as James Cagney, Bette Davis, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. These so-called'pre-Brando'entertainers, often dismissed as old fashioned, were part of an explosion of talent that ran from the late 1920s through the early 1950s. The author analyzes their compelling styles and their ability to capture audiences.

As one of the most well-known names in theatre history, Konstantin Stanislavsky's teachings on actor training have endured throughout the decades, influencing scholars and practitioners even in the present day. This second edition of Konstantin Stanislavsky combines: an overview of Stanislavsky's life and work, including recent discoveries an assessment of his widely read text, An Actor Prepares (1936) with comparisons to Benedetti's 2008 translation, An Actor's Work detailed commentary of the key 1898 production of The Seagull an indispensable set of practical exercises for actors, teachers and directors. As a first step towards critical understanding, and as an initial ex- ploration before going on to further, primary research, Routledge Performance Practitioners are unbeatable value for today's student.

This book offers a provocative and groundbreaking re-appraisal of the demands of acting ancient tragedy, informed by cutting-edge scholarship in the fields of actor training, theatre history, and classical reception. Its interdisciplinary reach means that it is uniquely positioned to identify, interrogate, and de-mystify the clichés which cluster around Greek tragedy, giving acting students, teachers, and theatre-makers the chance to access a vital range of current debates, and modelling ways in which an enhanced understanding of this material can serve as the stimulus for new experiments in the studio or rehearsal room. Two theoretical chapters contend that Aristotelian readings of tragedy, especially when combined with elements of Stanislavski's (early) actor-training practice, can actually prevent actors from interacting productively with ancient plays and practices. The four chapters which follow (Acting Sound, Acting Myth, Acting Space, and Acting Chorus) examine specific challenges in detail, combining historical summaries with a survey of key modern practitioners, and a sequence of practical exercises.

'It will not disappoint...'—Ian McKellen, from the ForewordAn Authoritative Training Manual for Film Actors and Teachers “In today's entertainment industry of buff bodies and beautiful faces, it's easy to think that a couple of sit-ups and high cheek bones can create a movie legend,” writes film veteran Cathy Haase. However, she adds, what the actor really must have are “technique, craft, and a depth of self-knowledge.” In Acting for Film, Second Edition, Haase shows actors how to develop all of these, sharing her secrets (developed through years of on-camera work) for creating characters who come alive and who touch the souls of the audience. Readers will learn how to apply theatrical training to film acting and hone a personal approach to rendering a character. Acting for Film, Second Edition, is an essential guide for aspiring performers, acting teachers, and anyone interested in gaining a greater understanding of the craft. This new edition includes: Advice on dealing with new technology including CGI and motion captureConcentration and relaxation exercises that will enhance facial expressivenessExploration of sense memory techniques for on-camera workAnimal exercises and their usagesTips for maintaining proper eye focus in front of the camera and conveying the “beats” of a scene, even in the shortest takes For any performer who intends to make a living in front of the camera, Acting for Film, Second Edition, is the most authoritative resource! With Haase's experience and advice in their pocket, readers will be prepared to land the film role they've been dreaming of.

The first collection of its kind to bring together scholarly and practitioner perspectives, this book analyses the experiences, skills and techniques of actors when working on television. Featuring eleven chapters by internationally distinguished researchers and actor trainers, this collection examines the acting processes and resulting performances of some of the most acclaimed television actors. Topics include: studio and location realism; actor training for television; actor well-being in the television industry; performance in reality television and British and Irish actors in contemporary US television and film. The book also contains case studies examining the work of Emmy-award-winning actor Viola Davis and the iconic character of Gene Hunt in Life on Mars (BBC, 2006-2007).

Performing Shakespeare Unrehearsed: A Practical Guide to Acting and Producing Spontaneous Shakespeare outlines how Shakespeare's plays can be performed effectively without rehearsal, if all the actors understand a set of performance guidelines and put them into practice.Each chapter is devoted to a specific guideline, demonstrating through examples how it can be applied to pieces of text from Shakespeare's First Folio, how it creates blocking and stage business, and how it enhances story clarity. Once the guidelines have been established, practical means of production are discussed, providing the reader with sufficient step-by-step instruction to prepare for Unrehearsed performances. This book is written for the actor and performer.

The Method Acting Exercises Handbook is a concise and practical guide to the acting exercises originally devised by Lee Strasberg, one of the Method's foremost practitioners. The Method trains the imagination, concentration, senses and emotions to ‘re-create'– not ‘imitate'– logical, believable and truthful behavior on stage and in film.Building on nearly 30 years of teaching internationally and at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York and Los Angeles, Lola Cohen details a series of specific exercises in order to provide clear instruction and guidance to this preeminent form of actor training. By integrating Strasberg's voice with her own tried and tested style of teaching, Cohen demonstrates what can be gained from the exercises, how they can inform and inspire your learning, and how they might be applied to your acting and directing practice. As a companion to The Lee Strasberg Notes (Routledge 2010), a transcription of Strasberg's own teaching, The Method Acting Exercises Handbook offers an unparalleled and updated guide to this world renowned technique.

There are hundreds of biographies of filmstars and dozens of scholarly works on acting in general. But what about the ephemeral yet indelible moments when, for a brief scene or even just a single shot, an actor's performance triggers a visceral response in the viewer? Moment of Action delves into the mysteries of screen performance, revealing both the acting techniques and the technical apparatuses that coalesce in an instant of cinematic alchemy to create movie gold. Considering a range of acting styles while examining films as varied as Bringing Up Baby, Psycho, The Red Shoes, Godzilla, and The Bourne Identity, Murray Pomerance traces the common dynamics that work to structure the complex relationship between the act of cinematic performance and its eventual perception. Mining the spaces where subjective and objective analyses merge, Pomerance offers both a deeply personal account of film viewership and a detailed examination of the intuitive gestures, orchestrated movements, and backstage maneuvers that go into creating those phenomenal moments onscreen. Moment of Action takes us on an innovative exploration of the nexus at which the actor's keen skills spark and kindle the audience's receptive energies.

Dance's Duet with the Camera: Motion Pictures is a collection of essays written by various authors on the relationship between live dance and film. Chapters cover a range of topics that explore dance film, contemporary dance with film on stage, dance as an ideal medium to be captured by 3D images and videodance as kin to site-specific choreography. This book explores the ways in which early practitioners such as Loïe Fuller and Maya Deren began a conversation between media that has continued to evolve and yet still retains certain unanswered questions. Methodology for this conversation includes dance historical approaches as well as mechanical considerations. The camera is a partner, a disembodied portion of self that looks in order to reflect on, to mirror, or to presage movement. This conversation includes issues of sexuality, race, and mixed ability. Bodies and lenses share equal billing.

A collection of texts by Eugenio Barba reconstructing the history of his relationships with the Asian classical theatres. Interweaving stories of journeys, meetings, anecdotes, reflections and technical descriptions, the author exposes the phases and changes in a passion that covers the fifty years of his professional trajectory. Little known or unpublished texts are included together with widely diffused articles which have become classics. The result is a book which examines in detail an important chapter of the dialogue between East and West in the theatre culture of the twentieth century.

Screen performances entertain and delight us but we rarely stop to consider actors'reliance on their craft to create memorable characters. Although film acting may appear effortless, a host of techniques, artistic conventions, and social factors shape the construction of each role. The chapters in Acting provide a fascinating, in-depth look at the history of film acting, from its inception in 1895 when spectators thrilled at the sight of vaudeville performers, Wild West stars, and athletes captured in motion, to the present when audiences marvel at the seamless blend of human actors with CGI. Experts in the field take readers behind the silver screen to learn about the craft of film acting in six eras: the silent screen (1895–1928), classical Hollywood (1928–1946), postwar Hollywood (1947–1967), the auteur renaissance (1968–1980), the New Hollywood (1981–1999), and the modern entertainment marketplace (2000–present). The contributors pay special attention to definitive performances by notable film stars, including Lillian Gish, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers, Beulah Bondi, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Nicholas Cage, Denzel Washington, and Andy Serkis. In six original essays, the contributors to this volume illuminate the dynamic role of acting in the creation and evolving practices of the American film industry. Acting is a volume in the Behind the Silver Screen series—other titles in the series include Animation; Art Direction and Production Design; Cinematography; Costume, Makeup, and Hair; Directing; Editing and Special/Visual Effects; Producing; Screenwriting; and Sound.

Why do people act? Why are other people drawn to watch them? How is acting as a performing art related to role-playing outside the theater? As the first philosophical study devoted to acting, Acts: Theater, Philosophy, and the Performing Selfsheds light on some of the more evasive aspects of the acting experience— such as the import of the actor's voice, the ethical unease sometimes felt while embodying particular sequences, and the meaning of inspiration. Tzachi Zamir explores acting's relationship to everyday role-playing through a surprising range of examples of “lived acting,” including pornography, masochism, and eating disorders. By unearthing the deeper mobilizing structures that underlie dissimilar forms of staged and non-staged role-playing, Acts offers a multi-layered meditation on the percolation from acting to life. The book engages questions of theatrical inspiration, the actor's “energy,” the difference between acting and pretending, the special role of repetition as part of live acting, the audience and its attraction to acting, and the unique significance of the actor's voice. It examines the embodied nature of the actor's animation of a fiction, the breakdown of the distinction between what one acts and who one is, and the transition from what one performs into who one is, creating an interdisciplinary meditation on the relationship between life and acting.

A sampling of female characters from Volume 3: LUCY A mugging victim who comes to her own rescue GWEN A woman apologizing to a man she has offended ELIZABETH A patient tells of her nightmare. LAURA A juror agonizing over a verdict HOPE A woman who recently got out of a toxic relationship

Mastery of craft depends on repetition: the more opportunities student actors have to be guided through analyzing scripts, the more likely they are to develop a reliable process for making choices when the time comes to work independently. That's why Acting on the Script contains eight short plays, which can be used independently or as parts of one full-length play, giving aspiring actors the practice they need to tell the story of the play and of their characters clearly, believably, and compellingly. With each new scene, readers are given the opportunity to think through the analysis and synthesis process independently, then they are guided clearly through that process. The first section reintroduces the basic elements of acting craft. The book then lays out how these elements relate to a script in general and then more specifically – by using a short play to illustrate the basic principles. The second section focuses on specific analysis and synthesis problems using original scenes especially composed to help students develop their analysis and choice-making skills and to address individual acting issues. The plays, already tested in classes and two productions (one professional and one college), are filled with the kinds of acting problems that beginning actors often have trouble with and need to learn to solve. In addition, specific problems that actors might have with certain types of material are addressed as well.

What is the relationship between'body'and'mind','inner'and'outer'in any approach to acting? How have different modes of actor training shaped actors'experiences of acting and how they understand their work? Phillip B. Zarrilli, Jerri Daboo and Rebecca Loukes offer insight into such questions, analysing acting as a psychophysical phenomenon and process across cultures and disciplines, and providing in-depth accounts of culturally and historically specific approaches to acting. Individual chapters explore: - Psychophysical acting and the legacy of Stanislavsky- European psychophysical practices of dance and theatre- Traditional and contemporary psychophysical approaches to performance in India and Japan- Insights from the new sciences on the'situated bodymind'of the actor- Intercultural perspectives on acting.This lively study is ideal for students and practitioners alike.

Laissez-vous entraîner dans un voyage lyrique au cours de chacun de ces huit monologues'Voici une voix singulière, charpentée et fragile.Voici un coup de poing de tendresse première.Voici une parole de galets et de ronces, polie par le torrent, sanguine sous l'épine.Chaque monologue de Probst est une musique particulière, une partition construite sur le souffle, dans le matériau langagier le plus juste, et certainement le moins complaisant.Il faut du coffre pour faire résonner ces solitudes.Il faut que ça swingue, que ça jazze, que ça balance, que ça mâche et ça décape!Il faut se laisser prendre par cette scansion si personnelle et si fascinante.C'est un hoquet fondateur, aux récurrences jubilatoires.Il y a du Ramuz et du Cendrars dans cette langue.Prendre le pouls de cette écriture, c'est accepter de s'abandonner à l'arythmie du poète.Le théâtre en a tellement besoin!'- Philippe Morand, directeur de la collection Théâtre en camPocheUn ensemble audacieux et captivant où chaque voix a son caractère et une âme à part entièreEXTRAITElle lâche le sac, essuie d'un revers de main son front, tombe assise sur la pierre.De quelle mort ne suis-je pas revenue, pour vivre ainsi d'un équilibre si menacé?Quelle route, quelle interminable route, je ne bouge plus jusqu'au soir, plantée en pleine route, jalon, un de plus fiché dans cette vie baisée de toutes les manières, douces et sournoises et violentes et fermes, par-devant et par-derrière et de tous les côtés, et taillée, cette vie, par les pierres du chemin, et par le soleil traître comme une chèvre efflanquée, vie suée, remplie de soif, c'est-à-dire vide, vide, vide, quelle soif, quelle route, quelle interminable soif, une pastèque, trouverais-je quelque part une pastèque?A PROPOS DE L'AUTEURAuteur dramatique et comédien, Jacques Probst est né à Genève le 1er août 1951. Comédien, a joué dans plus de soixante spectacles, avec une prédilection pour les pièces de Shakespeare, Webster, Beckett, Pinter, H. Muller, Behan, Bond.Il est l'auteur depuis 1969 d'une vingtaine de pièces pour le théâtre, allant du monologue à des pièces de dix, quinze, voire plus de vingt ou encore des pièces de trois, cinq, sept personnages.Ces pièces furent représentées en Suisse, France, Belgique. Il a souvent, et particulièrement pour les monologues, travaillé avec des musiciens. Plusieurs des pièces ont fait l'objet d'enregistrements pour la Radio Suisse Romande. Il a aussi écrit trois scénarios de films.

Audition Speeches for 6-16 Year Olds offers a generous helping of carefully selected speeches that children can prepare for auditions. Each speech is introduced with commentary to set the scene and help the young actor.

Aspiring film and television actors will discover exercises for relaxing the face to achieve maximum expressiveness; maintaining proper eye focus in front of the camera and conveying the'beats'of a scene, even in the shortest takes. They'll also learn tested techniques for adapting to the styles of different directors; modulating voice and breath for maximum effect; preparing for the first day on the set; enduring multiple takes and on-the-set waiting; and much, much more. For any performer who intends to make a living in front of the camera, Acting for Film is the most authoritative resource!

Acting in Real Timeby renowned Dutch director and acting teacher Paul Binnerts describes his method for Real-Time Theater, which authorizes actors to actively determine how a story is told---they are no longer mere vehicles for delivering the playwright's message or the director's interpretations of the text. This level of involvement allows actors to deepen their grasp of the material and amplify their stage presence, resulting in more engaged and nuanced performances. The method offers a postmodern challenge to Stanislavski and Brecht, whose theories of stage realism dominated the twentieth century. In providing a new way to consider the actor's presence on stage, Binnerts advocates breaking down the'fourth wall'that separates audiences and actors and has been a central tenet of acting theories associated with realism. In real-time theater, actors forgo attempts to become characters and instead understand their function to be storytellers who are fully present on stage and may engage the audience and their fellow actors directly. Paul Binnerts analyzes the ascendance of realism as the dominant theater and acting convention and how its methods can hinder the creation of a more original, imaginative theater. His description of the techniques of real-time theater is illuminated by practical examples from his long experience in the stage. The book then offers innovative exercises that provide training in the real-time technique, including physical exercises that help the actor become truly present in performance. Acting in Real Time also includes a broad overview of the history of acting and realism's relationship to the history of theater architecture, offering real-time theater as an alternative. The book will appeal to actors and acting students, directors, stage designers, costume designers, lighting designers, theater historians, and dramaturgs.

‘Every scene or action or speech has a so therefore. It is the goal, the ultimate statement of the character. You should know the so therefore as you begin your scene... The climax and the payoff is the so therefore.'– from Al Ruscio's Preface When working through a scene with a student, renowned actor and acting teacher Al Ruscio will ask, ‘so therefore, what?'to urge them to capture the specific actions and desires that define their character at that moment. So Therefore… interweaves tried-and-tested practical exercises with sound advice, and illustrative tales from Ruscio's remarkable career, to form a training handbook as uniquely pragmatic as his favourite phrase. Breaking down his method into three broad focuses, Ruscio considers: Warming Up – including relaxation, going ‘beneath the words'and emotional recall; Scene Work – ranging from character analysis to an exploration of action; The Play – discovering its spine, progressing through rehearsals and sustaining a performance. But So Therefore… also reflects wisely on such diverse subjects as Stage versus Film, and Stamina, Luck and Chutzpah. Enriching and generous, it is the culmination of a career that has taken in dozens of major motion pictures, and spans the entire history of television – as well as half a century spent training actors.Al Ruscio graduated from the famed Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre and has been teaching acting for five decades. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild and is a current voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Theatre in Practice provides students with all of the ‘must have'Drama skills required for A-Level, International Baccalaureate, BTEC and beyond. Practical, step-by-step exercises and diagrams give access to the key figures and processes central to drama, including: Stanislavski, Brecht, Lecoq and Berkoff devising theatre rehearsing and performing monologues and duologues how to approach directing a play improvising. Each chapter offers advice for both students and teachers, with notes and follow-on exercises ideal for individual study and practice. Written by specialists with extensive experience leading workshops for the'post 16'age-group, Theatre in Practice is a thorough and imaginative resource that speaks directly to students.

In the Studio with Joyce Piven takes you directly inside the creative process of the renowned Piven Workshop led by Joyce and Byrne Piven.The Piven Theatre Workshop in Chicago has nurtured theatre artists celebrated in the US, Ireland and Britain including Joan Cusack, John Cusack, Jeremy Piven, Aidan Quinn, Sarah Ruhl, Lili Taylor and Kate Walsh. Co-authors Joyce Piven and Susan Applebaum describe the Workshop techniques (developed and refined over forty years of theatrical training) as a virtual fly-on-the-wall experience, taking the reader inside the director's studio, classroom, and green room.Part One introduces the central principles of game work and the concept of'encounter'- finding the emotional experience at the heart of a set of given circumstances - and ends with a chapter on the role of story theatre as a bridge between games and play text.Part Two takes you into the classroom with Joyce Piven through fully-detailed transcripts of physical and vocal workshops on play, agreement, specificity, transformation and story theatre, accompanied by explanations and tips for teaching.The book ends with an alphabetical appendix of games taught by Byrne and Joyce Piven based on their work with Paul Sills and Viola Spolin, Etienne Decroux, Uta Hagen and Mira Rostova.A highly regarded guide and resource for actors, teachers, and directors, for anyone interested in the creative process of acting and actor training.

Jim Carrey, Kyle Chandler, George Clooney, Ted Danson, Kate Hudson, Justina Machado, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Tom Selleck are just some of the many celebrated actors who have benefited from the legendary acting teacher Milton Katselas. As the founder of the prestigious Beverly Hills Playhouse, Katselas was regarded by many as one of America's foremost acting teachers as well as an acclaimed director. Originally available only to students at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, Acting Class: Take a Seat presents the concepts and methods that helped lead a generation of actors to success on stage, in cinema, and on television. In this all-encompassing book, Katselas invites readers to “sit in” on the classes he taught for more than forty years. Acting Class covers in detail three concepts central to the Katselas approach: Acting, Attitude, and Administration. Katselas not only covers techniques and methods, but also includes valuable discussions on the attitudes any artist needs to fulfill their dreams.

Ed Hooks'indispensable acting guidebook for animators has been fully updated and improved! Hooks uses basic acting theory to explain everything from character movement and facial expressions to interaction and scene construction. Just as acting on film and on stage are very different disciplines, so is the use of acting theory in creating an animated character, scene or story. Acting for Animators is full of essential craft tips from an acting master. New to this Routledge edition: - scene-by-scene analyses of six films, including Up, Coraline and Kung Fu Panda - an expanded chapter on video game animation - all-new illustrations - a 500 word history of acting

Acting Reframes presents theatre and film practitioners with a methodology for using Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) as a tool to aid their practice.Author Robert Barton uses the NLP approach to illustrate a range of innovative methods to help actors and directors, including:• reducing performance anxiety• enabling clearer communication• intensifying character analysis• stimulating imaginative rehearsal choices.The author also shows how NLP can used alongside other basic training systems to improve approaches to rehearsal and performance.The book shows the use of NLP to the reader in a playful, creative and easily accessible style that is structured to enable solo study as well as group work. The text offers a range of engaging exercises and extensive analysis of language patterns used in performance. It is a source for enhancing communication between all theatre practitioners in training, productions, and daily life outside the theatre.Acting Reframes gives actors a richly rewarding approach to help them develop all aspects of their craft.

Stanislavski in Practice is an unparalleled step-by-step guide to Stanislavski's System. Author Nick O'Brien makes this cornerstone of acting accessible to teachers and students alike. This is an exercise book for students and a lesson planner for teachers on syllabi from Edexcel, WJEC and AQA to the practice-based requirements of BTEC. Each element of the System is covered practically through studio exercises and jargon-free discussion. Over a decade's experience of acting and teaching makes O'Brien perfectly placed to advise anyone wanting to understand or apply Stanislavski's system. Features include: Practical extension work for students to take away from the lesson Notes for teachers on how to use material with different age groups Exam tips for students based on specific syllabi requirements A chapter dedicated to using Stanislavski when rehearsing a text A glossary of terms that students of the System will encounter

‘As an actress I sit, speak, run, sweat and, simultaneously, I represent someone who sits, speaks, runs and sweats. As an actress, I am both myself and the character I am playing. I exist in the concreteness of the performance and, at the same time, I need to be alive in the minds and senses of the spectators. How can I speak of this double reality?'– Julia VarleyThis is a book about the experience of being an actress from a professional and female perspective. Julia Varley has been a member of Odin Teatret for over thirty years, and Notes from an Odin Actress is a personal account of her work with Eugenio Barba and this world-renowned theatre company.This is a unique window onto the in-depth exercises and day-to-day processes of an Odin member. It is a journal to enlighten anyone interested in the performances, the discoveries and the hard physical work that accompany a life in theatre.

Voice: Onstage and Off is a comprehensive guide to the process of building, mastering, and fine-tuning the voice for performance. Every aspect of vocal work is covered, from the initial speech impulse and the creation of sound, right through to refining the final product in different types of performance. This highly adaptable course of study empowers performers of all levels to combine and evolve their onstage and offstage voices. This second edition is extensively illustrated and accompanied by an all-new website, full of audio and text resources, including: extensive teacher guides including sample syllabi, scheduling options, and ways of adapting to varying academic environments and teaching circumstances downloadable forms to help reproduce the book's exercises in the classroom and for students to engage with their own vocal development outside of lessons audio recordings of all exercises featured in the book examples of Voiceover Demos, including both scripts and audio recordings links to useful web resources, for further study. Four mentors - the voice chef, the voice coach, the voice shrink and the voice doctor - are on hand throughout the book and the website to ensure a holistic approach to voice training. The authors also provide an authoritative survey of US and UK vocal training methods, helping readers to make informed choices about their study.

Acting: The First Six Lessons was first published in 1933 and remains a key text for anyone studying acting today. These dramatic dialogues between teacher and idealistic student explore the field of acting according to one of the original teachers of Stanislavsky's System in America. This new edition of an essential text is edited by Rhonda Blair and supplemented for the very first time with documents from the American Laboratory Theatre. These collect together a broad range of exciting unpublished material, drawn from Boleslavsky's pivotal and unprecedented teachings on acting at the American Laboratory Theatre. Included are:'The Creative Theatre Lectures'by Richard Boleslavsky Boleslavsky's'Lectures from the American Laboratory Theatre''Acting with Maria Ouspenskaya,'four short essays on the work of Ouspenskaya, Boleslavsky's colleague and fellow actor trainer A new critical introduction and bibliography by the Editor.

An Actor's Work on a Role is Konstantin Stanislavski's exploration of the rehearsal process, applying the techniques of his seminal actor training system to the task of bringing truth to one's chosen role. Originally published over half a century ago as Creating a Role, this book was the third in a planned trilogy – after An Actor Prepares and Building a Character, now combined in An Actor's Work – in which Stanislavski sets out his psychological, physical and practical vision of actor training.This new translation from renowned scholar Jean Benedetti not only includes Stanislavski's original teachings, but is also furnished with invaluable supplementary material in the shape of transcripts and notes from the rehearsals themselves, reconfirming'The System'as the cornerstone of actor training.

Lady Macbeth has haunted American history since the conflicts of Shakespeare s England spilled over into New England s real witch hunts. To reveal how Lady Macbeth entered American politics as an icon for the First Lady, this investigation focuses on the prominent actresses in the role, how they performed, and their effect on audiences anxious about the country s First Lady and her influence over the President - especially at times of war. Smith ably shows how the various Lady Macbeths have both reflected and shaped the image their contemporaries have of the ambitious political wife, producing parallels that converge dramatically in twentieth-century'witch hunts.'

What is good acting? How does one create believable characters? How can an actor understand a character if they do not understand themselves?In The Science of Acting, Sam Kogan uses his theories on the relationship between neuroscience, psychology and acting to answer these questions. Practical exercises provide a step-by-step guide to developing an actor's ability, culminating in Ten Steps to Creating a Character.He presents the reader with a groundbreaking understanding of the subconscious and how it can be applied to their acting. The author's highly original perspective on Stanislavski's teaching gives readers a unique insight into their character's minds.Sam Kogan studied at the Moscow Institute of Theatre Arts (now the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts) under the tutelage of Professor Maria Knebel. He established The Science of Acting, a complete stand-alone technique.Helen Kogan is the chair and former principal of The Academy of Science of Acting and Directing, has helped to shape her father's words and work for the publication of this book.

David Zinder's Body Voice Imagination is written by one of the master teachers of the Michael Chekhov technique of acting training. This book is a comprehensive course of exercises devoted to the development of actors'creative expressivity, comprising both pre-Chekhov ImageWork Training and seminal exercises of the Chekhov technique. It also details the way in which these techniques can be applied to performance through a discovery of the profound connections between the actor's body, imagination and voice.

'Stimulating and intelligent'Yoshi OidaSeventy percent of everyday conversation is conveyed through bodylanguage, twenty percent is the voice and only ten percent is themeaning of the words. In The Body Speaks, expert RADA trainerLorna Marshall, shows how to recognise and lose unwanted physicalinhibitions that our background, education or family have taught us andpresents a fundamental re-thinking of our relationship to the body andits role in performance.Good performers - be they trapeze artists, Shakespearean actors,Butoh dancers or film stars - are able to fully reach their audienceand engage with them because they have learnt to use their bodies toits best effect. Through a series of practical exercises, LornaMarshall encourages us to unleash our potential, discover newpossibility for the body and express ourselves more clearly. This newedition has been fully revised to include the latest thinking on thesubject and more exercises particularly for performers in TV and film.

'There is a mystery in every play that is written, no matter whether classical and poetic or modern and demotic, and it is the sound and the rhythm of the writing which take us there.'Cicely Berry, the Royal Shakespeare Company's Voice Director, has been working alongside some of Britain's greatest actors and directors for over fifty years and is widely regarded as one of the most significant voice teachers in the world.From Word to Play draws on Cicely's extensive experience of working with theatre companies in Britain and throughout the world. It is her manifesto for a return to the words themselves: for moving away from an over-conceptualised, over-literal view of language and rediscovering the meaning in its sounds and rhythms. At the heart of this book is a concise, practical guide for directors in rehearsal, setting out work strategies that help bring out both the shape and the details within all kinds of text - whether verse or prose, seventeenth-century or contemporary.With a Foreword by Michael Boyd, Artistic Director of the RSC.