Challenge For The Actor

Theoretically, the actor ought to be more sound in mind and body than other people, since he learns to understand the psychological problems of human beings when putting his own passions, his loves, fears, and rages to work in the service of the characters he plays. He will learn to face himself, to hide nothing from himself -- and to do so takes an insatiable curiosity about the human condition. from the Prologue Uta Hagen, one of the world's most renowned stage actresses, has also taught acting for more than forty years at the HB Studio in New York. Her first book, Respect for Acting, published in 1973, is still in print and has sold more than 150,000 copies. In her new book, A Challenge for the Actor, she greatly expands her thinking about acting in a work that brings the full flowering of her artistry, both as an actor and as a teacher. She raises the issue of the actor's goals and examines the specifics of the actor's techniques. She goes on to consider the actor's relationship to the physical and psychological senses. There is a brilliantly conceived section on the animation of the body and mind, of listening and talking, and the concept of expectation. But perhaps the most useful sections in this book are the exercises that Uta Hagen has created and elaborated to help the actor learn his craft. The exercises deal with developing the actor's physical destination in a role; making changes in the self serviceable in the creation of a character; recreating physical sensations; bringing the outdoors on stage; finding occupation while waiting; talking to oneself and the audience; and employing historical imagination. The scope and range of Uta Hagen here is extraordinary. Her years of acting and teaching have made her as finely seasoned an artist as the theatre has produced.

An Actor’s Research: Investigating Choices for Practice and Performance presents an accessible and highly practical guide to the research approaches required of the actor. It aims to establish the precision and rigour of the actor’s craft that is intrinsic to a compelling acting performance, explore a range of research activities surrounding and emerging from practical work in the studio, and enable the actor to evolve a multifaceted skillset in researching for performance. The chapters focus on different research areas such as the self, character, relationships, circumstance, and context, providing accessible and practical guidance to developing a personal research practice. Each aspect is explained and engaged with as practice, rather than study – offering helpful hints and advising against common pitfalls – ultimately enabling the actor to locate the necessary knowledge to shape and inform their performance in both text-based and devised scenarios. Additionally, as the actor’s self is a personal instrument that is drawn on in terms of expression, impulses, and imagination; the self also becomes a source for creative appraisal and research. This book therefore offers comprehensive advice and strategies for self-evaluation and reflection, connecting research investigation with self-exploration in making expressive performance choices, making it a practice highly applicable to the actor’s needs. An Actor’s Research closely follows the training actor’s needs in terms of performance-based research; however, its practical research activities for text and character creation and strategies for the development of critical thinking and self-reflective skills support the ongoing development of the actor and their craft in both training and professional circumstances.

The Actor, Image and Action is a 'new generation' approach to the craft of acting; the first full-length study of actor training using the insights of cognitive neuroscience. In a brilliant reassessment of both the practice and theory of acting, Rhonda Blair examines the physiological relationship between bodily action and emotional experience. In doing so she provides the latest step in Stanislavsky's attempts to help the actor 'reach the unconscious by conscious means'. Recent developments in scientific thinking about the connections between biology and cognition require new ways of understanding many elements of human activity, including: imagination emotion memory physicality reason. The Actor, Image and Action looks at how these are in fact inseparable in the brain's structure and function, and their crucial importance to an actor’s engagement with a role. The book vastly improves our understanding of the actor's process and is a must for any actor or student of acting.

An Actor's Task provides a framework for studying the dual arts of acting: inhabiting a character both physically and psychologically. Actors at all levels can use this book to explore, develop, and review the sensory tools and training that enable them to be the best versions of themselves and, ultimately, to bring that understanding of "self" to their art. Innovative new exercises and selected classics--updated for today's students--comprise more than 100 exercises. Introductions to each exercise explain its aims and benefits. Clear step-by-step prompts provide guidance. Debriefing sections engage actors in reflection on what they have experienced and learned. This inspired text is equally suited to classroom use and individual study.

(Book). The Actor as Storyteller is intended for serious beginning actors. It opens with an overview, explaining the differences between theater and its hybrid mediums, the part an actor plays in each of those mediums. It moves on to the acting craft itself, with a special emphasis on analysis and choice-making, introducing the concept of the actor as storyteller, then presents the specific tools an actor works with. Next, it details the process an actor can use to prepare for scene work and rehearsals, complete with a working plan for using the tools discussed. The book concludes with a discussion of mental preparation, suggestions for auditioning, a process for rehearsing a play, and an overview of the realities of show business. Included in this updated edition are: A detailed examination of script analysis of the overall play and of individual scenes; A sample of an actor's script, filled with useful script notations; Two new short plays, one written especially for this text; Updated references, lists of plays, and recommended further reading

A career as an Actor is an exciting one! But do you really know what it takes to become one? This book takes you inside the career and shows you the day and the life of a Actor. Inside you’ll learn what they do, what training is required, what the future holds, and how you can become one!

F.M. Alexander developed the Alexander Technique of movement in the early 20th century. Combining vocal clarity and body movement, Alexander developed a performance coaching method that is used by dancers, actors, singers, etc. In The Actor and the Alexander Technique, Kelly McEvenue writes the first basic book about how this unique technique can help actors feel more natural on the stage. She provides warm-up exercises, "balance" and "center" exercises, spatial awareness exercises. She talks about imitation, the use of masks, nudity on the stage, dealing with injury and aging. She talks about specific productions that have successfully used the Alexander Technique, such as "The Lion King". With a foreword by Patsy Rodenburg of our own phenomenal The Actor Speaks this is a book that belongs on the shelf of every working and studying actor.

Countless actors have learned and benefited from The Actor at Work through fifty years and ten editions. Robert Benedetti continues this strong tradition in this Eleventh Edition. Designed for acting courses beyond the introductory level, The Actor at Work takes readers through understanding first their own bodies, voices, and thoughts, then techniques of action, and finally creating fully realized performances. The exercises that accompany each lesson form a program of self-discovery and self-development and are arranged roughly according to a natural acquisition of skills and insights.