The Present Actor

Many actors are hungry for guidance. You're in a profession that offers no promise of recognition, fulfillment or even steady employment despite your talent, training or degrees. A great actor can be passed over for a lesser one; a year of booking wonderful roles can be followed by two years of unemployment; a successful actor can find him or herself spiritually empty in the midst of adulation. Performers must deal with the unique circumstance of having their face, body, mind and emotions on display for judgment every day. Consequently, there's an overwhelming desire to obtain some emotional grounding and inner peace within a very uncertain profession. The Present Actor was written specifically to address the challenges that you face every day, whether you're just starting out or have already acquired some measure of success. This book speaks specifically to the performer on an all-encompassing emotional, spiritual and practical level. As a casting executive for a major television network, understanding an actor's ego, heart, intellect and imagination is my job. Finding your way requires time, patience and love. I can't reach all of you personally, but I can hope to make my knowledge available to you through this book.“I was truly moved by what Marci wrote. I kept on saying, 'yes, yes, yes', I discuss these ideas with my clients all the time! It's more than taking class and breaking down a scene.. She captures the sum of the parts in such a comprehensive manner yet with so much compassion. It's the actor's self-help book for anyone who dares to dream. I LOVE it!”Rhonda Price, Partner - The Gersh Agency

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.

The individual that the social sciences take as an object is most often studied in a particular context or from a single dimension. The actor is analysed as a student, worker, consumer, spouse, reader, sportsperson, a voter etc. However, in societies where individuals live often through simultaneously and successively heterogeneous and sometimes contradictory social experiences, each person inevitably carries a plurality of roles, ways of seeing, feeling and acting. The aim of this study is to consider the ways in which this plurality of worlds and experiences are incorporated into the being of each individual and to observe the individual's actions in a variety of settings. In addition to his sociological viewpoint, the author engages with psychology, history, anthropology and philosophy. His reflections lead him to embark on a program of psychological sociology to highlight the complexities of this plural view of the social.

Offering revolutionary new training for the actor, The Actor's Secret teaches actors and performers how to incorporate the fundamentals of the Alexander Technique, Somatic Experiencing®, and Breathing Coordination in order to reduce performance anxiety and stress; improve stage presence, breathing, and vocal production; and restore well-being and healthy functioning. These three kinesthetic disciplines are designed to lead to profound change and healing through body-mind reeducation. Part I explains in detail the principles of the three techniques. A practical method for self-improvement and neuromuscular reeducation, the Alexander Technique focuses on changing inefficient habits of movement and patterns of tension that inhibit the ability to move easily. Breathing Coordination helps increase breathing capacity and awareness. A method for resolving emotional trauma, Somatic Experiencing® follows a process of tracking bodily sensations to restore vitality and health. Enhanced with over 100 instructive photos, Parts II and III present explorations and exercises that draw on elements of the three methods. Topics covered include the importance of presence and non-doing; the proper mechanics of vocalization and singing; the understanding of character and role; and the actor's journey from auditions to performance, including initial script preparation, rehearsal, monologue, and scene work. Developed by Betsy Polatin, a movement specialist and master lecturer at Boston University's College of Fine Arts, the book's exercises provide the actor with simple tools for exploring his or her acting work. Most techniques and self-help books teach a new way of "doing." The secret of this book lies in "non-doing." When the actor learns to first recognize and then suspend habitual patterns, he or she opens the door to deeper artistic choices. "I have worked with many fine Alexander Technique teachers over the years and Betsy Polatin is far and away one of the finest. Her touch, her instincts, and her knowledge are miraculous."—Andre Gregory, actor and director, My Dinner with Andre

Full of illuminating anecdotes and witty accounts, this is the first English translation of Chekhov's two-volume autobiography. Two leading Russian scholars present an extensive and authoritative account of this great actor and extraordinary man.

A practical guide to the principles of teaching and learning movement, this book instructs the actor on how to train the body to become a medium of expression. Starting with a break-down of the principles of actor training through exercises and theatre games, Dick McCaw teaches the actor about their own body and its possibilities including: the different ways it can move, the space it occupies and finally its rhythm, timing and pacing. With 64 exercises supported by diagrams and online video, Dick McCaw draws on his 20 years of teaching experience to coach the reader in the dynamics of movement education to achieve a responsive and articulate body.

A diverse collection of monologues featuring the voices of women through the ages Drawn from poetry, fiction, diaries, journals, and documents of public record, these selections, although not originally intended for theatrical or cinematic performances, offer unique dramatic opportunities for actors, speakers, students, or anyone interested in women’s studies. Stefan Rudnicki has brought together selections from well-known as well as obscure authors, providing a tremendous range of women’s perspectives from a variety of sources: poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti, and Sappho, among others; passages from Mary Shelley’s journal, the diaries of Anais Nin, and the memoirs of Isadora Duncan; polemics from Mary Wollstonecraft and Joan of Arc, as well as Susan B. Anthony’s “On Woman’s Right to Suffrage”; and selections from the novels of Emily and Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, Ursula K. LeGuin, and others.