The Actor's Art and Craft

Author: William Esper
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 030727926X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
William Esper, one of the leading acting teachers of our time, explains and extends Sanford Meisner's legendary technique, offering a clear, concrete, step-by-step approach to becoming a truly creative actor.Esper worked closely with Meisner for seventeen years and has spent decades developing his famous program for actor's training. The result is a rigorous system of exercises that builds a solid foundation of acting skills from the ground up, and that is flexible enough to be applied to any challenge an actor faces, from soap operas to Shakespeare. Co-writer Damon DiMarco, a former student of Esper's, spent over a year observing his mentor teaching first-year acting students. In this book he recreates that experience for us, allowing us to see how the progression of exercises works in practice. The Actor's Art and Craft vividly demonstrates that good training does not constrain actors' instincts—it frees them to create characters with truthful and compelling inner lives.

The Actor's Guide to Creating a Character

Author: William Esper
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0345805690
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
William Esper, one of the most celebrated acting teachers of our time, takes us through his step-by-step approach to the central challenge of advanced acting work: creating and playing a character. Esper’s first book, The Actor’s Art and Craft, earned praise for describing the basics taught in his famous first-year acting class. The Actor’s Guide to Creating a Character continues the journey. In these pages, co-author Damon DiMarco vividly re-creates Esper’s second-year course, again through the experiences of a fictional class. Esper’s training builds on Sanford Meisner’s legendary exercises, a world-renowned technique that Esper further developed through his long association with Meisner and the decades he has spent training a host of distinguished actors. His approach is flexible enough to apply to any role, helping actors to create characters with truthful and compelling inner lives.

An Actor's Craft

Author: David Krasner
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0230357725
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Book Description
This inspirational guide for advanced acting students brings together multiple ways of creating excellence in performance. David Krasner provides tried and tested exercises, a history of actor training and explores the complex relationships between acting theories and teachers. Drawing on examples from personal experience as an actor, director and teacher, An Actor's Craft begins with the building blocks of mind, body and voice, moving through emotional triggers and improvisation, to a final section bringing these techniques together in approaching a role. Each chapter contains accompanying exercises that the actor should practice daily. Combining theory and practice, this thought-provoking and challenging study of acting techniques and theories is for actors who have grasped the basics and now want to develop their knowledge and training further.

The Art of Voice Acting

Author: James Alburger
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1136123415
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 432

Book Description
Are you just starting in Voiceover? Do you have some experience, but aren't getting booked? Are you a working pro who wants to expand to new areas of VO work? The Art of Voice Acting is a must read if you are serious about a profession in voice over and looking to maximize your efforts for success in the business. Packed with basic acting techniques in The Art of Voice Acting, you will discover * All new scripts * 20 more pages of new and updated information * A completely new chapter of studio stories and 'tricks-of-the-trade' from professional voiceover talent around the world * Updated information for voiceover demos and marketing * A comprehensive index that makes it easy to find what you're looking for * More voice and acting techniques * Contributions from some of the top voice talent in the world * Audio content with the actual audio for every script in the book, http://voiceacting.com/aovaextras/ * PLUS: exercises, demos and more! Written in an accessible and engaging style Alburger shares his experience as a performer, producer, director and performance coach to give you a clear no nonsense introduction to the business and art of voice acting. Audio content and images from the books are available at http://voiceacting.com/aovaextras/

Sanford Meisner on Acting

Author: Sanford Meisner
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307830632
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Book Description
Sanford Meisner was one of the best known and beloved teachers of acting in the country. This book follows one of his acting classes for fifteen months, beginning with the most rudimentary exercises and ending with affecting and polished scenes from contemporary American plays. Written in collaboration with Dennis Longwell, it is essential reading for beginning and professional actors alike. Throughout these pages Meisner is a delight—always empathizing with his students and urging them onward, provoking emotion, laughter, and growing technical mastery from his charges. With an introduction by Sydney Pollack, director of Out of Africa and Tootsie, who worked with Meisner for five years. "This book should be read by anyone who wants to act or even appreciate what acting involves. Like Meisner's way of teaching, it is the straight goods."—Arthur Miller "If there is a key to good acting, this one is it, above all others. Actors, young and not so young, will find inspiration and excitement in this book."—Gregory Peck

Acting

Author: Paul Kassel
Publisher: Allyn & Bacon
ISBN: 9780205440023
Category : Acting
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Acting: An Introduction to the Art and Craft of Playing discusses both the theory and practice of acting while placing the actor center stage as the crucial artist in the theatre. This text examines the underlying issues of acting and describes potential approaches to meet these challenges. Practical, experiential examples of applying the vocabulary are provided, but the book is not overloaded with exercises. The text identifies and clearly states the four fundamental actions and four basic tasks that form the basis for acting, focusing the student's energy for playing physically, vocally, imaginatively, and emotionally. Topically organized chapters examine the underlying processes and theories of the acting process through an open and descriptive approach and provide clear and concrete exercises to facilitate student development and understanding. Features Provides a descriptive rather than prescriptive approach to the acting process, helping students develop and explore their understanding. Features two intermissions, "The Theatrical Illusion" and "A Warm-up, " at the conclusion of Part Two, providing a theoretical and practical summary that prepares students for working on the stage. Includes practical, experiential exercises throughout to facilitate students' development of skills and understanding of how the acting process works. Provides analytical tools-such as outlines for text analysis, structural analysis (play and scene structure), and character analysis-to help students feel empowered to make their own choices regarding how, with what kind of material, and with whom they may work. Examines the role of emotion in the acting process, providing an effective and concrete discussion of how to utilize natural feelings that may arise in the process and of the controversies surrounding some common ideas in the field. Includes references to Web-based and traditional text resources throughout the book to support and expand on the ideas and exercises in each chapter and to help students further explore each topic. Praise for Acting Clearly, this writer is crafted and knows the "work." Beautifully realized, and extremely useable. . . . -George Maguire, Solano Community College I like how simple, readable, and friendly the author seems. . . . So many acting books seem to draw attention to the author or system of learning. This text puts the emphasis on acting and performers. -Marc Powers, University of South Florida

In the Company of Actors

Author: Carole Zucker
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136691243
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Book Description
In the Company of Actors is a wonderful ensemble of entertaining and illuminating discussions with sixteen of the most celebrated and prestigious actors in contemporary theatre, film and television. The impressive list of actors includes: Eileen Atkins, Alan Bates, Simon Callow, Judi Dench, Brenda Fricker, Nigel Hawthorne, Jane Lapotaire, Janet McTeer, Ian Richardson, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Rea, Fiona Shaw, Anthony Sher, Janet Suzman, David Suchet, and Penelope Wilton. Carole Zucker covers a wide range of topics including the actors' main childhood influences, their actor training, early acting experience, preparation for roles and sound advice for coping with actors' problems such as creative differences with other actors or directors.

Book the Job

Author: Doug Warhit
Publisher: Dau Pub
ISBN: 9780972626279
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 206

Book Description
Tools to master everything from "getting in the door without any connections", "crying on cue", "making the most of your close-up", "nailing sitcoms even if you don't think you're funny", to "what makes someone a star."

Comedy Acting for Theatre

Author: Sidney Homan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350012785
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 205

Book Description
Analysing why we laugh and what we laugh at, and describing how performers can elicit this response from their audience, this book enables actors to create memorable – and hilarious – performances. Rooted in performance and performance criticism, Sidney Homan and Brian Rhinehart provide a detailed explanation of how comedy works, along with advice on how to communicate comedy from the point of view of both the performer and the audience. Combining theory and performance, the authors analyse a variety of plays, both modern and classic. Playwrights featured include Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, Christopher Durang, and Michael Frayn. Acting in Shakespeare's comedies is also covered in depth.

The Art of the Actor

Author: Jean Benedetti
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136556192
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Book Description
How did acting begin? What is its history, and what have the great thinkers on acting said about the art and craft of performance? In this single-volume survey of the history of acting, Jean Benedetti traces the evolution of the theories of the actor's craft drawing extensively on extracts from key texts, many of which are unavailable for the student today. Beginning with the classical conceptions of acting as rhetoric and oratory, as exemplified in the writing of Aristotle, Cicero and others, The Art of the Actor progresses to examine ideas of acting in Shakespeare's time right through to the present day. Along the way, Benedetti considers the contribution and theories of key figures such as Diderot, Stanislavski, Meyerhold, Brecht, Artaud and Grotowski, providing a clear and concise explanation of their work illustrated by extracts and summaries of their writings. Some source materials appear in the volume for the first time in English. The Art of the Actor will be the essential history of acting for all students and actors interested in the great tradition of performance, both as craft and as art.