Theatre Studios explores the history of the studio model in England, first established by Konstantin Stanislavsky, Jacques Copeau and others in the early twentieth century, and later developed in the UK primarily by Michel Saint-Denis, George Devine, Michael Chekhov and Joan Littlewood, whose studios are the focus of this study. Cornford offers in-depth accounts of the radical, collective work of these leading theatre companies of the mid-twentieth century, considering the models of ensemble theatre-making that they developed and their remnants in the newly publicly-funded UK theatre establishment of the 1960s. In the process, this book develops an approach to understanding the politics of artistic practices rooted in the work of John Dewey, Antonio Gramsci and the standpoint feminists. It concludes by considering the legacy of the studio movement for twenty-first-century theatre, partly by tracking its echoes in the work of Secret Theatre at the Lyric, Hammersmith (2013-2015). Students and makers of theatre alike will find in this book a provocative and illuminating analysis of the politics of performance-making and a history of the theatre as a site for developing counterhegemonic, radically democratic, anti-individualist forms of cultural production.

This is the first book to explore how actors play real people. How do you capture Hitler, Mugabe, or a serial killer? How do you portray living monarchs or political leaders? Is it possible to embody a genius like Mozart, Woolf or Darwin? What are the pressures of performing an icon like Marlene Dietrich? Bringing together original conversations with award-winning actors, the line-up includes Jeremy Irons, Dame Eileen Atkins, David Morrissey, Henry Goodman, and Sir Ian McKellen.

Award Monologues for Women is a collection of fifty-four monologues taken from plays written since 1980 that have been nominated for the Pullitzer Prize, the Tony and the Drama Desk Awards in New York, and The Evening Standard and Laurence Olivier Awards in London. The book provides an excellent range of up-to-date audition pieces, usefully arranged in age groups, and is supplemented with audition tips to improve your acting, and to ensure that the best possible performance.

"In compelling and intricately argued ways, the authors make a resounding case for understanding how vocal sonority is intrinsic to self-identity and self-reception ... Required Reading." - Jane Boston, Principal Lecturer, Voice Studies, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama A new, provocative study of the ethical, political, and social meanings of the everyday voice. Utilising the framework of feminist philosophy, authors Ann J. Cahill and Christine Hamel approach the phenomenon of voice as a lived, sonorous and embodied experience marked by the social structures that surround it, including systemic forms of injustice such as ableism, sexism, racism, and classism. By developing novel theoretical constructs such as "intervocality" and "respiratory responsibility," Cahill and Hamel cut through the static between theory and praxis and put forward exciting theories on how human vocal sound can perpetuate -- and challenge -- persistent inequalities. Sounding Bodies presents a powerful model of how the seemingly disparate disciplines of philosophy and voice/speech training can, in conversation with each other, generate illuminating insights about our vocal lives and identities.

A revised and updated edition of Declan Donnellan's bestselling book, a fresh and radical approach to acting by a world-famous director. 'Cuts open every generalisation about acting and draws out gleamingly fresh specifics' Peter Brook 'Explains Donnellan's highly practical system and sheds unique light on one of the greatest directors of acting in our time' Le Monde 'Hugely practical and never gets lost in theory' El Pais 'A gripping read, as acute about the psychology of lying as it is about the art of acting' Guardian 'Rooted in modern theatre, modern psychology and, above all, modern reality' Izvestia 'Unpretentious, straightforward, and pierced with acute insight' Kommersant

A unique survey of the twentieth century's most influential acting methods, offering invaluable practical insights for actors and drama teachers. Each of the ten famous techniques included in this handbook is described in detail by one of today's foremost practitioners. Each chapter outlines the development of the respective technique and offers practical guidance for actors wishing to explore it for themselves. * Lee Strasberg Technique by Anna Strasberg * Stella Adler Technique by Tom Oppenheim * Sanford Meisner Technique by Victoria Hart * Michael Chekhov Technique and The Mask by Per Brahe * Uta Hagen's Technique by Carol Rosenfeld * Physical Acting Inspired by Grotowski by Stephen Wangh * The Viewpoints by Mary Overlie * Practical Aesthetics by Robert Bella * Interdisciplinary Training by Fritz Ertl * Neo-classical Training by Louis Scheeder

Contents:
List of illustrations Contributors Preface Acknowledgements 1. General Introduction: Between theory and practice Phillip B. Zarrilli Part I Theories and Meditations on Acting 2. Introduction Phillip B. Zarrilli 3. The Actor's Presence: Three phenomenal modes Bert O. States 4. On Acting and Not-Acting Michael Kirby 5. "Just Be Your Self": Logocentrism and difference in performance theory Philip Auslander 6. The Actor's Emotions Reconsidered: A psychological task-based perspective Elly Konijn Part II (Re)Considering the Body and Training 7. Introduction Phillip B. Zarrilli 8. An Amulet Made of Memory: The significance of exercises in the actor's dramaturgy Eugenio Barba 9. Meyerhold's Biomechanics Mel Gordon 10. Etienne Decroux's Promethean Mime Deidre Sklar 11. Actor Training in the Neutral Mask Sears A. Eldredge and Hollis W. Huston 12. Bali and Grotowski: Some parallels in the training process I. Wayan Lendra 13. Culture is the Body Tadashi Suzuki 14. My Bodies: The performer in West Java Kathy Foley 15. "On the edge of a breath, looking": Cultivating the actor's bodymind through Asian martial/meditation arts Phillip B. Zarrilli 16. The Gardzenice Theatre Association of Poland Paul Allain 17. Effector Patterns of Basic Emotions: A psychophysiological method for training actors Susana Bloch, Pedro Orthous and Guy Santibañez-H Part III (Re)Considering the Actor in Performance 18. Introduction Phillip B. Zarrilli 19. Brecht and the Contradictory Actor John Rouse 20. Dario Fo: The roar of the clown Ron Jenkins 21. Forum Theatre Augusto Boal 22. Resisting the "Organic": A feminist actor's approach Lauren Love 23. Rachel Rosenthal Creating Her Selves Eelka Lampe 24. Task and Vision: Willem Dafoe in LSD Philip Auslander 25. David Warrilow: Creating symbol and cipher Laurie Lassiter 26. Robert Wilson and the Actor: Performing in Danton's Death Ellen Halperin-Royer 27. Anna Deavere Smith: Part I: the World Becomes You: and interview with Carol Martin; Part II: Acting as Incorporation . Richard Schechner Notes Bibliography and References Cited Bibliographical Note: Actors speaking on acting Index

Embodied Playwriting: Improv and Acting Exercises for Writing and Devising is the first book to compile new and adapted exercises for teaching playwriting in the classroom, workshop, or studio through the lens of acting and improvisation. The book provides access to the innovative practices developed by seasoned playwriting teachers from around the world who are also actors, improv performers, and theatre directors. Borrowing from the embodied art of acting and the inventive practice of improvisation, the exercises in this book will engage readers in performance-based methods that lead to the creation of fully imagined characters, dynamic relationships, and vivid drama. Step-by-step guidelines for exercises, as well as application and coaching advice, will support successful lesson planning and classroom implementation for playwriting students at all levels, as well as individual study. Readers will also benefit from curation by editors who have experience with high-impact educational practices and are advocates for the use of varied teaching strategies to increase accessibility, inclusion, skill-building, and student success. Embodied Playwriting offers a wealth of material for teachers and students of playwriting courses, as well as playwrights who look forward to experimenting with dynamic, embodied writing practices.

This compendium opens the stagedoor for those with little or no practical experience in acting. For actors and other theatre specialists grappling with the challenges posed by performing or staging the works of the great Bard, here is useful instruction eloquently expressed that will enrich future interpretation and performance. On Playing Shakespeare takes advantage of the long tradition of Shakespearean acting by offering a rich treasury of writings by noted actors who have essayed Shakespearean roles in the past. The perspectives of these thespians offer comprehensive exposure to the challenges of acting in Shakespeare's plays and are emblematic of theatre repertories and popular tastes from the mid-eighteenth century to World War I. Here is Ellen Terry writing on her role as Mamellius in an 1856 production of The Winter's Tale, Edwin Booth on Iago, Fanny Kemble on Lady Macbeth, and dozens of other actors who made lasting theatrical contributions with their interpretations of Shakespeare. These commentaries also bear witness to the actor's eternal struggle to get on the stage, stay on the stage, and perform Shakespearean roles to varied audiences in sometimes less-than-ideal conditions. The heart of the book, and its climax, deals with matters of interpretation, with actors' differing reactions to the same role placed side-by-side for purposes of clear contrast. The work includes photographs of John Barrymore, Sarah Bernhardt, Edwin Booth, and others in roles they discuss in the book. The volume proceeds in sequence from the sort of background and training necessary to approach Shakespeare with assurance through the performance itself and its aftermath. The first section of adviceand commentary deals with "Preliminaries," such as training, body and movement, voice and diction, ease and concentration, and more. This chapter includes four actors on "Beginning in Shakespeare." In "Getting the Part," which includes casting, Clara Morris writes on a young actress as Juliet. Writings on reading the play, memorizing, observation, research, and gesture are included in the section on "Working the Part." Interpreting, rehearsing, and performing the part each receive separate sections. In "Clusters of Commentary," the book's longest section, various actors comment on performing specific roles, such as eight actors on Hamlet, three actresses on Portia, and more. On Playing Shakespeare speaks to actors and directors who face the contemporary challenges of playing Shakespeare and to Shakespeareans and scholars with more general interests in the history, technique, and tradition of Shakespearean acting. A must for graduate and undergraduate courses in acting Shakespeare; courses in the history of acting; and graduate courses in nineteenth-century British and American theatre history.

Somewhere in America, an army of pre-teen competitive dancers plots to take over the world. And if their new routine is good enough, they'll claw their way to the top at Nationals in Tampa Bay. A play about ambition, growing up, and how to find our souls in the heat of it all.

Practical, positive and uplifting, the advice in this book is designed to lead to the best outcomes possible for you, the actor, making the transition from craft to career. The reader is given insight into the various types of casting directors across the industry and how that practical knowledge can benefit you and increase your chance of success. While providing an in-depth insight into the role of the casting director, this book explains the jobs of all the other people involved in the casting process - including producers, network executives, writers - and how they influence casting decisions. As the collected wisdom Merri Sugarman's 20+ years of experience in different aspects of professional casting within television, film and theater, this book is a treasure trove of advice to help the actors and those who support them in their career goals, learn what it takes to be a pro. For those who choose to make their craft a career, it's an invaluable resource.

In the third volume of his "Mask: A Release of Acting Resources" David Griffiths concentrates his attention on Commedia dell'arte. Acknowledging the amount of information already available in this area, the author provides a brief but extremely lively historical/critical commentary. Despite existing on what seem to be "diametrically opposite sides of the theatrical spectrum," Griffiths points to the fascinating common factors between the genres of the Japanese Noh theatre and Commedia dell'arte. He proposes six similarities: characters familiar to their audience who appear masked, minimal properties and scenery with the focus on the actor; the "families" of performers, a sharp mind as well as an agile body, a professional living on his skills and patronage; and a knowledgeable audience. "Please Be Gentle," the witty and rumbustious play that completes this book, explores the various tricks and devices of Commedia dell'arte acting within a form and a fram

Art Into Theatre investigates the processes of hybrid forms of performance developed between 1952 and 1994 through a series of interviews with key practitioners and over 80 pieces of documentation, many previously unpublished, of the works under discussion.
Ranging from the austerity of Cage's 4'33" through the inter-species communication of Schneeman's Cat Scanand the experimental theatre work of Schechner, Foreman, and Kirby, to the recent performances of Abramovic, Forced Entertainment and the Wooster Group, Art Into Theatre offers a fascinating collection of perspectives on the destabilizing of conventional ideas of the art "object" and the theatrical "text."
Nick Kaye's introductory essay to the volume offers a useful context for the reader and each interview is preceded by an informative biographical sketch.

Kristin Linklater is one of the most internationally recognised names in the field of voice training, and this volume explores her work and life whilst also putting her work into practice. Charting the development of Linklater's process, including her work at LAMDA, the Lincoln Centre, NYU, Columbia, and the KLVC on Orkney, the book provides a comprehensive overview of one of the world's leading voice coaches. This book contains: A detailed biography of Linklater's life, including her work with Iris Warren at LAMDA, as well as the founding of her own companies and the KLVC on Orkney Detailed analysis of her key text, Freeing the Natural Voice and her work with Carol Gilligan on The Company of Women, an all-female Shakespeare company they co-conceived A comprehensive set of exercises - several of these previously unpublished This book offers essential reading and an invaluable practice handbook to the contemporary performer, voice teacher and actor trainer. As a first step towards critical understanding, and as an initial exploration before going on to further, primary research, Routledge Performance Practitioners offer unbeatable value for today's student.

Creating Improvised Theatre: Tools, Techniques, and Theories for Short Form and Narrative Improvisation is a complete guide to improvised theatre for performers and instructors. This book provides a modern view of improvised theatre based on the rapid evolution of this art form, shedding new light on classic theories as well as developing lesser known and emerging techniques, such as the Trance Mask. Instead of simply referencing classic theories, the book revisits them and places them in the context of contemporary improvisation techniques. Designed as a practical support, this guide contains over 130 exercises that allow its theories to come alive in workshops, rehearsals, and performance. The book is divided into four sections: Nuts and bolts: The fundamental tools of improvisation to explore how to be spontaneously creative, build with your partner, and learn from masks to discover your scene instant by instant. Short form: Techniques for scene work and short form performance, including how to get the most out of a scene, remain connected to the relational stakes, provoke change (physical, status, and emotional), and maintain a playful attitude. Narrative improvisation: Theories to help navigate long form narrative-based shows with "narrative waypoints," generate variety, develop protagonists, work on genres, and manipulate creative transitions. The bits box: Advice for warming-up before a rehearsal or a show with a collection of useful games. Written to inspire creativity and provide the tools to develop innovative improvised shows and experiences, Creating Improvised Theatre is an invaluable source book for anyone interested in the art of improvised theatre, whether a beginning student or experienced performer.

This fascinating text offers the first in-depth exploration of acting processes in British television. Focused around 16 new interviews with celebrated British actors, including Rebecca Front, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Ken Stott, Penelope Wilton and John Hannah, this rich resource delves behind the scenes of a range of British television programmes in order to find out how actors build their characters for television, how they work on set and location, and how they create their critically acclaimed portrayals. The book looks at actors' work across four diverse but popular genres: soap opera; police and medical drama; comedy; and period drama. Its insightful discussion of hit programmes and its critical and contextual post-interview analysis, makes the text an essential read for students across television and film studies, theatre, performance and acting, and cultural and media studies, as well as academics and anyone interested in acting and British television.

Commedia dell'Arte, its Structure and Tradition chronicles a series of discussions between two renowned experts in commedia dell'arte - master practitioners Antonio Fava and John Rudlin. These discussions were recorded during three recent visits by Fava to Rudlin's rural retreat in south west France. They take in all of commedia dell'arte's most striking and enduring elements - its masks, its scripts and scenarios, and most outstandingly, its cast of characters. Fava explores the role of each stock Commedia character and their subsequent incarnations in popular culture, as well as their roots in prominent figures of their time. The lively and wide-ranging conversations also take in methods of staging commedia dell'arte for contemporary audiences, the evolution of its gestures, and the collective nature of its theatre-making. This is an essential book for any student or practitioner of commedia dell'arte - provocative, expansive wisdom from the modern world's foremost exponent of the craft.

From an actor and director who got his start as a Brat Pack member, an emotionally poignant memoir, perfect for fans of Patti Smith's Just Kids and Rob Lowe's Stories I Only Tell My Friends. The inspiration for the Hulu documentary.

Everyone knows Andrew McCarthy from his iconic movie roles in Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo's Fire, Weekend at Bernie's, and Less than Zero. A member of the legendary Hollywood Brat Pack (including Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, and Demi Moore), his filmography has come to represent both a genre of film and an era of pop culture.

In Brat, McCarthy focuses on that singular moment in time. The result is a revealing look at coming of age in a maelstrom, reckoning with conflicted ambition, innocence, addiction, and masculinity. 1980s New York City is brought to vivid life in these pages, from scoring loose joints in Washington Square Park to skipping school in favor of the dark revival houses of the Village–where he fell in love with the movies that would change his life.

Filled with personal revelations of innocence lost to heady days in Hollywood with John Hughes and an iconic cast of characters, Brat is a surprising and intimate story of an outsider caught up in a most unwitting success.

Experiencing Speech: A Skills-Based, Panlingual Approach to Actor Training is a beginner's guide to Knight-Thompson Speechwork (R), 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.