An Artist's Nightmare depicts the story of a professional theatre artist's return to his roots after a quarter century of a successful career in the big city. With his family in tow and a big dream to help rejuvenate a lackluster old automobile town, he forgot one thing: small town mentality. From the moment he opens his performing arts center in this provincial capital city, the theatre artist is dumbstruck by the mean-spirited rejection he receives at every turn. Local academic theatre persons ridicule his resume of real world experience, local directors dismiss his offers to collaborate, and the local media ignore his shows and exclude his work from local theatre awards while hypocritically treating his work with an odd discrimination that never gets explained. Fortunately he's good. And he survives the slim odds to succeed by finding students and families that believe in his work. An Artist's Nightmare is a thirty minute play-let that explores broad questions about the arts and community through the eyes of two local small town women; it is designed to provoke thought and ask larger universal questions regarding how the arts are played out in a provincial setting especially when mixing with the real world experience of an artist who has been to the heights of professional international experience.

Stanislavski and the Actor offers a clear, modern presentation of Konstantin Stanislavski's methods of actor training and rehearsal. It is based on the course Stanislavski designed and taught with a team of hand-picked assistants in the last three years of his life (1935-38) at the Opera-Dramatic Studio in Moscow. Jean Benedetti now reconstructs that course. Stanislavski and the Actor is the manual which Stanislavski never had time to write. Using notes made by Stanislavski's assistants, exercises and improvisations used in class, transcripts of Stanislavski's own master classes (translated into English for the first time) and his knowledge of Stanislavski's earlier writings, Benedetti builds up a comprehensive description of the 'system' in contemporary language that is easy to understand by today's actors and teachers. He also shows that Stanislavski's revolutionary teachings about acting still have a wide application now.

Have you ever wondered how those kids on TV got there? Does your child have what it takes to be a working actor in Hollywood? If you've ever been interested in exploring how to have your kid become an actor in Los Angeles then "The Reel World" is the book for you. This is a "how to" book of what it takes to get an agent or manager in Los Angeles without spending thousands of dollars. Once you have representation the book will also explain about headshots, Coogan accounts, acting coaches, work permits and what is expected of you and your child on set. All this information is interspersed with real life stories that have happened to parents and kids at casting offices and on set. Some are funny, some sad and all are true. They can be helpful guides of what to do and what not to do when navigating the crazy world of showbiz.

The importance of play and fun to people's lives cannot be stressed enough in today's cultural climate of high stress, high stakes, and competition. One activity that gains recognition and credibility as both fun and transformative is theatrical improvisation or improv. In this book, Ruth Yamamoto reviews her research on the influences of improvisation on community college students. Educators, theatre artists, improvisers, or anyone interested building community, developing self-awareness, and affecting positive social change will want to read this book. Dr. Yamamoto examines the principles of improvisation and the concepts of play and flow to add credibility to a craft and practice that is often viewed a frivolous and silly. Ruth Yamamoto extends her research through interviews with applied improvisation professionals, examples and suggestions of games and exercises, and provides solid evidence of the serious, positive benefits of improvisation.