A collection of over 160 of Moliere's funniest monologues in new rhymed iambic pentameter versions by actor/author Timothy Mooney (author of "Acting at the Speed of Life" and "Moliere than Thou"), drawn from new versions of seventeen of Moliere's plays, including "Tartuffe," "The Misanthrope," "Don Juan," "The School for Wives" and "The Imaginary Invalid." The book works as introduction to the life and work of Moliere, as well as providing a rare resource of new comic classical monologues for the actor preparing to audition. The text gives thorough introduction to each of the seventeen plays, with introductory plot capsules, as well as contextual information for each individual piece, making each monologue and each play easily graspable to the actor that needs to know why he or she is speaking these particular words, and to the scholar eager to find out why these plays caused such a sensation surrounding the man often dubbed as the "French Shakespeare." The book includes a distilled version of Mooney's acting text, with essential guides toward the performance of classical verse monologues, and provides stopwatch-timings of each piece, as a guide for actors who are working under specific time limits. The volume features a preface by William Luce (author of "The Belle of Amherst," and "Barrymore"), and illustrations by David C. Jensen. From the cover: Nail That Classical Audition Everyone has seen your Comic Shakespeare Monologue a million times MOLIERE TO THE RESCUE The Big Book of Moliere Monologues brings you over 160 New Moliere Monologues Classical Monologues they haven't seen before You get winning insight into seventeen Moliere plays, and an understanding of the funniest playwright who ever walked the boards With precise stylistic/acting advice from adaptor and master actor, Timothy Mooney, you can showcase your classical abilities a their very best Everything you need to know about Moliere, and... The Bourgeois Gentleman The Critique of the School for Wives The Doctor in Spite of Himself Don Juan The Flying Doctor The Imaginary Invalid The Learned Ladies The Love Doctor The Misanthrope The Miser The Precious Young Maidens Monsieur de Pourceaugnac Sganarelle or The Imaginary Cuckold The Schemings of Scapin The School for Husbands The School for Wives Tartuffe "A masterwork... I've never seen a better compilation." (William Luce, Author, "The Belle of Amherst," "Barrymore") "Mooney's translation may well be the star of the show... A comic theatricality that sweeps through Moliere's panorama of humor-- from high to low." (Back Stage West) "The listener can draw all the available pleasure from the splendid speeches penned by the man considered the French Shakespeare " (Winnipeg Free Press) "One of the most creative and refreshing pieces of classical theatre I've seen in years... Mooney's translations were crisp, stylized and sang with the comic genius of the playwright's original intent." (Chattanooga Pulse) "The ingeniously constructed, teasing rhymes add a rich overlay of stylistic repartee... Mooney's impressive literary efforts make the ancient piece less stuffy and more theatrically alive... Moliere would doubtless have enjoyed all of the contemporary guffaws that Mooney's irreverent version of this timeless comedy provokes from a modern audience." (Chicago Tribune)

"Shakespeare's Histories; Ten Epic Plays at a Breakneck Pace " is an indispensable primer for actors, directors, students and audiences... the fastest, most epic, insightful and funniest introduction to these ten most challenging works of the greatest author of all time "Shakespeare's Histories" is a rapid-fire retelling of Shakespeare's ten history plays, KING JOHN, RICHARD II, HENRY IV, PARTS 1 & 2, HENRY V, HENRY VI, PARTS 1, 2 & 3, RICHARD III and HENRY VIII. The text is liberally sprinkled with the most famous and most profound speeches of those great plays, along with full-color portraits of the kings, family trees, maps and clippings from the First Folio edition. It provides historical perspective, fills in crucial gaps of what Shakespeare leaves unsaid (either for political or dramaturgical reasons) and notes the occasional revisions that Shakespeare made to history in the process Both PLAY and HISTORY LESSON, "Shakespeare's Histories" makes seemingly impenetrable plays easily and immediately accessible Jumping from Shakespeare's richest poetry to Mooney's playfully impetuous perspective, "Shakespeare's Histories" isolates the precise facts needed to make characters, plot nuances and levels of intrigue come vividly alive and stick in our heads It is THE go-to resource to finally "get" these amazing plays This book (60-75 minutes in performance) creates a foundation for further exposure to, and study of, any of these ten plays. It provides a singular frame that may free the student/reader/audience/performer to understand the other "twenty nine hours" of dramatic material that comprise Shakespeare's epic history cycle. Tim Mooney unlocks the secrets of Shakespeare's history plays, answering... Which King Henry is which? Why was King John such a weasel? What sets Richard III on his murderous rampage? What is Shakespeare avoiding saying about Henry VI and King Charles? What is "the most pandering, politically calibrated speech in all of Shakespeare?" And much more Most Shakespeare analyses, companion works and annotated texts strive to explain the LANGUAGE of Shakespeare's works, while "Shakespeare's Histories" provides a baseline understanding of the ACTION of these ten plays. Nuanced study of Shakespeare's dialogue doesn't help the reader/actor/audience understand WHY these things are happening, what got us to this point, and where we are going. "Shakespeare's Histories" reveals that, while Shakespeare's Comedies and Tragedies are self-contained, Shakespeare's Histories can only be fully grasped COLLECTIVELY and SEQUENTIALLY. While most Shakespeare studies approach the topic with an almost religious reverence, "Shakespeare's Histories" is willing to poke gentle fun at these plays and their author. It is decidedly contemporary, and sometimes hilarious in its perspective, filled with ebullient energy and mischievous wit.

An acting textbook focusing on stylized performance. Moving from the fundamentals of "Being Seen" and "Being Heard," to challenges of Asides, Soliloquies, and explorations of "Hamlet," "The Misanthrope" and "Tartuffe." Based on Timothy Mooney's popular Acting Workshop, Mooney expands his topic to cover issues of memorization, pursuit of objectives, "presence" and the mastery of rhetoric. From the cover: The best acting workshop you never attended Acting students all over the U.S. have the three steps of Tim Mooney's "Hamlet" exercise indelibly imprinted in their brain In a brief two-hour session, this workshop completely upends the way performers look at dialogue With "Acting at the Speed of Life," Mooney goes beyond what he is able to squeeze into this hugely successful master class, to share secrets of Theatrical Power The results are immediate, for actors, teachers and anyone seeking to boost the power of their "presence" in public Among the book's many lessons, you'll learn to... Stop Stopping yourself Make Memorization Stick Triumph Over Rhetorical Speech Incorporate the 'Stuff' of Historical Style Uncover Theatrical Convention in Modern Life Go Ridiculously Beyond the Bounds of "Realism " Capture Emotional Action by Pursuing its Opposite