The Actor’s Art and Craft

by William Esper & Damon DiMarco

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 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

by William Esper & Damon DiMarco

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.

CLASSICALLY SPEAKING - DIALECTS FOR ACTORS

by Patricia Fletcher

Classically Speaking: Dialects for Actors is meant for anyone interested in learning well-spoken Neutral American Speech (aka General American). It is also an effective tool for learning Classical American, Mid-Atlantic and Standard British dialects.

Each Neutral American vowel, diphthong and consonant sound is described, along with an accompanying audio track, and sound checks of common difficulties. In addition, the International Phonetic Alphabet is covered and practice exercises are included, along with chapters on rhythm, stress, use of the weak and strong forms of words, linking sounds, inflection, pause, literary devices and scansion (for those interested in Shakespeare). Three monologues spoken by professional actors wrap-up the 325 page Neutral American Section. This is followed by Classical American (88 pages), Mid-Atlantic (16 pages) and Standard British dialects (62 pages), including accompanying exercises, audio selections for each adjustment covered, and three monologues spoken by professional actors for each of these dialects.

The text book with downloadable audio and e-book, including audio selections accessible by simply clicking the screen, are offered together as a package.

THE UNLIMITED ACTOR

by Nancy Mayans

The Unlimited Actor is an exciting new paradigm in actor training. Step by step this book will guide you into sensing and controlling the body’s mental, emotional, and physical energy centers. Train these “power points” to change at will and your acting range will take a quantum leap.

* Boost Your Confidence * Easily Access Any Emotion

* Embody Any Character on Cue

IMPROV AND THE ACTOR’S IMAGINATION

BY ROBERT Z GRANT

Written for actors, IMPROV AND THE ACTOR’S IMAGINATION (@actorsimagination) brings to life the skills of improvisation through practical exercises, games, and scenes, and applies those skills to the craft of acting and beyond. Actor and teacher Robert Z Grant (@robert_nyc) shares his improvised approach for scripted and unscripted work alike, curated from decades of experience as a professional actor, improviser and human being. Actors (and everyone) looking to expand their possibilities are encouraged to generously give themselves permission to follow their own instincts, to respond simply and truthfully, and to release the awesome power of their imaginations. Get yourself into trouble and see what happens!

SHAKESPEARE, SHAMANS, AND SHOW BIZ: AN IMPOLITE GUIDE TO THEATER HISTORY

BY DAVID KAPLAN

In twenty-four chapters David Kaplan offers ideas, opinions, theories, and facts for someone who wants to be a theater artist today in hopes of creating their own vision of theater-making, one informed by, and in the context of, theater history. This book explores what theater artists have done before and what they, inspired by history, might do next.

A non-lineal theater history, Shakespeare Shamans, and Show Biz explores theater as a shaman’s vision, as a storyteller’s heritage, as religious propaganda, as a mirror of life, as a critique of society, as a prompt for hard laughter, as fantasy, and as national epic, with plays as different (and the same) as the writings of August Wilson, Gertrude Stein, Shakespeare, and people who never made it into history.