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Actors & Acting
Acting as an art, and as a profession, has long since fascinated many.
Over the years, techniques, methods and styles have been formulated
by the likes of Stanislavski, Strasberg, and Mamet, each with their
own particular view on acting. Many of these legendary theatre artists
have created accessible, helpful books that not only help demystify
the craft, but also offer insight into their particular process.
This section has a wealth of titles, ranging from technical handbooks,
to intimate memoirs. An enthralling subject, these titles are sure
to enlighten.
Actor Training / Auditioning / Business
 Acting and Singing with Archetypes
Janet B. Rodgers & Frankie Armstrong
The Mother, the Lover, the Trickster, the Spiritual and Temporal Leader, the Devil -- these are just some of the universal essences, known as archetypes, that lie deep within the human spirit; these are forces that we all recognize and embody in some capacity. This groundbreaking book uses archetypes as the basis of an unprecedented method of study for actors and singers. Includes a full-length audio CD. Softcover, 182 pp. $18.99.
 Zygmunt Molik's Voice and Body Work: The Legacy of Jerzy Grotowski
Guiliano Campo & Zygmont Molik
Zygmunt Molik is one of the last living members of Jerzy Grotowski's original acting company and was a leading trainer at the Teatr Laboratorium. Softcover, 190 pp. $39.95.
 Blumenfeld's Dictionary of Acting and Show Business
Robert Blumenfeld
Countless terms and technical jargon are defined in this remarkable book. Author Robert Blumenfeld combines his expertise from years of experience in show business with meticulous research to present a work that is comprehensive and user-friendly. This complete reference book on the art, craft, and business of entertaining is a must-have for every fan, teacher, student, amateur, and professional. Softcover, 377 pp. $19.95.
 Exit Pursued by a Badger
Nick Ashbury
Nick Ashbury was in the ensemble from the Royal Shakespeare Company who, over the course of two and a half years, performed eight history plays by Shakespeare in repertory: a sequence of productions both critically acclaimed and watched by over 250,000 people. This book is Ashbury's engaging account of the camaraderie of actors, the terror of forgetting lines, technical difficulties, money problems, finding strange things in the bath, thirty-three broadsword fights and, of course, the ever-present threat of being assaulted by demented badgers after a performance. Softover, 192 pp. $25.50.
 An Actor's Work on a Role
Konstantin Stanislavski
Originally published over half a century ago as Creating a Role (the third volume in Stanislavski's authoritative series) this classic book sets out Stanislavski's psychological, physical and practical vision of actor training. This new translation from renowned writer and critic Jean Benedetti not only includes Stanislavski's original teachings, but is also furnished with invaluable supplementary material in the shape of transcripts and notes from the rehearsals themselves, reconfirming The System as the cornerstone of actor training. Hardcover, 259 pp. $45.95.
 You Can Act! A Complete Guide for Actors
D.W. Brown
This is a humorous and inspiring manual for professional actors -- a guide to every detail necessary to act in any role. For the first time, you can find a wealth of practical tips, diagnostics and reference material an actor needs, whether it's playing comedy, exploiting the nuances of film or performing a specialized character with insanity or a gunshot wound. Softcover, 338 pp. $29.95.
 The Quotable Actor
Damon DiMarco
Collecting advice, quotes, essays, and observations from hundreds of famous actors and highly regarded acting teachers, The Quotable Actor covers a wide range of topics on the art and history of acting. Entertaining, instructive, and informative, it is organized into specific, easy-to-search categories, such as On Why We Act, On Auditioning, On Struggling and Building a Career, and On Gender Differences and Aging in the Biz. Softcover, $18.95.
 Stage Fright
Mick Berry & Michael $. Edelstein
Interviews with forty highly accomplished public figures shed light on America's #1 fear. Jason Alexander, Mose Allison, Maya Angelou, David Brenner, Peter Coyote, Olympia Dukakis, Melissa Etheridge, Richard Lewis, and many more, speak candidly about their trials with stage fright and reveal the various paths they followed in overcoming it. Softcover, $16.95.
![Tackling Text [and subtext]](../images_t/tackling_text.jpg) Tackling Text [and subtext]: A Step-by-Step Guide for Actors
Barbara Houseman
Having helped the actor with basic vocal technique in her enormously successful book, Finding Your Voice, Barbara Houseman now shows the actor how to cope with the demands posed by the text [and the subtext] of the play itself. Softcover, 317 pp. $32.99.
 The Intent to Live: Achieving Your True Potential As An Actor
Larry Moss
Inviting you to join him in the classroom and onstage, Larry Moss shares the techniques he has developed over thirty years to help actors set their emotions and imagination on fire, resulting in performances that are powerful, authentic, and career changing. Softcover, 358 pp. $21.00.
 The Second Circle
Patsy Rodenburg
In this book, Patsy Rodenburg expounds on her theory of the Three Circles of Energy. She believes that everyone is born with a vital presence, and with this text you will learn to remember and channel positive energy into every aspect of your life. The charisma you see shimmering around a famous actor is tangible - you have the potential to be that energized. Hardcover, 276 pp. $27.50.
 Actors' Yearbook 2009
Simon Dunmore & Chris Denys
This is the essential reference guide for anyone seeking to work in television, film, theatre, and radio. Now in its fifth edition, it has been revised and expanded to include thousands of contacts in all areas of the profession, together with detailed listings and guidance on how to make your approach -- and how not to. Articles from industry experts provide invaluable inside knowledge and tips, making this the most comprehensive book developed specifically to meet the needs of actors. Softcover, 460 pp. $33.00.
 The Actor, Image and Action: Acting and cognitive neuroscience
Rhonda Blair
In The Actor, Image and Action, Rhonda Blair combines recent devlopments in scientic thinking with a brilliant reassessment of both the practice and theory of acting to look at how imagination, emotion, memory, physicality and reason are inseparable in the brain's structure and function, and their importance to an actor's engagement with a role. In doing so she provides the latest step in Stanislavski's attempts to 'reach the unconscious by conscious means.' Softcover, 138 pp. $49.95.
 Perform At Your Best
Jane Marla Robbins
In this fun-to-use deck of cards you'll learn simple, effective tools that make real-life situations easier and more enjoyable. Each cards offers different suggestions to look and feel better, deal with difficult people, overcome anxiety, and get results. Deck of 35 cards. $19.95.
 Actors Speaking
Edited by Lyn Hail
In the late 1980s, Peter Gill, first director of the National Theatre Studio, sent a group of young actors and directors to interview some of the most respected actors of the time about speaking on stage. Thonse conversations, with actors such as Alec Guinness, Rex Harrison and Robert Stephens, are collected here for the first time. Softcover, 156 pp. $32.95.
 The Actor's Art and Craft: William Esper teaches The Meisner Technique
William DiMarco & Damon Esper
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 becomming a truly creative actor. The Actor's Art and Craft vividly demonstrates that good training does not constrain actor's instincts -- it frees them to create characters with truthful and compelling inner lives. Softcover, 286 pp. $15.95.
 Different Every Night: Freeing the Actor
Mike Alfreds
This book is a culmination of a lifetime's work in the theatre. In it, Mike Alfreds dares to do what very few directors other than Stanislavsky have done: he takes us into the rehearsal room and describes an immensely detailed methodology for the actor to bring the text to life, and, crucially, to keep it alive right up to the final performance. Indeed, he demonstrates that by investing in the truth of every moment, the actor can ensure that a performance will be 'different every night.' Softcover, 362 pp. $32.95.
 Acting: Working in the Theatre
Robert Emmet Long
For the first time in the thirty-year history of the Working in the Theatre seminars,
this volume gathers the insights of more than 100 great performers. Here is a
book for students, actors, and others in the profession, as well as anyone with
a passion for the theatre. The humor, art, grace, and dedication conveyed by
these artists transform lives every night. Now, they speak directly to us about
what it is really like to be working in the theatre. Softcover, 174 pp. $18.95.
 Creative Colleges
Second Edition
Elaina Loveland
This comprehensive guide tackles the unique issues of selectind and applying to colleges for aspiring actors, artists, dancers, musicians and writers. As a "creative student" you need to not only find a college that provides a great education but also one that will nurture your talents and prepare you to make a career out of your passion. Softcover, 320 pp. $21.95.
 The Purpose of Playing: Modern Acting Theories in Perspective
Robert Gordon
The Purpose of Playing provides the first in-depth introduction to modern critical acting, enabling students, teachers, and professionals to comprehend the different aesthetic possibilities available to today's actors. The book presents a comparative survey of the major approaches to Western acting since the nineteenth century, their historical evolution, and their relationship to one another. Softcover, 418 pp. $29.95.
 Michael Chekhov: On Theatre and the Art of Acting
Five-hour CD Master Class
Michael Chekhov
This five-hour CD master class features renowned acting teacher Michael
Chekhov covering topics such as characterization, shortcuts to role
preparation, how to awaken artistic feelings and emotions, overcoming
inhibitions and building self-confidence, psycho-physical excercises,
and development of the ensemble spirit. Audio CD. $49.95.
 What Have You Done?
Louis Zorich
The facts of an actor's life are often far stranger than any fiction
they portray. "The joy in reading this book comes from the realization
that we are all constantly auditioning for something -- and we are
all the better for it -- win or lose." - Frank Langella. Softcover,
$14.50.
 Training of the American Actor
Arthur Bartow
Training of the American Actor offers a detailed technical overview
of such theatre artists and educators as Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler,
Sanford Meisner, Michael Chekhov, Uta Hagen, and Jerzy Grotowski. Also
discussed are a variety of theatre theories and practices, such as The
Viewpoints, Practical Aesthetics, Interdisciplinary Training, and Neo-Classical
Training. Softcover, 281 pp. $20.95.
 Notes to an Actor
Ron Marasco
Ron Marasco's Notes to an Actor grew out of the actor's profession. It is learned by experience, by trial and error, and by succeeding and failing. In his years as an actor, director, scholar, and teacher of acting, Marasco developed his compact and user-friendly book geared specifically to the way actors work. Hardcover, 215 pp. $29.95.
 Inside Inside
James Lipton
A revealing behind-the-scenes portrait of the award-winning TV show Inside
the Actor's Studio and
its creator and host, James Lipton. Softcover, 492 pp. $16.50.
 Actors At Work
Rosemary Tichler & Barry Jay Kaplan
With a nod to The Paris Review's Writers at Work model, Actors
at Work looks at the ways in which some of our most respected stage and film
actors approach their calling. Rosemary Tichler and Barry Jay Kaplan explore
these performers' influences, their idols and insecurities, their paths to work
and success, the uses of training, and the art of acting itself. Softcover, 369
pp. $17.95.
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The Actor's Other Career Book: Using Your Chops to Survive and
Thrive
Ask
an Agent: Everything Actors Need to Know About Agents 
Promoting
Your Acting Career: A Step-by-Step Guide to Opening the Right Doors
An
Actor's Business
Seeking
Representation: A Step-By-Step Guide to Finding a Talent Agent (In Canada)
Self-Management
for Actors
