Thomas Prosser

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Copyright © 2012 Thomas Prosser

Over time I will be adding lists of plays and names of other books and media that are helpful resources for acting and directing. Below are some of the acting and directing books that I highly recommend. It is my belief artists can draw from an assortment of tools to solve particular creative problems and these books offer a wide spectrum of useful techniques.

Constantine Stanislavski

Our godfather of acting and modern theater.  All teachers, directors and actors owe him a great debt for his contribution in formulating techniques for creating roles that are believable.

 

1.    Creating A Role.

2.    An Actor Prepares

3.    Building A Character

4.    My Life In Art

Stella Adler, 

The Art Of Acting

Stella Adler focus is on actions and objectives and place. She stresses being large on stage and aware of history and how it affects the character. She studied with Stanislavski in Paris and taught Marlon Brando and Lee Strasberg.

A Dream Of Passion - The Development of The Method

Provides insights about the creative process Strasberg made while a student of Richard Boleslavsky and as a founding member of the Group Theater and later head of the Actor’s Studio.

 

Uta Hagen

Respect For Acting - A Challenge For The Actor

Uta Hagen provides a step-by-step method of working on a part and provides a number of excellent acting exercises.  

 

Sonia Moore

The Stanislavski System.

This book is a little gem. I first read it as a young actor. I’ve recently reread it and it more than holds up. Her stress on The Magic If helps the novice actor create a character. Sonia Moore studied with Stanislavski and his brilliant disciple Vakhtangov at the Moscow Art Theater. She was born in Russia thus had the advantage of speaking with Stanislavski both on his home turf as well as in his native tongue.  She had her own studio of acting where she taught for decades in New York City.

Harold Clurman

The Fervent Years

A great read! Wise words from which many consider the greatest theater mind of the 20^th Century. Harold Clurman co- founded The Group Theater. He was also a leading director and producer on Broadway for decades. He was married to Stella Adler. Imagine the table conversations they had! It chronicles the struggles and successes of The Group Theater and the inside scoop on his tumultuous relationship with Lee Strasberg, Clifford Odets and other leading lights of that era.

Robert Lewis

Advice To The Players, Method Or Madness

Robert Lewis, founding member of The Group Theater both as an actor and director. He had a long career as an acting teacher.  Both books offer sound advice to the actor and unique exercises for developing one’s craft.

Sanford Meisner

Sanford Meisner was original member of The Group Theater. He was long time teacher at The Neighborhood Playhouse. Some of his students include Robert Duvall, Steve McQueen, Jon Voight and Sandra Bullock 

 

Larry Silverberg

The Sanford Meisner Approach

William Esper and Damon Dimarco

The Actor’s Art And Craft

Both books offer techniques and insights into Sanford Meisner method.  They teach actors how to listen and play off or use what their fellow actor is giving them and other techniques designed to help students live fully in the moment.   

William Esper worked closely with Sanford Meisner for 17 years at The Neighborhood Playhouse and is runs his own acting studio in New York City.

 

Eric Morris & Joan Hotchkis

No Acting Please focuses on sensory   exercises, relating to people, places and objects. The goal of these exercises is to put the actor in the state of Being, thus avoiding artificial or imposed emotions.

Irreverent Acting focuses are on the craft of acting.

 

Terry Schreiber

Acting - Advanced Techniques For The Actor, Director  & Teacher.

Terry Schreiber has laid out a number of exercises for the advanced actor. They include chapters on Relaxation, Concentration, Imagination, and Preparations as well as sensory exercises

 

Ivana Chubbuck

The Power Of The Actor

Ms. Chubbuck   encourages actors to make   substitutions for place as well as for characters.  Using people and places the actor knows, immediately provides a point of reference, thus saving time and making inner objects that include people and places real, that are impersonal names or objects mentioned in the script.

 

Judith Weston

Directing Actors

Ms. Weston, whom I was a fellow acting student with, at Jean Shelton’s Performance Workshop in the Bay Area has written a first rate book, based on her experience in workshops with directors on how to direct actors. As an actress she knows what actors want and need and how they work. Her mission is teaching directors how actors think and how to extract better performances from them when everyone is on the same page.   

 

William Ball

A Sense Of Direction

William Ball founded San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater.  He directed numerous plays of myriad styles. He offers keen insights on challenges directors encounter in casting, preproduction work, and rehearsal techniques that go into building the world of the play to bring it to life.   

 

Jon Jory

Ideas For Actors

Ideas For Directors

Longtime Producing Director of The Actors Theaters of Louisville who has directed over 140 plays. Both reference books are designed to aid actors or directors in solving specific theater problems. Short one or two page essays cover   everything from Circumstances to whom to cast in a role and hundreds of useful tips from an experienced hand.

 

Marina Caldarone & Maggie Lloyd- Williams

The Actor’s Thesaurus

Actions

A book that offers a huge list of playable actions for the Actor!

 

Mick Napier

Improvise

Mr. Napier   background includes being a performer and Resident Director of The Second City as well as founder of Annoyance Theater. He challenges conventional wisdom on the rules of improvisation. He advocates true commitment in making a choice of what the character is doing and holding true and building on the character’s point of view. 

Steven Book

Improvisation Technique

I am in the process of reading this book.  It's 600 pages long! Steven Book has a fine reputation and decades of experience as a teacher. He is a former student of Viola Spolin and was her teaching assistant in partner in Spolin Theater Game Center where he served as executive director and principal teacher.

Lajos Egri

The Art Of Dramatic Writing

Simply the best book I’ve read on writing plays. Ever! It was first published in 1942 under the title, How To Write A Play.

Focuses on play construction; premise, character and   how to develop dramatic conflict. He helps the playwright see why a once promising play went off the tracks and offers methods and ideas on how to correct it.