September 2006

How to order

All books are paperback unless stated otherwise

ACT NEW YORK 2004 — The Actor’s Pocket Guide to New York City. Actorscraft.com and Smith and Kraus
Filled with vital details, mini-features, crucial phone numbers, and handy websites, this is the most thorough, informative guide for every actor studying, auditioning, and working in New York City. ISBN 1 57525 372 0

ACT NEW YORK 2005 — The Actor’s Pocket Guide to New York City. Actorscraft.com and Smith and Kraus. ISBN 1 57525 392 5

ACT NOW ... AND IMPROVISE. Don Hill
Each chapter describes in a short, fun scenario, how the situation can be developed and what lessons should be learnt.

ACTING: A Psychological and Technical Approach. Adam Darius
"Here is a blue print for aspiring artists, a totally demanding regime for the truly dedicated. Mapped out on these pages is an exiting creative process. This a great book, not just an all—embracing text book, and, moreover, a thoroughly entertaining read." Warren Mitchell


ACTING Advanced Techniques for the Actor, Director, and Teacher. Terry Schreiber with Mary Beth Barber. Foreword by Edward Norton.
One of New York City’s foremost actor-training programs is now available in book form.
Whether you are an actor who wants to improve your craft, a director committed to bringing out the best in your performers, or a teacher looking to turn skilled students into serious professionals, you too can benefit from the techniques of Broadway director and renowned acting teacher Terry Schreiber. ISBN 1-58115-418-6

ACTING AND DIRECTING. Russell J. Grandstaff
Designed for the beginner, this book explains the roles of the actor and director and their relationship. Expression, stage orientation, characterisation, director responsibilities and pre-rehearsal processes are some of the techniques and hints focused on.

ACTING AND REACTING. Tools for the Modern Actor. Nick Moseley
As Head of Acting at a major drama school, Nick Moseley has developed a system that is based on the individual actor’s need to find truth in everything they do, to be "in the moment" and to react truly instinctively to the other people on the stage.
In Acting and Reacting, he takes the best of Stanislavski, David Mamet and Sanford Meisner to fuel his own intensely practical approach. Starting with the technique of Transactional Improvisation,he covers such topics as: The World of the Play, Inhabiting the Space, Learning to Trust Your Body and Approaches to Text. ISBN 1-85459-803-1

ACTING. An Introduction to the Art and Craft of Playing. Paul Kassel.
Acting: An Introduction to the Art and Craft of Playing discusses both the theory and practice of acting while placing the actor centre stage as the crucial artist in the theatre.Topically organised chapters examine the underlying processes and theories of the acting process through an open and descriptive approach and provide clear and concrete exercises to facilitate student development and understanding. HB ISBN 0 205 44002 9

ACTING AS A BUSINESS: New Edition. Brian O’Neill New edition
This shows actors how to function as business persons, and provides the information and resources necessary to achieve this. It does so by illustrating practical and proven methods. Brian O’Neill is the founder of Acting as a Business, a one-to-one career consultation service for actors.

ACTING ESSENTIALS or Just Say Your Lines Like You Mean Them And Don’t Bump Into the Scenery. A Practical Beginning Acting Handbook. Alex Golson.
This as a practical handbook that uses humour and clear, well-grounded exercises to make the complexities of acting simple and straightforward. ISBN 0 7674 2251 1

ACTING FOR FILM — Truth 24 Times a Second. Mel Churcher
The author uses her wide experience as an acting and voice coach on major movies to offer insights into the film acting process. She provides tasks, techniques and tips that are designed specially for film: there’s advice to make the first-time film actor feel at home on sets, tips on the casting process, how to cope with auditions, on-camera techniques, schedules and shooting order, as well as specific advice from film crews to help an actor’s performance. This practical workbook combines exercises and anecdotes in an informal and accessible style, making it the indispensable guide for anyone wishing to light up the silver screen. ISBN 0 7535 0723 4

ACTING FOR FILM — Cathy Haase
In this book the author shows actors how to develop technique, craft, and a depth of self-knowledge. She shares her secrets (developed through years of on-camera work) for creating characters who come alive and who touch the souls of the audience. ISBN 1 58115 252 3

ACTING FOR LIFE. A textbook on acting Jack Frakes
A comprehensive text for high school and college level teachers and students.
ISBN 1-56608-107-6

ACTING FOR THE CAMERA. Exercises by Eric Stephan Kline. Tony Barr. Foreword by Ed Asner
A book for all actors on how to adapt their craft to the needs of the camera and how to make it in TV or film acting, with scores of insights, techniques, and practical advice from pros in the field.

ACTING FOR SINGERS. Creating Believable Singing Characters. David F Ostwald.
"This treatise provides the perfect bridge between the opera singer and conductor and opera stage director. Mr. Ostwald illuminates the link between the text and the music, and provides the tools to both students and professionals to forge that link."
Doris Lang Kosloff, opera conductor, Director of the Opera Studio, Aaron Copland School of Music, and Opera Coach, Harrt College of Music. HB ISBN 0-19-514540-2

ACTING FROM A SPIRITUAL PERSPECTIVE — Your Art; Your Business; Your Calling. Kathryn Marie Bild
Acting From a Spiritual Perspective, a cheering, inspiring handbook, gives you a fresh look at the art and craft of acting and gets you past those mental and emotional obstacles that prevent you from fulfilling your dreams. ISBN 1 57525 294 5

ACTING GAMES. M. Cassady
A textbook of theatre games and improvisations. Essential elements of acting and character development are focused on in four parts: Exercises for Relaxing and Focusing; Acting Games for Creative Awareness; Improvisations for Building Scenes and Characters; Activities for Playing Specific Characters and Plays.

ACTING IN FILM — An Actor’s Take on Movie Making. Michael Caine. HB
"Witty, articulate and always entertaining, Michael Caine takes the nuts and bolts of film acting to pieces and gives away more trade secrets in the process than you thought existed". Geoffrey Hobbs, Sunday Times

ACTING IN PRIME TIME — The Mature Person’s Guide to Breaking into Show Business. Terry Chayefsky
Are you older and looking for a new career? Make the leap from retirement to prime time. This practical guide deals with the qualifications you need and the procedures you should follow in order to have an exciting second career in show business.

ACTING IN RESTORATION COMEDY. Simon Callow
Callow aims to restore the buoyant romps and embraces the magnificently perverse language as the primary seductive force in Restoration Comedy. Callow shapes the actor’s sensibility by coaching his performance in the conventions of the age, the life of the costume, and the audience in performance.

ACTING IN TELEVISION COMMERCIALS FOR FUN AND PROFIT. Squire Fridell
Acting in television commercials is fun, challenging and often very lucrative. Squire Fridell offers tips and advice that will give you the edge necessary to break in and keep on working.

ACTING IN THE MILLION DOLLAR MINUTE. The Sequel. The Art of Acting in Television Commercials. Tom Logan.
Praise for the earlier edition
"Acting in the Million Dollar Minute is a primer that should be in the hands of every beginner who hopes to act in commercials. Director Logan covers his subject broadly and realistically with his feet on the chalk marks." Los Angeles Times.
"A no-nonsense, practical guide by a director utterly familiar with the medium." Back Stage. ISBN 0-87910-307-8

ACTING IS BELIEVING — Charles McGaw, Larry D. Clark, Kenneth L. Stilson
These words are as true and relevant today as they were nearly 50 years ago when Charles McGraw first published his brilliant interpretation of Stanislavski’s acting theory. As it did then, Acting is Believing still inspires young actors, nurtures their talent, and shows them that the techniques of acting can, indeed, be learned. ISBN 0 15 505982 3 (HB)

ACTING JEWISH. Negotiating Ethnicity on the American Stage and Screen. Henry Bial
The History of the American entertainment industry and the history of the Jewish people in the United States are inextricably intertwined. Acting Jewish documents this history, looking at the work of Jewish writers, directors, and actors in the American entertainment industry with particular attention to the ways in which these artists offer behavioural models for Jewish-American audiences. The book spans the period from 1947 to the present. ISBN 0-472-06908-X

ACTING NARRATIVE SPEECHES — The Actor as Storyteller. Tim McDonough.
A Comprehensive text that helps an actor learn how to find, the Inherent energy, the emotional essence, the subtext colouring of every word and every sentence in a dramatic speech. Four critical essentials are defined: 1. Story Sense, 2. Sound Sense, 3. Shape Sense, 4. Inner Conflict — Layering Opposite Energies. A surpassing dramatic performance requires more than acting skills alone. 18 chapters, with examples, demonstrate how a student or professional actor can a illuminate a performance to a brilliant, heightened reality. ISBN 1 56608 076 2

ACTING PROFESSIONALLY — Raw Facts About Careers in Acting. Sixth Edition. R. Cohen
For anyone thinking about entering the most difficult career. In this edition, you’ll find:
Comprehensive coverage of all aspects of the acting profession from coast to coast.
Abundant information on auditioning, including contact information for the major names in the industry and a new appendix on Internet resources.
Advice from hundreds of professional actors, agents, managers, directors, casting directors, and producers, ranging form the famous to the successful to those just starting out.
Current information on how to find opportunities in film, theatre, and television, in areas such as stand-up comedy, regional theatre, Shakespeare festivals, student films, cruise ships, film/video, and voice-overs. ISBN 0 07 256259 5

ACTING (RE)CONSIDERED. — A theoretical and practical guide. Second edition. Edited by Philip B. Zarrilli
This is an exceptionally wide-ranging collection of theories on acting, ideas about the body and training, and statements about the actor in performance. This second edition includes five new essays and has been fully revised and updated, with discussions by and about major figures who have shaped theories and practices of acting and performance from the late nineteenth century to the present. ISBN 0 415 26300 X

ACTING SKILLS (2nd edition). Hugh Morrison
This looks at the practicalities of acting, covering the various techniques and how they can be developed and improved upon. The author discusses in a lively style the various disciplines: voice and speech, the voice in action, movement and body language, imagination and creativeness. Examples and exercises are given to help actors to understand and improve their craft.

ACTING SKILLS FOR LIFE (2nd edition). R. Cameron
The book aims to integrate personal growth and the processes of creative drama with the more formal skills required for stage production. A practical book for students and teachers.

ACTING STEP BY STEP. M. Cassady
New insights and exercises for the actor to improve presentation and performance, dealing specifically with the stage, the body, the voice, technique, the script, character analysis, improvisation, rehearsal, and performance.

ACTING STRATEGIES FOR THE CYBER AGE. Ed Hooks.
A career guide for the twenty-first-century actor, this book connects the dots between traditional values of the actor’s art and the career necessities of the future. ISBN 0 325 00240 1

ACTING THAT MATTERS — Barry Pineo
In this groundbreaking guide, author Barry Pineo challenges most modern acting methods, which encourage actors to dredge up personal memories and emotions. Instead, he urges actors to trust the playwright’s words. The necessary skills are divided into three levels: Part I, Analysis: Using analytical tools such as beats and actions, actors learn how to score scripts; Part II, Presentation: Actors learn how to enrich the staging of the text with elements such as tempo, volume, movement, and intensity. Part III, Activation: Actors discover how to maximize rehearsal time and interact effectively onstage with fellow actors. ISBN 1 58115 381 3

ACTING: THE FIRST 6 LESSONS. R. Boleslavsky
Suitable for both beginners and professionals, Boleslavsky’s wide experience creates unique knowledge for actors and directors.

ACTING UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES. Richard Brestoff
Inspired by the exploration of new working techniques in Stanislavski’s final book, Creating a Role, the author takes the working actor, the auditioning actor, or the aspiring actor to higher levels of performance. ISBN 1 57525 187 6

ACTING WITH STYLE (3rd edition). J. Harrop and S. R. Epstein. HB
This assists the actor in identifying the social and cultural clues which shape the style of a text, and gives practical, physical techniques for translating this perception into a dynamic and believable playing of the style.

ACTING WITH THE VOICE — The Art of Recording Books. Robert Blumenfeld. ISBN 0 87910 301 9

ACTIONS — The Actors’ Thesaurus. Marina Caldarone & Maggie Lloyd Williams. Foreword by Terry Johnson
An essential companion for actors in rehearsal — a thesaurus of action words to revitalise performance. ISBN 1 854459 674 8

THE ACTOR AND HIS BODY. L. Pisk
Litz Pisk is known for being the most influential teacher of theatre movement today. She searches for the awareness of the emotional and psychological impulses that should motivate an actor in his or her role. Suggested workouts also make this book suitable for keeping physically fit.

THE ACTOR AND THE TARGET — Declan Donnellan
"This new "Advice to Players" cuts open every generalisation about acting and draws out gleamingly fresh specifics. Behind the joy and the humour of the writing, Declan Donnellan is subtly leading young actors to an awareness of the living process behind their work. He brings as evidence the rich field of thought and intuition that direct experience has made his own." Peter Brook. ISBN 1 85459 127 4

THE ACTOR AND THE TEXT. Cicely Berry
Following and building on her first book, Cicely Berry relates the particularity of voice production to the challenges of a difficult text. By getting inside the words we use, she shows how to release their energy and excitement for an audience.

AN ACTOR PREPARES. C. Stanislavski
Stanislavski’s classic book on acting.

AN ACTOR PREPARES TO LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY — How to Live Like a Star Before You Become One. By Craig Wroe
A guide for actors and everyone else to getting the best for less and surviving, thriving, and living the good life in the Big Apple. ISBN 0 87910 986 6

AN ACTOR PREPARES TO WORK IN NEW YORK CITY — How to Master the Business of "The Business" Craig Wroe
A Step by Step Guide to launching a career in the big apple. ISBN 0 87910 306 X

THE ACTOR SINGS. Kevin Robison
Robison addresses actors’ fears about singing and provides unique insights for the singing actor. Includes an overview of vocal technique, breathing exercises etc. and guidance on how to merge vocal and acting techniques into one fluid method. ISBN 0 325 00177 4

THE ACTOR SPEAKS. Patsy Rodenburg. HB
Beginning with what every first-year acting student faces in class and ending with what leading professional actors must achieve every night at the Royal National Theatre, Rodenburg’s celebrated work as a voice coach is fully revealed in this thoughtful and inspirational book about the process of acting.

THE ACTOR’S ART — Conversations with Contemporary American Stage Performers. Edited by Jackson R. Bryer and Richard A. Davidson. HB/PB
This collection offers insight into seventy-five years of acting in the American theatre through previously unpublished interviews with seventeen of its most accomplished performers. From Jessica Tandy, who made her stage début in 1927, to Nathan Lane, who first appeared on Broadway in 1982. As they tell their own stories, tracing their professional lives from repertory theatre and beyond, we hear their perspectives on the art of acting, their insights into the characters they’ve played and the directors with whom they’ve worked. ISBN 0 8135 2873 9

AN ACTOR’S BUSINESS — How To Market Yourself as an Actor No Matter Where You Live. Andrew Reilly
Here is everything you need to know to market yourself as an actor: the facts about drama school; how to find an agent; the importance of unions; getting roles in community theatre; acting on television; opportunities in commercials; getting parts in movies and much, much more. ISBN 1 5981 020 5

THE ACTOR’S CHECKLIST. R. O’Neill
The book provides techniques for the classroom and production situations. It is mainly intended as an initial acting course but will provide a resource for when you begin to operate on your own. It serves as a guide to your expressiveness on stage.

THE ACTORS CHOICE. The Transition from Stage to Screen by Thomas W. Babson
The purpose of this book is to show actors how to take their theatrical craft and vision, and communicate them on to screen. It answers important questions such as - How does an actor consistently match their physical, subtextual and emotional choices during twenty takes shot from five different camera angles? How does an actor create a subtle, totally believable performance without detailed rehearsal and preparation, with little or no direction?

THE ACTOR’S FIELD GUIDE. Acting Notes on the Run. Ed Hooks
Exceptionally easy to use and packed with practical advice, this one-of-a-kind guide is a must for every working actor’s back pocket or backpack. Written by a veteran actor and teacher, The Actor’s Field Guide presents comprehensive acting technique and inspiration in a totally unique format. ISBN 0 8230 0115 6

ACTOR’S GUIDE TO AUDITIONS AND INTERVIEWS. 2nd Edition. Margo Annett
This useful guide outlines the techniques needed to achieve success in what is often a challenging process. It covers all aspects of casting, including gaining a place on a drama course, landing a part in film, TV, commercials or theatre, and becoming a TV or radio presenter. As well as advice from notable actors, directors, agents, producers, and casting directors, there are also sections on choosing and preparing an audition speech, staging and performing the piece, sight-reading, interview techniques, coping with nerves and how to use those inevitable periods when you are ‘resting’. ISBN 0 7136 5733 2

AN ACTOR’S GUIDE TO GETTING WORK. Simon Dunmore
This practical, comprehensive guide contains invaluable information and advice to enable actors to make the most of; drama schools; audtions; letters. Cvs and photographs; agents; interviews; TV, commercials and films; voice-overs; the internet; Equity … and much more. This is the third, updated editon of this standard work of reference for actors of all ages. ISBN 0-7136-5732-4

AN ACTOR’S HANDBOOK. C. Stanislavski. Edited and translated by E. Reynolds Hapgood
A collection of short statements addressing the problems of creative acting, arranged alphabetically to aid students, professionals or anybody with an interest in the stage.

ACTORS ON ACTING — (new revised edition). T. Cole and H. K. Chinoy
Up-to-date comprehensive collection of actors’ views expressed in their thoughts and writings. This edition contains over a hundred selections extending from Thespis in the sixth-century B.C. to the rebels of today.

ACTORS ON GUARD — A Practical Guide for the Use of Rapier and Dagger for Stage and Screen. Dale Anthony Girard
This comprehensive and detailed book on the art of theatrical swordplay provides the reader with the historical, theoretical, and practical basis for learning, practising, and presenting theatrical sword fights.

THE ACTOR’S QUOTATION BOOK — Selected and with Essays by Kathryn Marie Bild. Introduction by Michael York
What is acting? How do you do it? Why do you do it? What gives you the nerve? Some of our finest actors, directors, screenwriters, producers, casting directors and acting coaches, such as Harrison Ford, Martin Scorsese, Tom Hanks, Marlon Brandon, Stephen Spielberg, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, and Robert Duvall, answer theses and other questions. The result is The Actor’s Quotation Book. ISBN 1 57525 370 4
THE ACTOR’S SCRIPT — Script Analysis for Performers. Charles S. Waxberg
A clear, concise, and easily assimilated technique for script analysis that is specifically tailored to actors’ needs and sensibilities. Using a variety of plays, the author illustrates a process for finding and utilizing main themes and ideas that can be used with any script.

THE ACTOR’S SURVIVAL HANDBOOK. Patrick Tucker and Christine Ozanne.
Patrick Tucker and Christine Ozanne – he a director, she an actor- offer forthright advice on topics from breathing to props, commitment to learning lines, audience response to simply landing the job in the first place. The book is rich with examples, both technical and inspirational. And because a director and an actor won’t always agree, the two writers sometimes even offer alternative responses to a dilemma, giving the reader both an actor’s take and a director’s take on a particular point. ISBN 0-87830-175-5

THE ACTOR’S SURVIVAL KIT — Miriam Newhouse and Peter Messaline
This book is the backbone of Business of Acting courses and a constant resource for its many readers. ISBN 0 88924 278 X

THE ACTOR’S WHEEL OF CONNECTION. How to integrate your skills and refine your performance. Richard Brestoff.
Troubleshooting sections for each chapter, examples from films and plays, and insight from Robert Lewis, Elia Kazan, Evgeny Vakhtangov, T. S. Eliot, Kevin Kline, Lance Armstrong, Sir Isacc Newton, and many others. ISBN 1-57525-391-7

THE ACTORS’ YEARBOOK 2005 The Essential Resource for Anyone wanting to Work as an Actor. Edited by Simon Dunmore and Lucia Latimer
Whether you are already working as an actor or just embarking on your acting career, The Actor’ Yearbook is an invaluable resource. It contains detailed entries and guidance for all aspects of the acting world, from agents to production companies, while essays and commentaries provide additional advice and insights into the profession. ISBN 0 7136 6943 8

ACTORS’ YEARBOOK 2007. The Essential Resource for Anyone Wanting to Work as an Actor. Edited by Simon Dunmore and Andrew Piper Foreword by Samuel West
Packed with all the latest information on the industry, Actors’ Yearbook is the essential reference guide for actors and anyone working in television, film and theatre. ISBN 0 7136 7385 0

ADVICE TO A PLAYER Donald MacKechnie
While some of the thirty-two speeches included here are well known, most are less familiar and so provide challenging new opportunities for an actor to grow. The aim of the book is to "help an actor to establish a few base camps from which to scale the various mountains contained in … the work of this master playwright." ISBN 0-87910-962-9
ADVICE TO A YOUNG BLACK ACTOR — Conversations with Douglas Turner Ward. Gus Edwards
Cofounder and artisitic director of the famed Negro Ensemble Company, Douglas Turner Ward is also this country’s foremost authority on African Americans in theatre. Playwright and educator Gus Edwards talked with Ward about the opportunities for African American actors. The result is the first book to address the creative and professional challenges of acting from a specifically African American perspective. ISBN 0 325 00665 2

AGENTS ON ACTORS — Over Sixty Professionals Share Their Secrets on Finding Work on the Stage and Screen. Hettie Lynne Hurtes
The author gathers all the know-how into one book, profiling over sixty agents in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, Miami, and other cities where theatre, films, television, and commercial work exists. Together, these agents provide comprehensive information on the-behind-the-scenes workings and ins and outs of the business. They detail just what they look for in actors seeking agency representation and share a wealth of career advice on, amongst other things, how to interview, how to pick the right agent, and what makes the most effective audition both for agents and casting directors. ISBN 0 8230 8803 0

AN ACTOR’S GUIDE — MAKING IT IN NEW YORK CITY. Glen Alterman.
This is the ultimate guide for actor’s who dream of succeeding in New York. Aspiring talents and established professionals alike will find this thorough and up-to –the minute volume clock-full of resources and advice: where to live, where to study, how to network, and much more. ISBn 1 58115 213 2

THE ALCHEMY OF MOVEMENT — A Book for Actors by June Kemp.
Theory and Practice. ISBN 1 99999999 1

APPROACHES TO ACTING. Past and Present. Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe
This book provides a clear overview of different approaches to acting, both historical and contemporary, Western and non-Western, and concludes with a challenge to the future of the art. ISBN 0 8264 4901 8

ART BY COMMITTEE. A Guide to Advanced Improvisation Charna Halpern
Includes a DVD which contains performances by the following improv groups: Upright Citizens Brigade, The Armando Diaz Theatrical Experience and Hootenanny, Beer Shark Mice, The Reckoning, Peter Hulne. ISBN 1 56608 112 2

THE ART OF ACTING — Foreword by A. Storch
Includes almost everything one needs to know about creating believable characters. Also contained are exercises to develop technique and instructions for creating a character and building a role. It can be used as a step-by-step training guide or as a reference for terms, exercises and concepts. Illustrated.

THE ART OF COARSE ACTING or HOW TO WRECK AN AMATEUR DRAMATIC SOCIETY. Michael Green
A book no amateur actor dare miss, since most of it is devoted to ways of playing dirty tricks on the rest of the class (and the producer). This hilarious (and hilariously illustrated) book includes the text of the all purpose coarse play "’Tis Pity She’s the Merry Wife of Henry VI" (Part One).

THE ART OF CHICAGO IMPROV — Shortcuts to Long-Form Improvisation. Rob Kozpowski
Improvisational theatre revolutionized American comedy and Chicago was its home. That city not only nurtured so much of the best work done; it also spawned many different styles that travelled around the country and the world. Experienced improv artist Rob Kozpowski trained at Chicago’s Second City and knows firsthand what improv really is and what it can achieve. He tells all in this account of the first 50 years of the Chicago improv scene. ISBN 0 325 00384 X

THE ART OF FILM ACTING Jeremiah Comey
This guide for actors and directors develops a valid method for training performers to act from their core-whether they are cold reading, auditioning, or performing for film or television. This book teaches actors how to achieve and respond to believable and honest emotions before the camera, and it maintains that the key to a successful performance lies in how the actors relate to one another and the circumstances. ISBN 0-240-80507-0

THE ART OF THE ACTOR — The Essential History of Acting, From Classical times to
the Present Day. Jean Benedetti. ISBN 0 413 77336 1 (HB)

THE ART OF STORYTELLING. Creative ideas for preparation and performance. Marsh Cassady
An introduction to the fascinating world of storytelling with thirteen chapters in three parts: 1. Choosing Stories to tell 2. Developing Original Ideas and 3. Presenting the Story. Chapters on methods of presentation and using the body and voice.

THE ARTICULATE BODY — The Physical Training of the Actor. Anne Dennis
This book attempts to re-think and analyse the actor’s physical needs. It offers a graded series of exercises aimed at realising those needs and making the body fully articulate as a medium of expression. Through the process of training set out here, the actor will gain the necessary physical skill, imagination and confidence to use their body as an expresive medium. ISBN 1 85459 683 7

AT WORK WITH GROTOWSKI ON PHYSICAL ACTIONS. Thomas Richards
A compelling insider’s view of the more recent work of one of the central figures of twentieth-century theatre. It will be compulsive and inspiring reading for every student of acting, and for anyone interested in the history of the theatre.

AUDITION — Michael Shurtleff. Introduced by Bob Foss.
The famed Broadway and Hollywood casting director reveals everything an actor needs to know to get the part.
The author has been casting director for Broadway shows like Chicago and Becket and films like The Graduate and Jesus Christ Superstar. His legendary course on auditioning has launched hundreds of successful careers. Now in this book he tells the all-important how for all aspiring actors, form the beginning student of acting to the proven talent trying out for that chance-in-a-million role! ISBN 0 553 27295 0

AUDITIONING AND ACTING FOR THE CAMERA — John W. Shepard
Finally a book for actors and acting teachers that recognizes there are different cameras to perform before and different techniques to be mastered for each camera. This book will teach you the special techniques required for success in facing the unique challenges each type of camera presents. ISBN 1 57525 275 9

BEING AN ACTOR. Simon Callow
An honest book which exposes all the pressures, rewards and insecurity of an acting career written by one of the most acclaimed comic performers of his generation.

BETWEEN DIRECTOR AND ACTOR — Strategies for Effective Performance. Mandy Rees and John Staniunas.
The authors offer a set of strategies to help directors and actors work together more effectively, from starting the first rehearsals to maintaining a long-running show. ISBN 0 325 00432 3

BEYOND STANISLAVSKY. The Psycho-Physical Approach to Actor Training. Bella Merlin. Foreword by Max Stafford-Clark
Though well-known — and much taught — in Russia, Psycho-Physical Acting is in its infancy in the rest of the world. At the heart of this system of actor training is the premise that physical actions can induce emotions just as much as the other way round. Bella Merlin, having studied under three of the best Russian teachers, takes the reader through a course in the new system. Each of the five chapters comes complete with exercises and, infused with the author’s personal experience, it is never a dry set of instructions. ISBN 1 85459 613 6

BODY —VOICE — IMAGINATION. A Training for the Actor. David Zinder
"Expanding upon the seminal approach of Michael Chekhov to acting, this very well organized, progressive workbook for the integrated development of the actor’s body, voice, and imagination will be of great use a sourcebook for teachers of acting." Phillip Zarrilli, actor trainer, director, and Professor of Drama at the University of Exeter. ISBN o 87830 1151 8

BOOK ON ACTING — IMPROVISATION TECHNIQUE for the Professional Actor in Film, Theatre and Television. A new technique for improvising performances with scripted and memorized lines — By Stephen Book.
The ability to improvise a skilled performance while speaking scripted and memorized lines is of paramount importance to actors working in today’s film and television productions, which often allow very little if any rehearsal time. Through his innovative Improvisation technique, the author shows the actor how to create a spontaneous performance by applying improvisation to traditional script-acting for film, theater, and television. ISBN 1 879505 60 6

BREAKING INTO ACTING FOR DUMMIES — Your Insider’s Guide to Landing a Role on Stage, on TV, or in the Movies. Larry Garrison and Wallace Wang.
From preparing for auditions to finding an agent, the acting business is a challenging and competitive field. This indispensable guide is what every aspiring actor needs to get a foot in the door. Discover how to market yourself, choose a dynamic head shot, create a stellar acting resume, join unions, and pay the bills while you pursue your acting dreams. ISBN 0 7645 5446 8.

BUILDING A CHARACTER. Stanislavski
Describes the author’s technique for the creation of character and the general stimulation of imagination.

A CAREER HANDBOOK FOR TV, RADIO, FILM, VIDEO& INTERACTIVE MEDIA — Shiona Llewellyn and Sue Walker. Second Edition
Specialist from across the fast-changing world of TV, radio, film, video and interactive media have contributed "behind-the-scenes" advice to provide the definitive guide to a career in theses areas. ISBN 0 7136 6320 0.

A CHALLENGE FOR THE ACTOR. Uta Hagen. HB
Following from her first book Respect for Acting, Uta Hagen expands her thinking about acting. The actor’s goals, techniques, the relationship to the physical and psychological senses and the animation of the body and mind are topics discussed. The author also provides exercises provided for the actor to learn his craft.

CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES — An Acting Manual with 24 Scenes. Lorinne Vozoff
Beginning with a fresh view of the basic principles of Stanislavski’s system, Changing Circumstances builds actors’ versatility by altering the plots of eight original two-character scenes — but not the lines. Each scene is performed in three distinctly different ways, allowing for twenty-four emotionally charged dramas. ISBN 0 325 00293 2

CLUES TO ACTING SHAKESPEARE. Wesley Van Tassel
Using examples from Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets, the author tells actors how to break down the verse, support the words, understand the images, and use the text to create vibrant, living performances. The book is conveniently divided into three sections — for actors-in-training, high school drama students and teachers, and professional actors and coaches who need to brush up their skills.
ISBN 1 58115 053 9

COLD READING AND HOW TO BE GOOD AT IT— An Authoritive Book Vital to the Career of Every Actor. Basil Hoffman

COMMEDIA DELL’ ARTE. John Rudlin
This handbook is an entertaining account of Commedia’s origins as a popular theatrical form. John Rudlin also explains the experiments of twentieth-century directors and artistes in reconstructing this form which was popular in Europe for three centuries.

COMMEDIA DELL’ARTE A Handbook for Troupes. John Rudlin and Olly Crick
This enables the reader to understand how successful commedia dell’arte companies function and how we can learn from past and current practice to create a lively and dynamic form of theatre. The many practical resources on offer include tips on: writing a scenario; mask making; building a stage; designing a touring backdrop; costume; music. ISBN 0 415 20409 7

COMING TO TERMS WITH ACTING. D. Moston
A book defining the terminology used to teach and direct actors. You will receive an overview of how the terms are used today in theatre which proves helpful for the classroom, productions, beginners, and professionals.

THE CONFIDENT PERFORMER. Dr. David Roland
Dr. David Roland, carefully analyses how anxiety affects performing and looks at the ways of managing it and even of harnessing it to improve performance.

CREATING A CHARACTER. Moni Yakim and M. Broadman. Foreword by Stella Adler
For over twenty years Moni Yakim has taught his unique blend of physical training and emotional exploration to a generation of American actors that include Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline. Now for the first time his acting process is available to every actor and theatre professional.

CREATING A ROLE. Stanislavski
In this book the pattern of disciplined development of character is examined from the actor’s viewpoint in three widely contrasting plays, Woe from Wit, Othello and The Inspector General. This book is for the actor in need of nourishment for his gifts and guidance for his enthusiasm or for anyone with an interest in the theatre.

CREATIVE GAMES IN GROUPWORK — Robin Dynes
Scores of ideas for games are presented in this book. You can see at a glance what materials are needed, any preparation required and how each game is played. Variations and comments are also included. There are introduction and mixing exercises, games using gentle movement, exuberant games, puzzles and brain-teasers, verbal games. Pen and paper games, quizzes, word games and an outdoor activities section. ISBN 0 86388 367 2

CREATING UNFORGETTABLE CHARACTERS. L. Segar

DANGEROUS ACTOR (THE). Judith Gick
Superstars, household names and hundreds of actors solidly respected in the profession have passed through Judith Gick’s acting classes. She has left her individual mark on all of them. She draws on all her considerable experience to present what she calls ‘a kind of guide book’ for the aspiring student actor.

DAVID HARE. Acting Up
Hare’s hilarious diary of his experience on both sides of the Atlantic tells of his difficulties in coming to terms with his frightening change of career, but also grapples with more serious questions about what the difference is between acting and performance, whether anyone can learn to do either.

DESIGN FOR MOVEMENT. Lyn Oxenford
Movement is here used to mean not only the physical transference of the body from place to place, but gestures, mannerisms, positions and grouping. Psychological and external angles have been approached.

DO’S AND DON’TS OF DRAMA. Jean Lee Latham
This volume attempts to do nothing more than to present some of the tent pegs for one who is a beginner in acting. Many things which are an old story to the trained actor are discussed here.

DRAMA GAMES — by Tian Dayton, Ph.D.
This book is designed to help participants get in touch with and express buried feelings in a safe and structured way and offer training in the ability to be creative and spontaneous. ISBN 1 55874 021 X

DRAMATIC SUCCESS! Theatre Techniques to Transform and Inspire Your Working Life. Andrew Leigh and Michael Maynard
The pioneers of using inspirational theatre techniques in business share the secrets of using inspirational theatre techniques in business share the secrets of using them to produce dramatic performance both in yourself, in others and in your work situation. ISBN 1 85788 340 3

A DREAM OF PASSION. Lee Strasberg.
The long-awaited definitive work on acting and the training of actors by the late Lee Strasberg whose thought, research, experiment and discovery produced the Method. It is a work of historic importance which no actor, would-be actor or indeed anyone involved with theatre, can afford to miss. Illustrated.

DREAMWORK FOR ACTORS — Janet Sonenberg
This brilliantly explores the potential of dreams for actor training and development. Janet Sonenberg offers an entirely new technique for exploring imaginatively rich acting. Dreams are comprised of boundless imagination. Here Sonenberg demonstrates how the actor seeds dreams with material from the play under study and then uses the resulting dream to affect the acting. ISBN 0 87830 166 6

EIGHT WOMEN OF THE AMERICAN STAGE — Talking About Acting. Roy Harris. Foreword by Emily Mann
Joanne Woodward, Sarah Jessica Parker, Gwen Verdon, Mary Alice, Judith Ivey, Cherry Jones, Mary McDonnell, and Donna Murphy share the secrets of their creative processes, from prerehearsal preparation through closing night performance.

THE END OF ACTING — A Radical View. Richard Hornby. HB
"Keenly and impassionedly, Richard Hornby assays the teaching and practice of acting in America today, putting the Method oppression in perspective and offering an enlightened new approach". Stanley Kauffmann

ENJOY AMATEUR ACTING. Sylvia Tyler. Illustrated by Barry Will
This is a book written for all actors aspiring to present amateur theatre in the most professional way possible. It is a book about stagecraft and the doors to enjoyment it can open. It takes the reader through the various stages from audition to performance, offering practical advice, explaining basic terms and giving guidance on simple techniques to enhance performance.

THE EXPRESSIVE BODY — Physical Characterization for the Actor. David Alberts
A practical handbook on actor training that specifically addresses physical characterization as a fundamental element of the actor’s craft.

FOR ALL OCASSIONS —Poems, Prose and Party Pieces for Reading Aloud Compiled by Peter Barkworth
An anthology of just over 200 poems and prose pieces which go well when read aloud. Included are the authors inspired selections for Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Armistice Day, theatre benefits, church concerts, charity do’s, musical evenings, lunches and Sinners, christenings, weddings, funerals, and memorial services, The Four Seasons and a bravurae collection of show-off poems.

FROM ACTING TO PERFORMANCE — Essays in modernism and postmodernism. Philip Auslander. HB and PB
Together these essays provide a survey of the changes in acting and performance during the crucial transition from the ecstatic theatre of the 1960s to the ironic postmodernism of the 1980s.

GRAFT — Tales of an actor. Steven Berkoff
Harry is a dedicated actor, often out of work, rejected and desperate for opportunities to practise his art. Brief moments of success only serve to increase his thirst for fulfilment. In these moving, sometimes harrowing short stories Steven Berkoff tears the skin off the acting profession to reveal the raw, bleeding reality of the actor’s everyday life.

THE GREAT ACTING TEACHERS AND THEIR METHODS. Richard Brestoff
This book explores the acting theories and teaching methods of the great teachers of acting — among the Stanislavski, Meisner, Brecht, Grotowski and Suzuki. Each chapter includes a sample class, which gives the reader a feel for how the different teachers accomplished their objectives, and thereby equip the reader to choose among them. And in addition, this book takes a long look at some of the premiere actor training institutions in the United States and assesses what is being taught there today. ISBN 1 57525 012 8

GROUP IMPROVISATION — The Manual of Ensemble Improv Games. Peter Gwinn, with additional material by Charna Halpern.
More than forty games and exercises to help develop " The Group Mind", the Holy Grail of improvisation. Included are games to assist: Bonding. Focus. Awareness. Creation. Energy. Dynamics. Games that take teamwork to new level! ISBN 1 56608 086 X

HAMLET — A User’s Guide. Michael Pennington
"A book on Hamlet by an actor is a rare thing. Michael Pennington’s great experience of the play, his love for it, his depth of knowledge, his generous perception of many productions and interpretations culminate in a book of infinite value to any actor, director and above all to any passionate playgoer. It is written with passion, humour and rigour. And it is also an excellent read." Ralph Fiennes

HOW TO ACT AND EAT AT THE SAME TIME — The Sequel.
The Do’s and Don’ts of landing a Professional Acting Job by Tim Logan. With foreword by Marc Hirschfeld. Executive Vice President, Casting, NBC Entertainment. ISBN 0 87910 991 2

HOW TO AUDITION — G. Hunt
A book to help you handle interviews, prepare résumés and pictures and guide you through cold readings. Essential advice for any actor seeking a role from a casting director and other experts.

HOW TO BE A WORKING ACTOR — The Insider’s Guide to Finding Jobs in Theater, Film and Television. Mari Lyn Henry and Lynne Rogers
This comprehensive guide has been revised and expanded to include new information on enhancing your image; finding jobs in emerging markets; updated union rules and payscales; current living expenses; and an entirely new chapter on " cyberbitz," exploring the ways that the internet has opened new doors for actors and enabled entirely new approaches to promtion. ISBN 0 8230 8894 4

HOW TO STOP ACTING — Harold Guskin. With a foreword by David Suchet and an introduction by Kevin Kline
In How to Stop Acting, renowned acting coach Harold Guskin reveals the insights and techniques that have worked wonders for the stage and screen actors he has coached, beginners and star alike. Instead of yet another "method", Guskin offers a strategy based on a radically simple and refreshing idea: that the actor’s work is not to " create a character" but rather to be continually, personally responsive to the text. Drawing his examples from his clients’ work on his own, Guskin shares his revolutionary approach to landing roles, developing tham and keeping them alive. ISBN 0 413 77423 6

I COULD HAVE BEEN A CABDRIVER …BUT I BECAME AN ACTOR INSTEAD
A Practical Guide to the Business of Professional Acting. Joe Cerny
Cerny teaches you how to take a product – your acting ability – and create a business – your acting career. The author has been a professional actor for thirty-two years and draws on his own experiences to help other actors. ISBN 1 57525 302 X

IMPRO FOR STORYTELLERS. Keith Johnstone
Building on and extending the seminal earlier work of Impro, this book specializes in releasing an individual’s potential within the context of group work.

IMPRO: IMPROVISATION AND THE THEATRE. K. Johnstone
Under the headings "Status", "Spontaneity", "Narrative Skills" and "Masks and Trance", the author describes techniques and exercises which developed through his work in the actor’s studio at the Royal Court Theatre. The result is both a resource book of ideas and a fascinating exploration of the nature of creativity.

IMPROV! Greg Atkins
A book for those who dread improvisation. The author shows you how to make improvisation work for you in auditions, performances, and life. This clear-cut book is helpful for actors, directors, teachers and even playwrights.
IMPROV IDEAS. A Book of Games and Lists (With CD-Rom which includes printable PDF files of every list in this book) Compiled and Invented by Justin Jones and Mary Ann Kelly.
"This mother lode of activities will be mined by teachers of drama, storytelling and creative writing for decades. I strongly recommend the book to anyone who attempts to help young people build ease and confidence in self-expression." Joe Hayes, storyteller

IMPROVE WITH IMPROV! Brie Jones
A complete improvisation programme divided into twenty class length workshops.

IMPROVISATION FOR THE THEATRE. Viola Spolin
A handbook for teaching and directing techniques through theatre games, the way of developing knowledgeable student groups, enriching community drama, and redirecting the professional to the source of his talent through playing.

IMPROVISATION IN DRAMA. A. Frost and R. Yarrow
The first full unified view of dramatic improvisation bringing together various studies of individual practitioners, techniques and theatre, as well as the first full English assessment of the teaching work of Jacques Lacoq. It also analyses the contributions to twentieth-century theatre by Jacques Copeau, Mike Leigh and Dario Fo.

IMPROVISATION: PROJECT AND PRACTICE. R. G. Newton
The author has long experience of improvisation work and stresses that this should be used as a means to an end, and not as an end in itself. This was the basis of a short course held in a Theatre Club and this book deals with that same course. Comments of members of the group, several exercises, and many points dealing with improvisation in general are included.

IMPROVISATION WITH FAVOURITE TALES. Ruth Bell Heinig
Advice on how to dramatise literature by using traditional tales. The author explains some basic drama exercises and methods of teaching. The book helps integrate expressive movement and language exploration into the reading and writing classroom, at the same time building on children’s natural ability to improvise.

IN CHARACTER — an Actor’s Workbook for Character Development. Christopher Vened. Foreword by Michael Hackett
In this concise manuel, Vened describes the methods, principles, directions, exercises, and examples needed for the mastery of the actor’s craft and art of portraying character. More specifically, In Character identifies and explains the actor’s method of work in distinct stages. ISBN 0 325 00208 8

IN CHARACTER: Actors Acting. Directed and Photographed by Howard Schatz. Foreword by Roger Eber
In Character, is a book of photographic portraits of working actors — many of them recognised stars —playing one or more roles directed by the photographer. Insightful comments accompanying the images reveal the actors’ views on the creative process of acting, developing a character and their personal experiences. 125 colour and black and white photographs. . HB ISBN 0 8212 2907 9


THE INVISIBLE ACTOR. Yoshi Oida and Lorna Marshall. Foreword by Peter Brook
In this practical and captivating study of the actor’s art, the authors provide every performer with all the simple tools which help place the technique of acting behind a cloak of invisibility.

THE JOB BOOK II — 100 Day Jobs For Actors. Edited by Glenn Alterman
Looking for a way to support your acting career? This book provides working actors with a guide to 100 career-friendly opportunities. Each job description includes perks, bummers, detailed contact information and advice straight from the horse’s mouth. ISBN 1 880399 99 7

LESSONS: THE CRAFT OF ACTING. Truthful human behaviour on stage and screen. Tom Isbell ISBN 1 56608 111 4

LESSONS FOR THE PROFESSIONAL ACTOR. Michael Chekov
A collection of extraordinary lectures, including exercises, which Michael Chekhov presented at his studio classes in New York in 1941. Their aim was to train professional actors in his technique and philosophy of acting initially derived from Stanislavski.

LIVING ON STAGE — Acting from the Inside Out: A Practical Process. Walt Witcover. Foreword by Jerry Stiller
In this book, readers are invited to attend a master class with one of America’s most respected acting coaches. We watch as an actor is taken through every of stage of acting from his first steps on stage, accomplishing simple stage tasks to combining the emotional life of a character with his own memories and imagination. This book is an invaluable tool for launching a successful acting career. ISBN 0 8230 2832 1

MAKE ACTING WORK: The Practical Path to a Successful Career. Finding an Agent. Making the Best of an Audition. Selling Yourself: CVs, Photographs, Demo-tapes, Showreels, Developing Confidence and Building Skills Strategies for Success. Chrys Salt
This is an essential guide for anyone wishing to develop a career in this exciting but unpredictable profession. It offers a level-headed appraisal of the challenges that actors face and identifies a wide range of opportunities that exist for the resourceful. Practical advice is given on all the critical elements, including preparing a CV, photographs, demo-tape and showreel, getting an agent and auditioning. ISBN 0 413 76140 1

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD. An Actor’s Guide to Increased Dramatic Range Through Vocal Training. Revised and Enlarged Second Edition. Chuck Jones Foreword by Caymichael Patten.
Chuck Jones, a leading expert on voice training for actors, reveals his groundbreaking techniques clearly and concisely in this revised and expanded edition of a classic text. For any actor who wants to grow and develop, Make Your Voice Heard offers powerful, practical tools for connecting the voice to emotion and using the voice to create new levels of meaning. ISBN 0 8230 8370 5

MEANING, FORM AND PERFORMANCE. Paul Ranger
An entertaining and enlightening examination of the techniques and approaches which enable a performer to make writer’s words ‘live’ in the audience’s mind. Though specifically geared to LAMDA Medal and Recital Diploma candidates, the book will prove invaluable to anyone interested in the nature of performing. Among other issues, it tackles the specifics of speaking prose, lyrical and narrative verse, sonnets, performing Shakespeare and other playwrights reading aloud.

METHOD ACTING RECONSIDERED Theory, Practice, Future. Edited David Krasner
A fascinating collection of essays on the Method, clarifying its objectives and answering its detractors. This thorough examination of the Method’s theoretical underpinning and practical application will be of interest to theatre scholars, students and practitioners alike. ISBN 033391547X

METHOD OR MADNESS. R. Lewis
Highly recognised lectures on the Method School of acting.

MIME AND IMPROVISATION. Alison Muir and Patricia Hammond
Written to accompany the LAMDA Examination syllabus, this book looks in detail at specific aspects of two key performance disciplines and places them within the wider context of drama training.

MOVEMENT FOR ACTORS — Edited by Nicole Potter
In this rich resource for actors, renowned movement teachers, and directors reveal the physical skills needed for the stage and screen. These diverse experts not only explain how each of these discipline came into being and why the skills involved are invaluable to performers, but also provide ready-to-use exercises and approaches. Readers will gain remarkable insights into the physical skills, techniques, and styles developed and used in modern performance. ISBN 1 58115 233 7

MOVEMENT TRAINING FOR THE STAGE AND SCREEN. Jean Sabatine
Actors understand the importance of training the body to attain good breath control, movement and agility and to express emotions when portraying characters. Less well understood however, is the vital awareness of mind, spirit and body that must be developed and explored in an actor’s education. This book incorporates these aspects of an actor’s training in a systematic course of study.

THE MOVING BODY (Le Corps Poétique) — Teaching Creative Theatre. Jacques Lecoq. HB
Lecoq — founder of the International Theatre School — here shares his unique philosophy and teaching methods. Neutral masks, character masks, acrobatics, commedia, clowns: all the famous Lecoq techniques are included.

MY BREATH IN ART — Acting from Within. Beatrice Manley
How to clear the body of emotional debris; how to release habitual tension; how to get feedback from your body; what to do with your hands; the inner structure of feeling; avoiding overpreparation.

MY LIFE IN ART. Constantin Stanislavski
Nothing has been written about Stanislavski that is as revealing as his own expression of his ideas and experience in this outstanding autobiography. "This wise and delightful book... is packed with sage, practical counsel to actors and actresses," Times Literary Supplement ISBN 0 413 46200 5

1001 IDEAS FOR IMPROVISATION AND MIME — Mary Y. Brooks
An invaluable handbook for teachers of Speech and Drama. An endless source for Improvisation, Mime and Role-playing.

ON ACTING — Interviews with Actors. Ed by Mary Luckhurst and Chloe Veltman
This book provides an opportunity to see behind the scenes and consider the diversity and the similarities between a wide-ranging group of male and female performers working in Britain and USA on stage and on screen. Contributors include: Annabel Arden, Simon Callow, Willem Defoe, Eve Ensler, Danny Hoch, Indira Varma.
ISBN 0 571 20656 5

ON ACTORS AND ACTING. Peter Thomson (HB)
This book is for theatre-lovers — scholarly but always accessible. Written for anyone who shares the author’s curiosity about the art of acting and about theatre past and present, the essays in the book are divided into three sections. The first centres on Elizabethan theatre
practice, the second highlights themes, episodes and contemporary taste in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in England, and the third focuses on twentieth-century performances of Shakespeare at Stratford in the 1970s and in the New Globe as the new century begins. ISBN 0 85989 671 4.

ON METHOD ACTING. Edward Dwight Easty
Required reading for young actors or the layman who wishes to understand the "mysteries" of Method Acting in clear and simple terms. The book speaks most eloquently for itself.

OTHER PEOPLE’S SHOES — Thoughts on Acting. Harriet Walter
" Acting is what I do with who I am", writes Harriet Walter — and in this book she takes us through a step by step through the process involved in performance. And each step of the way is illuminated with brilliantly precise examples from her own career. As Richard Eyre says, every young actor should read this book — for its unparalleled insights into the everyday working life of an actor, and into quite how much hard work is needed before they can convincingly put themselves in other people’s shoes. ISBN 1 85459 751 5

THE OTHER WAY — An Alternative Approach to Acting and Directing. Charles Marowitz
Marowitz examines every aspects of contemporary theatre practice including auditions, first-readings, the rehearsal process, classical techniques and performance art. He delves beyond sub-text, probing the labyrinth that exists beneath conventional psychology. Rethinking Stanislavsky, debunking Strasberg, filtering and reconstituting the ideas of Bertolt Brecht and Antonin Artaud, Marowitz comes up with a tantalizing new brew of ideas with actors and directors can ply their craft into the new millennium.

THE PATH OF THE ACTOR. Michael Chekhov
Chekhov’s witty, penetrating (and at times immensely touching) accounts have been edited by Andrei Kirillov, whose extensive and authoritative notes accompany the autobiographies. Co-editor Bella Merlin, also provides a useful hands-on overview of how the contemporary practitioner might use and develop Chekhov’s ideas. HB ISBN 0-415-34366-6

THE PERFECT AUDTION MONOLGUE — How to find and perform monologues that really sell you! By Glen Alterman
Finding the right audition monologue can be crucial to an actor’s career. The audition monologue is an important marketing tool that introduces and showcases an actor’s talent to agents, casting directors, and producers. In This Perfect Audition Monologue, Glenn Alterman covers every aspect of the monologue audition, from entrance to exit. ISBN 1 57525 363 1

PERFORM OR ELSE. From Discipline to Performance. Jon McKenzie
Jon McKenzie uncovers an uncanny relationship between cultural, organizational, and technological performance. In this theoretical tour de force, McKenzie demonstrates that all three paradigms can operate together to create powerful and contradictory pressures to ‘perform — or else’. ISBN 0 415 24769 1

PERFORMANCE SUCCESS. Performing Your Best Under Pessure. Don Greene, Ph. D.
Performance anxiety is a fact of life for all musicians and entertainers. You can deny the problems of stress in performance or you can face them, even learn to embrace them. Master performance coach Don Greene, Ph.D. has achieved extraordinary results with techniques built on a surprisingly simple message: don’t try to relax — it doesn’t work. Performance Success will teach you all of Dr. Greene’s proven methods to beat your nerves and make them work for you. ISBN 0 87830 122 4

PERFORMER TRAINING – Developments Across Cultures — Ed. by Ian Watson
This is an examination of how actors are trained in different cultures. Beginning with studies of mainstream training in countries such as Poland, Australia, Germany, and the United States, subsequent studies survey — some of Asia’s traditional training methods and recent experiments in performer training, Eugenio Barba’s training methods, Jerzy Grotowski’s most recent investigations, the Japanese American NOHO company’s attempts at integrating Kyogen into the works of Samuel Beckett, etc. This book is illustrated with twenty-seven black and white photographs. ISBN 90 5755 122 5

PERFORMING ARTS COURSES 2004. UCAS TROTMAN
Dance. Drama. Music. Performing Arts. Other related subjects including: Costume Production; Directing; Film & Television Studies; Lighting Design; Screenwriting; Sound Design; Stage Management; Theatre Practice. At foundation, undergraduate and Postgraduate level includes UCAS and Non-UCAS institutions. ISBN 0 85660 879 3

PERFORMING WOMAN — Stand-Ups, Strumpets, and Itinerants. Introduced, interviewed and edited by Alison Oddey
Oddey’s interviews with prominent performing woman span generations, cultures, perspectives, practice and the best part of the twentieth century, telling various stories collectively. Stand-ups, ‘classic’ actresses, film and television personalities, and performance artists discuss why they want to perform, what motivates them, and how their personal history has contributed to their desires to perform.
Interviews include: Jo Brand, Shiela Hancock, Jane Horrocks, Fiona Shaw, Julie Walters, Imogen Stubbs, Victoria Wood, etc.

THE PHYSICAL COMEDY HANDBOOK. Davis Rider Robinson
This book is a one-of-a-kind resource for actors, teachers, and directors interested in physical comedy — from slapstick pratfalls to the theatre of the absurd. The author believes that the basic physical skills of comedy can be taught to anyone.

PLAY-ACTING — A Guide to Theatre Workshop. Luke Dixon
This is a book of theatrical beginnings for actors, teachers and directors. Over thirty years, Luke Dixon has devised workshops that are at the heart of contemporary theatre practice. Developed in dramatic contexts around the world, the multitude of workshops included here are aimed at guiding actors to many different goals. ISBN 0 413 77294 2

PLAYING BOAL. Edited by M. Schutzman and J. Cohen-Cruz
Augusto Boal was the creator of Theatre of the Oppressed and a political activist. Here, his technique of effecting change on a personal and social level are examined in different contexts. As well as having practical applications, the book addresses political and social questions raised by Boal’s work.

PLAYING COMMEDIA — A Training Guide to Commedia Techniques. Barry Grantham
Warm-up Games, Mime and Movements, Word Games, Face Masks and the Legacy of Commedia Dell’Arte. This book offers a practical guide to the skills, characters and history of Commedia dell’Arte through graded games and illustrated exercises. It provides a useful tool in any actor’s training and a discipline for all forms of physical theatre. ISBN 1 85459 466 4

PLAYING PERIOD PLAYS. Lyn Oxenford
Deals with the simple stage aspects of producing and acting period plays. The spirit of the age, the style of acting, costume, manners and dance, and music are some of the subjects covered. Suggestions are also made for adaptation of the material for pageant and arena work.

PLAYING THE AUDIENCE — The Practical Actor’s Guide to Live performance. James B Nicola
From analyzing a script to physically preparing for a role, from developing rehearsal techniques to coming alive on stage, Playing the Audience provides actors with the tools they need to create a rich, varied, and truthful theatrical life. ISBN 1 55783 492 X

A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK FOR THE ACTOR. Melissa Bruder, Lee Michael Cohn, Madeleine Olnek, Nathaniel Pollack, Robert Previto, Scott Zigler
A simple, essential handbook about the craft of acting, describing a technique developed and refined by the authors, all of them young actors, in their work with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet, actor W. H. Macey and director Gregory Mosher.

THE PRESENCE OF AN ACTOR. J. Chaikin
A stimulating look of Chaikin’s efforts in the theatre world. His working methods and struggles as an actor, director and author are reviewed in an enjoyable conversational style. The history of the Open Theatre and theatre and society are also discussed.

PROMOTING YOUR ACTING CAREER. Glen Alterman
Packed with both innovative strategies and practical advice, it covers how to obtain the perfect headshot, prepare for interviews and auditions, select flattering monologues, create professional-looking resumes and cover letters, star in a one person show, and launch a theatre company.

PSYCHOLOGY FOR PERFORMING ARTISTS — Glen D. Wilson
Modern psychology has much to offer performing artists in terms of understanding themselves and optimizing their art: it examines the unique two-way relationship between audience and performer, describes the way in which emotions are communicated to an audience by non-verbal processes such as posture and facial expression, and explains the instinctual origins of the impulse to perform and the mechanisms by which music and comedy gain their emotional impact. It tells us who is attracted to performing and why, and the particular stresses to which they are subject. It offers help in dealing with stage fright and in the achievement of optimum performance. ISBN 1 86156 260 8

RADIO ACTING. Alan Beck
This book guides you through studio layout and recording, technical terms and productive working relations with the radio director. The author describes preparing a role, voice technique, rehearsal and recording.

RESPECT FOR ACTING. Uta Hagen with Haskel Frankel
The well-known American actress has written here an account of her own struggle with the techniques of acting and based on her own teachings. The three parts cover "The Actor", "The Object Exercises" and "The Play and the Role", and is a book for people who respect the theatre on both sides of the footlights. For actor and audiences who favour truth in a creative process.

ROOTS & BRANCHES. Creating Intergenerational Theatre. Arthur Strimling
In addition to the extraordinary story of the theatre and its members, the book includes exercises; warm-ups; storytelling techniques; practical advice; insight into physical, cultural, and other differences between old and young and how to bridge them; and much more. Both a great tale and textbook of techniques to start and run a theatre of your own. ISBN 0 325 00507 9

THE RUNNING AND STAMPING BOOK. Neil Cameron. Illustrated by Faridah Whyte
A unique and invigorating series of warm-up exercises for groups, drawing inspiration from a broad range of influences: from Zen monastic ritual and Aboriginal dance to modern practitioners such as Jim Shapiro and Tadashi Suzuki.

THE SANFORD MEISNER APPROACH — An Actor’s Workbook. Larry Silverberg
Larry Silverberg teaches professional classes in the Meisner work, both in his own acting studio and at the University of Washington. This book is a personal account of the Meisner method, with activities, scenes and homework passages at the end of each chapter.

THE SANFORD MEISNER APPROACH — Workbook Two: Emotional Freedom. Larry Silverberg
In this extraordinary new book, Silverberg demystifies the emotional demands of acting and leads the actor through a process aimed at tapping into and deepening the emotional instrument.

THE SANFORD MEISNER APPROACH — Workbook Three: Tackling The Text. Larry Silverberg
In this exciting next step of the Meisner Technique, Silverberg guides through a specific and step-by-step method of bringing a vivid authenticity to the roles you play. As you work through the lessons, you will have the most vital experience of avoiding the traps and clichés of performing your preconceived notions of the character. Through this process, you will experience a new sense of passion and gusto, and will savour this most demanding process of bringing the character to life. ISBN 1 57525 130 2

THE SANFORD MEISNER APPROACH — Workbook Four: Playing the Part. Larry Silverberg
This book teaches the actor how to take on the life of a character in a deeply authentic, organic, and specific way. The lessons unleash the actor’s creativity and imagination, teaching him or her to be passionate, relentless and true! ISBN 1 57525 212 0

SCIENCE AND THE STANIISLAVSKY TRADITION OF ACTING. Jonathon Pitches.
Science and the Stanislavsky Tradition of Acting opens up the theatre laboratories of five major practitioners in the twentieth and twenty – first centuries and scrutinises their acting methodologies from a scientific perspective.HB ISBN 0-415-32907-8

SCREENACTING. Edited by Alan Lovell and Peter Krämer
Exploring the relationships between script and performance, and drawing out the individual elements of performance, such as the awareness of the frame, and the use of voice and physique to embody a character, Screen Acting reveals the centrality of the actor’s performance to a film’s impact and offers new directions for the study of performance on film.

SHOOTING THE ACTOR— SIMON CALLOW
A Companion volume to Being An Actor, Callow’s classic text about the experience of acting in the theatre, Shooting the Actor reveals the truth about film acting. The book describes his film work, from Amadeus to Four Weddings and a Funeral, from Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls to Shakespeare in Love. ISBN 0 099 47197 3

SECRETS OF PERFORMING CONFIDENCE — For Actors, Musicians, Performers, Presenters and Public Speakers. Andrew Evans
If you have to perform, speak, or give presentations in front of audiences, then this book is essential reading. Written for presenter, actors, singers, musicians, dancers and performers of all kinds, this new book by arts and media psychologist Andrew Evans covers all aspects of confidence and career success. ISBN 0 7136 6288 3

SECRETS OF SCREEN ACTING. Patrick Tucker
No special method for screen acting has yet emerged. This book is based on a revolutionary non-method approach to acting and shows what actually does work.

THE 7 STEPS TO STARDOM. How to Become a Working Actor in Movies, TV, and Commercials. Christina Ferra-Gilmore. Produced by Wink Martindale.
This user-friendly workbook, including a two-hour DVD, features the best practical information on making it in the entertainment business. Included is vital information on: How to find a network; Finding an agent and avoiding scams; Making a living while looking for acting jobs and creating a budget; Taking appropriate headshot photos; Writing an actor’s resume; The business side of acting; Developing your skills. ISBN 1 55783 678 7

SO YOU WANT TO BE AN ACTOR? Prunella Scales & Timothy West
This handbook for aspiring actors is co-written by two of the best known names in British theatre and television. It offers practical advice and do’s and don’ts to anyone thinking of taking up acting. The authors are passionate about actor training, know the profession inside out and have more than a hundred years’ experience between them
SO YOU WANT TO GO ON THE STAGE — Lillian Rowley
"How do I start on a stage career?" How often, when youngsters are attracted to the entertainment world as a career, do we hear that question. Lillian Rowley has set out to answer this and all the other practical questions relating to drama, music ballet, singing (classical and modern), and musical instruments that beginners ask. Most vital of all, perhaps, she provides directories of recommended stage schools throughout the country, of theatrical agents, repertory companies, radio and TV studios. All in all a vital working tool for the newcomer to the stage. There is no tinsel, no gloss: just hard facts about the world behind the footlights. ISBN 0 903931 39 7

SONIA MOORE AND AMERICAN ACTING AND TRAINING. With a Sliver of Wood in Hand. Suzanne M. Trauth and Elizabeth C. Stroppel.
Moore (1902-1995) was a fascinating personality as well as a theatre artist. Though charming and charismatic, she was also headstrong and independent. These traits served her well in surviving the Russian Revolution and the Stalinist purges of World War II. Upon her arrival in the United States, she carried a "sliver of wood" in hand to knock on whenever she confronted the turmoil of life. Some of this turmoil arose as she struggled to find acceptance for her interpretation of Stanislavski’s Method of Physical Actions, a technique she believed necessary for the artistic vigour of American theatre. ISBN 0 8108 5678 6

SOUND AND LOOK PROFESSIONAL ON TELEVISION AND THE INTERNET — How to Improve Your On-Camera Presence. Michelle McCoy with Ann S. Utterback, Ph.D
"This book is a great launching pad that will help you sound and look professional whether you are a corporate executive or a news broadcaster," Page Hopkins, Anchor, Bloomberg New. Topics include: voice; appearance, research and manner for TV presenting; film and TV acting … and much more. ISBN 1 56625 154 0

STAGE ACTING TECHNIQUES — A Practical Guide. John Hester
Stage Acting Techniques is aimed at all practising and would-be actors, both amateur and professional, who wish to develop a comprehensive working knowledge of dramatic skills.
ISBN 1 86126 686 3

STAGE FIGHTS — A SIMPLE HANDBOOK OF TECHNIQUES. Gilbert Gordon
The author covers both the artistic and technical sides of the subject, and every process is carefully and lucidly explained and illustrated with a profusion of photographs and drawings.

STAGE FRIGHT, ANIMALS, AND OTHER THEATRICAL PROBLEMS. Nicholas Ridout.
Why do actors get stage fright? What is so embarrassing about joining in? Why not work with animals and children, and why is it so hard not to collapse into helpless laughter when things go wrong? Nicholas Ridout attempts to explain the relationship between these apparently unwanted and anomalous phenomena and the wider social and political meanings of the modern theatre. ISBN 0 521 61756 1

STANISLAVSKI AND THE ACTOR. Jean Benedetti
A clear, modern presentation of Konstantin Stanislavski’s methods of actor training and rehearsal. 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. This was his true testament.

STANISLAVSKI — An Actor’s Handbook
A book dealing with all the problems of creative acting, to be read by true artists with a critical and discriminating mind. What Stanislavski said about acting is arranged alphabetically and serves to
refresh the reader’s memory and pinpoint what Stanislavski has to offer.

STANISLAVSKI: AN INTRODUCTION. J. Benedetti
Stanislavski still remains one of the main influences on actor training today. This book tries to demonstrate the roots of the ‘Stanislavski System’ in the tradition of Russian realism and in Stanislavski’s own life as an artist. Its relevance for today is also discussed.

STANISLAVSKI FOR BEGINNERS. David Allen. Illustrated by Jeff Fallow
This book is both an invaluable guide to the Stanislavski system and a fascinating chronicle of his life. It shatters some common myths and misconceptions, and blows away the cobwebs, bringing ideas vividly to life. A beginners documentary comic book.

STANISLAVSKI IN REHEARSAL. Vasily Osipovich Toporkov. Translated and Introduced by Jean Benedetti
Toporkov spent many working years with the Moscow Art Theatre. He became one of Stanislavski’s favourite actors, participating in the great theatrical experiments that yielded Stanislavski’s method of physical action. The authors keen observations of Stanislavski’s workings and re workings give us a precious and fascinating look behind the scenes. The book centres on three theatre experiments — stagings of The Embezzlers, Dead Souls, and Tartuffe. Through them we see first-hand the birth of Stanislavski’s "method". ISBN 0 413 75720 X

STANISLAVSKI’S LEGACY — Constantin Stanislavski
Stanislavski’s Legacy is a companion volume to his three great teaching books, An Actor Prepares, Building a Character and Creating a Role. It is a carefully arranged selection of the articles, speeches, notes and memoirs written between 1898, when the Moscow Art Theatre opened, and his death in 1938. ISBN 0 413 47770 3

STANISLAVSKI ON THE ART OF STAGE — Translated with an introductory essay by David Magershack

THE STANISLAVSKI SECRET — Not a System, Not a Method but a Way of Thinking. Irina and Igor Levin
Everyone in theatre knows his name, Stanislavski, but only a few know his last teachings. He didn’t write them down; only his colleagues and their pupils learned his final discoveries. In rehearsal rooms and classrooms since 1938, leading Soviet and Russian directors have worked to adapt and develop these concepts for modern theatre. Now The Stanislavski secret is summerized in print by Irana and Igor Levin in this insightful text. ISBN 1 56608 079 7

STANISLAVSKI REVEALED. The Actor’s Guide to Spontaneity on Stage. Sonia Moore
This is a completely revised, updated and expanded edition of Training an Actor. Other than Stanislavski’s own published work, the most widely read interpretation of his techniques remains Sonia Moore’ pioneering study The Stanislavski System. This is an exhaustive analysis of Stanislavski’s original texts, letters journals and production notes.

STAY HOME AND STAR! — A Step-by-Step Guide to Starting your Regional Acting Career. William Paul Steele
For professionals in the field who want to know if there is life after New York; for students who don’t want to become just one more wide-eyed hopeful in the annual migration to the Big Apple; for anyone who has ever wondered what it takes to make a career in acting — this is the book.

STELLA ADLER — THE ART OF ACTING. Preface by Marlon Brando. Compiled and Edited by Howard Kissel. HB
Stella Adler’s decades of experience and teaching have been brilliantly caught and encapsulated by Howard Kissel in the twenty-two lessons in this book. Stella Adler was not just the greatest acting teacher of Marlon Brando’s time, but also of Robert De Niro, Warren Beatty and Harvey Keitel’s and then as recently as Henry Winkler and Matthew Modine’s generation. ISBN 1 55783 373 7

STRASBERG AT THE ACTOR’S STUDIO. Edited by R. H. Hethman
Lee Strasberg is still one of the most influential and controversial figures in the history of American theatre. This book takes a close look at Strasberg’s philosophy of theatre and the method of working with actors.

SWORD FIGHTING. A Manual For Actors And Directors—Keith Ducklin and John Waller. Illustrated by Keith Ducklin and Adam de Forges
A comprehensive new work on the art of creating realistic and exciting fight sequences for theatre, film and TV. This essential guide for actors, directors and fight directors includes advice on how to use character, costume, period and setting in the staging of a fight scene; analyses of the uses of European military and civilian swords and step-by-step instruction on how sword fighting techniques from different periods can be safely adapted for stage and screen fights. ISBN 0 7090 6703 8 (hardback)

TAKE IT PERSONALLY — On the Art and The Process of Personal Acting. Gordon Philips
" My primary purpose is to take the mystery out of good acting, to present a clear, practical set of organic ‘craft tools’ which allow the actor to perform any style of material in any media with confidence, in short to offer a complete process for the art of acting ..."

TECHNIQUE OF INNER ACTION — The Soul of a Performer’s Work. Bill Bruehl
This is a book for performers, presenters, and their directors. It will help you to develop an inner technique as precise and concrete as the techniques long used to develop external skills like voice and movement.

TEXT IN ACTION —A Definitve Guide To Exploring Text In Rehearsal For Actors And Director. Cicely Berry
Following on from the widley acclaimed The Actor and the Text, Cicely Berry draws on her group work to emphasize how actors and directors can use the rehearsal process to heighten their collective awareness of language. ISBN 0-7535-0541-X

A TEXTBOOK OF STAGECRAFT. S. Richmond
A handbook of hints and exercises to be employed by the dramatic student who wishes to learn something of the principles which underline all good acting.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH — The Little Guide to Auditioning for the Musical Theatre. Stuart Ostrow
"This get-to-the-point guide is an attempt to distill all the printed audition detritus and focus on the central objective, how do you get me to hire you? … The purpose of this book is to give the professional actor, singer, and dancer a practising producer’s point of view from the other side of the lights …" Stuart Ostrow. ISBN 1 57525 301 1

THEATRE GAMES FOR THE LONE ACTOR — A Handbook. Viola Spolin. With a foreword by Paul Sills.
Available for the first time, this handbook presents more than forty exercises that allow actors to side coach themselves at home, in rehearsal, or in performance. ISBN 0 8101 4010 1

THERE’S MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS — An Insider’s Guide to a Career in Voice-Overs. Elaine A. Clark
An American book offering sound career guidance for both the actor and non-actor alike, this is a must for anyone interested in entering the field of voice-overs. It is the only publication to explain step-by-step how to jump-start a career in his lucrative, but, until now, little-understood business.

TIPS — Ideas For Actors. Jon Jory
Until recent times, acting wisdom was passed on through an oral tradition called "tips." Presented here are 205 tips, including the way to set a laugh, the use of opposites, a clear definition of "actions," how to use a "breath score," and even how to react if you’re fired. The tips are simple to implement and will lead to a better day at auditions and rehearsals, and a better night iperformance. It’s like having an acting coach in your rehearsal bag! ISBN 1 57525 202 3

TIPS II — More Ideas for Actors. Jon Jory. ISBN 1 57525 323 2

TO THE ACTOR — ON THE TECHNIQUE OF ACTING. Michael Chekhov. Revised and expanded edition. Foreword by Simon Callow
How does an actor learn to: Call up emotion? Develop a character? Strengthen awareness? These are classic techniques for every actor, and Michael Checkov’s classic work, TO THE ACTOR, explains clearly and concisely, how to develop them. Checkov’s simple and practical method — successfully used by professional actors all over the world — trains the actor’s imagination and body to fulfil its potential. ISBN 0 415 25876 6

TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR CHARACTER INTERPRETATION. A Handbook of Psychology for Actors, Writers, and Directors. Robert Blumenfeld. Foreword by Alice Spivak ISBN 0 87910 326 4

TOWARD MASTERY — An Acting Class with Nikos Psacharopoulos. Edited by Jean Hackett. With commentary by Gregory Boyd, Steve Lawson, Lynne Meadow, Bonnie Monte, Tom Moore, Austin Pendleton, David Schweizer, and Joanne Woodward
What makes for great acting? The author answers the question here, as he leads his students "toward mastery" on a journey not for the faint of heart. In a dynamic series of classes at Yale and NYU, running the gamut from beginners’ anguish to advance actors’ triumphs, Nikos tests his charges’ talent, intellect, and courage. Again and again he shows why he was a great teacher, a pioneering artistic director at Williamstown, and an inspiration to hundreds of major careers in the American theatre.
ISBN 1 57525 166

TRADE SECRETS. Australian actors & their craft. Terence Crawford. Foreword by John Doyle.
"…An opportunity to meet fourteen extraordinary artists and their personal responses to the task of acting. From Paula Arundell’s deep plunge within, to Billie Brown’s yielding to the mysteries, here are indeed some secrets of the actors craft — and some invaluable hints at what can transform craft into art." Aubrey Mellor, Director, NIDA. ISBN 0-86819-736-7

TRAIN IN THE PERFORMING ARTS — Kevin Dowsett. Foreword by Frances de la Tour
This book is an invaluable guide for anyone interested in following a career as an actor, singer or dancer. The experienced author leads the reader through a step-by-step approach to their training. Early chapters investigate the attitude required by the professional performer as well as explaining what they can bring to their work. Later chapters deal with what they can expect to learn, where they can train and goes on to examine the various pathways that lead to higher education and beyond. ISBN 0 9544289 0 0

TRUE AND FALSE — Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor. David Mamet. HB/PB
"In just over 120 pages, Mamet manages to demolish the myths and the psychobabble-gobbledygook that pass for theory with regard to acting and directing. This is a revealing book of the highest order — and a pleasure to read." Anthony Hopkins

TWENTIETH CENTURY — ACTOR TRAINING. Edited by Alison Hodge
The practitioners included are — Stella Adler, Eugenio Barba, Bertolt Brecht, Peter Brook, Joseph Chaikin, Michael Checkov, Jacques Copeau, Jerzy Grotowski, Joan littlewood, Sanford Meisner, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Wiodzimierze Stanislavski, Lee Strasberg. Each chapter provides a unique account of specific training exercises and an analysis of their relationship to the practitioners’ theoretical and aesthetic concerns.

THE ULTIMATE IMPROV BOOK — A Complete Guide to Comedy Improvisation. Edward J. Nevraumont and Nicholas P. Hanson. With additional material from Kurt Smeaton.
A complete improv curriculum in twenty-four class length units. This comprehensive resource shows the who, what, when, why and how of comedy improvisation. Main Topics: What is Improv?. Improvisational Skills. Structuring. Strategies. PLUS: How to start your own improv team. Many games and exercises included. ISBN 1 56608 075 4

THE VIEWPOINTS BOOK. A Practical Guide to Viewpoints and Composition. Anne Bogart and Tina Landau.
"Viewpoints is timeless — a system belonging to the natural principles of movement, time and space. We have simply articulated a set of names for things that already exist, things that we do naturally and have always done, with greater or lesser degrees of consciousness and emphasis. Viewpoints is a philosophy translated into a technique for training performers, building ensemble and creating movement for the stage." — The Authors, from Chapter 2. ISBN 1 55936 241 3

THE WAY OF ACTING. Tadishi Suzuki
For the first time Tadishi Suzuki’s writings have been available in English. We are introduced to Suzuki’s philosophical and practical approaches to the stage. Also included is his adaptation of the Greek tragedy Clytemnestra which offers the parallel with modern Japanese society.

WHAT’S MY MOTIVATION — Michael Simkins
It’s not all Oscars and ovations. This is a true tale of one man’s relentless pursuit of the actor’s life. It begins with a boy with nurtured an illicit taste for Gilbert and Sullivan performed in Sussex scout huts, while his friends were more sensibly, out getting laid and stoned. It is a story of an obsessive who, despite his share of successes, has endured the ritual humiliations of his profession — end-of-the-pier seasons, Christmas panto hell, minimum wages in straight-to-video flops and TV fillers, patently doomed provincial tours with rancid digs, theatre workshop at the sewage works, the challenge of safety training videos and dressing up as a chicken to advertise TV dinners — all in the quest for the elusive perfect role. ISBN 0 091 89229 5

WHOSE IMPROV IS IT ANYWAY? Beyond Second City. Amy E. Seham
There is far more to the art of improv comedy than may be suggested by the sketches on Saturday Night Live or the games on Whose Line is it Anyway? This inside look at the evolution of improv-comedy in Chicago reveals the struggles, the laughter, and the ideals of mutual support, freedom and openness that have inspired many performers. ISBN 1 57806 341 8

THE WORKING ACTOR’S TOOLKIT — Jean Schiffman
In The Working Actor’s Toolkit, the author amasses the information she garnered through years of interviewing professional actors, master teachers, and directors. Each of her chapters explores a clearly defined craft topic and offer a nontraditional set of techniques to fill the gaps left by more academic acting primers. ISBN 0 325 00550 8

THE YEAR OF THE KING — Anthony Sher.
Antony Sher’s stunning performance for the Royal Shakespeare Company as Richard III on crutches — the so-called "bottled spider" — won him both the Laurence Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Actor. This book records — in the actor’s own
words and drawings — the making of this historic theatrical event. ISBN 1 85459 753 1

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