“This book has an excellent grasp of acting theory when it comes to differentiation of style and practical exercises for leading students through experiential learning. I look forward to using it in the classroom.” — Rodney Whatley, Pensacola State College
“The text is extremely easy to use. The prose style is clear. I like the organization and detailed explanations the best. Students will want to keep the text to use throughout their careers.” — Deidre Onishi, Cameron University
351 pages, $64.95 list
1-57766-664-X
978-1-57766-664-6
© 1995
paperback
eBook availability
Acting in Person and in Style
Fifth Edition
Appropriate for both fundamental and advanced levels, the authors ground their commentary on actor training on the process of personalization and the innovative approaches to voice and movement training. They define the personalization process as “one in which the actor discovers and explores in the self, characteristics, qualities, attitudes, and experiences that are legitimate dimensions of the role being created.”
Part I transitions from essential ingredients used in creating a role, such as focusing and speaking, to guidelines for auditioning and rehearsing, including role analysis. The discussions of basic acting principles are supported by skills-building exercises.
Part II explores historical performance styles and shows how basic stylistic elements can be freshly adapted for modern audiences. Thus, in Part II, the authors center their discussions of voice, movement, character, and emotion around theatrical styles prevalent during certain historical periods and around sound acting theories gleaned from a wide range of acting traditions. Each chapter in this part ends with a helpful checklist that summarizes voice, movement, gesture, and other elements common to the era discussed.
Part I transitions from essential ingredients used in creating a role, such as focusing and speaking, to guidelines for auditioning and rehearsing, including role analysis. The discussions of basic acting principles are supported by skills-building exercises.
Part II explores historical performance styles and shows how basic stylistic elements can be freshly adapted for modern audiences. Thus, in Part II, the authors center their discussions of voice, movement, character, and emotion around theatrical styles prevalent during certain historical periods and around sound acting theories gleaned from a wide range of acting traditions. Each chapter in this part ends with a helpful checklist that summarizes voice, movement, gesture, and other elements common to the era discussed.
Reactions
Part I: ACTING: In Person
1. Centering
On Centering / The Centering Process / Moving with a Sense of Center
2. Sensing
On Sensing / Isolating the Senses / Combining the Senses
3. Focusing
On Focusing / The Importance of Observation / Communion with the Self / Communion with Physical Objects / Communion with the Other / Communion with the Imaginary / Circles of Attention
4. Freeing
On Freeing / Sounding / Sound and Movement Explorations
5. Speaking
On Speaking / On Being Heard / On Projection / Developing Skills / Phrasing / Context and Vocal Variety / Definition of Terms / Vocal Variety in Context
6. Feeling and Doing
On Feeling and Doing
7. Synthesizing
Selecting a Scene from the Play / Four Techniques to Prepare a Scene / Seven Steps to Heaven: A Simplified Approach to Preparing a Scene / Standard Acting Terms / A Last Comment Concerning Final Rehearsals and Performance of the Scene
8. Auditioning
How to Audition / Types of Auditions / Selecting an Audition Piece / Practical Suggestions / The Callback / Musical Theater Auditions / Cold Reading / Agents, Contracts, and Unions / The Interview
9. Rehearsing
On Rehearsing / The Steps of Role Analysis
Part II: ACTING: In Style
10. Classical Antiquity: Restraint
Overview of Greek Tragedy / Overview of Satyr Comedy and Old Greek Comedy (Aristophanes) / Transition—Roman and Medieval Drama / Translators and Translations and Adaptations
11. Commedia Dell'Arte: Regeneration
Overview of Commedia Dell'arte / Transition—Tudor Drama
12. Elizabethan and Shakespearean Style: Virtuosity
Overview of the English Renaissance in Theatre / Shakespeare—The Man, The Theatre, The Art, The Acting
13. Seventeenth-Century French Neoclassicism: Restraint Again
Overview of French Neoclassicism (Seventeenth Century) / Music and Translations—French Neoclassicism
14. Restoration Comedy: Vitality
Overview of Restoration Comedy / Transition—Eighteenth-Century Sentimentalism and Nineteenth-Century Romanticism and Melodrama / Movement toward Realism / Acting in Romance Plays and Melodramas
15. Realism and Naturalism: Selectivity and Photographic Detail
Overview of Realism / Overview of Naturalism
16. Early Twentieth-Century Nonrealism: Distortion—A New Reality
Overview of Nonrealism
17. Brecht and Epic Style: Didacticism
Overview of Brecht Epic Theatre—From Illusion to Fact and Social Action
18. Absurd: Beyond Reason
Overview of the Existential, the Absurd
19. Eclectic: Intermingling
Overview of Eclectic
Epilogue: Quo Vadis?
Appendix A: Instructions for Play Analysis
Appendix B: Observations and Advice for Actors (and Directors)
Glossary
1. Centering
On Centering / The Centering Process / Moving with a Sense of Center
2. Sensing
On Sensing / Isolating the Senses / Combining the Senses
3. Focusing
On Focusing / The Importance of Observation / Communion with the Self / Communion with Physical Objects / Communion with the Other / Communion with the Imaginary / Circles of Attention
4. Freeing
On Freeing / Sounding / Sound and Movement Explorations
5. Speaking
On Speaking / On Being Heard / On Projection / Developing Skills / Phrasing / Context and Vocal Variety / Definition of Terms / Vocal Variety in Context
6. Feeling and Doing
On Feeling and Doing
7. Synthesizing
Selecting a Scene from the Play / Four Techniques to Prepare a Scene / Seven Steps to Heaven: A Simplified Approach to Preparing a Scene / Standard Acting Terms / A Last Comment Concerning Final Rehearsals and Performance of the Scene
8. Auditioning
How to Audition / Types of Auditions / Selecting an Audition Piece / Practical Suggestions / The Callback / Musical Theater Auditions / Cold Reading / Agents, Contracts, and Unions / The Interview
9. Rehearsing
On Rehearsing / The Steps of Role Analysis
Part II: ACTING: In Style
10. Classical Antiquity: Restraint
Overview of Greek Tragedy / Overview of Satyr Comedy and Old Greek Comedy (Aristophanes) / Transition—Roman and Medieval Drama / Translators and Translations and Adaptations
11. Commedia Dell'Arte: Regeneration
Overview of Commedia Dell'arte / Transition—Tudor Drama
12. Elizabethan and Shakespearean Style: Virtuosity
Overview of the English Renaissance in Theatre / Shakespeare—The Man, The Theatre, The Art, The Acting
13. Seventeenth-Century French Neoclassicism: Restraint Again
Overview of French Neoclassicism (Seventeenth Century) / Music and Translations—French Neoclassicism
14. Restoration Comedy: Vitality
Overview of Restoration Comedy / Transition—Eighteenth-Century Sentimentalism and Nineteenth-Century Romanticism and Melodrama / Movement toward Realism / Acting in Romance Plays and Melodramas
15. Realism and Naturalism: Selectivity and Photographic Detail
Overview of Realism / Overview of Naturalism
16. Early Twentieth-Century Nonrealism: Distortion—A New Reality
Overview of Nonrealism
17. Brecht and Epic Style: Didacticism
Overview of Brecht Epic Theatre—From Illusion to Fact and Social Action
18. Absurd: Beyond Reason
Overview of the Existential, the Absurd
19. Eclectic: Intermingling
Overview of Eclectic
Epilogue: Quo Vadis?
Appendix A: Instructions for Play Analysis
Appendix B: Observations and Advice for Actors (and Directors)
Glossary