Showing titles in Acting & Auditioning

In Toast on Toast - part memoir, part "how to act" manual - Steven Toast draws on his vast and varied experiences, providing the reader with an invaluable insight into his journey from school plays to RADA and from "It's a Right Royal Knockout" to the Colony Club. Along the way he reveals the secrets of his success. He discloses how to brush up on and expand your technical and vocal skills, how to nail a professional voiceover, and how to deal with difficult work experience staff in a recording studio....

Since its original publication in 1973, Uta Hagen's Respect for Acting has remained a durable classic for all students of acting. As an acting instructor at the Herbert Berghof Studio, Hagen helped to develop the talents of world-class actors like Robert DeNiro, Matthew Broderick, Gene Wilder, Amanda Peet, Austin Pendleton, Whoopi Goldberg, and more. This updated edition illuminates Hagen's original text with a new foreword written by Katie Finneran, retaining the David Hyde Pierce foreword, along with added background on HB Studio.

Henry Winkler, launched into prominence by his role as “The Fonz” in the beloved Happy Days, has transcended the role that made him who he is. Brilliant, funny, and widely-regarded as the nicest man in Hollywood (though he would be the first to tell you that it’s simply not the case, he’s really just grateful to be here), Henry shares in this achingly vulnerable memoir the disheartening truth of his childhood, the difficulties of a life with severe dyslexia, the pressures of a role that takes on a life of its own, and the path forward once your wildest dream seems behind you.

Fine On Acting is a must-listen for the aspiring and seasoned actor alike. In an ever-changing industry landscape, Fine's groundbreaking approach continues to make the craft accessible by covering the essentials: Common Mistakes, Auditions & Self-Tapes, Rehearsal Exercises, Script Analysis, Stage Acting vs. On-Camera Acting, and much more. In this book, actors will find valuable advice for overcoming nerves, memorizing lines, troubleshooting challenging situations in rehearsal and role preparation, and how to become what Fine calls the "Total Actor".

Access Accents bring the highly sought-after voice techniques of top voice coach Penny Dyer to the actor's audio device. They offer a unique opportunity to prepare for auditions at short notice.

Every time we open our mouths, we have an effect on ourselves and the way others perceive us. The ability to speak clearly and confidently can make or break a presentation, an important meeting, or even a first date. Now, with the advent of Skype, YouTube, podcasting, Vine, and any number of reality talent competitions, your vocal presence has never been more necessary for success or more central to achieving your dreams.

Star of stage, screen and television, and one of only two people to be awarded two Knighthoods, Sir Derek Jacobi is one of Britain’s most distinguished actors. ‘If you want to be an actor, don’t. If you need to be an actor, do.’ The world of theatre could not have been further from Derek’s childhood: an only child, born in Leytonstone, London. With his father a department store manager father and his mother a secretary, his was very much a working class background.

Mr. Caine gives you a once-in-a-lifetime chance to rob him blind! The man who's hypnotized the camera lenses for a quarter of a century reveals the most closely guarded secrets on script preparation, working with the director, forming a character, voice, sound, and movement. Pearl by pearl he lays out the Caine wisdom on everything from set politics to set decorum, the film bureaucracy and more!

Uta Hagen, one of the world's most renowned stage actresses, also taught acting for more than 40 years at the HB Studio in New York. Her first book, Respect for Acting, published in 1973, remains a best seller in print. In this brand new audio edition of her second classic book, A Challenge for the Actor, she greatly expands her thinking about acting in a work that brings the full flowering of her artistry, both as an actor and as a teacher. She raises the issue of the actor's goals and examines the specifics of the actor's techniques.

Esper worked closely with Meisner for 17 years and has spent decades developing his famous program for actor's training. The result is a rigorous system of exercises that builds a solid foundation of acting skills from the ground up, and that is flexible enough to be applied to any challenge an actor faces, from soap operas to Shakespeare.

Instead of starting with what is real and trying to wrestle that onto the screen, Patrick Tucker explains how to work with the realities of a shoot and work from there toward the real. His step by step guide to the elements of effective screen acting is an extension and explanation of a lifetime of work in the field, containing over 50 acting exercises and the tried-and-tested screen acting checklist.

With numerous examples and exercises, Michael Chekhov's To the Actor seamlessly synthesizes his many years of theater and theater instruction into a concise, engaging handbook of techniques essential for every actor. With his tested methods you will learn how to more easily call up emotion, develop a character, strengthen awareness and train your body and imagination to reach its full potential.

On stage and screen, we know a great performance when we see it. But how do actors draw from their bodies and minds to turn their selves into art? What is the craft of being an authentic fake? More than a century ago, amid tsarist Russia’s crushing repression, one of the most talented actors ever, Konstantin Stanislavski, asked these very questions, reached deep into himself and emerged with an answer.

Essential warm-up exercises for anyone who wants to use their voice more effectively. An accompaniment to The Voice Exercise Book, the accessible and straightforward guide to good voice production. If you're using your voice in a professional capacity - as a performer, a public speaker, a teacher, or even for long hours over the telephone - then warming up is an essential part of ensuring best practice and vocal health. In this audiobook, Jeannette Nelson provides three complete and easy-to-use voice warm-ups that she uses with actors and non-actors alike.

Jenna Fischer's Hollywood journey began at the age of 22 when she moved to Los Angeles from her hometown of St. Louis. She was determined, confident, and ready to work hard. So, what could go wrong? Uh, basically everything. The path to being a professional actor was so much more vast and competitive than she’d imagined. It would be eight long years before she landed her iconic role on The Office, nearly a decade of frustration, rejection, and doubt. If only she’d had a handbook for the aspiring actor. Or, better yet, someone to show her the way. Jenna wants to be that person for you.

Actors! Engage your mind and your body in order to develop your characters fully. The Lucid Body technique breaks up stagnant movement patterns and expands your emotional and physical range. Through energy analysis, this program shows how to use physical training to create characters from all walks of life - however cruel, desolate, or neurotic those characters may be.

Pippa Evans is an expert in saying 'Yes' - and 'No'. She's a master of thinking on her feet but has also had to learn how to go with the flow. In this book she's passing on everything she's learnt from her award-winning improv career, as both a performer and teacher, so you can take centre stage in your own life. 

Divided into four sections - "Status", "Spontaneity", "Narrative Skills", and "Masks and Trance" - and arranged more or less in the order a group might approach them, the audiobook sets out the specific techniques and exercises which Johnstone has himself found most useful and most stimulating. The result is both an audiobook of ideas and a fascinating exploration of the nature of spontaneous creativity.

Constantin Stanislavski (1863-1938), arguably the most influential director in the history of the theater, was the founder of the renowned Moscow Art Theater. A pioneer of psychological realism and improvisation on the stage, he devoted his life to developing the performance techniques now emulated throughout the world. In this first-ever audio edition of his classic work, Stanislavski's simple exercises fire the imagination, and help listeners not only discover their own conception of reality but how to reproduce it as well.

In this step-by-step guide, an actor and improvisational teacher brings his tested methods to the page to show how actors can take risks and gain spontaneity in all genres of scripted theater. Through 28 lessons - each of which includes warm-ups, points of concentration, and improvisation exercises - Improv for Actors provides insights into thinking and reacting with fluidity, exploring a character’s social status, using the voice and body as effective tools of storytelling, and more.