A Field Guide to Actor Training

by Laura Wayth

Overview

(Limelight). "Should I go to a school and get more training in acting, or should I just go out there and 'do it'?" A Field Guide to Actor Training will help you answer this question! The book is designed to be an introduction to various theater training methodologies, highlighting their basic tenets and comparing and contrasting each system of training and rehearsal. The goal is to provide a one-stop-shopping kind of resource for student/beginning actors who are seeking training through private studios or graduate schools and who crave guidance in selecting training that is right for them. Starting with the big question of "Why is actor training important?" and moving on to overviews of the major acting methodologies, vocal training, physical actor training, and advice on how to find the right kind of training for each individual, A Field Guide to Actor Training is an essential resource for the student actor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780879108243
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	07/01/2014
Series:	Limelight
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	326,270
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Laura Wayth (San Francisco, CA) received her MFA from the American Repertory Theater Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University and the Moscow Art Theatre School Institute in Russia. Ms. Wayth has taught and coached acting, voice and musical theatre at Tufts University, The College of the Holy Cross, the University of Miami, the University of Wisconsin-Eau-Claire, and Florida Atlantic University. She was a 2002-2003 Fulbright Fellow to Moscow, Russia and a 2011 Senior Fulbright Scholar to Romania, where she taught acting Shakespeare at Babes-Bolyai, in Cluj-Napoca. She has worked internationally as a teacher and coach in Italy, Morocco, China, and at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. She currently teaches acting in California at San Francisco State University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xi

1 The Big Questions 1

2 Why Actor Training Is Important 11

3 Stanislavsky, the Foundation of It All 27

4 Lee Strasberg and the Method by Professor Terry Hardcastle 49

5 Practical Aesthetics Technique 63

6 Michael Chekhov Technique 75

7 Meisner Technique 89

8 Stella Adler 103

9 Uta Hagen 113

10 Viewpoints 127

11 Suzuki Method 141

12 Spolin and Improv 149

13 Grotowski 157

14 Demystifying Vocal Training 167

15 Demystifying Physical Acting Training 181

16 A Look at Degree-Granting Training Programs 197

17 A Student Q&A Session 217

Bibliography 233

Index 239