Acting from a Spiritual Perspective: Your Art, Your Business and Your Calling

by Kathryn Marie Bild

Overview

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.

This book teaches the reader how to be the best actor he can possibly be, in concert with his deepest values and highest aspirations. It is a book of instruction in the art and craft of acting; a practical, street-smart treatise on how to succeed in the business of acting, and a text that explores how the spiritual nature of acting affects both the actor and the society to which the actor contributes. The unique perspective of helping the reader to an understanding of acting as an art, a business, and a calling makes this an essential manual for anyone wishing to succeed in any creative endeavor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781575252940
Publisher:	Smith & Kraus, Inc.
Publication date:	09/01/2002
Series:	Career Development Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	299
Sales rank:	1,139,376
Product dimensions:	5.46(w) x 8.52(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

Kathryn Bild is an acting, crative process, presentation skills, and personal success coach as well as a speaker, writer, and director. A recipient of The Grammy's Video Producer of the Year Award, she has written, directed, produced, edited, and performed in commercials, films, plays, radio and television lectures, musical comedies, music videos, and one-woman shows. An alumni of The American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women, she is a co-founder of the Pacific Arts Corporation and has also served on the board of trustees of foundations established to help women in business and the arts. She is a nation-wide public speaker and appears regularly on CNN-FN's Entrepreneur Only television show and the nationally-syndicated Good Day, America radio show.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Part I: What It Is You Are Doing
Inspiration and the Art of Acting

Chapter 1 Our Spiritual Workshop 2
Chapter 2 The Quest for Permission 17
Chapter 3 Into the Vestibule of Preparation 25
Chapter 4 Representing a State of Mind 34
Chapter 5 The Emotional Journey 41
Chapter 6 The Almighty Armchair 53
Chapter 7 Imbibing the Character 60
Chapter 8 The Qualities and Qualification of a Great Actor 69

Part II: How to Do It
Insight on How to Work
More Effectively on Your Craft

Chapter 9 Finding Your System or Method 76
Chapter 10 No Shortcuts on Learning Your Craft 85
Chapter 11 Discovering Your Niche in the Play 97
Chapter 12 Castability Profiling 102
Chapter 13 Learning to Sidestep Stage Fright 119
Chapter 14 Breaking Down a Role 129
Chapter 15 The Art and Craft of Cold Reading 138

Part III: Overcoming the Obstacles to Doing It
Encouragement and the Business of Acting

Chapter 16 The Biz 146
Chapter 17 Playing by the Spiritual Rules 161
Chapter 18 Opportunities 175
Chapter 19 Debunking Scarcity Statistics 186
Chapter 20 Representation 194
Chapter 21 The Successful Audition 216

Part IV: Why You Do It
Acknowledging Acting As Your Calling

Chapter 22 Acting As Your Mission or Calling 228
Chapter 23 Clarifying and Aligning Your Motives 241
Chapter 24 Integrating the Actor's Purpose 252
Chapter 25 Acting Is a Service Job 264
Chapter 26 When Acting Becomes Healing and the Theater, a Church 273
Chapter 27 Wrapping It Up As a "Present" 279

Editorial Reviews

This cheering, inspiring handbook provides spiritual and practical guidance for both working and aspiring actors. "Kathryn Bild has written The Power of Positive Thinking for the actor," says Jane Alexander, actress and former director, National Endowment of the Arts. "And there are many sound training tips and nuggets of good advice throughout." "Finally,: says Jack Canfield, coauthor, Chicken Soup for the Soul series, "a book based on spiritual principles that will keep recharging you as you proceed in acting - or any creative endeavor." Bild is a writer, director, acting and directing coach and Grammy Award-winning producer.

The Bookwoman

With a firm conviction of the "divine" characteristic of human desire, Bild, a personal success coach, speaker, and writer, preaches a gospel of humanism using religious jargon. Included is a simplistic worldview that all people are motivated by our "deepest desire for peace, joy, and love." Numerous "affirmation" statements for her students, such as "I know that...every member of society will benefit from my acting," show an exaggerated egocentricity. This work does include discussions of the acting craft and exercises for the working actor, but so do many other books, including works by Constantine Stanislavky and Lee Strasberg, upon whose methods this book is based. Unfortunately, Bild's presentation is at best a puzzling series of contradictions and at worst an insult to those without her values. If Bild had held to the art and business of acting, as the subtitle suggests, this would have been useful. But while actors require a high level of self-esteem and self-confidence, there is a point at which the self-perception of perfection without the temperance of reality can be as much hindrance as help. Not recommended. Laura A. Ewald, Murray State Univ. Lib., KY Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

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