Actor Training the Laban Way (Second Edition): An Integrated Approach to Voice, Speech, and Movement

by Barbara Adrian, Chelsea Clarke (Illustrator)

Overview

The Groundbreaking Actor Training Guide, Enhanced with New Videos and Expert Advice from Acting Professionals

Actors, teachers, and students of performing arts: sharpen your skills and release your potential with Actor Training the Laban Way, a groundbreaking approach to physical and vocal movement. Utilizing theories of preeminent movement theorist Rudolf Laban, acting teacher and performer Barbara Adrian integrates voice, speech, and movement training with illustrated individual and group exercises that include:

• Breath Support
• Building Dynamic Alignment
• Expanding Vocal Tone and Range
• Articulation and Rhythmic Exploration
• Enhancing Strength and Stamina
• Improving Balance and Flexibility
• Developing a Relationship to the Environs
• Revealing Your Emotional State through Physical and Vocal Action

This second edition also includes an all-new chapter of advice from acting professionals on how they deploy these exercises and techniques in their acting preparation, practice, and performance. New appendices offer readers links to video supplements as well as exercises in IPA.

Actor Training the Laban Way will make any performer more impulsive, imaginative, and expressive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781621538448
Publisher:	Allworth
Publication date:	09/10/2024
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288

About the Author

Barbara Adrian, MFA, CMA, is a Professor Emerita of Theatre Arts, Marymount Manhattan College. She is an Artistic Associate with New York Classical Theatre and coaches professional actors for television, film, stage, and voice-acting roles for commercials, animations, and video games. She has taught workshops in Manhattan, London, Glasgow, and Berlin. She lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Actor Training the Laban Way
“Barbara Adrian’s book is filled with inspiring ideas supported by accessible practical exercises. She unifies Voice, Speech, and Movement based on the foundations of Laban and Bartenieff. This is a multi-levelled deep dive into innovative skill that leads to artistry.”
—Jan Gist, MFA, Professor Emeritus of Voice, Speech, Dialects, Old Globe/University of San Diego, Shiley Graduate Theatre Program

“This book represents the author’s long experience and reflections on how to support actors to trust their inner impulses and become fully present on stage. We in the international Laban community welcome this wonderful contribution to the theory into practice canon.”
—Regina Miranda, CMA, Former Director of Arts & Culture, Laban/Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies; Founder/Artistic Director of Regina Miranda Actors/Dancers Co., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“This wonderful new book comprehensively aligns voice and speech with Laban’s physical clarity. It celebrates the organic journey of the actor with a practical, coherent scheme of work and encourages the creative spirit to push boundaries in finding new ways to express itself.”
—Lise Olson, Course Director of MA in Acting at Birmingham School of Acting, United Kingdom

“This book provides an excellent text to accompany the teaching of Laban technique and philosophy. It contains clear definitions and explanations and many liberating exercises that will increase the actor’s range and casting potential.”
—Bonnie Raphael, Ph. D., Professor Emerita, Professional Actor Training Program, University of North Carolina

“An innovative approach to voice, speech, and movement that guides the actor from habitual patterns to expanded expressive choices. Great exercises for teachers, too!”
—Pamela Prather, Associate Professor Emeritus at SUNY Purchase College: Theatre & Performance; Founder of Pamela Prather Coaching LLC
 

From the Publisher