Broadway Books: 10 MORE Books on Acting to Read While Staying Inside!
Check out books from Michael Chekhov, David Mamet, and more!
By: Stephi Wild Aug. 16, 2020
Looking for something new to read while staying inside, but still need your Broadway fix? We've rounded up 10 more of our favorite books on acting!
These books feature everyone from Michael Chekhov to David Mamet, Ivana Chubbuck, and more. Whether you're a new, young actor, or a seasoned pro, anyone can get something out of these books that are designed to help you hone your craft.
Check out our list below and be sure to check out part one here!
A Life in Acting: The Actor's Guide to Creative and Career Longevity
by Lisa Mulcahy
A Life in Acting is a practical guide for aspiring and established theater actors looking to make a consistent living doing meaningful, creative work on the stage. Author Lisa Mulcahy communicates her advice through a series of interviews and "war stories" that will have you taking notes and laughing until your sides hurt. The sage advice of veteran performers and an entertaining writing style make this a terrific tool to build career longevity. The veteran thespians who give advice are and sustain themselves as artists and professionals through the sage advice of veteran performers who have already done it and continue to do so. Each industry veteran who contributes to these pages is renowned for their talent, is vastly respected by their peers, and has worked consistently in the theater for decades.
About the Author: Lisa Mulcahy is a theater teacher, director, performer, and multimedia writer. She was cowriter and stage director of the hit Off-Broadway musical, Renegade Sluts on Bikes and was directed by Edward Albee in her appearance in his play Malcom. Her articles have been published in such magazines as Stage Direction, Teaching Theatre, Marie Claire, Glamour, and Seventeen. She is the author of Building the Successful Theater Company and Theater Festivals, both published by Allworth Press.
Purchase on Amazon here.
The Power of the Actor: The Chubbuck Technique
by Ivana Chubbuck
The first book from the instructor who has taught Charlize Theron, Brad Pitt, Elisabeth Shue, Djimon Hounsou, and Halle Berry, The Power of the Actor guides you to dynamic and effective results. For many of today's major talents, the Chubbuck Technique is the leading edge of acting for the twenty-first century. Ivana Chubbuck has developed a curriculum that takes the theories of the acting masters, such as Stanislavski, Meisner, and Hagen, to the next step by utilizing inner pain and emotions, not as an end in itself, but rather as a way to drive and win a goal.
About the Author: Ivana Chubbuck founded Ivana Chubbuck Studios more than twenty years ago, becoming one of the most sought-after acting coaches in Hollywood. She also works as a script consultant and has been widely profiled in the media.
Purchase on Amazon here.
True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor
by David Mamet
One of our most brilliantly iconoclastic playwrights takes on the art of profession of acting with these words: invent nothing, deny nothing, speak up, stand up, stay out of school. Acting schools, "interpretation," "sense memory," "The Method"-David Mamet takes a jackhammer to the idols of contemporary acting, while revealing the true heroism and nobility of the craft. He shows actors how to undertake auditions and rehearsals, deal with agents and directors, engage audiences, and stay faithful to the script, while rejecting the temptations that seduce so many of their colleagues. Bracing in its clarity, exhilarating in its common sense, True and False is as shocking as it is practical, as witty as it is instructive, and as irreverent as it is inspiring.
About the Author: David Mamet is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, as well as a director, novelist, poet, and essayist. He has written the screenplays for more than twenty films, including Heist, Spartan, House of Games, The Spanish Prisoner, The Winslow Boy, Wag the Dog, and the Oscar-nominated The Verdict. His more than twenty plays include Oleanna, The Cryptogram, Speed-the-Plow, American Buffalo, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and the Pulitzer Prizewinning Glengarry Glen Ross. Born in Chicago in 1947, Mamet has taught at the Yale School of Drama, New York University, and Goddard College, and is a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company.
Purchase on Amazon here.
Acting: The First Six Lessons
by In his beloved classic, Acting: The First Six Lessons, master acting teacher Richard Boleslavsky presents his acting theory and technique in a lively and accessible narrative form. Widely considered a must-have for beginning as well as established actors, Boleslavsky's work has long helped actors better understand the craft of acting and what it takes to grow as an artist. This enhanced edition includes additional exercises from Samuel Seldon's First Steps in Acting, which provide further opportunity to practice the techniques discussed in Acting: The First Six Lessons.
About the Author: Richard Boleslavsky's knowledge of the theater was based on an impressive depth and breadth of experience. A member of the Moscow Art Theater and director of its First Studio, he worked in Russia, Germany, and America as an actor, director and teacher. He was a leading Hollywood director in addition to producing plays and musical comedies on Broadway.
Purchase on Amazon here.
On the Technique of Acting
by In the four decades since its first publication, Michael Chekhov's To the Actor has become a standard text for students of the theater. But To the Actor is a shortened, heavily modified version of the great director/actor/teacher's original manuscript, and On the Technique of Acting is the first and only book ever to incorporate the complete text of that brilliant manuscript. Scholars and teachers of Chekhov's technique have hailed On the Technique of Acting as the clearest, most accurate presentation of the principles he taught Yul Brynner, Gregory Peck, Marilyn Monroe, Anthony Quinn, Beatrice Straight, and Mala Powers, among others.
About the Author: Michael Chekhov was a Russian-American actor, director, author and theatre practitioner. He was a nephew of the playwright Anton Chekhov and a student of Konstantin Stanislavski. Although mainly a stage actor, he made a few notable appearances on film, perhaps most memorably as the Freudian analyst in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945), for which he received his only Academy Award nomination.
Purchase on Amazon here.
How to Be a Working Actor
by Mari Lyn Henry, Lynne Rogers
Renowned for more than two decades as the most comprehensive resource for actors, How to Be a Working Actor is a must-read for achieving success in The Business. Now this "Bible of the Biz" has been completely revised and greatly expanded to address new markets, ever-changing opportunities, and the many new ways today's actors find work. Talent manager, teacher, and career coach Mari Lyn Henry and actress, author, and spokeswoman Lynne Rogers combine their extensive skills and years of experience to cover all the essentials of how to market yourself, land roles, and manage a successful career. They also include expert advice from scores of other industry experts - well-known actors, agents, managers, casting directors, and teachers.
About the Authors: Mari Lyn Henry is a partner at Henry Downey Talent Management LLC and is nationally known for her workshops on audition techniques, cold reading skills, script analysis, and marketing strategies.
Lynne Rogers' extensive career on stage, in film, and on television includes a leading role on Guiding Light. She has been the voice for many nationally advertised products, and her other books include The Love of Their Lives, a behind-the-scenes look at the soap opera industry.
Purchase on Amazon here.
Acting Class: Take a Seat
by Previously only available to Katselas' students at the prestigious Beverly Hills Playhouse, Acting Class presents the concepts and methods that have helped lead a generation of actors to success on stage, in cinema, and on television. Now for the first time, this all-encompassing book is available to the general public, taking readers and sitting them in the legendary acting class of Milton Katselas, where he not only covers techniques and methods, but also includes valuable discussions on the attitude any artist needs to fulfill his or her dream.
About the Author: Milton Katselas was a renowned director, teacher, painter, and founder of the Beverly Hills Playhouse. Under his direction, Blythe Danner won a Tony Award, Eileen Heckert an Academy Award, and Bette Davis an Emmy Award. His last book "Dreams into Action" was a New York Times bestseller.
Purchase on Amazon here.
Acting for Young Actors: The Ultimate Teen Guide
by Mary Lou Belli, Dinah Lenney
Do you know a teen that's been bitten by the acting bug? Here's just the book they need! Acting for Young Actors, aimed at teens and tweens, lets kids hone their skills and develop their craft. It begins with the five W's: WHO am I? WHAT do I want? WHY do I want it? WHERE am I? WHEN does this event take place? Sounds basic - but many young child actors are told simply to "get up there and act." This book explores each of these questions, using helpful exercises to allow young actors to work through problems of character identity and motivation.
About the Authors: Mary Lou Belli is the coauthor of The Sitcom Career Book, published by Back Stage Books. An Emmy Award-winning director, she has worked on Girlfriends, The Hughleys, Major Dad, and Charles in Charge, among many other shows. She is the mother of two children who act professionally. She lives in Los Angeles.
Dinah Lenney is an adjunct professor at UCLA's School of Theater, Film, and Television. An actor as well as an acting teacher, she is currently appearing on ER as the no-nonsense nurse Shirley. She lives in Los Angeles.
Purchase on Amazon here.
Seven Pillars Acting: A Comprehensive Technique for the Modern Actor
by Sonya Cooke
Seven Pillars Acting empowers the actor to transform into character with ease and authenticity. Inspired by the great acting teachers of the last century, Seven Pillars Acting is a modern method that provides a structured set of tools and a dependable process to access and cultivate talent. With many students of the technique now working in the entertainment industry, Seven Pillars Acting is changing the way actors approach the craft. Each pillar focuses in on a different aspect of acting; added together, they give the actor the complete skills necessary to book a callback, land the part, and deliver a performance that is both effortless and true. Young actors and seasoned performers alike not only gain a clear concept of acting, they also begin or reenergize their professional acting careers in film, television, and theater. It is the goal of Seven Pillars Acting to instill in actors a technique that they can practice for a lifetime, without needing a teacher or guru to handhold the artist.
About the Author: Sonya Cooke is the creator of Seven Pillars Acting, with branches in Southern California, the Actor's Studio of Orange County and Seven Pillars Acting Studio in Los Angeles. She started her teaching career by coaching actors in New York in 2008 and launched a blog on acting technique. Cooke has acted in TV, film, New York and regional theatre, as well as commercials, print, and voice-over media. Career highlights include Louie by Louie C.K., creating devised theatre at the Guthrie, and playing the title role in feature film, Lily Grace.
Purchase on Amazon here.
Acting with Passion
by Niki Flacks
Based on the latest research from the fields of neuroscience and mind-body psychology, Acting With Passion offers a revolutionary new approach to the age-old problems of the actor: dealing with nerves, engaging the body, quieting the inner critic, auditioning, creating a character, and even playing comedy. With this step-by-step guide, actors who have struggled with 'visualization' and 'emotional recall' can learn an alternative method of accessing feelings through the release of chronic, subtle muscular tensions that connect into the brain at lightning fast speed and can actually produce emotions on cue. Written with verve and accessibility, and using practical exercises to guide the actor through each stage, Acting With Passion is the must-have text for actors seeking that magical 'state of aliveness'.
About the Author: Niki Flacks is a director, actor, teacher and psychologist. A frequent tutor at the Actors Centre in London, she leads popular workshops in New York, Paris, Berlin and Tel Aviv. Visit her at www.nikiflacks.com.
Purchase on Amazon here.
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