This practical book on the subject of how to act, based on Ms. Spivaks 40 years of acting, coaching, and teaching classes provides a step-by-step system for analyzing and building a character organically. It also advises how to do camera takes, interpret and follow stage directions, and how to prepare for auditions and work in theater, film, and television.
A companion to the popular website APracticalWedding.com and A Practical Wedding Planner, A Practical Wedding helps you sort through the basics to create the wedding you want -- without going broke or crazy in the process. After all, what really matters on your wedding day is not so much how it looked as how it felt. In this refreshing guide, expert Meg Keene shares her secrets to planning a beautiful celebration that reflects your taste and your relationship. You'll discover: The real purpose of engagement (hint: it's not just about the planning) How to pinpoint what matters most to you and your partner DIY-ing your wedding: brilliant or crazy? How to communicate decisions to your family Why that color-coded spreadsheet is actually worth it Wedding Zen can be yours. Meg walks you through everything from choosing a venue to writing vows, complete with stories and advice from women who have been in the trenches: the Team Practical brides. So here's to the joyful wedding, the sensible wedding, the unbelievably fun wedding! A Practical Wedding is your complete guide to getting married with grace.
11 Deadly Presentation Sins is the perfect book for public speakers, business presenters, PowerPoint users and anyone who has to get up and talk in front of an audience. Few skills are more important in business or in life than the ability to present your ideas in clear and compelling terms. A solid presentation can help you: Close a sale with a customer Earn a raise Get a job Boost your reputation in the marketplace And much more ... Yet most people are not very good presenters. They put their audiences through a veritable hell on earth with a multitude of sins, from listless delivery to lackluster content, from meandering stories to mundane visuals. 11 Deadly Presentation Sins offers a path to redemption for public speakers, PowerPoint users and anyone who has to get up and speak in front of an audience. This fun, practical guide is packed with more than 100 indispensable tips you can use right away in your next presentation to help you: Analyze your audience's needs and concerns in order to better connect with them Open with a bang instead of a whimper Focus and structure your content Find, shape and tell stories that command attention Tap into emotion to win hearts and change minds Create beautiful, compelling visuals to support your words Deliver a truly energetic performance Promote interaction and conversation to keep people engaged Make the most of body language to reinforce your message Plan and prepare for any contingency Finish strong 11 Deadly Presentation Sins combines lessons from the worlds of business and entertainment to help you give the performance of their life. You'll learn from Seth Godin and Star Trek, Romeo & Juliet and Ricky Gervais, Steve Jobs and Saturday Night Live. Whether you're talking to colleagues, customers or the community, in a boardroom, ballroom or church basement, you'll come away with the confidence and skills you need when all eyes are on you.
By Jim Donovan, internationally recognised author, whose six books have been published in twenty-two countries and are read throughout the world. "THIS IS YOUR LIFE, NOT A DRESS REHEARSAL is a guidebook to making immediate, positive changes in your life. Fun and easy to read, it will get you started or keep you moving on the path to success." - Brendan Tobin, author of Yes, You Can!
Amid the overlapping crises of a pandemic, ecological disaster, and global capitalism, two leading Black and Indigenous feminist theorists ask one another: what do liberated lands, minds, and bodies look like? These letters are part debate, part dialogue, and part lively and detailed familial correspondence between two razor-sharp thinkers, sending notes to each other during a stormy present. Featuring a foreword by Ruth Wilson Gilmore and an afterword by Robin D.G. Kelley.
Secrets of Acting Shakespeare isn't a book that gently instructs. It's a passionate, yes-you-can designed to prove that anybody can act Shakespeare. By explaining how Elizabethan actors had only their own lines and not entire playscripts, Patrick Tucker shows how much these plays work by ear. Secrets of Acting Shakespeare is a book for actors trained and amateur, as well as for anyone curious about how the Elizabethan theater worked.
(Meredith Music Resource). Directors included in this publication represent the very "best of the best" with years of experience conducting and teaching. They freely share their ideas, techniques, and philosophies that are sure to enrich anyone who reads this book. Includes chapters by Harvey Benstein, Richard Clary, Steve Davis, Rodney Dorsey, Amanda Drinkwater, Patrick Dunnigan, Richard Floyd, Robert Halseth, Robert Ponto, Robert Taylor and Frank Wickes, with a foreword by Craig Kirchhoff.
This revolutionary book is more than just a dry theoretical study of acting techniques. Against a background of Apartheid South Africa it tells the story – both humorous and moving – of how teacher/director Brian Astbury - founder of South Africa's legendary Space Theatre - and hundreds of actors and acting students both in production and at Britain's top drama schools developed a set of exercises over two decades to help actors overcome problems not addressed in other methods.These teach how to be 'in the moment';to gain access to the inexhaustible storehouse of the imagination;to access, integrate and properly use the emotions of the character;to overcome difficulties with learning lines;to recreate performance without conscious thought.“An idiosyncratic, challenging and practical guide to the craft of acting, crammed with anecdotes and humorous insights”Richard E. Grant Actor/director/writer (Withnail and I, The Player, Wah-Wah and many others)“A truly inspirational teacher”Julie Hesmondhalgh Actor (Hayley, Coronation Street)“A unique figure in British theatre. Provocative, controversial, doggedly inspiring. He has been the pivotal teacher, enabler and mentor for me and countless others.Rufus Norris Director (Festen, Cabaret, Market Boy, Tintin, Vernon God Little, Blood Wedding)“I cannot recommend it highly enough”Stephen Moyer Actor (True Blood, NY-LON, Prince Valiant, the RSC)“A conversational (almost chatty) love story, a tale of a theatre company's struggle against Apartheid, an irreverent look at life”Alexander Siddig Actor/director (Deep Space Nine, Syriana, Un Homme Perdu, 24, Primeval, Hannibal)“Brian Astbury was, without a doubt, the biggest influence on me. His teachings are still what I go to in trouble”Jason Flemyng Actor (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Quatermass Experiment, Drum, the RSC)
The Invisible Actor presents the captivating and unique methods of the distinguished Japanese actor and director, Yoshi Oida. While a member of Peter Brook's theatre company in Paris, Yoshi Oida developed a masterful approach to acting that combined the oriental tradition of supreme and studied control with the Western performer's need to characterise and expose depths of emotion. Written with Lorna Marshall, Yoshi Oida explains that once the audience becomes openly aware of the actor's method and becomes too conscious of the actor's artistry, the wonder of performance dies. The audience must never see the actor but only his or her performance. Throughout Lorna Marshall provides contextual commentary on Yoshi Oida's work and methods. In a new foreword to accompany the Bloomsbury Revelations edition, Yoshi Oida revisits the questions that have informed his career as an actor and explores how his skilful approach to acting has shaped the wider contours of his life.
