Whether you're an actor, writer, dramaturg, or director who wants to better understand the dynamics of the one-person show or join the legion of solo folk, The Solo Performer's Journey is the perfect companion for what promises to be an expedition inside your artistic self.
Solo by Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess is a New York Times bestseller! Kirkus Reviews said Solo is, “A contemporary hero’s journey, brilliantly told.” Through the story of a young Black man searching for answers about his life, Solo empowers, engages, and encourages teenagers to move from heartache to healing, burden to blessings, depression to deliverance, and trials to triumphs. Blade never asked for a life of the rich and famous. In fact, he’d give anything not to be the son of Rutherford Morrison, a washed-up rock star and drug addict with delusions of a comeback. Or to no longer be part of a family known most for lost potential, failure, and tragedy, including the loss of his mother. The one true light is his girlfriend, Chapel, but her parents have forbidden their relationship, assuming Blade will become just like his father. In reality, the only thing Blade and Rutherford have in common is the music that lives inside them. And songwriting is all Blade has left after Rutherford, while drunk, crashes his high school graduation speech and effectively rips Chapel away forever. But when a long-held family secret comes to light, the music disappears. In its place is a letter, one that could bring Blade the freedom and love he’s been searching for, or leave him feeling even more adrift. Solo: Is written by New York Times bestselling author and Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Book Award-winner Kwame Alexander Showcases Kwame’s signature intricacy, intimacy, and poetic style, by exploring what it means to finally go home An #OwnVoices novel that features a BIPOC protagonist on a search for his roots and identity Received great reviews from Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Booklist, and Kirkus. If you enjoy Solo, check out Swing by Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess.
SOLO PERFORMANCE ON STAGE by Ronald Rand, Goodwill Cultural Ambassador and world-acclaimed solo performer in 25 countries takes the reader on an intimate journey into the organic process of creating your own solo performance on stage through the 'Art of Transformation' using Stanislavsky's "Method of Physical Actions." The theater is a transcendent communication of the human spirit, flowing from the passion of all those creating in collaboration with each other. Transformation is the embodiment of our joy of being alive. Christopher Plummer calls SOLO TRANSFORMATION ON STAGE "An unforgettable journey of passion, insight and discovery!" Stephen Lang writes in his Foreword "An astonishing outpouring of energy and experience. Ronald Rand brings a way to seek out a greater realization of what life means to you, putting into words what every actor feels in their heart; that what we do is as crucial to life as bread, fire, or salt. A noble and useful book." Step inside Ronald Rand's two-hour transformation into Harold Clurman - how a solo performance is born, takes off and literally changes the face of the world! Experience his insightful experiences with Stella Adler, Harold Clurman, and Jerzy Grotowski, and life-changing 'moments of depth' from some of the world's memorable performers including Cicely Tyson, Paul Robeson, Ira Aldridge, James Earl Jones, Sidney Poitier, Laurette Taylor, and Marlon Brando. SOLO TRANSFORMATION ON STAGE offers over twenty inspiring interviews by performers who have created their own solo plays including Adrienne Barbeau, Billy Crudup, Olympia Dukakis, Eve Ensler, Hershey Felder, Marga Gomez, Julie Harris, Stephen Lang, Tony Lo Bianco, Laurence Luckinbill, Angelica Page, Christopher Plummer, Elizabeth van Dyke, and Ben Vereen. SOLO TRANSFORMATION ON STAGE will speak passionately to experienced actors and students alike, and become an invaluable resource for postgraduate students of theatre and performance, acting lecturers and teachers, and all lovers of theater.
New York magazine was born in 1968 after a run as an insert of the New York Herald Tribune and quickly made a place for itself as the trusted resource for readers across the country. With award-winning writing and photography covering everything from politics and food to theater and fashion, the magazine's consistent mission has been to reflect back to its audience the energy and excitement of the city itself, while celebrating New York as both a place and an idea.
New York magazine was born in 1968 after a run as an insert of the New York Herald Tribune and quickly made a place for itself as the trusted resource for readers across the country. With award-winning writing and photography covering everything from politics and food to theater and fashion, the magazine's consistent mission has been to reflect back to its audience the energy and excitement of the city itself, while celebrating New York as both a place and an idea.
New York magazine was born in 1968 after a run as an insert of the New York Herald Tribune and quickly made a place for itself as the trusted resource for readers across the country. With award-winning writing and photography covering everything from politics and food to theater and fashion, the magazine's consistent mission has been to reflect back to its audience the energy and excitement of the city itself, while celebrating New York as both a place and an idea.
An award-winning actress, writer, and producer brings over 30 years of theatrical experience to actors, writers, and public speakers of all kinds. Included are step-by-step acting and writing techniques, examples and discussion of six different forms of solo plays, and more.
Creating Solo Performance is an innovative toolbox of exercises and challenges focused on providing you – the performer – with engaging and inspiring ways to explore and develop your idea both on the page and in the performance space. The creation of a solo show may be the most rewarding, liberating and stressful challenge you will take on in your career. This book acts as your silent collaborator as you develop your performance, by helpfully arranging exercises under the following headings: Beginnings Creating character Generating material Using your performance space Technology Endings Collaboration Exercises can be explored in sequence, at random or according to your specific needs and interests as a performer. By enabling you to create a bespoke formula that best applies to your specific subject, area of interest, style and discipline, this book will become an indispensable resource as you produce your solo show.
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLIST NPR “BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR” SELECTION NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE A virtuosic debut from a gifted violinist searching for a new mode of artistic becoming How does time shape consciousness and consciousness, time? Do we live in time, or does time live in us? And how does music, with its patterns of rhythm and harmony, inform our experience of time? Uncommon Measure explores these questions from the perspective of a young Korean American who dedicated herself to perfecting her art until performance anxiety forced her to give up the dream of becoming a concert solo violinist. Anchoring her story in illuminating research in neuroscience and quantum physics, Hodges traces her own passage through difficult family dynamics, prejudice, and enormous personal expectations to come to terms with the meaning of a life reimagined—one still shaped by classical music but moving toward the freedom of improvisation.
The Musician's Journey escorts musicians, performing artists, music teachers, and advanced music students along the road toward a successful career, offering a vast array of resources to guide them from envisioning the process to achieving the practical details. Jill Timmons provides key tools throughout the journey, from sources as diverse as the world of myth to current brain research, which illuminate compelling real-world examples of music entrepreneurs who forged their own paths to success. Included are chapters on careers in higher education; guidance in how to develop a business plan; general tips on grant writing and financial development; a separate section exploring the stories of other successful musicians; and personal narrative taken from the author's work as a professional musician and consultant. The book includes an extensive bibliography of additional resources, and the companion website offers downloadable worksheets and questionnaires to help readers along their way.