The art of acting
Stella Adler (Author), Marlon Brando (Writer of preface), Howard Kissel (Compiler, Editor)
Stella Adler is arguably the most important teacher of acting in American history. Over her long career, both in New York and Hollywood, she offered her vast acting knowledge to generations of actors, including Marlon Brando, Warren Beatty, and Robert De Niro. The great voice finally ended in the early Nineties, but her decades of experience and teaching have been brilliantly encapsulated by Howard Kissel in the lessons in this book. The groundbreaking theories of the great acting teacher who influenced such outstanding actors as Marlon Brando, Robert DeNiro & Warren Beatty are now made available for a wide audience. This book is compiled from her voluminous class notes as well as audio & videotape of her teaching & is destined to become a classic in the fields of acting & theatre. Drawing on an archive of notebooks, transcriptions, and audiotapes of Adler's work, Kissel (cultural critic with the New York Daily News) presents the lessons and insights she brought to the craft of acting. Adler's classroom lectures are presented, and their significance is discussed. She addresses the discipline of the actor's body, mind, and imagination. She looks at the techniques for creating believable characters and bringing authenticity to the performance, and the importance of understanding time, setting and style
Print Book, English, 2000
Applause Books ; Combined Book Services ; Sales & distribution, Hal Leonard Corp., New York, Tonbridge, Kent, U.K., Milwaukee, WI, 2000
271 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
9781557833730, 1557833737
47844917
Preface by Marlon Brando
First steps on stage
The world of the stage isn't your world
Acting is doing
The actor needs to be strong
Developing the imagination
Making the world of the play your own
Getting hold of acting's controls
Learning actions
Making actions doable
Building a vocabulary of actions
Instant and inner justifications
Complicating actions
Giving actions size
Understanding the text
Character elements
Dressing the part
Learning a character's rhythm
Actors are aristocrats
Making the costume real
The actor is a warrior
Stanislavski and the new realistic drama
Portraying class on stage
Afterword