The Actor's Survival Handbook

This utterly essential tool speaks to every actor's deepest concerns from breathing to props, commitment to learning lines, audience response to simply landing the job in the first place. Rich with examples, this book is written with wit and passion, conveying the authors' powerful conviction that success is within every actor's grasp.

Acknowledgments

xi

Introduction

xiii

How to Use This Book

xv

Family Trees

xvii

Acting: What Is It?

1

(3)

Agents

4

(2)

Amateur Dramatics

6

(2)

Anecdotes and Jokes

8

(2)

Attitude

10

(2)

Audience

12

(2)

Auditions

14

(3)

Battle of the Sexes

17

(3)

Be Yourself (Plus!)

20

(2)

Believability

22

(3)

Blowing Your Nose

25

(2)

Breaking Up (Corpsing)

27

(2)

Business (Biz)

29

(3)

Casting Directors

32

(2)

Comedy and Farce

34

(4)

Commercial Casting Sessions

38

(4)

Commitment

42

(2)

Conservatories and Drama Schools

44

(2)

Consistency

46

(2)

Costumes, Wigs, and Shoes

48

(3)

Crew

51

(3)

Designers

54

(2)

Dialects and Accents

56

(2)

Directors

58

(3)

Discussions

61

(2)

Don't Ask for Permission

63

(2)

Don't Give Up

65

(3)

Drugs

68

(2)

Editing and Acting

70

(2)

Example: Al and Bob's First Meeting

72

(3)

Example: Anna Christie and Her Dad

75

(3)

Example: Broadway versus Hollywood

78

(4)

Example: Brother and Sister Act

82

(3)

Example: Kate and Corpsing

85

(4)

Example: Lady Bracknell's Handbag

89

(4)

Example: Mr. and Mrs. Noah Fight

93

(3)

Example: Mr. Horner Is Exactly That

96

(3)

Example: Noel Coward on the Phone

99

(4)

Example: Olivia's Ends

103

(2)

Example: Plunging in the Deep End

105

(4)

Example: Princely Business

109

(3)

Example: Signs of the Times

112

(4)

Example: The Silence of the Lads

116

(3)

Example: Valuable Verbals

119

(3)

Example: You, Thee---and the Gold

122

(3)

Eye-to-Eye Contact

125

(3)

Fellow Actors

128

(3)

Film versus Television

131

(2)

Forgetting Lines

133

(3)

Further Training

136

(2)

Gear Changes

138

(2)

Getting Work

140

(3)

Good and Bad Taste

143

(2)

Hierarchy

145

(2)

Homework

147

(2)

Illness

149

(2)

Improvisation

151

(3)

Instinct versus Intellect

154

(2)

Interviews

156

(2)

It's Not What It Used To Be

158

(2)

Jobs Requiring Acting Skills

160

(2)

Journey

162

(2)

Know Your Image

164

(2)

Laughter

166

(3)

Learning Lines

169

(3)

Less Is More?

172

(2)

Let the Words Do the Work

174

(2)

Medieval Acting

176

(1)

Melodrama Acting

177

(2)

Method Acting

179

(3)

Mistakes

182

(2)

Modern Contemporary Acting

184

(2)

Money Is Probably the Answer

186

(2)

Movement and Gestures

188

(4)

Multicamera versus Single Camera

192

(2)

Never Say No

194

(2)

No Training

196

(2)

Notes

198

(4)

Open Auditions

202

(2)

Opposites

204

(2)

Outside-in versus Inside-out

206

(3)

Over the Top

209

(2)

Pauses

211

(2)

Performing

213

(2)

Photographs

215

(3)

Problems

218

(2)

Producers

220

(2)

Projection

222

(2)

Properties (Props)

224

(2)

Pulling Focus

226

(2)

Punctuality

228

(2)

Qualifications

230

(2)

Radio Acting

232

(3)

Readings

235

(3)

Rehearsals (Long, Short, or None)

238

(3)

Rehearsing

241

(3)

Rejection

244

(3)

Restoration Acting

247

(2)

Resumes

249

(2)

Role-Play

251

(3)

Screen Acting

254

(3)

Screen Cheating

257

(3)

Screen Reactions

260

(2)

Screen Vocal Levels

262

(2)

Sex and Violence

264

(2)

Shakespeare Acting

266

(2)

Shakespeare: First Folio

268

(3)

Shakespeare: Prose or Poetry

271

(3)

Shakespeare: Simple or Complicated

274

(3)

Shakespeare: Verse

277

(3)

Shakespeare: What You Call People

280

(3)

Shakespeare: Wordplay

283

(2)

Shooting and Acting

285

(2)

Stars

287

(3)

Starting Off

290

(2)

Step-by-Step

292

(2)

Style

294

(2)

Teaching Acting

296

(2)

Technical and Dress Rehearsals

298

(2)

Technique

300

(2)

Ten-Second Rule

302

(2)

Text

304

(4)

The Team

308

(3)

Thinking

311

(2)

Training

313

(2)

Truth

315

(4)

Typecasting

319

(2)

University Courses

321

(2)

Versatility

323

(2)

Voice

325

(2)

Whatever Works

327

(2)

You (Your Other Life)

329

(3)

Biographies

332

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

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The Actor's Survival Handbook

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials