"The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, director, and teacher gives us a blunt, irreverent, unsparingly honest guide to acting that overturns conventional truths and tells aspiring actors what they really need to know. David Mamet leaves no acting tenet untouched: How to judge the role, approach the part, work with the playwright. How to concentrate and think about the scene. How to avoid becoming the Paint-by-Numbers Mechanical Actor, the "How'm...

"Taking readers step-by-step through the most basic acting exercises to critiques of performances in scenes from contemporary American plays, this volume follows a class of eight at the Neighborhood Playhouse, where Meisner has taught for fifty years." --

Respect for Acting. "This fascinating and detailed book about acting is Miss Hagen's credo, the accumulated wisdom of her years spent in intimate communion with her art. It is at once the voicing of her exacting standards for herself and those she [taught], and an explanation of the means to the end."--Publishers Weekly. "Hagen adds to the large corpus of titles on acting with vivid dicta drawn from experience, skill, and a sense of personal and professional...

"Jenna Fischer moved to Hollywood at age 22 with a theater degree in hand, ready to work hard. But it would be eight long years of struggle, rejection, and doubt before she landed her iconic role on The Office. If only she'd had someone to show her the way--an established actor who could manage her expectations and reassure her in moments of despair... With amusing candor and wit, Fischer spells out the nuts and bolts of getting established in the...

"Determined to make a name for themselves, three adopted sisters living in London train for the ballet and the stage and in the process discover that each has a special talent."--

"Napier has been at the heart of the professional improvisation community for more than 25 years. Here, he gives you advice and tips for success in improvising. You'll learn the rules of improv-- and why they don't matter. You'll discover how to take care of yourself in a scene, as well as working in two-person or large-cast scenes. And you'll get tips on preparing and psyching yourself for an audition." --

Features original monologues and scenes that have tested in school and professional acting classes.

"Dylan St. Claire faces a week of anguish when he fails to get cast as the star in the school musical and lands the role of a squirrel instead"--