Like every week we post a book review on a subject related to acting, health, personal growth or anything related to the showbiz industry. This time it’s the highly acclaimed “Practical Handbook for the Actor” whose authors (all of who are young actors) include: Melissa Bruder, Lee Michael Cohn, Madeleine Olnek, Nathaniel Pollack, Robert Previto and Scott Zigler.

In the book a technique developed by the authors is explained, written for any actor who has ever felt frustrations in acting classes or felt like they lacked clarity or objectivity. Its writing style is very direct and definitely gets you right to the point of the matter.

Divided in 2 parts: THE TECHNIQUE: with topics like; analyzing a scene, truth of the moment, and other tools of the craft it gives you a great overview. And the second part: PITFALLS is more about working in the real world, getting stuck in emotional traps, the professional characters you will meet along the way or even keeping the theater clean…

So, Is it worth reading? DEFINITELY. It’s a very small price (around $11.00) to pay for such a good little handbook that can serve as a leisurely read . It has really good advice, but most of all is clear and concise in its explanations.

The book includes:
FASHION by Anna Cora Mowatt (1845)
THE OCTOROON by Dion Boucicault (1859)
RIP VAN WINKLE by Joseph Jefferson (1865)
MARGARET FLEMING by James A. Herne (1890)

This weeks review is probably the shortest we’ve written, because we are not reviewing these popular plays, but the book itself. Obviously the plays are something you can find elsewhere, so why this book? Well, the authors Introduction is a wonderful background and situating piece. Added to that, each play also has its own introduction and gives really great insight to us actors and directors on how to approach them.

So, Is it worth reading? Well… Not really. I believe the introductions are beautifully written and interesting although short. So unless you have a special interest in one of these particular plays I would say don’t waste your money. If you do want to buy it though, go to Nineteenth Century American Plays: Seven Plays Including The Black Crook

These books are simply wonderful. If I ever feel like I want to learn about a new subject I have no idea about or am overwhelmed, then I always turn to Dummies. They give you insight in a very reader-friendly manner, touching all subjects related to the topic at hand, providing you with any information you need. The Screenwriting for Dummies edition does just as any other Dummies book, and wonderfully explains the ins and outs of how to approach writing for TV, movies or plays. It provides tips, common used jargon from the industry, and plenty of clear examples. It will serve as the perfect go-to reference guide to start a new career in screenwriting. It is meant to be a springboard to then further expand if you want to master any aspect, not as an answer to the experts questions. As far as the tips on how to approach screenwriting from an actors point of view they don’t exactly dig into that, although it is mentioned in several chapters, that some of the best screenwriters have had atleast some experience as actors to gain insight on how to create characters. So maybe you would like to explore a different creative outlet? Remember tht Silverster Stallone wrote Rambo for himself when he couldn’t get cast in other movies. So, Is it worth reading? If you have any interest in the process of screenwriting or want a new creative outlet and are thinking of writing your next lead role yourself custom to you, then YES. If you want a good reference book on insight to a different aspect of this business YES. Otherwise simply from an actors standpoint, its not worth it. But check:how to break into acting for dummies (reviewed on this site).

Like every week we post a book review on a subject related to acting, health, personal growth or anything related to the showbiz industry. This time it’s the Hard-edged “True and False” by David Mamet.

If you are at all familiar with David Mamets style you already know how his tone is shocking, witty and direct. In this case he takes a rather irreverent tone to talk about acting schools, interpretation, sense memory and the Method (all of which he is rather opposed to).

He also shows us how to deal with auditions, rehersals, agents and directors, how to encourage audiences as an actor and stay faithful to the script. Which is an important lesson to learn in my opinion: ALWAYS stick to the script and leave the improvisation for when you have pemisssion from the director.

Last but not least he makes a mention to the business of actors and auditions and working as an actor in the real world.

But, Is it worth reading? YES YES YES. Its one of the best books that I have ever read on acting because regardless of if you agree or disagree with his conclusions, it makes you question the Status Quo of the classic conceptions and “The Method”. A definite must for all actors who have studied acting before and need to question their beliefs.

Like every week we post a book review on a subject related to acting, health, personal growth or anything related to the showbiz industry. In this case we talk about Ned Manderino’s  THE TRANSPERSONAL ACTOR.

Manderino  makes very good points with which I agree right off the bat. Such as the need to respect for tradition, but the belief that techniques of Stanislavski or Boleslavski should have been used as a springboard for further development. Not as something static.

His writing has a very scientific undertone and he focuses his logic on areas technically un-related to the actor. The book is comprised of 2 very distinct parts. The first a review on Strasberg/Stanislavski and ancient Greek Sensory work. He includes plenty of exercises, improv and scene work.

The second half focuses on the “transpersonal” actor. He uses Imagination exercises, and uses the physiological and phychological functioning of the body and mind to guide his work. There are also plenty of interesting animal behavior exercises as well as vocal work.

Overall the book is more of a varied technique-exercises, than a guide. Is it worth buying? Personally, NOT. It’s a book worth looking at on a bookstore, but the problem (as with plenty other books) is that you get just as much reading over the index as you do reading the entire book. Some exercises are great, but not worth purchasing the entire book.

Like every week we post a book review on a subject related to acting, health, personal growth or anything related to the showbiz industry. In this case its Robert Blumenfeld’s revised and expanded edition of “Accents: A manual for actors”.

It’s a great tool to give us actors and one that is so complete is hard to come along. The one-place to find it all.

The book includes:
-Asian Accents: Chinese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Burmese, Thai, Indonesian….etc
-African Accents: South African, Zulu, Sub-Saharan, Ethiopian, Nigerian, Ugandan, Congo, Swahili…etc.
-Middle Eastern: Arabic Accents, Egyptian, Hebrew, Persian…etc
-Slavic Accents: Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Slovak, Czech, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian…
-Germanic Accents: German, Prussian, Bavarian, Viennese, Yiddish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish…etc
-Romance Accents: French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian…etc.

But what is truly impressive is that it separates by class, Date, and geography the American, British Isles and Commonwealth English. So its not the same to study a Upper Class late 1900’s North American accent from Baltimore, and a Modern English Provincial Accent from Liverpool.

The book gives a detailed and comprehensive description but for those of us who prefer to learn in a more audio-visual form, it also includes 2 CD’s with a manual to each language.

So, Is it worth reading? If you’ve read the rest of the article you know already the answer is YES!!!!!! This book serves as a  wonderful tool for any actor and is worth even having as a reference book because you will certainly find yourself returning to it time and time again throughout your career.