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The Actor in You, 3/E
Robert Benedetti, California Institute of the Arts

ISBN-10: 0205479804
ISBN-13: 9780205479801

Publisher: Allyn & Bacon
Copyright: 2006
Format: Paper; 160 pp
Published: 10/10/2005

Suggested retail price: $46.40
Not available for purchase at this time.

The Actor in You serves as an introduction to beginning acting by helping students realize that they already possess the basic skills of an actor.

 

This text enhances the student’s appreciation of the art of acting by helping them realize that they already possess, in principle, the following skills: the ability to play a role, the ability to fulfill the sense of drama and to structure dramatic scenes, and the capacity to express emotion. Without losing its simplicity, directness, and enjoyable writing style, this revised and enlarged edition has benefited from helpful suggestions by teachers who have used it successfully in the classroom. Drawing exercises and examples from students’ everyday lives and from well-known films and television programs, Benedetti succeeds in deducing dramatic principles from those experiences and then applying them to everyday life for artistic purpose. Still organized in sixteen steps meant to correspond to the weeks of a typical semester or school year, The Actor in You provides a direct, concise presentation and explanation of fundamentals for beginning students.

  • Includes both individual and group exercises throughout to help students realize and experience the basic skills of acting.
  • Provides balanced coverage of acting for both stage and camera by drawing on principles from film and television and extending them to the stage.
  • Advocates an appreciation of a variety of styles, techniques, and approaches.
  • Includes practical and helpful exercises at the conclusion of each chapter.
  • Fits any liberal arts education program with its clarity, accessibility, and synthesis of current acting theories.
  • Uses well-organized, clear, and concise writing to make it very user-friendly.

  • A new summary of each step in the acting process can be found at the end each chapter, providing students with a handy synthesis of what they are learning.
  • Reorganized with the addition of new material on text analysis, offering students a deeper understanding of the acting process.
  • New scene from The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams added to existing sample scenes from A Raisin in the Sun, Zoot Suit, and Cheers, expanding the focus of the book.
  • Revised appendix of play anthologies is included for further student exploration.
  • Extensively rewritten according to suggestions from users to be even more clear and readable, avoiding jargon.
  • Free Teacher’s Guide available at www.robertbenedetti.com.

Each Part and Chapter concludes with “Summary.”

 

Preface.

 

I. UNDERSTANDING ACTING.

 

Why Study Acting?

 

1. What Does an Actor Do?

            Acting in Everyday Life

            The Tradition of the Actor

            Getting into the Tradition

 

2. Action in Life and in Performance.

            Action in Everyday Life

            Action and Drama

            Believability in Life and in Performance

 

3. Internal and External Action.

            Interactions

 

4. Understanding Emotion and Character.

            Emotion

            Character and the Magic If

            The Actor in You

 

5. The Actor’s State of Mind.

            Dual Consciousness

            Indicating

 

II. PREPARING YOURSELF TO ACT.

            The Creative State

 

6. Relaxation and Centering.

            Relaxation

            Finding Center

 

7. Breathing, Sound, and Moving from Center.

            Your Relationship to Gravity

            The Cycle of Energy

 

8. Creating Together.

            Creating a Scene

 

III. PREPARING TO REHEARSE: ANALYZING THE SCRIPT.

            Discipline

            The Purpose of Analysis

            Sample Scenes

            A Scene of Your Own

 

9. Dramatic Function.

            Supporting Characters and Individual Scenes

            Function and Recognition Traits

 

10. Play and Scene Structure.

            Finding the Crisis

            Units and Levels of Action

 

11. The Given Circumstances.

            Who

            Where

            When

            What

 

IV. REHEARSAL.

            Getting and Giving Notes

 

12. Personalization.

            Emotional Recall and Substitution

 

13. Inner Action.

            The Stimulus

            Automatic and Spontaneous Actions

            Choice

            The Inner Monologue

 

14. Actions and Objectives.

            Defining Useful Objectives

            Playable Actions

            Direct and Indirect Action: Subtext

            Not Doing

            Obstacles and Counter-Actions

 

15. Scenario, Score, Through-Line, and Superobjective.

            The Score

            Through-Line and Superobjective

            Personalizing the Superobjective

 

16. Final Rehearsals and Performance.

            Blocking

            Shaping and Pacing

            Spontaneity

            Emotion in Performance

            Evaluating Your Work

 

Afterword: Your Sense of Purpose.

 

Appendix A: Sample Scenes.

            Scene 1: From The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

            Scene 2: From A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

            Scene 3: From Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez

            Scene 4: From Cheers by Tom Reeder

 

Appendix B: Suggested Plays and Anthologies.

            Plays

            Play Anthologies

            Anthologies for Students of Color

 

Glossary.

 

Index.

 

    The Actor in You serves as an introduction to beginning acting by helping students realize that they already possess the basic skills of an actor.

     

    By drawing the principles of acting from observations about everyday behavior, this text shows students how they already possess many acting skills. Acclaimed for its direct and enjoyable writing style, The Actor in You draws on exercises and examples from students’ everyday lives, well-known plays, and popular television programs to lead the beginning student through the process of creating a role. Organized in sixteen steps that can correspond to the weeks of a typical semester, the fourth edition of The Actor in You continues to provide a direct, concise presentation of acting fundamentals for beginning students.

     

  • 0205542085Actor in You, The: Sixteen Simple Steps to Understanding the Art of Acting, 4/E
    Benedetti
    © 2009 | Allyn & Bacon | Paper; 160 pages | Instock
    ISBN-10: 0205542085 | ISBN-13: 9780205542086
    Brief Description | Buy from myPearsonStore

The Actor in You serves as an introduction to beginning acting by helping students realize that they already possess the basic skills of an actor.

This text enhances the student’s appreciation of the art of acting by helping them realize that they already possess, in principle, the following skills: the ability to play a role, the ability to fulfill the sense of drama and to structure dramatic scenes, and the capacity to express emotion. Without losing its simplicity, directness, and enjoyable writing style, this revised and enlarged edition has benefited from helpful suggestions by teachers who have used it successfully in the classroom. Drawing exercises and examples from students’ everyday lives and from well-known films and television programs, Benedetti succeeds in deducing dramatic principles from those experiences and then applying them to everyday life for artistic purpose. Still organized in sixteen steps meant to correspond to the weeks of a typical semester or school year, The Actor in You provides a direct, concise presentation and explanation of fundamentals for beginning students.

Features

  • Includes both individual and group exercises throughout to help students realize and experience the basic skills of acting.
  • Provides balanced coverage of acting for both stage and camera by drawing on principles from film and television and extending them to the stage.
  • Advocates an appreciation of a variety of styles, techniques, and approaches.
  • Includes practical and helpful exercises at the conclusion of each chapter.
  • Fits any liberal arts education program with its clarity, accessibility, and synthesis of current acting theories.
  • Uses well-organized, clear, and concise writing to make it very user-friendly.

About the Author

A multiple Emmy and Peabody Award-winning film producer and distinguished teacher of acting, Robert Benedetti received his PhD from Northwestern University. He was an early member of Chicago’s Second City Theatre, and then taught acting for over thirty years at schools such as Carnegie-Mellon University, The National Theatre School of Canada, and the University of California. He has directed at many regional theatres, including the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre and the Melbourne Theatre Company, and at various Shakespeare festivals.

As President of Ted Danson’s Anasazi Productions, he won Emmys for producing Miss Evers’ Boys and A Lesson Before Dying for HBO. Benedetti has written six books on acting and film production, including THE ACTOR AT WORK and ACTION! Acting for Film and Television. He was Chairman of Theatre at York University in Toronto, Head of Acting Program at the Yale Drama School, and Dean of Theatre at The California Institute of the Arts. He is now on the faculty at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Most recently Professor Benedetti was honored with the Lifetime Career Achievement Award for 2005 from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.

Praise for The Actor in You

Mr. Benedetti’s text is concise and inspiring. Students will see it as an invaluable guide second only to their instructor.

- Kimberly M. Chin, Bakersfield College

The writing style is clear and to the point. Many acting texts…inundate the reader with anecdotes. My students like the fact that Benedetti gets to the point quickly and has practical exercises at the end of each chapter. 

- Bob Wagner, Barton College

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