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Actor in You, The: Sixteen Simple Steps to Understanding the Art of Acting, 4/E
Robert Benedetti, California Institute of the Arts

ISBN-10: 0205542085
ISBN-13: 9780205542086

Publisher: Allyn & Bacon
Copyright: 2009
Format: Paper; 160 pp
Published: 12/27/2007

Suggested retail price: $46.40
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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.

 

  • Includes both individual and group exercises throughout to help students explore and experience the basic skills and processes of acting.
  • Provides balanced coverage of acting for both stage and camera by drawing on principles and examples from film and television.
  • Advocates an appreciation of a variety of styles, techniques, and approaches.
  • Includes practical and helpful exercises in 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.

  • Reorganized into four parts: Understanding Acting, Preparing Yourself to Act, Analyzing the Script, and Rehearsal, making it easier for teachers to design their own sequencing of the material.

  • Incorporates new material on text analysis guiding students to a deeper understanding of the psychophysical aspects of dramatic language, with special attention to rhythm and melody.

  • Presents new materialon the history of the modern actor.
  • More performance exercises, from improvisations to the preparation of a scene, step by step. 
  • Greater emphasis on movement.

  • Includes more performance exercises, from improvisations to the preparation of a scene. 

  • Extensively rewritten according to suggestions from users to be even more clear and readable, avoiding jargon.
  • Complimentary Teacher’s Guide available at www.robertbenedetti.com.

P A R T O N E      The Actor’s Art

1. Understanding the Actor’s Job and Tradition

The Tradition of the Actor

Getting into the Tradition

Summary of Step 1

 

2. Discovering Action

Stanislavski’s View of Action

Making Action Stageworthy

Using Action In a Scene

Summary of Step 2

 

3. Experiencing Internal and External Action

Interactions

Summary of Step 3

 

4. Understanding Emotion and Character

Character and the Magic If

The Actor in You

Summary of Step 4

Summary of Part One

 

P A R T T W O    Preparing Yourself to Act

5. Relaxing and Centering

Relaxation

Finding Center

Summary of Step 5

 

6. Breathing, Sounding, and Moving from Center

The Cycle of Energy

Your Relationship to Gravity

Phrasing Movement

Summary of Step 6

 

7. Collaboration

Seeing and Hearing

Pursuing an Objective

Summary of Step 7

 

8. Entering the Actor’s State of Mind

Public Solitude

Dual Consciousness

Indicating

Discipline

Summary of Step 8

Summary of Part Two

 

P A R T T H R E E     Preparing to Rehearse: Analyzing the Script

Selecting Your Scene

Example Scenes

9. Understanding Your Lines

Word Choice

Rhythm

Melody

Summary of Step 9

 

10. Understanding Play and Scene Structure

Finding the Crisis

Units of Action

Finding the Function and Crisis of the Scene

Summary of Step 10

 

11. Experiencing the Character’s Function and Given Circumstances

Function and Recognition Traits

The Given Circumstances

Who

Where

When

Summary of Step 11

Summary of Part Three

 

P A R T F O U R     Rehearsal

Getting and Giving Notes

12. Personalizing

Emotional Recall and Substitution

Summary of Step 12

 

13. Exploring Inner Action

The Stimulus

Automatic and Spontaneous Actions

Strategic Choice

The Inner Monologue

Summary of Step 13

 

14. Defining Objectives and Action

Defining Useful Objectives

Playable Strategic Actions

Direct and Indirect Action: Subtext

Not Doing

Obstacles and Counter-Actions

Summary of Step 14

 

15 Finding the Scenario, Score, Through-Line, and Superobjective

The Score

Through-Line and Superobjective

Personalizing the Superobjective

Summary of Step 15

 

16 Preparing for Performance

The Stage

Moving on Stage

Blocking

Shaping and Pacing

Spontaneity

Emotion in Performance

Evaluating Your Work

Summary of Step 16

Summary of Part Four

 

Afterword

Your Sense of Purpose

Appendix A

A Sample Television Scene

Appendix B

Suggested Plays and Anthologies

Plays

Play and Scene Anthologies

Anthologies for Students of Color

Glossary of Theater and Film Terminology

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.

     

    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.

  • 0205479804The Actor in You, 3/E
    Benedetti
    © 2006 | Allyn & Bacon | Paper; 160 pages | Instock
    ISBN-10: 0205479804 | ISBN-13: 9780205479801
    Brief Description

The Actor in You: Sixteen Simple Steps to Understanding the Art of Acting, 4/e

Robert Benedetti, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

 

 

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.

 

Features:

  • Includes both individual and group exercises to help students explore and experience the basic skills and processes of acting.
  • Provides balanced coverage of acting for both stage and camera by drawing on principles and examples from film and television.
  • Advocates an appreciation of a variety of styles, techniques, and approaches.

New to the Fourth Edition:

  • Reorganized into four parts: Understanding Acting, Preparing Yourself to Act, Analyzing the Script, and Rehearsal, making it easier for teachers to design their own sequencing of the material.
  • Incorporates new material on text analysis, guiding students to a deeper understanding of the psychophysical aspects of dramatic language, with special attention to rhythm and melody.
  • Presents new material on the history of the modern actor.
  • Includes more performance exercises, from improvisations to the preparation of a scene. 

What reviewers are saying:

“The four part structure . . . makes sense and helps students to see the connection between their real-life experiences and those of the stage.”

— Ray Miller, Appalachian State University

 

“Finally, an acting text that places the process of acting in an easy step-by-step order from making the choice to act, acting exercises, text analysis, and final scene choices.”

—Johnna Maiorella, Adirondack Community College

 

“Mr. Benedetti is a master at speaking to the actor in clear and simple terms without sacrificing the integrity of the process. He shows obvious respect for the actor, and his principles and process described in The Actor in You are a valuable addition to any actor’s library.”

 — Matthew Andrews, Marist College

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