Audition
By Michael Shurtleff

We hosted Michael Shurtleff in our theatre for one of his famous workshops, an unforgettable experience for all who attended.

This book is a clear-cut, instructive and entertaining guide to getting the part. It's chock-full of tips for making your audition come to life, and gives countless examples from Shurtleff's classes and theatre eperiences. (As a bonus, he recounts the auditions of Robert De Niro, Bette Midler, Barbra Streisand and others!)

Shurtleff's guideposts are useful not just for auditions, but for the acting process in general. (He taught the same approach in the Scene Study class conducted at the BBT.) Audition provides a good starting point for anyone looking to develop a role.

Acting, A Handbook of the Stanislavski Method
Compiled by Toby Cole

Introduction by Lee Strasberg

Known the world over, the name Stanislavski has become a theatre byword even among those unfamiliar with the method itself. Page for page, we believe there is more practical information in this book than may be found in most other books on the art of acting. First published in 1947, Dodie has hers, get yours before it's out of print!

Respect for Acting
by Uta Hagen

with Haskel Frankel

"I have attempted to break down all the areas in which you can work and search for realities in yourself which serve the character and the play. Put your instincts and sense of truth, your understanding of human realities to use while probing and grappling with the content and the roots of the material. Be specific and real in your actions, and they will communicate your artistic statement." - Uta Hagen

Acting Power An Introduction To Acting
by Robert Cohen

An excellent basic text for the beginning young adult or adult actor. Somewhat theoretical, but for the student sometimes a little theory goes a long way!

"Theatre, after all, is the art we make out of ourselves. It requires, in the end, neither scenery, nor costumes, nor lighting fixtures,...It does not even require a text...Theatre is as vital as life, as cruel as death, and as unfathomable as unconscious experience..." - Robert Cohen

Improvisation for the Theatre
By Viola Spolin

"Don't tell me -- show me." Spolin's book was written to help acting students (and their teachers) do just that. Her tool: improvisational games, to get actors to think on and with their feet. (One of her exercises is "Feet and Legs Alone," in which the actor has to illustrate who he is, what he is doing, and how he is feeling with just his feet and legs.)

Improvisation may not directly help in developing character; the games are better suited for acting classes rather than for rehearsal. Also, some of the material (such as the chapter on workshop procedures) is more relevant for teachers rather than students. But the most useful part of the book -- the exercises themselves -- will aid actors in learning how to show, not tell.