...

Theatre Books *
2008 -- THR Books @ Amazon

"Read" -- my first word to a theatre major.

Plays.

And next -- more plays.

If in your mind you can direct, act, design each play you read, you will work professionally. Learn to do it without thinking about it. You can, it's just a matter of practice. Read one play a day and see for yourself.

Read the classics. Not for your classes, for yourself. The beauty of theatre that each script is YOUR showcase. The beauty of drama that it is always an open structure. More than other literary genre. It's "under-written"... Look at the page -- what are those stage directions if not directions for you? In a novel they describe it, in the play I do it! "Enter, exit" -- How? See it.

Plays ask for my participation. It's theatre. Let me do it... you won't notice how the public will appear...

Do you know how to read plays?

I know you can read, but can you read music?

The same with the plays. You must learn the notation.

Books on Acting
Theatre Bookshelf
Monologue I
Monologue Books, Part 2
MonoBooks III
Reference Books

Go to theory directory! Yes, on acting! 24hour-act, acting, audience, auditions, directing, director, rehearse, system, warmups and more!

Summary

All I can do is to post the links to amazon...

Kabuki-Style
^ This is DramLit "showcase" ^

Notes

Shrew2004

chekhov theatre

Actor's Reading List
with my comments
When I get free examination textbooks, I feel guilty. Usually, I do not send my comments to the publisher. In most cases only because I do not like the book. Since this is my page, my opinion could be appropriate in here. But first, just a list of basic reference books.
The Americas (World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre, Volume 2) The second volume of The World Encyclopedia of Theatre documents artistic development all over the Americas, country by country. overall, the columes record and analyze world theatre in some 177 countries from 1945 to the present day.

  1. Summer Theatre Directory 1999:
    A National Guide to Summer Employment for Professionals and Students: Performers (Equity & Non-Equity), Directors
  2. Regional Theatre Directory : 1998-99
  3. Tcg Theatre Directory 1998-99
  4. The Complete Make-Up Artist: Working in Film, Television and Theatre
  5. Makeup for Theatre, Film & Television : A Step-By-Step Photographic Guide
  6. Wigs and Make-Up for Theatre, Television and Film
  7. Wilhelmina's Modeling & Acting Dictionary - Natasha Esch, 1994
  8. Coming to Terms With Acting: An Instructive Glossary - Doug Moston, Frank Corsaro, 1993
  9. Acting and Stage Movements
  10. The Actor and His Double: Mime and Movement for the Theatre of Cruelty
  11. Creative Drama and Music Methods: Introductory Activities for Children
  12. Movement Training for the Stage and Screen: The Organic Connection Between Mind, Spirit, and Body
  13. Acting and Stage Movements - Edwin C. White, Marguerite Battye, 1985
  14. Amateur Dramatics - Jack Cassin-Scott, 1992
  15. Hi Concept-Lo Tech : Theatre for Everyone in Any Place - Barbara Carlisle, Don Drapeau, 1996
  16. Play Directing in the School : A Drama Director's Survival Guide - David Grote, 1998
  17. Play Director's Survival Kit : A Complete Step-By-Step Guide to Producing Theater in Any School or Community Setting - James W. Rodgers, Wanda C. Rodgers, 1997
  18. Theater and the Adolescent Actor : Building a Successful School Program - Camille L. Poisson, 1994
  19. Directory of Theatre Training Programs: Profiles of College and Conservatory Programs Throughout the United States (1997-1999)
  20. Acting in Restoration Comedy (The Applause Acting Series)- Simon Callow, Paper 1991
  21. Kiss and Tell: Restoration Comedy of Manners : Monologues, Scenes and Historical Context - Michael Bigelow Dixon, Michele Volansky (Editor), Paper 1993
By Means of Performance : Intercultural Studies of Theatre and Ritual by Richard Schechner The field of performance studies covers all kinds of performance behavior in all contexts. This volume investigates performance behavior in a variety of circumstances and cultures. The contributors consider such issues as the relationship between training and the finished performance; whether performance behavior is universal or culturally specific; and the relationships among ritual and aesthetics, popular entertainment and religion, and sports and theater and dance.
Aphrodite - 200X Aesthetics
Breaking the Rules: The Wooster Group For the last 25 years, The Wooster Group has been one of the most influential and important experimental theatre groups in the country. They have managed, along with such contemporaries as Richard Foreman and Robert Wilson, to redefine the boundaries of what theatre is and what it can do while all the while having a wonderfully fun and zany time. This book not only gives in-depth analysis of seven of the group's pieces, but also manages to record the feelings and personalities of the group members through the countless interviews and dialogues represented. The result is a terrifically informative book which captures much of the unique collaborative process that goes into each work, each one a theatrical "explosion" of visceral excitement. However, like all experimental theatre, it is terribly difficult to really represent theatre that is not based on standard written texts; a production of the Wooster Group must be experienced first-hand in conjunction with this book to really appreciate what the troupe has achieved. Any reader must also recognize that although this is the only text devoted solely to the Soho performers, it is, at the time of this review, twelve years old and does not represent the current productions but rather the processes and experiements, constructions and deconstructions, odds and ends that led to what they are today. Greek Tragic Theatre (Theatre Production Studies) Emphasizing the political nature of Greek tragedy, as theatre of, by and for the polis, Rush Rehm Characterizes Athens as a performance culture, one in which the theatre stood alongside other public forums as a place to confront matters of import and moment. In treating the various social, religious and practical aspects of tragic production, he shows how these elements promoted a vision of the theatre as integral to the life of the city--a theatre whose focus was on the audience. The Grotowski Sourcebook (Worlds of Performance) This highly acclaimed volume is the first to provide a comprehensive overview of Jerzy Grotowski's long and multi-faceted career.
Meyerhold
Walk-BM