About the Book:

Ask any great actor how it happened and you will hear about a great acting teacher.

Finding the right acting technique is about as personal a decision an actor can make. It can also be painstaking. With clarity and insight, professional actor and teacher Richard Brestoff introduces the great acting teachers, explaining their techniques and how they are applied today. Beginning with the acting theories of Quintilian and François Delsarte, he guides you to the present with an inside look at what is currently being taught in the major acting schools and private acting studios; The Actor's Studio, Yale University, NYU, Juillard, and many more are visited.

The Great Acting Teachers and Their Methods will help you understand the most important ideas about acting techniques, where they originated and how they are used in training programs today. Some of the teachers focused on are Konstantin Stanislavsky (sometimes spelled "Stanislavski"), Stella Adler, Stanford Meisner, Lee Strasberg, Viola Spolin, Bertolt Brecht, Jerzy Grotowski, and Tadashi Suzuki. Each chapter includes a sample class, which gives you a feel for how the different teachers accomplished their objectives, and thereby equip you to choose the acting technique that's right for you.

What people say:

"...anyone serious about the profession of acting could benefit from the sound principles illuminated in this book." — The Coast Book Review Service

About the Author:

Richard Brestoff is a Professor of Drama in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts at the University of California, Irvine. He is an actor with credits on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in regional theatre, and in film, television and radio.