We accept PayPal, Visa & Mastercard
through our secure checkout.
|
The Presence of the Actor
The Presence of the Actor
|
Author: Joseph Chaikin Publisher: Theatre Communications Group Format: Softcover # of Pages: 162 Pub. Date: 1991 Edition: Reprint ISBN-10: 1559360305 ISBN-13: 9781559360302
|
About
the Book:
Illuminating notes on acting from
America's foremost champion of actor-led theatre.
Joseph Chaikin had a
profound effect on the development of modern theatre as
a sought after teacher and through his work with New York's Living
Theatre and Open Theatre Collective and San Francisco's Magic
Theatre. His long career as a renowned actor, theatre director,
teacher, and provocateur was as aesthetically adventurous and
influential as any in the annals of American stage. Beginning in the
late 1950s as a leading actor with the Living Theatre, continuing in
his collective-theatre experience as the innovative director of the
influential Open Theatre – to explore further the role of the actor
in creating new work – in the late 1960s and the Winter
Project in the 1970s, and including his ongoing accomplishments as a
solo performer in collaboration with such playwrights as Sam
Shepard and Jean-Claude van Itallie.
Joseph Chaikin was a lifelong teacher of acting and
directing who evolved techniques of performance and play-making that
challenge orthodoxy and encourages us all to re-conceive the
possibilities of theatre and our lives. His text The Presence of
the Actor, first published in 1972 and revised in 1991, has
continued to be influential, especially as a rehearsal and training
method in drama schools. It is a technique that uses energetic
physical exercises and improvisation to create the scenic and
atmospheric world of the play using the body of the performer.
The Presence of the Actor is a revered text among theatre
artists. Joseph Chaikin is so articulate about the spiritual
dimensions of performing in public and what it really means to be an
actor. Long considered a classic in the field,
the book is an idiosyncratically organized, conversationally
and highly inviting review of his efforts, detailing his working
methods and revealing the courageous physical, emotional and
technical struggles that went into the creation of some of the most
exciting, controversial and celebrated productions of all time.
What people say:
"A perceptive collection of
notes on acting, the history of the Open Theater, performance in
everyday life, theatre and society, and Chaikin's highly personal
experience of Brecht and Beckett. The right adjective, if it weren't
so overused, is stimulating." — Village Voice
"Traditional acting in America
has become a blend of that same kind of of synthetic 'feeling' and
sentimentality which characterizes the Fourth of July parade, Muzak,
church services and political campaigns." — Joseph
Chaikin in Presence of the Actor
"Since each person in the
audience, like each actor, possesses many different levels, you as an
actor are not imposing a level but rather locating one. In that
sense, the audience is made into yet other actors." —
Joseph Chaikin in Presence of the Actor
About the Author:
Joseph Chaikin (1935-2003) was an actor and director who
invigorated the American stage with his experimental Open Theater in
the late 1960's and early 1970's. He collaborated with Samuel Beckett and
Sam Shepard and staged works in the Joseph Papp Public Theater, Yale
Repertory, the Manhattan Theater Club, the Mark Taper Forum and many
other theaters. He was the recipient of six OBIE Awards (including
the first-ever for "Lifetime Achievement"), a Drama Desk
Award, two Guggenheim Fellowships and the National Endowment of the
Arts Distinguished Artist Fellowship Award.
|
|
|
|