"This original comedy about motherhood rips away the gauzy mask of parenthood to reveal what all mothers know but don't always talk about: it's overwhelming and exhausting, but also very, very funny." --from cover.

A New York Times Notable Book A Library Journal Best Book of 2021 A “marvelous…superbly effective” (The New Yorker) debut novel about a young woman coming of age with a dazzling yet damaged mother who lived and loved in extremes. Met by rave reviews in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and more, this stunning translation of Violaine Huisman’s “witty, immersive autofiction showcases a Parisian childhood with a charismatic, depressed parent” (Oprah Daily). Beautiful and magnetic, Catherine, a.k.a. “Maman,” smokes too much, drives too fast, laughs too hard, and loves too extravagantly, and her daughter Violaine wouldn’t have it any other way. But when Maman is hospitalized after a third divorce and a breakdown, everything changes. Even as Violaine and her sister long for their mother’s return, once she’s back Maman’s violent mood swings and flagrant disregard for personal boundaries soon turn their home into an emotional landmine. As the story of Catherine’s own traumatic childhood and adolescence unfolds, the pieces come together to form an indelible portrait of a mother as irresistible as she is impossible, as triumphant as she is transgressive. With spectacular ferocity of language, a streak of dark humor, and stunning emotional bravery, The Book of Mother is an exquisitely wrought story of a mother’s dizzying heights and devastating lows, and a daughter who must hold her memory close in order to surrender, and finally move on.

Drawing on conversations with hundreds of women about their genitalia, the author presents a collection of performance pieces from her one-woman show of the same name.

Through the deconstruction of these monologues, actors will learn to develop and maintain solo scenes that will communicate six important elements about their casting suitability. Developing the proper mindset and applying this deconstruction process will best prepare the actor for selecting an appropriate monologue from any source and delivering achievable performance goals.

In this companion volume to her highly successful Callback, Ginger Howard Friedman, a veteran casting director, playwright and teacher, reveals her winning formula for a monologue audition that lands you the part. She explains her essential rules for a successful audition, then selects scenes from 16 plays and adapts them into monologues, comic and serious, for men and women of all ages.

An indispensable ally for actors terrified by monolgue. Poggi's acclaimed technique combines improvisation and textual analysis to help beginners and pros alike improve solo performance.

A wide ranging selection of some of the best stage monologues from the last ten years. The book provides a varied and dramatic challenge for the professional, student and amateur actor, for auditions, classes or rehearsals.

"The Big Book of Molière Monologues brings you over 160 New Molière Monologues! Classical Monologues they haven't seen before! You get winning insight into seventeen Molière plays, and an understanding of the funniest playwright who ever walked the boards! With precise stylistic/acting advice from adaptor and master actor, Timothy Mooney, you can showcase your classical abilities a their very best!"--Cover

"All the elements of preparing a monologue audition - script analysis, staging, voice, timing, gesture, movement and self-presentation skills - are thoroughly explored here. The goal of the book, as Ms. Kohlhaas states in her Introduction, is not only to help you prepare for auditions, but to make working on monologues a regular and enjoyable part of your acting life. As you follow the author along the path she charts, you are not only learning to rehearse monologues effectively, you are learning to turn auditions into exciting ways to grow and challenge yourself as an actor."--BOOK JACKET.