An invaluable guide to the traditions and best practices of the professional stage actor, from first rehearsal to final curtain. Professional stage actors are expected to have ready knowledge of a multitude of unwritten yet well-established protocols. Traditionally, this knowledge was passed along from one generation of stage actors to the next via word of mouth, or were learned by having one’s missteps corrected—until now. In The Stage Actor’s Handbook, these protocols have finally been assembled into one volume, allowing theatre artists to know in advance what is expected of them. A definitive guide for professionals and aspiring professionals alike, this book details best practices on everything from rehearsal demeanor to backstage etiquette. It also shares the theatre’s unique vernacular and revered superstitions, as well as field-tested guidelines on touring, interactions with the public, and more. Written by established theatre pros Michael Kostroff (The Producers, Les Misérables)and Julie Garnyé (Cats, Come From Away), The Stage Actor’s Handbook features bits of wisdom contributed by legendary stage actors, including Bebe Neuwirth, John Lithgow, Chita Rivera, Alfred Molina, Billy Porter, Betty Buckley, Harvey Fierstein, Sam Waterston, Jason Alexander, Cynthia Nixon, and Sir Patrick Stewart.

April 14, 1865. A famous actor pulls a trigger in the presidential balcony, leaps to the stage and escapes, as the president lies fatally wounded. In the panic that follows, forty-six terrified people scatter in and around Ford’s Theater as soldiers take up stations by the doors and the audience surges into the streets chanting, “Burn the place down!” This is the untold story of Lincoln’s assassination: the forty-six stage hands, actors, and theater workers on hand for the bewildering events in the theater that night, and what each of them witnessed in the chaos-streaked hours before John Wilkes Booth was discovered to be the culprit. In Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination, historian Thomas A. Bogar delves into previously unpublished sources to tell the story of Lincoln’s assassination from behind the curtain, and the tale is shocking. Police rounded up and arrested dozens of innocent people, wasting time that allowed the real culprit to get further away. Some closely connected to John Wilkes Booth were not even questioned, while innocent witnesses were relentlessly pursued. Booth was more connected with the production than you might have known—learn how he knew each member of the cast and crew, which was a hotbed of secessionist resentment. Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination also tells the story of what happened to each of these witnesses to history, after the investigation was over—how each one lived their lives after seeing one of America’s greatest presidents shot dead without warning. Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination is an exquisitely detailed look at this famous event from an entirely new angle. It is must reading for anyone fascinated with the saga of Lincoln’s life and the Civil War era.

Worried about short rehearsal time? Think that fluffing your lines will be the end of your career? Are you afraid you'll be typecast? Is there such a thing as acting too much? How should a stage actor adjust performance for a camera? And how should an actor behave backstage? The Actor's Survival Handbook gives you answers to all these questions and many more. Written with verve and humor, this utterly essential tool speaks to every actor's deepest concerns. Drawing upon their years of experience on stage, backstage, and with the camera, Patrick Tucker and Christine Ozanne offer forthright advice on topics from breathing to props, commitment to learning lines, audience response to simply landing the job in the first place. The book is rich with examples - both technical and inspirational. And because a director and an actor won't always agree, the two writers sometimes even offer alternative responses to a dilemma, giving the reader both an actor's take and a director's take on a particular point. Like Patrick Tucker's Secrets of Screen Acting, this new book is written with wit and passion, conveying the authors' powerful conviction that success is within every actor's grasp.

An indispensable reference for actors, singers, and dancers, The Back Stage Actor's Handbook has been totally updated to guide tomorrow's performing artist to success.

* A unique series of photographs that go behind the scenes in London theaters, capturing world renowned actors before they go on stage* Includes a foreword by Cate Blanchett* "Simon Annand is one of the most amazing photographers I have had the pleasure of working with. He is an individualist with an eye for the unusual." - Dame Judi Dench, actorBritish photographer Simon Annand has been shooting candid photographs backstage at West End theaters in London for 35 years. In these meditative portraits, often shot in the intimate space of the dressing room, he captures the focus and tension of world-class actors right before they go on the stage. Actors such as Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal and Judi Dench are seen in these moments of vulnerability, which every actor experiences no matter how long they have been working. Time to Act, with an introduction by Cate Blanchett, contains a hand-picked selection of Simon Annand's remarkable and unique portraits.

Everyacting student and working actor needs a copy of this book! Here’s the essential guide to surviving and thriving as an actor in regional theaters. The thousands and thousands of students in the hundreds and hundreds of acting programs all over the country would all love to become stars right out of school—but the reality of a career in acting usually means honing the craft at regional theaters.The Back Stage Guide to Working in Regional Theaterincludes a history of the movement and a description of each of the League of Regional Theater (LORT) houses in the U.S, plus sections on personal marketing for the actor, the business of acting, strategies and career planning. Essential web sites, a sample organizational chart, contact names, a guide to theater unions, and listings of more than 100 theaters across the country makeThe Back Stage Guide to Regional Theatera must-have for every actor who’s working or wants to be. • Full listings for every regional theater in the US • Valuable information on websites, resources, getting organized • Helps acting students find employers near home or school while they train

For anyone who has ever wanted to take an acting class, "this is the best book on acting written in the last twenty years" (David Mamet, from the Introduction). This book describes a technique developed and refined by the authors, all of them young actors, in their work with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet, actor W. H. Macy, and director Gregory Mosher. A Practical Handbook for the Actor is written for any actor who has ever experienced the frustrations of acting classes that lacked clarity and objectivity, and that failed to provide a dependable set of tools. An actor's job, the authors state, is to "find a way to live truthfully under the imaginary circumstances of the play." The ways in which an actor can attain that truth form the substance of this eloquent book.

Ever wonder what it’s like to be a real working actor? Wonder no more! Michael Kostroff is here to reveal, in hilarious detail, just what it’s like to travel with the road companies of The Producers and Les Miserables. His firsthand account of the exciting, funny, and sometimes bizarre highlights of his journey includes working at a temp job when his agent calls to say, “You got the part!”; singing on a revolving stage while lugging a dead body; seeing ghosts in haunted theaters; and much more. Along the way, anecdotes about nailing an audition, keeping a performance fresh, and getting along with fellow cast members give useful tips for working actors. Anyone who wants to know what a life in the theater is really like needs this intimate and unforgettable narrative.

"A new companion edition to the Masterpiece presentation on PBS"--Jacket.

The standard reference for actors, singers, and dancers, The Back Stage Handbook for Performing Artists has been totally updated to guide tomorrow's stage, radio, TV, and film personalities to employment and success. This thoroughly rewritten, improved edition is the first to focus upon job-hunting and employment opportunities in a wide range of performance fields. The reader will harvest essential information and vital tips on jobs in summer stock, regional theatre, children's theatre, and more; expanding career possibilities in non-broadcast media such as audiotapes and CD-ROM; working in soap opera, radio, industrial shows, and student films; areas of interest for singers, such as cabaret and performing commercial jingles; opportunities for stand-up comics and other solo performers; sources of income, such as voice-overs, that can develop into lucrative careers; and employment at theme parks, in museums, and on cruise ships. These performance fields - some of them explored here for the first time in any book - are examined in essays originally prepared for the performance arts weekly Back Stage. In each essay, show-biz experts share their knowledge on how to find a break and nurture a career with confidence. Their advice is supplemented by resource listings of names, addresses, and phone numbers of agents, managers, union offices, and producing organizations - the people who hire, promote, and foster the careers of performers. There is even advice on how talented people can avoid being taken advantage of in the rough-and-tumble business side of the performing arts.