Using Open Scenes as a "way in" to scripted material, this book establishes a foundational actor training methodology that can be applied to the performance of film or television acting, commercials, and theatrical realism. Unlike other methodologies, this unique approach is devoid of casting considerations or imposed identity, providing actors opportunities that do not rely on nor are restricted by age, gender, race, ethnicity, regional accent, body type, identity, or other defining or delimiting aspects that come into play during the casting process. This allows the actor to focus on personal authenticity as they develop their skills. This book will appeal to undergraduate students, acting teachers, and the contemporary actor seeking a career in film, television, or other electronic media. Visit the companion website www.usingopenscenestoactsuccessful.godaddysites.com for additional Open Scenes and more.

(Applause Books). A master actor who's appeared in an enormous number of films, starring with everyone from Nicholson to Kermit the Frog, Michael Caine is uniquely qualified to provide his view of making movies. This revised and expanded edition features great photos, with chapters on: Preparation, In Front of the Camera Before You Shoot, The Take, Characters, Directors, On Being a Star, and much more. "Remarkable material ... A treasure ... I'm not going to be looking at performances quite the same way ... FASCINATING!" Gene Siskel

SHOWTIME is the follow-up book to Monologues: Dramatic Monologues For Actors. It is contains 16 hilarious comedic scenes for two actors that range from one to ten minutes in length. All of the scenes are original and are taken from selected plays, films, and television pilots from Gregory's body of work. Like Monologues, SHOWTIME was written to fill a much needed void for comedic scenes for black and minority actors; although this book was written for actors of all races. There are the many unique characteristics in this book that separates it from similar books. The characters can be performs by anyone and there are plenty of scenes for males and females, males and males, older males and younger males, and so on. There are scenes that are appropriate for middle school actors all the way to professional actors. It is the perfect book to produce a show consisting of short comedic scenes for two actors. Also, it is the perfect book for directing funny scenes or shows at high school, colleges, or professional level. SHOWTIME was written to be a comedic actor and director's dream. The characters in each scene allow the actors to explore a different character through: researching, exploring, and understanding the motivation and objective necessary to bring the character to life. For the director, it allows him/her to utilize, enhance, broaden, and develop many of their skills necessary for directing full-scale productions. As a literary resource for educators, SHOWTIME includes: a chapter on vernacular, commonly used vernacular terms, a chapter on copyright infringement, a chapter on stage terminology, a chapter on film/television terminology and more. It is an excellent resource to teach: acting, scene study, and character development. SHOWTIME is original, the characters are diverse, very funny and lots of fun for acting, directing, or teaching.

If directing dramatic productions interests you, this book is a basic guide to show you know to apply the principles of directing to any dramatic medium - stage, television, or film. The authors, who have worked in all three media, illustrated how the principles of one medium relate to the other two.

Film and Television Acting offers solid techniques for creating a natural, believable performance for film and television. The reader will discover techniques for listening and reacting, blocking and business, character, focus, the closeup, and comedy as they pertain to acting in front of a camera. The book analyzes the differences between theatre, film, and television acting, providing the theatre trained actor with specific approaches for making the transition to on-camera work. This second edition is thoroughly revised and updated. The book contains numerous scenes and exercises, including sample scenes from Cheers and Seinfeld, which provide the reader with ways to practice the specific techniques outlined by the author. Included are interviews with well-know actors and directors: Don Murray, Norman Jewison, and Emmy award winner, Glenn Jordan, to name a few. These interviews illustrate how the professionals apply their training and technique to filmed performances. There is also a chapter-length interview with John Lithgow, in which the actor provides a first-hand account of the differences of acting for the theatre and for the camera.

"The central topic of A Fine Romance: Adapting Broadway to Hollywood in the Studio System Era is the symbiotic relationship between a dozen Broadway musicals and their Hollywood film adaptations spanning nearly a half century (1927-1972). The romance begins with the stage version of Show Boat and ends with Bob Fosse's cinematic 1972 re-envisioning of Cabaret. Between these end points are chapters on The Cat and the Fiddle, Roberta, Cabin in the Sky, Oklahoma!, On the Town, Brigadoon, Call Me Madam, Silk Stockings, West Side Story, and Flower Drum Song"--

Is theater really dead? Does the theater, as its champions insist, really provide a more intimate experience than film? If so, how have changes in cinematic techniques and technologies altered the relationship between stage and film? What are the inherent limitations of representing three-dimensional spaces in a two-dimensional one, and vice versa? American Drama in the Age of Filmexamines the strengths and weaknesses of both the dramatic and cinematic arts to confront the standard arguments in the film-versus-theater debate. Using widely known adaptations of ten major plays, Brietzke seeks to highlight the inherent powers of each medium and draw conclusions not just about how they differ, but how they ought to differ as well. He contrasts both stage and film productions of, among other works, David Mamet'sGlengarry Glen Ross, Sam Shepard'sTrue West, Edward Albee'sWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Margaret Edson'sWit, Tony Kushner'sAngels in America, Tennessee Williams'sCat on a Hot Tin Roof, Arthur Miller'sDeath of a Salesman, and August Wilson'sThe Piano Lesson. In reading the dual productions of these works, Brietzke finds that cinema has indeed stolen much of theater's former thunder, by making drama more intimate, and visceral than most live events. But theater is still vital and matters greatly, Brietzke argues, though for reasons that run counter to many of the virtues traditionally attributed to it as an art form, such as intimacy and spontaneity. Brietzke seeks to revitalize perceptions of theater by challenging those common pieties and offering a new critical paradigm, one that champions spectacle and simultaneity as the most, not least, important elements of drama.

The 525 notable works of 19th and 20th century American fiction in this reference book have many stage, movie, television, and video adaptations. Each literary work is described and then every adaptation is examined with a discussion of how accurate the version is and how well it succeeds in conveying the spirit of the original in a different medium. In addition to famous novels and short stories by authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Willa Cather, many bestsellers, mysteries, children's books, young adult books, horror novels, science fiction, detective stories, and sensational potboilers from the past two centuries are examined.

William Shakespeare not only influenced the theatre of his contemporary age, but his influence on theatre comes down to our own age. His stagecraft, theatre architecture, and theatrical effects leave an indelible influence on Greek, Roman, Indian, Kabuki, and Western Theatre. This stagecraft of Shakespearean theatre helped the smooth and spontaneous flow of the action. This encompassed the human emotions and feelings. It proved purgative for the human heart. Shakespeare enlivened the printed page of the drama. The present work describes the comparative study of various theatre forms of East and West. Shakespeare successfully established a deep emotional relationship between the actors and the audience. The theatre became a passionate urge for the people with Shakespeare.

This timely collection explores the politics of female celebrity across a range of contemporary and historical media contexts. Amidst concerns about the apparent 'decline' in the currency of modern fame ('famous for being famous'), as well as debates about the shifting parameters of public/private visibility, it is female celebrities who are positioned as the most active discursive terrain. This collection seeks to interrogate such phenomena by forging a greater conceptual, theoretical and historical dialogue between celebrity studies and critical gender studies. It takes as its starting point the understanding that female celebrity is a particularly fraught cultural phenomenon with ideological and industrial implications that warrant careful scrutiny. In moving across case studies from the 19th century to the present day, this book works from the assumption that the case study should play a crucial role in generating debate about the dialogue between 'past' and 'present', and the individual essays seek to reflect this spirit of enquiry