Showing titles in Acting & Auditioning

Actor-dancer Alyson Stoner narrates her revelatory and incisive memoir—from family violence and betrayal, to eating disorders and religious trauma—which may begin in Hollywood, but its chilling relatability will resonate with anyone navigating identity, privacy, purpose, and mental health in a digital age.

Stella Adler was one of the 20th Century's greatest figures. She is arguably the most important teacher of acting in American history. Over her long career, both in New York and Hollywood, she offered her vast acting knowledge to generations of actors, including Marlon Brando, Warren Beatty, and Robert De Niro. The great voice finally ended in the early 1990s. But, her decades of experience and teaching have been brilliantly captured and encapsulated by Howard Kissel, in the 22 lessons you'll hear in this audiobook.

First published in 1961, this is the autobiography of Harpo Marx, the silent comedian of The Marx Brothers fame. Always silent on the stage and screen, Harpo speaks for the first time and shares the story of his remarkable life with humor, intelligence, and love. A truly gifted musician, brilliant comic, and wonderful person, Harpo comes alive in Harpo Speaks.

Every time we open our mouths, we have an effect on ourselves and the way others perceive us. The ability to speak clearly and confidently can make or break a presentation, an important meeting, or even a first date. Now, with the advent of Skype, YouTube, podcasting, Vine, and any number of reality talent competitions, your vocal presence has never been more necessary for success or more central to achieving your dreams.

Jenna Fischer's Hollywood journey began at the age of 22 when she moved to Los Angeles from her hometown of St. Louis. She was determined, confident, and ready to work hard. So, what could go wrong? Uh, basically everything. The path to being a professional actor was so much more vast and competitive than she’d imagined. It would be eight long years before she landed her iconic role on The Office, nearly a decade of frustration, rejection, and doubt. If only she’d had a handbook for the aspiring actor. Or, better yet, someone to show her the way. Jenna wants to be that person for you.

Fine On Acting is a must-listen for the aspiring and seasoned actor alike. In an ever-changing industry landscape, Fine's groundbreaking approach continues to make the craft accessible by covering the essentials: Common Mistakes, Auditions & Self-Tapes, Rehearsal Exercises, Script Analysis, Stage Acting vs. On-Camera Acting, and much more. In this book, actors will find valuable advice for overcoming nerves, memorizing lines, troubleshooting challenging situations in rehearsal and role preparation, and how to become what Fine calls the "Total Actor".

Interested in pursuing a career in VO? Curious what goes on behind the scenes in a business where people talk funny for money? This updated edition of the award-winning audiobook offers a fun and comprehensive look at what it takes, what goes on, and what it's like behind the mic from two (still) working pros who started from scratch.

Since its original publication in 1973, Uta Hagen's Respect for Acting has remained a durable classic for all students of acting. As an acting instructor at the Herbert Berghof Studio, Hagen helped to develop the talents of world-class actors like Robert DeNiro, Matthew Broderick, Gene Wilder, Amanda Peet, Austin Pendleton, Whoopi Goldberg, and more. This updated edition illuminates Hagen's original text with a new foreword written by Katie Finneran, retaining the David Hyde Pierce foreword, along with added background on HB Studio.

Have you ever dreamed of getting paid to use your voice—without spending years figuring it out? Whether you’re starting from scratch or already dipped your toes into the voiceover world, "From Broke To Booked" gives you the real, unfiltered roadmap to building a profitable voice acting career, even if you’ve never stepped inside a recording booth before.

Welcome to "Emotional Preparation Volume II", the latest installment in Simon Blake's acclaimed series dedicated to empowering performers with the emotional tools necessary for genuine and captivating artistry. This volume delves into the vast landscape of human emotion, providing actors, musicians, and creatives with an expansive resource of 325 carefully curated emotions to enrich their performances and deepen their creative expression.

Second Act: A Working Actor’s Handbook is part memoir, part masterclass, and all heart. Drawing from a deeply personal return to the business after decades away, Rob DeRosa offers a no-fluff survival guide for actors navigating co-star roles, stage performances, auditions, set life, and the emotional rollercoaster of working in film, television, and theater.

Prepping songs for Musical Theatre auditions can be more stressful and confusing than a bad production of Sweeney Todd... but this book can help. Adam Wachter has taught courses on audition repertoire selection at top conservatories in the US and UK and spent years accompanying and sitting "behind the table" in auditions for everything from university programs to Broadway shows. This friendly and accessible guide is designed to answer all your questions and help you stock that rep book with tight cuts of great songs so you can walk into your next audition and totally nail it.

In Leave the Gun. Take the Callback., a mob boss trades his life of crime to educate an associate about auditioning and booking the role. With a sharp tongue and a heart of gold, he dishes out advice that’s equal parts hilarious and heartfelt. Actors will find wisdom in his unconventional methods, learning that every rejection is just a step toward success.

Uta Hagen, one of the world's most renowned stage actresses, also taught acting for more than 40 years at the HB Studio in New York. Her first book, Respect for Acting, published in 1973, remains a best seller in print. In this brand new audio edition of her second classic book, A Challenge for the Actor, she greatly expands her thinking about acting in a work that brings the full flowering of her artistry, both as an actor and as a teacher.

In Toast on Toast - part memoir, part "how to act" manual - Steven Toast draws on his vast and varied experiences, providing the reader with an invaluable insight into his journey from school plays to RADA and from "It's a Right Royal Knockout" to the Colony Club. Along the way he reveals the secrets of his success. He discloses how to brush up on and expand your technical and vocal skills, how to nail a professional voiceover, and how to deal with difficult work experience staff in a recording studio....

Divided into four sections - Status, Spontaneity, Narrative Skills, and Masks and Trance - and arranged more or less in the order a group might approach them, the audiobook sets out the specific techniques and exercises which Johnstone has himself found most useful and most stimulating. The result is both an audiobook of ideas and a fascinating exploration of the nature of spontaneous creativity.

Sanford Meisner was one of the best known and beloved teachers of acting in the country. This audiobook follows one of his acting classes for 15 months, beginning with the most rudimentary exercises and ending with affecting and polished scenes from contemporary American plays. Written in collaboration with Dennis Longwell, it is essential listening for beginning and professional actors alike. Throughout this audiobooks, Meisner is a delight - always empathizing with his students and urging them onward, provoking emotion, laughter, and growing technical mastery from his charges.

Constantin Stanislavski (1863-1938), arguably the most influential director in the history of the theater, was the founder of the renowned Moscow Art Theater. A pioneer of psychological realism and improvisation on the stage, he devoted his life to developing the performance techniques now emulated throughout the world.

Instead of starting with what is real and trying to wrestle that onto the screen, Patrick Tucker explains how to work with the realities of a shoot and work from there toward the real. His step by step guide to the elements of effective screen acting is an extension and explanation of a lifetime of work in the field, containing over 50 acting exercises and the tried-and-tested screen acting checklist.

The casting director for Chicago, Pippin, Becket, Gypsy, The Graduate, The Sound of Music, and Jesus Christ Superstar tells you how you can find your dream role! Absolutely everything an actor needs to know to get the part is here: What to do that moment before; how to use humour; how to create mystery; how to develop a distinct style; and how to evaluate the place, the relationships, and the competition. In fact, Audition is a necessary guide to dealing with all the "auditions" we face in life. This is the bible on the subject.