NOTE PAD | by Ayanda Sithebe | FOUR BOOKS
Over the years through working with actors I have learnt to combine a number of technics. My approach is really influenced by the mix of iconic teachers which make up most this list. This mixture of books will help you get into the psychology of Acting. Reading is a very important aspect towards your development as an Actor.
1. “An Actor Prepares” by Constantin Stanislavsky
Stanislavski’s simple exercises fire the imagination, and help Actors not only discover their own conception of reality but how to reproduce it as well.
2. “Respect for Acting” by Uta Hagen
“Hagen adds to the large corpus of titles on acting with vivid dicta drawn from experience, skill, and a sense of personal and professional worth. Her principal asset in this treatment is her truly significant imagination. Her ‘object exercises’ display a wealth of detail with which to stimulate the student preparing a scene for presentation.”
–Library Journal
3. “Meisner on Acting” by Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner was one of the best known and beloved teachers of acting in the country. This book follows one of his acting classes for fifteen 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 reading for beginning and professional actors alike. Throughout these pages Meisner is a delight—always empathizing with his students and urging them onward, provoking emotion, laughter, and growing technical mastery from his charges.
4.“Audition” by Michael Shurtleff
This book by Michael Shurtleff addresses the art of auditioning from the perspective of an experienced casting director.
Good reading – Ayanda Sithebe
