THEA 217: Acting Through Impulse: Character Development

In this book, Hagen offers an indispensable account of the techniques that professionals use to elevate their acting to an art form. In working through this book, actors will learn physical, verbal, and emotional practice that empower them to connect their own self-concept to the characters they play. Specific, detailed exercises help actors learn to address a range of problems actors face, like maintaining immediacy and relevance, and developing the dimensions of a role over a long performance run.

Engaging with ideas of contemporary significance from neuroscience, psychology, linguistics, and philosophy, Why Do Actors Train? challenges the outmoded dualistic notions of body and mind that permeate common conceptions of how actors work. Theories of embodiment are drawn up to shed important light on the ways and reasons actors do what they do.

This book examines how phenomenology can describe, analyze, and inspire theater-making. Each chapter introduces themes to guide the creative process through objects, bodies, spaces, time, history, freedom, and authenticity.

What is good acting? How does one create believable characters? How can an actor understand a character if they do not understand themselves? In The Science of Acting, Sam Kogan uses his theories on the relationship between neuroscience, psychology and acting to answer these questions. Practical exercises provide a step-by-step guide to developing an actor's ability, culminating in Ten Steps to Creating a Character.

Contains biographical profiles of people who died prior to 1996. Includes people whose significant actions took place while living in what is today the United States or whose life/career had a direct influence on the course of American history.

Contains biographies of people who have shaped all aspects of the British past, from the earliest times to the end of the year 2000.