Stanislavsky and Race


Book Description

Stanislavsky and Race is the first book to explore the role that Konstantin Stanislavsky’s “system” and its legacies can play in building, troubling and illuminating today’s anti-racist theatre practices. This collection of essays from leading figures in the field of actor training stands not only as a resource for a new area of academic enquiry, but also for students, actors, directors, teachers and academics who are engaged in making inclusive contemporary theatre. In seeking to dismantle the dogma that surrounds much actor training and replace it with a culturally competent approach that will benefit our entire community, the “system” is approached from a range of perspectives featuring the research, reflections and provocations of 20 different international artists interrogating Stanislavsky’s approach through the lens of race, place and identity. Stanislavsky and ... is a series of multi-perspectival collections that bring the enduring legacy of Stanislavskian actor training into the spotlight of contemporary performance culture, making them ideal for students, teachers and scholars of acting, actor training and directing.




Black Acting Methods


Book Description

Black Acting Methods seeks to offer alternatives to the Euro-American performance styles that many actors find themselves working with. A wealth of contributions from directors, scholars and actor trainers address afrocentric processes and aesthetics, and interviews with key figures in Black American theatre illuminate their methods. This ground-breaking collection is an essential resource for teachers, students, actors and directors seeking to reclaim, reaffirm or even redefine the role and contributions of Black culture in theatre arts. Chapter 7 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.




Shakespeare and Stanislavsky


Book Description

This book provides actors, directors, teachers and students with a clear, practical guide to applying the work of influential theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavsky to Shakespeare. Shakespeare and Stanislavsky provides a guide for actors, acting students, directors and teachers who want to apply the work of influential theatre practitioner, Stanislavsky, to the process of rehearsing and workshopping Shakespeare's play texts. Acting tutor and director, Annie Tyson, makes applying Stanislavsky's methods to Shakespeare simple and accessible. She rejects and dispels the myth held by some that Stanislavsky and Shakespeare are incompatible, showing instead how the Shakespearean text offers clues to specific acting choices that are intricately connected to action and character. Drawing on years of acting, directing and teaching experience at the Drama Centre London and RADA, Tyson's guide is full of practical tips and humour. This guide also includes a series of interviews with actors and directors who explain their approach to applying Stanislavsky to Shakespeare.




Stanislavsky and Yoga


Book Description

This book deals with one of the most important sources of the Stanislavsky System - Yoga, its practice and philosophy. Sergei Tcherkasski carefully collects records on Yoga in Stanislavsky's writings from different periods and discusses hidden references which are not explained by Stanislavsky himself due to the censorship in his day. Vivid examples of Yoga based training from the rehearsal practice of the Moscow Art Theatre and many of Stanislavsky's studios (the First Studio in 1910s, the Second Studio and Opera Studio of the Bolshoi Theatre in 1920s, Opera-Dramatic Studio in 1930s) are provided. The focus of Tcherkasski's research consists of a comparative reading of the Stanislavsky System and Yogi Ramacharaka's books, which were a main source for Stanislavsky. Accordingly, Tcherkasski analyzes elements of the System based on Yoga principles. Among them are: relaxation of muscles (muscular release), communication and prana, emission of rays and reception of rays, beaming of aura, sending of prana, attention, visualizations (mental images). Special attention is paid to the idea of the superconscious in Yoga, and in Ramacharaka's and Stanislavsky's theories. Tcherkasski's wide-ranging analysis has resulted in new and intriguing discoveries about the Russian master. Furthermore, he reveals the extent to which Stanislavsky anticipated modern discoveries in neurobiology and cognitive science. In this book Tcherkasski acts as a researcher, historian, theatre director, and experienced acting teacher. He argues that some forty per cent of basic exercises in any Stanislavsky based actor training program of today are rooted in Yoga. Actors, teachers, and students will find it interesting to discover that they are following in the footsteps of Yoga in their everyday Stanislavsky based training and rehearsals.




Stanislavsky and Intimacy


Book Description

Stanislavsky and Intimacy is the first academic edited book with a focus on how intimacy protocols, choreography, and theories intersect with the broad practices of Konstantin Stanislavsky’s ‘system’. As the basis for most Western theatre and film acting, Stanislavsky’s system centers on truthful performances. Intimacy direction and choreography insists on not only a culture of consent, but also specific, repeatable choreography for all staged intimate moments. These two practices have often been placed as diametric opposites, but this book seeks to dispel this argument. Each chapter discusses specific Stanislavskian principles and practices as they relate to staged sexually intimate moments, also opening the conversation to the broader themes and practices of other kinds of intimacy within the acting field. Stanislavsky And... is a series of multi-perspectival collections that bring the enduring legacy of Stanislavskian actor training into the spotlight of contemporary performance culture, making them ideal for students, teachers, and scholars of acting, actor training, and directing.




Rediscovering Stanislavsky


Book Description

An interdisciplinary approach to Stanislavsky's theatre practice in sociocultural and political contexts and its legacy in the twenty-first century.




The Hypersexuality of Race


Book Description

A study of the Asian woman as sexual icon in visual culture.




Bourdieu in the Studio


Book Description

This book offers tools to address the growing and urgent interest in exposing and challenging unconscious biases in the studio, exploiting how actor training uniquely combines elements of education and culture. It is the first practical and rigorous investigation of Pierre Bourdieu’s idea that domination and inequality are embodied in surreptitious ways. This book adapts and develops the techniques of Joan Littlewood and Ariane Mnouchkine that juxtapose the social with the comedic to theatricalise Bourdieusian concepts, inviting critical consciousness and critical praxis in the studio. It constructs the creative intervention Ludic Activism that can be practically applied in an actor training context. Actors from diverse training backgrounds were trained to use Ludic Activism, co-investigating how the Bourdieu-inspired vocabulary and pedagogy can facilitate the acknowledgement and tackling of dispositions during theatre-making. Ludic Activism developed the participants’ social representations into progressive and compassionate versions, reinforcing an understanding and use of their positionality in performance through a set of authorial acting tasks. This book is an advanced study for actors, directors, and teachers of acting for both the training/rehearsal studio and research. The methodology, account of the process, and evaluation of the creative intervention – including illustrations and selected videos that can be accessed on the Routledge website, under the Support Material section, here: https://www.routledge.com/Bourdieu-in-the-Studio-Decolonising-and-Decentering-Actor-Training-Through/Stamatiou/p/book/9781032306070 – demonstrate a decolonising and decentering trajectory for actor training.




An Actor Prepares


Book Description




Making a Scene


Book Description

Based on the author’s decades of teaching, pedagogical and theatrical research, and his professional experience as actor and director, Making a Scene: Creating a Scene Study Class for Actors offers a pedagogical approach to rehearsal scenes as a primary tool for diagnosis and actor improvement. This volume carefully lays out the case for thinking deeply and critically about the nature of every facet of an acting class: the environment of the classroom, the choice of material for performing, diagnostic tools for responding to scene sessions, and means for engaging all students. This study includes suggestions for a teacher’s philosophy towards the work; a justification for implementing games, improvisations, and etudes; suggestions for resources for exercises both basic and complex; and a brief discussion on approaches to period styles material and connecting it to contemporary student life and issues. Addressed to both the beginning theatre teacher and the seasoned educator, this will be an essential book for anyone seeking to update their work with performers in private studios, high school settings, or in higher education.