Now that directors such as Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas, and Francis Ford Coppola are celebrated along-side movie stars, it is hard to imagine that little more than a century ago the director was a nameless, faceless entity-an overseer of workflow in the shuffle of shadows offstage.

In surveying the pioneers who transformed theater into the dynamic art form it is today, Directors on Directing presents a timeless collection of writings offering insight into what it means to direct and how to better appreciate theatrical performances.

Here is the thoroughly revised third edition of the bible of improvisational theater.

Viola Spolin's improvisational techniques changed the very nature and practice of modern theater. The first two editions of Improvisation for the Theater sold more than 100,000 copies and inspired actors, directors, teachers, and writers in theater, television, film. These techniques have also influenced the fields of education, mental health, social work, and psychology.

Appropriate for both beginning and advanced courses in directing, this is the only theatre text that combines theory with active student participation. The 42 exercises detailed here provide both the instructor and the student a 'user-friendly' workshop structure. With the basic concepts of directing presented progressively, the approach is totally hands-on. The student discovers the demands and problems of directing by actually doing it step-by-step, and through the process, his or her own directing style emerges. Every exercise is presented in great detail and includes both an overview and a section on how to critique a student's work whether you're the director or a classmate. Creativity and confidence building are the central benefits of this excellent workshop text that includes seven sequential chapters: Creating the Directing Workshop, The Silent Seven, Justifying Movement, Ground Plan Exercises, Open Scene Exercises, Closed Scene Exercises and Supporting Parts.

This step-by-step, user friendly guide covers every aspect of stage management and can take any would-be stage manager at any level of theatre and turn them into an expert who will be the ultimate asset to your production.

-Tom Paster, Director of Musical Theatre, Northern Highlands Regional High School, NJ

It's entertaining, informative and practical - a great resource for the how-to questions, and a terrific overview for anyone involved in the process of making theater.

-Les Gutman, Producing Director, Friendly Fire Theatre, NYC

Are you about to stage manage your first show and have no idea where to start? This book offers simplified guidelines for a complicated job and gives a step-by-step process for organizing auditions, rehearsals, the technical aspects, and performances. The author understands the pressures of the beginning stage manager and proceeds to calm those fears in a no-nonsense handbook. This survival guide gives detailed descriptions or examples of all the forms and lists the stage manager must use in production. An essential read for the novice stage manager in high school, college or community theatre.

About the Author

Mary Ellen Allison is a working stage manager with over thirty years of professional experience from Broadway to community theatre. Her credits include shows with award-winning theatre artists, such as: Horton Foote, Jean Stapleton, Allison Janney, Jim Dale, Andrew Lippa, and Frank Langella. She teaches stage management at Ramapo College of New Jersey and was named to Who's Who Among America's Teachers, 2003-2004.

Some years ago, Frank Hauser, then a retired freelance director, and writer Russell Reich, his former student, self-published Notes on Directing in hardcover. It was immediately acclaimed as a gem-witty and full of insight; so sensible, so complete, and so right; and amazingly illuminating by the likes of Judi Dench, Edward Albee, and Terry Teachout. Gathered over Frank Hauser's long career, and polished to a sharp edge by Russell Reich, the 130 Notes address a wide range of topics, from understanding the script and defining the director's role, to casting, how to handle a first read-through of a script, rules for rehearsal, how to talk to actors, how to get a laugh, and the key elements of staging. Filled with enduring good advice expressed in assertive, no-nonsense language, and supported with explanatory commentary, insightful quotes and examples, and six valuable appendices, this deceptively slim book has the impact of a privileged apprenticeship, providing deep insight into the hidden process of creating a live, shared experience. For the student or professional engaged in a directing or acting career, the executive or manager looking for inspiring new ideas on leadership, or the arts lover wanting insight into the creative process, this book will be an invaluable experience. This new edition includes an interview with the co-author.

Here is help for actors, directors, stage managers, producers, and event planners who want to understand every aspect of technical theater--from scenery, lighting, and sound to props, costumes, and stage management.

In this thoroughly revised new edition, the popular guide firmly embraces the digital age with new content about digital audio, intelligent lighting, LED lighting, video projection, and show control systems, all explained in the same approachable style that has kept this book in the pockets of industry professionals for many years. A brand-new chapter on sound design has also been added, and every chapter has been updated with more information about the basics of theater technology, including draperies, lighting instruments, microphones, costume sketches, and more. This book teaches:

• Who's who on a theatrical production team
• What is needed to know about technical theater and why
• What to look for when choosing a space for a show
• How to communicate with lighting, scenery, audio, and costume designers
• How to stage manage an effective show or presentation

Covering both traditional and digitally supported backstage environments, this book is an essential guide for working with every technical aspect of theater

Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.

THE COMMERCIAL CTI THEATER INSTITUTE GUIDE TO PRODUCING PLAYS AND MUSICALS

What does a producer actually do? How does one travel from that great idea for a show to a smash hit opening night on Broadway? John Breglio cannot guarantee you a hit, but he does take the reader on a fascinating journey behind-the-scenes to where he himself once stood as a child, dreaming about the theatre.

Part memoir, part handbook, I Wanna Be a Producer is a road map to the hows and wherefores, the dos and don'ts of producing a Broadway play, written by a Broadway veteran with more than 40 years of experience. This comprehensive and highly informative book features practical analysis and concepts for the producer - and is filled with entertaining anecdotes from Breglio's illustrious career as a leading theatrical lawyer and producer. Breglio recounts not only his first-hand knowledge of the crucial legal and business issues faced by a producer, but also his experiences behind the scenes with literally hundreds of producers, playwrights, composers, and directors, including such theatre luminaries as Michael Bennett, Joe Papp, Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Patti Lupone, August Wilson, and Mel Brooks. Whether you are a working or aspiring producer, an investor, or are just curious about the backstage reality of the theater, Breglio shares his knowledge and experience of the industry, conveying practical information set against the real-life stories of those who have devoted their lives to the craft.

In the early 1930s, during his first years of exile and 20 years before the publication of his seminal work To the Actor, Michael Chekhov made his first incursion into the challenging task of writing about an actor's experience and his vision of the craft.

This important, though largely forgotten, work (the so-called 'Paris Manuscript') was handwritten in German and in it we find Chekhov laying the groundwork for the canon of exercises and practices that, nearly a century later, has widely become known as the Michael Chekhov Technique. Although never completed, the manuscript affords a privileged fly-on-the-wall glimpse of the dawning of an artistic genius's creative vision.

This manuscript was the result of Chekhov's rich collaboration with Swiss theatre director, painter and illustrator Georgette Boner, and the text itself is supplemented with facsimile scans of manuscript pages, photographs, correspondence and other material from Boner's personal archive.

As the popularity of the Michael Chekhov Technique continues to spread globally, the 'Paris Manuscript' offers a timely invitation for actors to take a step back and (re)discover for themselves the structural foundations of Michael Chekhov's vision.

Chekhov's text has been translated, edited and abridged by Hugo Moss, co-founder and director of Michael Chekhov Brasil, who has written an introduction and a series of short essays, 'Reflections From the Studio', which build on a few key elements emerging from the manuscript and over a decade of exploring Chekhov's artistic legacy in the studio environment and in performance.

Bloom draws on nearly twenty years of directing and teaching experience to convey the full experience of directing for the stage, as well as the mindset that all successful directors possess. More than a mere set of guidelines, Thinking Like a Director details a technique that covers every facet of theatrical production, from first reading through final rehearsals. The key to directorial thinking, Bloom asserts, is a dual perspective--an ability to focus on both the internal lives of the play's characters and the external elements of the play's structure. In this illuminating, engaging, and accessible handbook, the art of dramatic interpretation and the craft of working with actors are integrated into a single, unified method.

What is artistic resonance and how can it be linked to one's life and one's art?

This latest book of essays from legendary theatre director Anne Bogart, considers the creation of resonance in the artistic endeavour, with a focus on the performing arts.

The word 'resonance' comes from the Latin meaning to 're-sound' or 'sound together'. From music to physics, resonance is a common thread that evokes a response and, in general, is understood as a quality that makes something personally meaningful and valuable.

For Bogart, curiosity is a key personal quality to be nurtured throughout life and that very same curiosity, as an artist, thinker and human being.

Creating pathways between performance theory, art history, neuroscience, music, architecture and the visual arts, and consistently forging new thought-paths, the writing draws upon Anne Bogart's own life and artistic journeys to illuminate potent philosophical ideas.

Woven with personal anecdotes, stories and reflections, this is a book that will be of interest to any theatre artist and anyone who reflects on the power of the arts, of theatre-making and what it means to be engaged in the artistic process.

Can a theatre class textbook be both inspirational and informative? Yes! This holistic book on directing and acting does it all. Students will keep it as a lifelong career reference on how to make things work. Written subjectively, it's based on nearly a half-century of teaching and directing. A theatre text that compels involvement in all layers of creating memorable theatre. Thirty-five chapters in seven sections with assignments and convenient section summaries make a complete semester course. This drama text is far more than how-to; it's a narrative about artistic discovery. Experientially it reveals how to jolt lagging imaginations into an ensemble of lively and involved performers. Adaptable for use by student directors and actors from secondary to graduate level. Recommended by leading theatre educators as the text they've been waiting for.

The Director's Craft is a unique and completely indispensable step-by-step guide to directing for the stage.

Written by one of the most adventurous and respected directors working today, this book will be an essential item in every student and practitioner's kitbag. It provides detailed assistance with each aspect of the varied challenges facing all theatre directors, and does so with startling clarity. It will inspire everyone, from the beginner just starting out to the experienced practitioner looking to reinvigorate their practice.

Katie Mitchell shares and explains the key practical tools she uses to approach her work with both actors, production teams, and the text itself. She addresses topics such as:

• the ideas that underpin a play's text
• preparing improvizations
• Twelve Golden Rules for working with actors
• managing the transition from rehearsal room to theatre
• analyzing your work after a run has ended.

Each chapter concludes with a summary of its critical points, making this an ideal reference work for both directors and actors at any stage of their development.

Now that directors such as Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas, and Francis Ford Coppola are celebrated along-side movie stars, it is hard to imagine that little more than a century ago the director was a nameless, faceless entity-an overseer of workflow in the shuffle of shadows offstage.

In surveying the pioneers who transformed theater into the dynamic art form it is today, Directors on Directing presents a timeless collection of writings offering insight into what it means to direct and how to better appreciate theatrical performances.

An abridgement for performance by young people and amateur adults, road tested at the Folger Shakespeare Library's Student Shakespeare Festival.

A straightforward, tasteful, and articulate account of what it is to bring a play to palpitating life upon a stage (The New York Times Book Review).In this classic guide to directing, we are taken logically from the choice of the play right through ever aspect of its production to performances and beyond. Harold Clurman, director of such memorable productions as A Member of the Wedding and Uncle Vanya, describes the pleasures and perils of working with such celebrated playwrights and actors as Marlon Brando, Arthur Miller, Julie Harris, and Lillian Hellman. He also presents his own directing notes for ten of his best-known productions.

Fifty Key Theatre Designers looks at the history of theatrical scenography by examining the work and contributions of fifty ground-breaking set, costume, lighting, and projection designers since the Renaissance.

Developments of scenic design are traced from the introduction of perspective painting to create illusionistic scenery in Renaissance Italy to the use of digital projection in the twenty-first century. The book also discusses important landmarks in the evolution of costume and lighting design, as well as the introduction of film and video technology to stage design. A broad range of work is explored, including opera, dance, Broadway and West End commercial theatre, avant-garde performance, and even Olympic spectacles. Each chapter features one designer, including basic biographical information and a discussion of that artist's style, aesthetics, and contributions. Designers covered include Sebastiano Serlio, Ferdinando Bibiena, Richard Wagner, Adolphe Appia, and Edward Gordon Craig, amongst many other notable individuals. Each chapter also includes references to other significant designers with similar aesthetics or who made similarly important contributions to the development of that aspect of scenography.

This book is ideal for undergraduates and graduates of scenography, theatrical design, and theatre history.

Dramaturgy: The Basics introduces the art of dramaturgy, explaining how dramaturgy works, what a dramaturg is, and how to appreciate their unique contribution to theatre-making. A wide-ranging account of the role of this vital element of theatre helps students and aspiring performance makers to apply dramaturgy to a full spectrum of theatrical disciplines.

This guidebook teaches dramatic theories and script analysis as essential skills for aspiring dramaturgs and illustrates the various methods of reading for specific functions of dramaturgy. Dramaturgy: The Basics offers practical step-by-step instructions on how to practice production dramaturgy, dramaturgy of new work, translation, adaptation, devised theatre, site-specific theatre, literary management, criticism, editing, producing, and dramaturgical innovation, with detailed questions to consider at each stage of the process. This book aims to help students develop a dramaturgical mindset, enabling them to build a critical, inquisitive, and socially conscious perspective that is beneficial in all professions and relationships. Resource lists, further reading guides, and chapter summaries make this an outstanding guidebook.

An essential read for anyone hoping to make, understand, or discuss theatre, Dramaturgy: The Basics provides a clear, accessible resource for approaching this integral but often misunderstood facet of theatre-making.

From King Lear to the Tragedy of Carmen, from Marat/Sade to the epic Mahabharata, Peter Brook has reinvented modern theatre, not once but again and again. In The Open Door the visionary director and theorist offers a lucid, comprehensive exposition of the philosophy that underlies his work.

It is a philosophy of paradoxes: We come to the theatre to find life, but that life must be different from the life we find outside. Actors have to prepare painstakingly yet be willing to sacrifice the results of their preparation. The director's most reliable tool may be his capacity to be bored. Brook illustrates these principles with anecdotes that span his entire career and that demonstrate his familiarity with Shakespeare, Chekhov, and the indigenous theatres of India and Iran. The result is an unparalleled look at what happens both onstage and behind the scenes, fresh in its insights and elegant in its prose.

Theatre Craft is an all-encompassing practical guide for anyone working in the theatre, from the enthusiastic amateur to the committed professional. With entries arranged alphabetically, Theatre Craft offers advice on all areas of directing, from Acting, Adaptation, and Accent to Sound Effects, Superstition, Trap Doors, and Wardrobe.

Enlightening and entertaining by turns, the celebrated director John Caird, honorary associate director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, shares his profound knowledge and wealth of international experience to provide an invaluable companion for anyone creating any size of play, musical, or opera--from the back room of a bar to a full-scale production on Broadway. This is required reading for the modern theatre practitioner.