Title: Stella Adler : the art of acting /
Authors: Kissel, Howard.; Kissel, Howard.
Publisher: Applause,
Year: 2000
Subjects: Adler, Stella.; Acting.
Abstract: Stella Adler 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 Nineties, but her decades of experience and teaching have been brilliantly encapsulated by Howard Kissel in the lessons in this book. The groundbreaking theories of the great acting teacher who influenced such outstanding actors as Marlon Brando, Robert DeNiro & Warren Beatty are now made available for a wide audience. This book is compiled from her voluminous class notes as well as audio & videotape of her teaching & is destined to become a classic in the fields of acting & theatre. Drawing on an archive of notebooks, transcriptions, and audiotapes of Adler's work, Kissel (cultural critic with the New York Daily News) presents the lessons and insights she brought to the craft of acting. Adler's classroom lectures are presented, and their significance is discussed. She addresses the discipline of the actor's body, mind, and imagination. She looks at the techniques for creating believable characters and bringing authenticity to the performance, and the importance of understanding time, setting and style.
Contents: Preface by Marlon Brando -- First steps on stage -- The world of the stage isn't your world -- Acting is doing -- The actor needs to be strong -- Developing the imagination -- Making the world of the play your own -- Getting hold of acting's controls -- Learning actions -- Making actions doable -- Building a vocabulary of actions -- Instant and inner justifications -- Complicating actions -- Giving actions size -- Understanding the text -- Character elements -- Dressing the part -- Learning a character's rhythm -- Actors are aristocrats -- Making the costume real -- The actor is a warrior -- Stanislavski and the new realistic drama -- Portraying class on stage -- Afterword.