Acting Is Believing: Stanislavski in the 21st Century

by Kenneth L. Stilson, Larry D. Clark (Editor), Charles McGaw (Editor), Norbert Leo Butz (Foreword by)

Overview

Acting Is Believing has trained generations of actors and remains one of the most popular and influential classic Stanislavski-based acting books over the past sixty years. Now in its thirteenth edition, ithas been reimagined for the art of acting in the twenty-first century.

Stanislavski expanded our understanding of the mysterious process that results in truthful acting, devising practical steps to pursue the most elusive element of the artform—inspiration. Acting Is Believing: Stanislavski in the 21st Century, 13th Edition,introduces students to all the major concepts of Stanislavski’s System of Acting, providing them with a logical process through which they can master this complex art. It breaks down even the most complex elements defining human behavior in ways that are easy to digest.

This new edition has been greatly updated, including:

• Reworked chapters throughout to bring Stanislavski’s theories to life in a language that speaks to today’s actors
• A new approach to entering Stanislavski’s Creative State, broken into an innovative five-part process
• Updated discussions on anxiety, physical tension, social inhibitions, and intimacy onstage
• Modified solo and group exercises
• Expanded appendix on self-directed scene study
• Refined and updated glossary of acting, theatre, and film terminology

Acting Is Believing remains grounded in Stanislavski-based technique training, yet this latest text has evolved as a vital resource for twenty-first century artists pursing acting careers in theatre, film, and television. With a foreword by two-time Tony Award winning actor, Norbert Leo Butz, Acting Is Believing continues to set the gold standard in the art of acting for a new generation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538171776
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	05/25/2023
Edition description:	Thirteenth Edition
Pages:	356
Sales rank:	978,596
Product dimensions:	7.05(w) x 9.83(h) x 0.85(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Kenneth L. Stilson is the author of the last five editions of Acting is Believing, along with the late Larry D. Clark and the late Charles McGaw. Stilson serves as the Executive Director of the Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival and Founding Chair of The Jeanine Larson Dobbins Conservatory of Theatre & Dance at Southeast Missouri State University. As a playwright/librettist, his works include An American Hero: A World War II Musical (OB, Acorn Theatre, NYMF, winner, Best of Festival), Stage Door Johnny: A Rock Musical (with Mike Appel), Where the Lilies Grow, and more. His screenplays include Fire Lily (Best of Festival, American Artist Film Festival) and Interviewing Monsters (with Tom Greene), and he is the author of Ezra Stone: A Theatre Biography. He has been an acting coach for 30 years, with former students having earned Tony and Obie Awards. He has directed more than 70 plays and musicals at numerous theatres. He currently serves on the Commission of Accreditation with the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST) in Arlington, VA.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Norbert Leo Butz

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1A: Life in Art

Acting with Professional Competence

The Six Parts of Actor Training

The Business of Acting

Acting is Believing: Stanislavski in the 21st Century

External Resources

Chapter 2: The Creative State

Body Training

Breathing and Posture

Exercise 2.1 Breathing

Exercise 2.2 Posture

The Creative State

Exercise 2.3 Aerobic

Exercise 2.4 Stretching

Exercise 2.5 Moving

Exercise 2.6 Vocalizing

On Anxiety

Physical Tension

Social Inhibitions

Nudity and Intimacy

Chapter 3: The Choice of Actions

Exercise 3.1 Given Circumstances and Imagination

Commitment to Actions

Belief in Actions

Improvisational Technique

Exercise 3.2 Improvising Simple Tasks

Exercise 3.3 Recalling a Special Memory

Scoring Physical Actions

Tempo/Rhythm

Exercise 3.4 Scores from Scenarios

Chapter 4: Stanislavski’s Method of Physical Actions

Simple Objectives

Exercise 4.1 Refining Your Score

Action Verbs

Exercise 4.2 Actions from an Emotional State

Exercise 4.3 Everyday Actions

Physical and Psychological Obstacles

Strategy and Desire

Expectations and Adaptations

Nonverbal Group Improvisations

Exercise 4.4 Waiting

Exercise 4.5 Not on Speaking Terms

Verbal Group Improvisations

Exercise 4.6 Opposing Objectives

Exercise 4.7 Improvisation from Action Verbs

Exercise 4.8 Non-Content Scenes

Chapter 5: Observation

Exercise 5.1 Playing a Condition

Exercise 5.2 Three Objects

Exercise 5.3 Adjusting to Conditions

Observing People

Exercise 5.4 Observation Notebook

Exercise 5.5 Creating an Actor’s Image Collage

Adapting Your Observations

Exercise 5.6 Observing Visual Art

Abstraction

Exercise 5.7 Abstractions from Inanimate Objects

Exercise 5.8 Abstraction from Animals

Chapter 6: Circles of Attention

Exercise 6.1 Distractions

Exercise 6.2 Add-a-Word

Public Solitude

The Small Circle

Exercise 6.3 Objects in the Small Circle

Communion

Exercise 6.4 Mirrors

Exercise 6.5 Silent Argument

Communion with the Audience

Dramatic Action in Speech

Exercise 6.6 Key Line Improvisation

Chapter 7: Emotion Memory

Stanislavski and Emotion Memory

Retaining an Emotion Memory

Selecting the Emotion Memory

Using the Emotion Memory

Emotional Triggers

Exercise 7.1 Reconstructing a Personal Memory

Inner Images

Exercise 7.2 Verbalizing Images

Exercise 7.3 Image Improvisations

Inner Monologues

Exercise 7.4 Inner Monologues

Chapter 8: Creating a Character

Script Analysis

The World of the Play

Exercise 8.1 Historical Imagination

Character Autobiography

Exercise 8.2 Character Autobiography

Exercise 8.3 If It Were Up to Me…

Second Plan

Exercise 8.4 Second Plan

External Expression

Units of Action

Scoring

Exercise 8.5 Scoring a Role

The Motivating Force

Exercise 8.6 Motivating Force

The Super-Objective

Exercise 8.7 Super-Objective

Summary

Chapter 9: Subtext

Exercise 9.1 Improvising Subtext

Verbal Action

Exercise 9.2 Text, Subtext, and Verbal Action

Relating the Lines to the Motivating Force

Relating the Lines to the Super-Objective

Manners of Speaking

Dialects and Accents

Exercise 9.4 Speech Patterns

Longer Speeches

Exercise 9.5 Verbal Actions in Longer Speeches

Chapter 10: The Power of Words

Meaning, Operative Words, and Idioms

Sentence Structure

Progressions

Antithesis

Secondary Inner Images

Exercise 10.1 Longer Speeches

Chapter 11: Reincarnation

Tablework and Early Discoveries

Working Rehearsals

Exercise 11.1 Putting Spontaneity into Physical Choices

Run-throughs and Technical Rehearsals

Performances

Chapter 12: The Business of Acting

Understanding the Business

Business Plan

Exercise 12.1 The Actor’s Business Plan

Exercise 12.2 The Elevator Pitch

Headshots and Resumes

Exercise 12.3 Resume

Introductory and Follow-up Emails

Exercise 12.4 Introductory and Follow-up Emails

Preparing Your Audition

Exercise 12.5 Audition Preparation – Working Off a Partner

Auditioning

Exercise 12.6 Moment Before

Exercise 12.7 Laughing at the Top

Exercise 12.8 Portfolio

Appendix A: Self-Directed Scene Study

Appendix B: Glossary

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

I love the truth of this book and its breadth. I love that the acting process is described in great detail for the novice or professional, yet it’s mysterious, too. This is an important book to have on your bookcase to dive back into time and again for insights into our artform.

Molly Smith

In our volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world, it is a rare thing for a classic acting text to retain its relevance as a foundational primer in the principles of the craft as well as a guide to applying those tools in context. Stilson’s revisal remarkably does both and is well worth the time spent for the inquisitive practitioner who wishes to investigate the existential dilemmas of the human experience in this ever-evolving global environment to which contemporary dramatists, griots, storytellers, what you will, are responding.

Robert Barry Fleming

Loved it! Kenneth L. Stilson was my acting teacher in the mid-90s. Now, several decades into my own journey as a professional actor and acting coach, I’m thrilled to rediscover the foundations he taught years ago in a fresh text that feels wholly relevant and accessible in today’s world. Acting is Believing is filled with great advice, exercises, and insights about the art of acting. It’s a thorough and engaging text appropriate for both amateurs and seasoned professionals. What I love most about Stilson’s Acting is Believing 13th edition is how vital it feels in today’s industry. He’s brought forward techniques and ideas that made the book a classic to begin with and married it with the intricacies of the industry in the 2020s. It’s accessible, authentic, and artistically engaging. Now, in my third decade as a professional actor, Acting is Believing is a great reminder of the foundations of the craft, and also a treasure trove of fresh insights on being a working actor in today’s complex theatre business.

Dana Schultes

Acting is Believing gives you the distillation of a century's worth of observations, advice, and exercises that will help you find your way as an actor. You also have the advantage of learning, in later chapters, how to approach the business end of an actor's profession, something I had to learn belatedly, pounding the pavements of New York City.

I love the truth of this book and its breadth. I love that the acting process is described in great detail for the novice or professional, yet it's mysterious, too. This is an important book to have on your bookcase to dive back into time and again for insights into our artform.

In our volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world, it is a rare thing for a classic acting text to retain its relevance as a foundational primer in the principles of the craft as well as a guide to applying those tools in context. Stilson's revisal remarkably does both and is well worth the time spent for the inquisitive practitioner who wishes to investigate the existential dilemmas of the human experience in this ever-evolving global environment to which contemporary dramatists, griots, storytellers, what you will, are responding.

Loved it! Kenneth L. Stilson was my acting teacher in the mid-90s. Now, several decades into my own journey as a professional actor and acting coach, I'm thrilled to rediscover the foundations he taught years ago in a fresh text that feels wholly relevant and accessible in today's world. Acting is Believing is filled with great advice, exercises, and insights about the art of acting. It's a thorough and engaging text appropriate for both amateurs and seasoned professionals. What I love most about Stilson's Acting is Believing 13th edition is how vital it feels in today's industry. He's brought forward techniques and ideas that made the book a classic to begin with and married it with the intricacies of the industry in the 2020s. It's accessible, authentic, and artistically engaging. Now, in my third decade as a professional actor, Acting is Believing is a great reminder of the foundations of the craft, and also a treasure trove of fresh insights on being a working actor in today's complex theatre business.

The acting techniques and exercises in Acting is Believing can give you insights and abilities you will use the rest of your life, no matter what you do for a living. Over the years, this book became my acting bible, and I learned to relax and allow myself to fail often and grow as an actress while discovering how to enjoy the whole learning process.

This book, perhaps more fundamentally than any other, offers a full investigation of the complexity of the art of acting that is hidden behind the truthful simplicity of the title: 'acting is believing.' Within these pages, an actor will find analysis, exercises, examples, and demonstrations that can guide an individual's exploration of inner creativity; these lead to the phenomenon in which the character and the actor become one in the experience of a living play. Reading this book . . . will elucidate an understanding of what it takes to develop your talent to its maximum capacity. If you follow the logical progression the author provides, you will explore step by step all the means available to make your performances natural and revelatory.

This staple of the actor's tool kit is now even more essential with the release of the 13th edition. Equally valuable for the actor in training and the seasoned professional, Acting is Believing is a comprehensive, accessible, and practical guide to the core principles of Stanislavski-based acting technique. Of particular value are the guided exercises that help the actor make the technique their own. An indispensable guidepost for the craft of acting today.

From the Publisher

The acting techniques and exercises in Acting is Believing can give you insights and abilities you will use the rest of your life, no matter what you do for a living. Over the years, this book became my acting bible, and I learned to relax and allow myself to fail often and grow as an actress while discovering how to enjoy the whole learning process.

Marilu Henner

This book, perhaps more fundamentally than any other, offers a full investigation of the complexity of the art of acting that is hidden behind the truthful simplicity of the title: ‘acting is believing.’ Within these pages, an actor will find analysis, exercises, examples, and demonstrations that can guide an individual’s exploration of inner creativity; these lead to the phenomenon in which the character and the actor become one in the experience of a living play. Reading this book. .. will elucidate an understanding of what it takes to develop your talent to its maximum capacity. If you follow the logical progression the author provides, you will explore step by step all the means available to make your performances natural and revelatory.

Marshall W. Mason

Acting is Believing gives you the distillation of a century’s worth of observations, advice, and exercises that will help you find your way as an actor. You also have the advantage of learning, in later chapters, how to approach the business end of an actor’s profession, something I had to learn belatedly, pounding the pavements of New York City.

Chris Cooper

This staple of the actor’s tool kit is now even more essential with the release of the 13th edition. Equally valuable for the actor in training and the seasoned professional, Acting is Believing is a comprehensive, accessible, and practical guide to the core principles of Stanislavski-based acting technique. Of particular value are the guided exercises that help the actor make the technique their own. An indispensable guidepost for the craft of acting today.

Robert M. Hupp