Reddit reviews A Practical Handbook for the Actor

Unless you're doing some sort of highly stylized melodrama or something along those lines (which it doesn't sound like you are) you don't "act" emotions. That's going to come across as superficial and unconvincing. For the type of naturalistic acting your project is most likely going for, you act objectives, obstacles and tactics and use "what if" to stimulate your imagination and get yourself into the situation. Then the emotions come naturally.

In this case, your objective is to get to safety. This is very high-stakes; if you don't get to safety, you die. So what if you were really in that type of situation? Imagine if suddenly, right now, right behind you, you caught in the reflection of your screen the image of a man with a giant butcher knife about to stab you. You're going to freak out, right? You're going to scream, run, pull out your phone and call 911 and/or your friends and family and do whatever it takes to get out of there and get help and be safe again. Start out by practicing as if that was the scene. Have someone stand behind you as if they were the killer, then run screaming and shouting with reckless abandon from one side of the room to the other, yelling the names of all your most trusted friends and family for help, as if this was the one moment in your life you need them most of all. It doesn't matter how you look doing it, it doesn't matter if anyone's convinced, the only thing that matters is that you, Ahmed11105, get away from the person that wants to kill you as fast as possible and get to a safe place. Feel what it's like to go after that goal with everything you've got.

Once you've done that, once you're feeling that urgency and immediacy, start adding in the given circumstances to the exercise, one at a time, and see how they create obstacles to your goal of getting to safety, and how you have to change your tactics to get there. For example, instead of right behind you, the killer's in some unknown place nearby. How does that affect things? Can you still risk screaming for help, or will that alert him to your presence? Can you still run in a straight line, or do you know have to pay more attention to your surroundings, since you don't know where he is? Now imagine that you've forgotten who you are. How does that affect your character's situation, feeling that instinct to find someone to help them but not knowing if any such people even exist? How does that influence the choices the character makes? Remember, underneath everything your prime focus is to get to safety - these are just added obstacles that are standing in your way. It's the tension between the character's objective and the obstacles that stand in the way of that which create the emotion in the actor's body.

Read up on Method/Stanislavski/Etc. for further info about how to develop this sort of technique (the sidebar's a good start, I also highly recommend "Practical Handbook for the Actor" as a great crash course in this stuff), or, better yet, take an actual acting class, and this all makes a lot more sense if you have an experienced teacher guiding you through exercises that teach these principles.

(*Edit: I guess that "Practical Handbook" link is only the first chapter, but here it is on Amazon.)

I agree. Your hunger is an incredibly good thing. But you should always be training and stretching If you're interested in some books on technique here's what I've been reading.

A Practical Handbook for the Actor by a bunch of interesting people. It's a practical, repeatable, and analytical way of approaching acting. While it is best practiced in a classroom with a knowledgable instructor, the text is good enough to stand on it's own.

History of the Theatre by Brockett is a longggggg read. But it's detailed and a great perspective on what was happening when in relation to plays. Also you can older editions for way way less.

I'm just now reading Sanford Meisner on Acting and that's been an interesting so far, it has a lot more of a narrative which is enjoyable to read.

Hope any of that helps someone!

Read A Practical Handbook for the Actor to help understand what it is an actor needs to do in a seen. In this way, you can guide your actors in the direction you want by using their vernacular or one that makes sense to them. Not to say every actor uses this book, but it is a damn good one. Hope this helps.

Practical Handbook for the Actor might interest. (It's way better if you can audit and see how it works in person. Takes about ten minutes to show what the booklet explains. But I know that's not possible for most people.) This technique was developed from Stanislavsky/Meisner by David Mamet and William H. Macy (Atlantic Acting) and it's straightforward. This is where I studied. Related Wikipedia article.

Doing a monologue for an agent, reading commercial copy, or even addressing an audience. The trick of it is that when you're talking to that lamp, you're still talking to a person. They couldn't make it, but you're talking to them any way. There's a couple ways to do this, but I'll detail one that works pretty well for me, with a TL;DR at the end.

There's a technique called "practical aesthetics" that I haven't seen mentioned on here more than three times, but it's invaluable for auditions and relatively simple to study, especially with what you've described. It's a four-part system, and you should definitely check out A Practical Handbook for the Actor. What you'll mainly want to think about is the as-if bit, used in other methods as well. The things that come before it are important, and I can go through that too, if you like, but here's a go at the essential action and as-if:

When you have your objective, translate that into terms of the essential action of the scene. What is the main thing that you are doing in order to get what you want? Let's say you have a monologue directed toward your boss. The text says that you're asking your boss for a raise, so your objective, conveniently is "I want Larry to give me a raise." Well, how would you do that? "Make them feel like a million bucks," to show them your value? "To get what's owed me," because you've worked hard for your money and it should already be yours? That could be very dynamic. So there it is, your essential action for the scene.

Next, your as-if. You've gotta use yourself now. "Who's someone that I might feel owes me something?" Let's say you've worked your whole life trying to get love from your dad, but he's never really given you the time of day. You really feel like some love is due after all these years. Would it be kind of fun to vent all of that frustration and hurt and rage and sadness all at once to get your dad to finally admit that he loves you? Good, because this is the part where I need to set some rules. First, it has to be fun. If you're gonna have a problem recovering from an as-if, use a different one. There are other techniques that have no problem with this, but this isn't one of them. Second, it can't be a conversation that's happened. It's gotta be spontaneous. Third, it can't be a significant other. I'm really not sure why, but I have never seen this work. Fourth, it can't be about acting. You'll get self conscious. Okay. Ground Rules set, moving on. You can now phrase how you're going to talk to this character. "It's as-if I'm confronting my dad about his lack of affection for me."

Now you've gotta practice. You've by now got your monologue memorized (rote if you can), so how about we start by sitting in a chair across from that lamp you mentioned. A nice lamp, truly. Close your eyes, and picture your dad in your head. The wrinkles that have developed on his forehead from years of stressful work, the grey around his temples, his eyes, his nose, or his ears you share. Maybe think about what he sounds like, the expressions he makes, what he does. Work up the courage. State your essential action to yourself ("To get what's owed me"), open your eyes, and start talking to him. "Dad... I... well. What the fuck, for starters? Are you ever gonna tell me you love me? You sure told Val. It took me long enough to figure out that you weren't just rubbing it in when you told her. And I get that she's your little girl and you don't think that boys need that sort of thing, but god damn. What do I have to do?" You'll notice that he, like the lamp, is not answering. Maybe try a different approach? "I'm sorry. I love you, dad, and I know you love me. You've proven it every way you've known how. You worked your ass off, you put a roof over our heads, you helped me buy my first car may it rest in peace, but I really need to hear it." Do this for maybe a minute, drop it, and launch into your monologue.

This might seem a little far fetched, but to lookers on, what you've just done is created a complex and nuanced relationship with your boss in the scene. What is your boss to you? Christ, he's a Titan. He gave you a chance when you didn't deserve it, he's a mentor, he's someone you look up to, it's almost a father-son relationship even though he's younger than you. And right now, you need that raise, but oh my gosh it's not just about the raise, it's about your self worth. You've created years of history with this person simply by relating it to your own life. It's quick, it's fun, and it can deliver some really great results, especially when you need to get something from a lamp.

TL;DR: When you speak your monologue, do so as if you're speaking to someone you know.

Here's my two cents:

If I had one book, it would be
A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology: The Secret Art of the Performer

This book is a great jumping off point for whatever you want to study. It codifies and connects different types of styles, e.g. it takes a topic like "balance" and says this is an example from mime, from balinese dance, from noh, etc.

In addition to Brecht, I'd recommend picking up Towards a Poor Theater (Grotowski). Grotowski's work is deeply, deeply physical.

Another book, a good primer on the major movements of the last 120 years or so is Twentieth Century Theatre: A Sourcebook, which has a little bit of everyone, in their own words, from Stanislavski and Meyerhold through To Barba. It's not as actor-centric perhaps, but it will give you a good overview, that you can get more specific with.

Lastly, The Practical Handbook for the Actor and The Invisible Actor, two books that help me immensely with how i approach a role.

1. Tell your parents
   
   
2. Try it as soon as you can. Audition for some local community theatre or student/short films. If you know people who create, let them know you are interested. There also may be some acting classes in your area. Try one. It may be worth your while to see if there are any acting facebook groups in your area...actors there will be able to get you up to speed on the local scene.
   
   
3. Don't switch your major immediately, but yes, like someone else commented, see if there is an acting club of some sort at your school. It also wouldn't hurt to try to schedule a meeting with some of the theatre department heads to ask what the program is like. Maybe they would let you sit in on a class.
   
   If you are interested, you should give it a try and see if you enjoy it. Don't waste time thinking about it. We all have to deal with our shyness and uncertainty, especially at the beginning.
   
   There are also some books worth reading, maybe? Here are some foundational technique books:
   
   On Acting by Sanford Meisner
   
   An Actor's Companion by Seth Barish
   
   https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Handbook-Actor-Melissa-Bruder/dp/0394744128
   
   And maybe a good biography of an actor. Charles Grodin and Jenna Fischer (Pam from the office) both have informative books on their journey in acting.
   
   Nothing beats experience though! Find a place to perform, whether it's stand-up, an audition room, an open mic, a short film...and act!
   
   Good luck!

It's not that you shouldn't do that, but you want to replace it with an action. This doesn't necessarily mean doing something physically, but if I assume correctly that the narration in the video is your inner monologue, there needs to be some kind of response to that. You are listening to the voice, so you are engaged by it. Having your blocking be as simple as sitting and listening is fine, but there needs to be a connection between your thoughts and your blocking, which is sitting in the shower/tub.

To fix this, you need to realize that in this scene you have two characters. There is the character of your Inner Monologue and the character of Your Character (physical you). Your Inner Monologue wants one thing, and You want another (again, an assumption, but I assume this because all scenes are built on conflict - if you both wanted suicide, that would happen and there would be no scene to speak of). What do you want the voice to do? Do you want it to stop? How will you make it stop? This page has a breakdown of what objectives are and how you play them.

If you still continue to sit and listen, that's totally okay! But there shouldn't be a disconnect between the two characters in the scene. There should be a give and take, an action and a reaction, a response. Then the other character plays from this response.

I strongly suggest the acting book The Anatomy of a Choice by Maura Vaughn. This has helped me in many situations as an actor. Also, read lots of David Mamet. Read his plays, read his essays on acting. Another book I find helpful is A Practical Handbook for the Actor (written by students of Mamet) and The Art of Acting by Stella Adler. Reading is an actor's greatest tool other than just getting out there and performing.

Understanding objective is the first step toward becoming a fully invested actor. It will change the way you look at the stage and screen.

edit: added a thought