The Actor's Guide to Playing a Character: William Esper Teaches the Meisner Technique

Author(s): William Esper

Performing Arts

William Esper, one of the most celebrated acting teachers of our time, takes us through his step-by-step approach to the central challenge of advanced acting work: creating and playing a character. Esper's first book, "The Actor's Art and Craft," earned praise for describing the basics taught in his famous first-year acting class. "The Actor's Guide to Creating a Character "continues the journey. In these pages, co-author Damon DiMarco vividly re-creates Esper's second-year course, again through the experiences of a fictional class. Esper's training builds on Sanford Meisner's legendary exercises, a world-renowned technique that Esper further developed through his long association with Meisner and the decades he has spent training a host of distinguished actors. His approach is flexible enough to apply to any role, helping actors to create characters with truthful and compelling inner lives.

General Information

  • : 9780345805683
  • : Random House USA Inc
  • : Anchor Books
  • : 0.222
  • : 01 April 2014
  • : 203mm X 132mm
  • : United States
  • : 01 April 2014
  • : books

Other Specifications

  • : William Esper
  • : Paperback
  • : 1404
  • : 791.43028
  • : 288

More About The Product

Damon DiMarco earned his M.F.A. from the Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts under Bill Esper's tutelage. He acts professionally on stage, screen, and TV, and teaches at Drew University. Damon's other books include, "Tower Stories: an Oral History of 9/11"; "Heart of War: Soldiers' Voices from the Front Lines of Iraq"; and "My Two Chinas: The Memoir of a Chinese Counterrevolutionary" with Baiqiao Tang, which features a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.