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The Flu Season and Other Plays
by Will Eno"Will Eno is one of the finest younger playwrights I have come across in a number of years. His work is inventive, disciplined and, at the same time, wild and evocative. His ear is splendid and his mind is agile."--Edward Albee "An original, a maverick wordsmith whose weird, wry dramas gurgle with the grim humor and pain of life. Eno specializes in the connections of the unconnected, the apologetic murmurings of the disengaged."--Guardian Winner of the 2004 Oppenheimer Award for best New York debut by an American playwright, The Flu Season is a reluctant love story, in spite of itself. Set in a hospital and a theater, it is a play that revels in ambivalence and derives a flailing energy from its doubts whether a love story is ever really a love story. Will Eno has been called "a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation" (The New York Times)--he is a playwright with an extraordinary voice and a singular theatrical vision. Also included in this volume are Tragedy: A Tragedy and Intermission.
Movement for Actors
by Nicole PotterIn this rich resource for American actors, renowned movement teachers and directors reveal the physical skills needed for the stage and screen. Experts in a wide array of disciplines provide remarkable insight into the Alexander technique, the use of psychological gesture, period movement, the work of Rudolph Laban, postmodern choreography, and Suzuki training, to name but a few. Those who want to pursue serious training will be able to consult the appendix for listings of the best teachers and schools in the country. This inspiring collection is a must read for all actors, directors, and teachers of theater looking for stimulation and new approaches.
How to Audition for TV Commercials
by W. L. JenkinsWhat do ad agencies look for when casting TV commercials? This insider's guide, written by a former actor turned ad agency exec, has the answers. It provides step-by-step instructions to help actors understand and master the entire process, from assessing one's looks and personality to the agency preproduction process, from reading scripts and understanding storyboards to preparing for the audition, doing the shoot, and more.
Watching Anime, Reading Manga
by Fred Patten Carl MacekAnime's influence can be found in every corner of American media, from film and television to games and graphic arts. And Fred Patten is largely responsible. He was reading manga and watching anime before most of the current generation of fans was born. In fact, it was his active participation in fan clubs and his prolific magazine writing that helped create a market and build American anime fandom into the vibrant community it is today. Watching Anime, Reading Manga gathers together a quarter-century of Patten's lucid observations on the business of anime, fandom, artists, Japanese society and the most influential titles. Illustrated with original fanzine covers and archival photos. Foreword by Carl Macek (Robotech). Fred Patten lives in Los Angeles."Watching Anime, Reading Manga is a worthwhile addition to your library; it makes good bathroom browsing, cover-to-cover reading, and a worthwhile reference for writing or researching anime and manga, not to mention a window into the history of fandom in the United States." -- SF Site
The Anime Encyclopedia, Revised & Expanded Edition
by Jonathan Clements Helen MccarthyBigger and better! Our first edition rocked the anime world with its in-depth entries on anime famous and obscure and its superb index/film finder. Now this fantastic book is 40 percent larger--with all-new entries on hundreds of anime released after 2001, updates on older entries, and over fifty thousand words on anime creators (like Tezuka and Otomo) and genres ("Early Anime," "Science Fiction and Robots," etc.). An absolute must-have for every anime shelf!"If I only had space on my overcrowded shelf for one book on anime, this would be it. If I had no space on my shelf I'd select two books at random and drop them into the bin, just to make room-- it's that indispensable."-- Paul Jacques, Anime on DVD"While you may not agree with their opinons on a given anime, they are informative and entertaining, especially when skewering a really bad anime." -- Frames Per Second
Hollywood Hoofbeats
by Audrey Pavia Petrine Day MitchumPetrine Day Mitchum tells stories in page-turning detail, covering topics such as behind-the-scenes portraits of both famous movie horses and those virtually unknown; personal accounts from their trainers, owners, and co-stars; simple and complex horse stunts, from a fall in mid-gallop to a race across a bridge during a live explosion; and historic black-and-white photographs and richly coloured contemporary stills.
A Glamorously Unglamorous Life
by Julia AlbainWhen I was 22 I hopped a plane for New York City, off to pursue my destiny, sure that I'd never look back. This is my story of looking back. Of a journey that took on a whole new meaning and purpose. A year in New York City. A year of discovering the best and worst parts of myself. A year of learning the lessons that you can only learn the hard way.
Gilded Lili
by Kelly DinardoBlond and beautiful, Lili St. Cyr shimmied across the country's nightclubs as one of the century's great sirens. She inspired future femme fatales including Marilyn Monroe, Madonna and Dita Von Teese. She helped cultivate the modern-day impression of striptease. And, with stage routines featuring themes from fantasy, history and literature, she scandalized and seduced millions, influencing pop culture for decades.Gilded Lili: Lili St. Cyr and the Striptease Mystique explores the life of the last real queen of burlesque. Born into a poor family, abandoned by her parents, and raised by her grandmother, she used her ambition, beauty, and charm to escape her small-town life. Upon becoming the top burlesque dancer of her era, she amassed legions of famous fans, including Betty Grable, Frank Sinatra, Ronald Reagan, and Humphrey Bogart. During her reign, one reporter called her "the rich man's Gypsy Rose Lee" and Marilyn Monroe took cues from her acts. After she retired, Mike Wallace wrote that his television interview with her remained one of the most fascinating he had ever conducted.The private Lili was considerably more troubled, however. Despite being married six times, Lili found love elusive; she was involved in affairs with wealthy businessmen and rumored to have dalliances with celebrities including Orson Welles, Victor Mature and Yul Brynner. She had as many as ten abortions, attempted suicide several times, and became reliant on sleeping pills and, ultimately, heroin.A searing look at American sexuality in the twentieth century, Gilded Lili immortalizes the legend with verve and grace. Lili's era - which see-sawed between McCarthyism and puritanical humor - is presented with vibrancy, intelligence, and commentary on the ever-changing dynamics between sex and commerce. Based on exhaustive research and filled with rare photographs, Gilded Lili reveals a portrait of a woman who made the century sizzle.
But You Made the Front Page
by Sonny FoxThere have been many books about the strange and exotic world of show business, but rarely has one encompassed so many roles in one person, Sonny Fox. Comedy writer on a daily half-hour TV series in New York, pioneer on the eighth Educational TV station to go on the air, host of the first weekly CBS-TV series to originate a live TV series, Emcee of "The $64,000 Challenge," Producer of movies for TV and specials for PBS, VP Children's programming NBC-TV, Chair of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a weekly, four-hour children's program that set a standard for how to deal with young viewers, Fox ran the gamut, starting in radio in 1947 and lasting until today, that may be unique in TV history.What makes this a must-read is Sonny's ability to spin narratives that take you inside of this panoply of events and personalities, so you feel their immediacy and experience the kaleidoscope almost as a participant. As he weaves his engaging tales, you will meet Senator Robert Kennedy, Actresses Julie Harris and Colleen Dewhurst, Lyricists Alan Jay Lerner, and Sheldon Harnick, Tom Snyder, and a whole cast of colorful personalities who are presented through the prism of Sonny Fox's cavalcade that is a history of TV: in fact a history of the 20th century as it will never be taught in schools.
Time on Fire
by Evan HandlerBased on Evan Handler's hit off-Broadway play (called by The New York Times "laceratingly funny and self-revealing"), Time on Fire is a remarkable memoir of illness and survival, love and hope-shot through with anger, humor, and piercing eloquence.Evan Handler was twenty-four and already an accomplished actor when he was diagnosed with acute leukemia and told that his chances for survival were slim. Resigning his role in Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues, Handler checked into New York Memorial's Cancer Center and began a bizarre, sometimes uproarious five-year journey in and out of hospitals-"a raucous rump through Hell"-only to face an equally arduous return to the life he left behind.Time on Fire is the story of Handler's passage into a twilight world: a place of lonely, haunting despair lit by moments of exultation and hilarity; a world where the truly horrible and the hysterically funny not only coexist but seem to become the same thing. Told with the trenchant humor of a survivor, it takes a wry, unflinching look at the absurdity of fighting for life in a place where death is what is most expected, and a health care system on the brink of madness. It is the story of refusing to succumb to the pressures of conformity that threatened his recovery and of the fierce struggle to find the road back to health-at all costs.From the comic accounts of his trip to a Madison Avenue sperm bank ("Nothing but the best address for my progeny") and his experimentation with psychic healing, to the portrayal of the unraveling effects of his illness on his family and girlfriend, Handler records with astonishing precision the full emotional range of his experience. The result is a bracing, achingly poignant account of his determination to steal time and reclaim life. Glowing with uncommon insights and uncompromising honesty, Time on Fire is a testament to the bravery and the endurance of the human spirit.
It's Only Temporary
by Evan HandlerWhat if you were supposed to die, but you didn't? And what if, years later, your precious second chance didn't turn out anything like you thought it would? That's the journey Evan Handler experiences, and the one he explores in It's Only Temporary: The Good News and the Bad News of Being Alive. In a collection of funny, offbeat, and poignant autobiographical essays, Handler moves beyond the supposedly "incurable" illness he triumphed over in his mid-twenties--only to tumble through his thirties and forties in search of ever elusive love and happiness.From bold attempts to rekindle his acting career to hapless efforts to run faster around New York's Central Park reservoir, from bizarre Internet dates to twenty-seven breakups (involving only ten women), Handler careens through his against-all-odds existence. Always searching for meaning in his unlikely survival, he shares stories of sadistic junior high school gym teachers, bullying wannabe Hollywood moguls, returned engagement rings, and Europeans' fascination with American bathroom habits.Picking up ten years after his first book, Time on Fire, Handler again uses what the New York Times calls his "laceratingly funny and revealing" storytelling skills to weave twenty-one new tales into a defiantly unconventional memoir. Consistently witty and insightful, Handler's stories shift effortlessly from the comedic to the profound, musing with equal intensity on the existence of God and his experiences with TV stardom. Then, just when it seems he's failed to make the most of his astonishing second chance, Handler finds his way to miracles even greater than the ones that saved his life. His memoir describes his journey from darkness to light, from yearning to gratitude, and in so doing succeeds as both a stirring love story and a classic coming-of-age tale. It's Only Temporary celebrates the transformation of a boy to man--even if it look Handler more than forty years to get there.
Will I Live Tomorrow?
by Sonia Nassery ColeWhen Sonia Nassery Cole set out to film The Black Tulip in her homeland of Afghanistan, she knew the odds were against her; she was told time and time again that filming inside a war zone would be impossible. What she didn't anticipate was how intent the Taliban and its sympathizers were on halting the film's production-the crew encountered extortion, government corruption, kidnapping attempts, and death threats, even with around-the-clock security. Her cinematographer fled after two days, and many others followed.After 9/11, Cole wrote The Black Tulip, based on a true story of a real Afghan family. The plot was simple: After 2001, when the Taliban was routed, an Afghan family opened The Poet's Corner-a restaurant with an open microphone for all to read poetry, perform music, and tell their stories. But the Taliban didn't approve, and the family's new-found hope proved fleeting as it struggled to maintain the restaurant and its vibrant way of life. Selected as Afghanistan's official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2010 Academy Awards, The Black Tulip is a modern portrait of Afghanistan that captures the plight and resilience of its people.Without financial support from a studio or anyone else, Cole self-financed the film by mortgaging her home and selling her belongings. Then, with everything on the line, she left for Kabul to make the impossible possible and set out to gather the right people who would risk their lives and willingly be part of the production.In Will I Live Tomorrow?, Cole gives an intimate look into what went on behind the scenes of making a controversial film in the heart of a war-ravaged country-the looming terror the Taliban creates among Afghans everywhere and the challenges and fear the cast and crew faced every day.Will I Live Tomorrow? is a memoir about one woman's struggle to make a difference in a violent world.
And This Is Laura
by Ellen ConfordAnd This Is Laura is the hilarious story of an average girl in a family of overachievers who learns she's not so average. Laura's oldest brother composes his own music and is a debate team champion; her sister is a star actress and bowler; her youngest brother is in the process of counting to a million. Laura? She's just an ordinary twelve-year old--that is, until she discovers that she can see the future. Suddenly, she has popularity, attention from her parents, even media coverage. It's new and great--until one day, a vision frightens her to the core.Ellen Conford is one of the most prolific and successful authors of young adult fiction. In addition to the popular Jenny Archer and Annabel the Actress series, Conford has written over thirty novels. She has received numerous awards, notably an ALA Best Book of the Year citation.
Your Creative Writing Masterclass
by Jurgen WolffIn this book of highly practical advice and informative exercises, using quotes from diaries, interviews and autobiographies, the masters of contemporary and classic fiction are gathered together to impart lessons from their own careers: Charles Dickens drops in to help you create exciting characters; Ernest Hemingway helps you figure out how to write concisely and powerfully; and Jane Austen shows you show to make the reader warm to an unsympathetic character. Using a combination of tried-and-tested advice and ingenious applications, Your Creative Writing Masterclass helps the budding writer to finesse her talent, flesh out characters, write to her market, and-most importantly-overcome psychological obstructions and put pen to paper. More than just a 'how-to' book, Your Creative Writing Masterclass is a friendly companion and coach which will provide the advice needed to become a full-time writer.
Your Writing Coach
by Jurgen WolffAccording to a recent survey, 81% of adults harbor dreams of writing-but of those, only 2% have actually completed a manuscript. Jurgen Wolff's writing guide helps readers realize their dreams of becoming a successful writer. As a successful author with experience in feature films, television, radio, books, newspapers, plays-as well as credits from Hollywood and the BBC-Wolff teaches writers how to avoid procrastination and find time to write, create vivid characters, obtain an agent, and more. Novels, screenplays, short stories, articles, memoirs, and poetry are all included in Wolff's comprehensive approach. Your Writing Coach provides powerful tips for every writer and includes updated advice on marketing techniques for the twenty-first century.
Yokohama Threeway
by Beth LisickPeering into life's cringe-worthy moments, best-selling author Beth Lisick excavates territory that most would rather ignore. Funny, odd, deeply personal, yet somehow universal, these are the kind of memories that haunt us all, the small awful moments of shame and humiliation that we'd rather forget than relive.Beth Lisick has made a career of opening her life to her readers in all of its messy, smart hilarity, but this type of story doesn't usually find its way into a memoir. With her trademark humor and sly intelligence, writing in short flashes the way these episodes tend to pop up in memory, Lisick recounts her most embarrassing moments with gusto. From a trick she played on a neighbor thirty years ago to what she accidentally blurted out at last night's dinner party, she explores the bad judgments and free-floating regrets that keep her up at night, and the result is a daring, candid, and wickedly funny collection of embarrassment embraced, the triumph of humor and perspective over everyday mortification.Writer, performer, and independent film actress Beth Lisick is the author of the New York Times best-selling comic memoir Everybody Into the Pool and the gonzo self-help manifesto Helping Me Help Myself.
Body of a Dancer
by Renee D'Aoust"A remarkably clear-eyed descent into New York's surreal world of modern dance peopled by the obsessed, dispossessed, sexy, suicidal, brutal, broke, and absurd."-Lance Olsen, author of Nietzsche's KissesThe award-winning writer Renée E. D'Aoust draws from her experiences as a modern dancer in New York during the nineties. Her luminous prose spotlights this passionate, often brutal world. Trained at the prestigious Martha Graham Center, D'Aoust intertwines accounts of her own and other dancers' lives with essays on modern dance history. A dancer's body, scarred, strained, and tough, bears witness to the discipline demanded by the art form. Body of a Dancer provides a powerful, acidly comic record of what it is to love, and eventually leave, a life centered on dance."With exquisite description, absolute honesty, and a clear compelling voice, Body of a Dancer offers an unforgettable account of one artist's bittersweet journey."-Dinty W. MooreRenée E. D'Aoust's essays have been featured as notable essays in Best American Essays in 2006, 2007, and 2009. Her nonfiction work has been included in the anthology Reading Dance, edited by Robert Gottlieb and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. D'Aoust is the recipient of an NEA Dance Criticism fellowship and grants from The Puffin Foundation and the Idaho Commission on the Arts.
Riding the Black Ship: Japan and Tokyo Disneyland
by Aviad E. RazIn 1996 over 16 million people visited Tokyo Disneyland, making it the most popular of the many theme parks in Japan. Since it opened in 1983, Tokyo Disneyland has been analyzed mainly as an example of the globalization of the American leisure industry and its organizational culture, particularly the "company manual." By looking at how Tokyo Disneyland is experienced by employees, management, and visitors, Aviad Raz shows that it is much more an example of successful importation, adaptation, and domestication and that it has succeeded precisely because it has become Japanese even while marketing itself as foreign. Rather than being an agent of Americanization, Tokyo Disneyland is a simulated "America" showcased by and for the Japanese. It is an "America" with a Japanese meaning.
Tango: My Childhood, Backwards and in High Heels
by Justin Vivian BondWINNER OF A 2012 LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD"Like Bond, the memoir is droll, pensive and filled with zingers teetering between funny and ferocious."-The New York Times"Bond's fabulosity is matched by a trenchant wit, and [V's] over-the-top stories are smartly edged with politics, sexual or otherwise."-The New York TimesRecently hailed as "the greatest cabaret artist of [V's] generation" in The New Yorker, Mx. Justin Vivian Bond makes a brilliant literary debut with this staggeringly candid and hilarious novella-length memoir.With a recent diagnosis of attention deficit disorder, and news that V's first lover from childhood has been imprisoned for impersonating an undercover police officer, Bond recalls in vivid detail coming of age as a trans kid. Always haunted by the knowledge of being "different," Bond was further confused when the bully next door wanted to meet secretly. Their trysts went on for years, and made Bond acutely aware of sexual power and vulnerability. With inimitable style, Bond raises issues about LGBTQ adolescence, homophobia, parenting, and sexuality, while being utterly entertaining.Singer, songwriter, and Tony-nominated performance artist Mx. Justin Vivian Bond is an Obie, Bessie, and Ethyl Eichelberger Award winner. As one half of the performance duo Kiki and Herb, Bond has toured the world, headlining at Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, and London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, and starring in a Tony nominated run on Broadway, Kiki and Herb Alive on Broadway. Film credits include a role in John Cameron Mitchell's feature Shortbus. Bond has recently released two records, Dendrophile, and Silver Wells.
Training of the American Actor
by Arthur BartowSuccessful acting must reflect a society's current beliefs. The men and women who developed each new technique were convinced that previous methods were not equal to the full challenges of their time and place, and the techniques in this book have been adapted to current needs in order to continue to be successful methods for training actors. The actor's journey is an individual one, and the actor seeks a form, or a variety of forms, of training that will assist in unlocking his own creative gifts of expression.--from the introductionThe first comprehensive survey and study of the major techniques developed by and for the American actor over the past 60 years. Each of the 10 disciplines included is described in detail by one of today's foremost practitioners.Presented in this volume are:* Lee Strasberg's Method by Anna Strasberg, Lee's former student, widow, and current director of The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute * Stella Adler Technique by Tom Oppenheim, Stella's grandson and artistic director of the Stella Adler Institute in New York * Sanford Meisner Technique by Victoria Hart, director of the Meisner Extension at New York University * Michael Chekhov Technique and The Mask by Per Brahe, a Danish teacher inspired by Balinese dance and introduced to the Chekhov technique in Russia * Uta Hagen Technique by Carol Rosenfeld, who taught under Hagen's tutelage at the Herbert Berghof (HB) Studio * Physical Acting Inspired by Grotowski by Stephen Wangh, who studied with Jerzy Grotowski himself * The Viewpoints by Mary Overlie, the creator of Viewpoints theory * Practical Aesthetics by Robert Bella of the David Mamet-inspired Atlantic Theatre Company school * Interdisciplinary Training by Fritz Ertl, who teaches at the Playwrights Horizons Theatre School * Neoclassical Training by Louis Scheeder, director of the Classical Studio of New York UniversityArthur Bartow is the artistic director of the Department of Drama at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. A former associate director of Theatre Communications Group, he is the author of the landmark book The Director's Voice.
Invitation to the Party
by Donna Walker-Kuhne George C. WolfeAcknowledged as the nation's foremost expert on audience development involving America's growing multicultural population by the Arts and Business Council, Donna Walker-Kuhne has now written the first book describing her strategies and methods to engage diverse communities as participants for arts and culture. By offering strategic collaborations and efforts to develop and sustain nontraditional audiences, this book will directly impact the stability and future of America's cultural and artistic landscape. Donna Walker-Kuhne has spent the last 20 years developing and refining these principles with such success as both the Broadway and national touring productions of Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk, as well as transforming the audiences at one of the U.S.'s most important and visible arts institutions, New York's Public Theater. This book is a practical and inspirational guide on ways to invite, engage and partner with culturally diverse communities, and how to enfranchise those communities into the fabric of arts and culture in the United States.Donna Walker-Kuhne is the president of Walker International Communications Group. From 1993 to 2002, she served as the marketing director for the Public Theater in New York, where she originated a range of audience-development activities for children, students and adults throughout New York City. Ms. Walker-Kuhne is an Adjunct Professor in marketing the arts at Fordham University, Brooklyn College and New York University. She was formerly marketing director for Dance Theatre of Harlem. Ms. Walker-Kuhne has given numerous workshops and presentations for arts groups throughout the U.S., including the Arts and Business Council, League of American Theaters and Producers, the Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Endowment for Arts to name a few. She has been nominated for the Ford Foundation's 2001 Leadership for a Changing World Fellowship.
The Director's Voice
by Arthur BartowForemost stage directors describe their working process: JoAnne Akalaitis, Arvin Brown, René Buch, Martha Clarke, Gordon Davidson, Robert Falls, Zelda Fichandler, Richard Foreman, Adrian Hall, John Hirsch, Mark Lamos, Marshall W. Mason, Des McAnuff, Gregory Mosher, Harold S. Prince, Lloyd Richards, Peter Sellars, Andrei Serban, Douglas Turner Ward, Robert Woodruff, and Garland Wright.
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by Danny Newman"Buy it, borrow it, steal it, but get your hands on it! If you follow Danny's advice on how to sell tickets, you won't have an unsold seat in the house all season long!"--Ralph Black, American Symphony League
The Director's Voice, Vol. 2
by Jason Loewith"Directors today are equipped with a larger toolbox than their forerunners, standing on their shoulders as well as those of pioneers in non-Western theater, experimental visual art, community-based theater, and the ever-evolving commercial theater scene."-- Jason LoewithThis second volume presents a cross-section of the most diverse and dynamic stage directors defining today's American theater, in conversation with director/producer Jason Loewith. A follow-up to the immensely popular first volume, which has sold over eighteen thousand copies, much has changed in the twenty years since The Director's Voice debuted. "The nonprofit model has been turned on its head," Loewith notes. "Institution-building is out for these directors; creating a distinctive voice from a multiplicity of influences is in." Together, these directors sketch a compelling portrait of the art form in the new century.Interviews include: Anne Bogart, Mark Brokaw, Peter Brosius, Ping Chong, David Esbjornson, Oskar Eustis, Frank Galati, Michael Kahn, Moisés Kaufman, James Lapine, Elizabeth LeCompte, Emily Mann, Michael Mayer, Marion McClinton, Bill Rauch, Bartlett Sher, Julie Taymor, Theatre de la Jeune Lune (Barbra Berlovitz, Steven Epps, Vincent Gracieux, Robert Rosen, and Dominique Serrand), George C. Wolfe, and Mary Zimmerman.Jason Loewith is a producer, director, and writer. He has served since 2002 as artistic director of Chicago's Next Theatre Company, where he conceived, co-wrote, and produced Adding Machine: A Musical, which had an award-winning run off-Broadway.
The Essential Bogosian
by Eric Bogosian"What Lenny Bruce was to the 1950s, Bob Dylan to the 1960s, Woody Allen to the 1970s--that's what Eric Bogosian is to this frightening moment of drift in our history."--Frank Rich, The New York Times