Book Reactions

A Practical Handbook for the actor -

I found that most likely a year ago I would've found this book to be very helpful. When I was seriously considering acting to be my future this would've been the book to read. Now I found this book to be very helpful, yet somewhat boring like reading a textbook. Filled with accurate information yet dull and lifeless to read. It reinforced ideas from the intensives last year we were taught by Luke and reading most of the book reminded me a lot of what I've learned in STAC.


The Monologue Audition: A Practical Guide for Actors -

This book I found to be much more interesting, I found it to drag on a bit as well, but I learned a lot of new information. For instance the whole six by six square trick, being myself I find body language fascinating and it's something I try to improve on as an actor. I liked reading all the tips and tricks on how to present yourself because reading this book lead me to the light and showed me a lot of what I had been doing wrong. The number one thing I had realized is that one of my biggest problems is myself. When doing improv in class or acting in a group or auditioning I am always trying to do something to be remembered, something to stand out, something to make me an individual. I've come to realize its one of my biggest downfalls and here's why. When in a scene with someone else you have to work off of what they're giving you, I usually try to internally think of something cool I myself can do to top them or be funny. Another thing is memorizing my lines. Its not that I am bad with memorization by its that I don't spend enough time focusing on the lines and that's where a great deal of mistakes happen on my part. In this book it said to para-phrase is an insult to the writer and I find that to be true. This is what I find myself to do a majority of the time, due to lack of memorization and stress. Overall I found this book to be very enjoyable but sometimes it moving slow.