Truth: Personas, Needs, and Flaws in the Art of Building Actors and Creating Characters - Softcover

Batson, Susan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0615904904 ISBN 13: 9780615904900

Publisher: Webster\Stone, 2013

Synopsis

Stanislavski, Strasberg, Meisner, Adler, Berghoff, Hagen, Mamet . . . now Batson. In TRUTH, the most sought after acting guru in Hollywood and on Broadway distills her half century's experience as an actor, director, teacher, and personal coach into a step by step process for creating a character from first read-through to final performance. Debunking a century's worth of myths about "method acting," Batson identifies the unifying forces of Need, Public Persona, and Tragic Flaw to unite the actor with his or her character. TRUTH shows how actively defining and understanding these three principles leads to the most truthful performances possible. A must-read for beginning actors, a wake-up call for working actors, and an indispensable reference for writers, TRUTH reveals the inner game of telling stories and creating vivid, three-dimensional life from words on a page.

About this title

From the Back Cover

From the introduction by Nicole Kidman

I first met Susan Batson in New York just a week before I made Peacemaker. We worked together in earnest for two years on Eyes Wide Shut in London and on every film I've done since, wherever they've taken us. This book you hold is called Truth, and that title precisely describes the core of the work Susan Batson and I do together.

I can't create unless I have truth--I have to feel it. Susan helps me to find the truth in myself and use its purity, intimacy, and honesty to make my work real. She's helped me to nurture and protect truth in myself and in the characters that I've played. What I've learned from Susan is how to keep the truth alive no matter what. There's so much more to acting than just creative success. It runs thicker and deeper than that. It has to--it's in my blood, it beats through me. I know that it's in Susan's blood, too. I feel like we've been together my whole life.

A great teacher can make anything seem possible. So many of the actors I've admired and idolized and, in a few lucky instances, been blessed to work with, were shaped and inspired by teachers who opened them to the possibilities of their art. Among actors, Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner, and Jeff Corey are just as legendary as their pupils Marilyn Monroe, Robert Duvall, and Jack Nicholson. I am confident that Susan Batson will go down in history as one of acting's legendary teachers. I only hope that my work can contribute to her legend.

I'll always be grateful that I found her. And now, through this book, you've found her, too.

About the Author

Susan Batson oversees the Susan Batson Studio in New York City. She has enjoyed the privilege of working closely with Nicole Kidman, Juliet Binoche, Tom Cruise, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx, Sean Combs, Liv Tyler, Jennifer Connelly, Zac Efron, Tyler Perry, Oprah, and countless other actors searching for “truth” in themselves and the characters they play. The New Yorker referred to Susan Batson as both a "technician of the spirit" and “the alchemist”.

Edition details

• Publisher: Webster\Stone
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0615904904
• ISBN 13: 9780615904900
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 316