Acting: The First Six Lessons (Theatre Arts Book)

This classic work on acting is one of the very few that stands beside Stanislavsky as a must-have for all acting students and professionals. Richard Boleslavsky's Acting: The First Six Lessons is a treasure-box of wise observation about the art of acting, all wrapped up in six charming dialogues between a teacher and a student. Generations of actors have been enriched by Boleslavsky's witty and acute picture of the actor's craft. These six "lessons" -- miniature dramas about concentration, memory of emotion, dramatic action, characterization, observation, and rhythm -- distill the challenge facing every actor. For this reissue the text has been entirely reset and the book jacketed in a contemporary design. An essential work on the short shelf of any acting student.

Richard Boleslavsky was a member of the Moscow Art Theater and cofounder of the American Laboratory Theater School, which trained Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler among other actors and teachers, playing an important role in bringing Stanislavsky's techniques to America. Although he directed Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s, his enduring work is contained in this book.