Can a theatre class textbook be both inspirational and informative? Yes! This holistic book on directing and acting does it all. Students will keep it as a lifelong career reference on how to make things work. Written subjectively, it's based on nearly a half-century of teaching and directing. A theatre text that compels involvement in all layers of creating memorable theatre. Thirty-five chapters in seven sections with assignments and convenient section summaries make a complete semester course. This drama text is far more than "how-to"; it's a narrative about artistic discovery. Experientially it reveals how to jolt lagging imaginations into an ensemble of lively and involved performers. Adaptable for use by student directors and actors from secondary to graduate level. Recommended by leading theatre educators as the text they've been waiting for.
John Ahart has had a long and distinguished career in the American theatre. He has over forty years of experience as a director, playwright, designer, and teacher. At the University of Illinois, he supervised the graduate director's workshop and later headed the MFA directing program for much of his thirty-two-year tenure, directing a wide range of major works at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. His book The Director's Eye was called by one critic "one of the two finest books ever written about the art of directing." Since his retirement, he has resided in Southern California.