Actors at Work

by Tichler, Rosemarie; Kaplan, Barry Jay; Nichols, Mike

• ISBN13: 9780865479555
• ISBN10: 0865479550
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-08-07
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Summary

It's extremely difficult to be an actor, for many reasons: It's mostly unrewarding financially. It takes a lot of hard work before an actor even gets a part. A career is apt to be short-lived. The field is incredibly competitive. Cream does not always rise to the top. And yet actors young and old line up by the thousands wanting to do it. What fuels this desire? What is it that drives actors to withstand the frustration of not getting parts, of getting bad parts in bad plays, of being mistreated by directors, misundertood by audiences, misinterpreted by critics? With a nod to theParis Review's Writers at Work model,Actors at Worklooks at the way some of our most respected stage and film actors today approach their calling. In a collection of interviews with a dozen artists, including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Patti LuPone, Billy Crudup, and Alec Baldwin, the book explores not only the impetus to perform but also key topics about the process and profession, including the way actors approach a role, what techniques they use to deal with directors and other cast members, the ways in which they use their own personal lives in their work, and their influences, idols, and insecurities. The result is a book that actors will find indispensable and fans will find irresistible.

Author Biography

Rosemarie Tichler spent a decade working closely with the city’s most gifted actors as artistic producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theatre. Barry Jay Kaplan is a playwright and novelist

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Preface	p. xiii
Marian Seldes	p. 3
Billy Crudup	p. 30
Estelle Parsons	p. 48
Kevin Kline	p. 78
Mandy Patinkin	p. 104
Frances Conroy	p. 127
Patti Lupone	p. 156
John Lithgow	p. 184
S. Epatha Merkerson	p. 209
Dianne Wiest	p. 232
Ruben Santiago-Hudson	p. 259
Meryl Streep	p. 288
Kevin Spacey	p. 308
Philip Seymour Hoffman	p. 334
About the Interviewees	p. 357
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Supplemental Materials

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

Rewards Program

Currently unavailable