The Keys to Acting

Author(s): Hugh O'Gorman

Edition: 3

Copyright: 2018

Pages: 200

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$49.77

ISBN 9781524988241

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Hello and Welcome to the art of acting!

The Keys to Acting is a workbook about the art of acting. It is intended for those students with very little experience in this field or none at all. It is designed for the neophyte student who wants to explore the alluring and mysterious world of the actor. Yet, one of the first things you will learn in turning these pages is that for quite some time now you have already been acting in the most majestic and compelling pageant known to mankind - life. In fact, you have already set foot on the largest of all stages and played a multitude of parts in the spectacle known as the world we live in.

This book will lay bare for you the mystery of arguably the oldest art form. As long as mankind has been in existence there have been actors. For as long as there has been storytelling, someone was needed to actually recount the story. Storytelling is what acting is all about. Actors play different roles to portray a story. Therefore actors are storytellers. To do so successfully actors must shed the social masks they wear in their personal lives, and they must play with the unbridled enthusiasm and imagination of children.

ACTING IS DOING
You can learn about acting from a book. You cannot, however, learn how to act from a book. This is an important distinction. That said, what this workbook can do is shed light on and flesh out the experiences you have in the classroom. It will also provide context, definition, and history, and serve as a reference and journal for your own work and growth as an actor/artist/human being.

The objective of this workbook is to help increase your awareness of the art of acting, the theatre and the world around you by supplementing your in-class experience with context, vocabulary and background. It is the hope of your teacher and myself that you will come to love acting as we have.

Welcome to the world of professional human beings...

Welcome to the art of acting! 

View Testimonials and Thank You Message from Students at Asian University for Women

Acknowledgment
Introduction

PART I Work on Self

Chapter 1     Passion
Chapter 2     Growth
Chapter 3     Curiosity
Chapter 4     Objectives for this Class
Chapter 5     The Super-Objective
Chapter 6     Fail Better
Chapter 7     Respect
Chapter 8     Trust
Chapter 9     Risk
Chapter 10   Individuality
Chapter 11   Human Connection
Chapter 12   Social Masks
Chapter 13   Attention and Concentration
Chapter 14   Awareness
Chapter 15   Ease
Chapter 16   Incorporation
Chapter 17   Imagination
Chapter 18   Inspiration
Chapter 19   Stage Fright
Chapter 20   Confidence
Chapter 21   Talent
Chapter 22   The Artistic Paradox: Ego vs. Generosity

PART II Work on the Role

Chapter 23   Acting Defined
Chapter 24   Living Believably
Chapter 25   Spontaneity and Improvisation
Chapter 26   Precise Repeatability
Chapter 27   The Given Circumstances
Chapter 28   The Five Questions
Chapter 29   Playing Action
Chapter 30   Listening
Chapter 31   Subtext
Chapter 32   Character

PART III Theatre Appreciation

Chapter 33   Theatre Appreciation
Chapter 34   Behind the Scenes
Chapter 35   Stardom vs. Acting
Chapter 36   Glossary

Hugh O'Gorman

Hugh O’Gorman is an actor, director, author and teaching-artist active in professional theatre for 30 years; since 2002 he has been the Head of Acting at California State University Long Beach where he oversees the BA, BFA and MFA actor training programs. Hugh has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway and at over a dozen of the nation’s most respected Regional Theatres and Shakespeare Festivals. He is a founding member of New York City’s Mint Theatre Company (2002 Drama Desk Award). For four years Hugh portrayed Jeff Singer on AMC’s critically acclaimed, Emmy and CableAce award-winning show Remember WENN (SAG Award nomination). Other television: HBO’s multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning John Adams, for CBS Still Standing, That’s Life, and for NBC The 10th KingdomLaw & Order and ER. Film: KillersUpstateThe Bend. Hugh is the author of the book “The Keys to Acting”; he is also a faculty member of MICHA: the Michael Chekhov Association, and runs his own acting studio in Los Angeles, The Praxis Studio. Hugh is the national Co-Chair of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers; he earned a BA from Cornell University and MFA in Acting from the University of Washington.

www.hughogorman.com

View Testimonials and Thank You Message from Students at Asian University for Women

Hello and Welcome to the art of acting!

The Keys to Acting is a workbook about the art of acting. It is intended for those students with very little experience in this field or none at all. It is designed for the neophyte student who wants to explore the alluring and mysterious world of the actor. Yet, one of the first things you will learn in turning these pages is that for quite some time now you have already been acting in the most majestic and compelling pageant known to mankind - life. In fact, you have already set foot on the largest of all stages and played a multitude of parts in the spectacle known as the world we live in.

This book will lay bare for you the mystery of arguably the oldest art form. As long as mankind has been in existence there have been actors. For as long as there has been storytelling, someone was needed to actually recount the story. Storytelling is what acting is all about. Actors play different roles to portray a story. Therefore actors are storytellers. To do so successfully actors must shed the social masks they wear in their personal lives, and they must play with the unbridled enthusiasm and imagination of children.

ACTING IS DOING
You can learn about acting from a book. You cannot, however, learn how to act from a book. This is an important distinction. That said, what this workbook can do is shed light on and flesh out the experiences you have in the classroom. It will also provide context, definition, and history, and serve as a reference and journal for your own work and growth as an actor/artist/human being.

The objective of this workbook is to help increase your awareness of the art of acting, the theatre and the world around you by supplementing your in-class experience with context, vocabulary and background. It is the hope of your teacher and myself that you will come to love acting as we have.

Welcome to the world of professional human beings...

Welcome to the art of acting! 

View Testimonials and Thank You Message from Students at Asian University for Women

Acknowledgment
Introduction

PART I Work on Self

Chapter 1     Passion
Chapter 2     Growth
Chapter 3     Curiosity
Chapter 4     Objectives for this Class
Chapter 5     The Super-Objective
Chapter 6     Fail Better
Chapter 7     Respect
Chapter 8     Trust
Chapter 9     Risk
Chapter 10   Individuality
Chapter 11   Human Connection
Chapter 12   Social Masks
Chapter 13   Attention and Concentration
Chapter 14   Awareness
Chapter 15   Ease
Chapter 16   Incorporation
Chapter 17   Imagination
Chapter 18   Inspiration
Chapter 19   Stage Fright
Chapter 20   Confidence
Chapter 21   Talent
Chapter 22   The Artistic Paradox: Ego vs. Generosity

PART II Work on the Role

Chapter 23   Acting Defined
Chapter 24   Living Believably
Chapter 25   Spontaneity and Improvisation
Chapter 26   Precise Repeatability
Chapter 27   The Given Circumstances
Chapter 28   The Five Questions
Chapter 29   Playing Action
Chapter 30   Listening
Chapter 31   Subtext
Chapter 32   Character

PART III Theatre Appreciation

Chapter 33   Theatre Appreciation
Chapter 34   Behind the Scenes
Chapter 35   Stardom vs. Acting
Chapter 36   Glossary

Hugh O'Gorman

Hugh O’Gorman is an actor, director, author and teaching-artist active in professional theatre for 30 years; since 2002 he has been the Head of Acting at California State University Long Beach where he oversees the BA, BFA and MFA actor training programs. Hugh has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway and at over a dozen of the nation’s most respected Regional Theatres and Shakespeare Festivals. He is a founding member of New York City’s Mint Theatre Company (2002 Drama Desk Award). For four years Hugh portrayed Jeff Singer on AMC’s critically acclaimed, Emmy and CableAce award-winning show Remember WENN (SAG Award nomination). Other television: HBO’s multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning John Adams, for CBS Still Standing, That’s Life, and for NBC The 10th KingdomLaw & Order and ER. Film: KillersUpstateThe Bend. Hugh is the author of the book “The Keys to Acting”; he is also a faculty member of MICHA: the Michael Chekhov Association, and runs his own acting studio in Los Angeles, The Praxis Studio. Hugh is the national Co-Chair of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers; he earned a BA from Cornell University and MFA in Acting from the University of Washington.

www.hughogorman.com

View Testimonials and Thank You Message from Students at Asian University for Women