Acting: The First Six Lessons

Acting: The First Six Lessons was first published in 1933 and remains a key text for anyone studying acting today. These dramatic dialogues between teacher and idealistic student explore the field of acting according to one of the original teachers of Stanislavsky’s System in America.

This new edition of an essential text is edited by Rhonda Blair and supplemented for the very first time with documents from the American Laboratory Theatre. These collect together a broad range of exciting unpublished material, drawn from Boleslavsky’s pivotal and unprecedented teachings on acting at the American Laboratory Theatre. Included are:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acting: The First Six Lessons

chapter | 7 pages

The First Lesson

chapter | 11 pages

The Second Lesson

chapter | 9 pages

The Third Lesson

chapter | 14 pages

The Fourth Lesson

chapter | 8 pages

The Fifth Lesson

chapter | 11 pages

The Sixth Lesson

The “Creative Theatre” Lectures

chapter | 3 pages

What is the Theatre?

chapter | 3 pages

What is a Play?

chapter | 5 pages

What is the Audience?

chapter | 2 pages

What is an Actor?

chapter | 4 pages

What is a Theatrical Designer?

chapter | 4 pages

What is a Theatrical Composer?

chapter | 5 pages

What is a Collective Work in a Theatre?

chapter | 2 pages

What is a Theatrical Performance?

chapter | 2 pages

What is a Mechanical Performance?

chapter | 2 pages

What is a Creative Theatrical Performance?

chapter | 2 pages

The Qualifications of a Creative Actor

chapter | 2 pages

What is the Meaning of “Living the Part?”

chapter | 7 pages

What is “Spiritual Concentration?”

chapter | 3 pages

What is the Spiritual or Affective Memory?

chapter | 4 pages

How to Use the Affective Memory in Preparing a Part

Boleslavsky Lectures from the American Laboratory Theatre