The Actor's Guide to Creating a Character: William Esper Teaches the Meisner Technique

Celebrated acting teacher Bill Esper's step-by-step approach to the central problem in acting- learning to play a character. AN ANCHOR ORIGINAL. William Esper, one of the most celebrated acting teachers of our time, takes us through his step-by-step approach to the central challengeofadvancedacting work- creating and playing a character. Esper's first book, The Actor's Art and Craft, earned praise for describing the basics taught in his famous first-year acting class. The Actor's Guide to Creating a Charactercontinues the journey. In these pages, co-author Damon DiMarco vividly re-creates Esper's second-year course, again through the experiences of a fictional class. Esper's training builds on Sanford Meisner's legendary exercises, a world-renowned technique that Esper further developed through his long association with Meisner andthe decades he has spent training a host of distinguished actors. His approach is flexible enough to apply to any role, helping actors to create characters with truthful and compelling inner lives.

Table of Contents:
Introduction by Patricia Heaton Prologue                      Chapter One: Welcome Back – and Back to Work Chapter Two: Gimps, Limps, and Lisps: Physical Impediments Chapter Three: How Being in Intense Pain Can Actually Help Your Work Chapter Four: How to Explore Drugs and Alcohol without Rehab, Prison, or Death Chapter Five: Imitation and Point of View Chapter Six: Come, Sit at the Table! The Essence of the Character Chapter Seven: Still at the Table: Actions and Super Objectives Chapter Eight: Beats, Homework, Inner Emotional Lines, and Particularizations Chapter Nine: Nursery Rhymes Chapter Ten: Spoon Rivers Chapter Eleven: Periods and Styles Chapter Twelve: Periods and Styles in Practice Chapter Thirteen: Acting in Film and TV Chapter Fourteen: Commencement: The Serious Actor Business Afterword by David Mamet

About the Author :
William Esper was a graduate of Western Reserve University and the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre in New York City. Bill trained as both actor and teacher under Sanford Meisner. Bill and Sandy worked closely together for 17 years, during which time Bill served as Associate Director of the Playhouses's Acting Department (1973-1976). Bill founded the William Esper Studio in 1965 and the Professional Actor Training Program at Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts in 1977. These two schools are renowned for routinely contributing actors of the highest quality to the International stage and screen.He died in 2019 at age 86. Damon DiMarco earned his M.F.A. from the Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts under Bill Esper's tutelage. He acts professionally on stage, screen, and TV, and teaches at Drew University. Damon's other books include, Tower Stories- an Oral History of 9/11; Heart of War- Soldiers' Voices from the Front Lines of Iraq; and My Two Chinas- The Memoir of a Chinese Counterrevolutionary with Baiqiao Tang, which features a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Review :
“Bill Esper’s training gave me many precious gifts. . . . He is a master teacher  and I use what I learned with him every single time I work. I will be forever grateful.” —Christine Lahti, Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor, Academy Award-winning director “Simple, straightforward, inspiring and invaluable. . . . This book reminds me of how incredibly fortunate I was to have been taught by Bill Esper.” —Timothy Olyphant, Emmy and SAG Award winner   “Reading this book brought me back to Bill’s classroom. His vast experience and joy of the craft resonate on every page. Studying with Bill was an amazing time of discovery.” —Gretchen Mol, Boardwalk Empire   “My time studying with Bill Esper left me feeling like a completely trained actor and a more honest, grounded person. Training and studying with him has informed all the stand-up, acting and writing I do. I am forever grateful.” —Amy Schumer, Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer “Anyone serious about acting ought to read this excellent book and then run to New York to study with Bill. He is the real deal—insightful, generous, uncompromising, and endlessly inspiring.” —Stephen Adly Guirgis, actor, playwright, artistic co-director of LAByrinth Theater Company    “I read Bill Esper’s first book with total glee because it reminded me of all the guidance he gave me not only as a beginning actor, but as a person hungry to live a full artistic life. His words not only illuminate the Meisner technique brilliantly, they also serve as a beautiful rumination of how to live a creative life.  He was and is my teacher and spirit guide.  Bill Esper is a national treasure and he has generously shared his wisdom and effervescent soul through these books and I am eternally grateful.” —Patricia Wettig, Thirtysomething, Prison Break, Brothers & Sisters