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Books on Directing/Theatre

  • 1.  Books on Directing/Theatre

    Posted 09-25-2019 14:12
    Can anyone recommend some great reads on directing or theatre in general?  I'm really happy with what we've put out these past few years, but I am always trying to get better.  Thanks in advance.

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    K Lang
    Ticonderoga NY
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  • 2.  RE: Books on Directing/Theatre

    Posted 09-28-2019 09:05

    One of the books that changed how I thought about both directing and writing plays is Backwards and Forwards by David Ball. It was written for his directing students at CMU and looks at how what he calls "triggers and heaps" are connected throughout an entire play and how you have to read a play both backwards and forward before you can understand its spine. Clearest explanation of beats that I've seen. He takes Hamlet and analyzes it from end to beginning. 

    Best yet,. it's an easy read! I require it of all my playwriting students. 



    ------------------------------
    Jean Klein
    Playwright/Founder HaveScripts/BlueMoonPlays
    Playwriting Teacher in MFA program, Wilkes University]
    Virginia BeachVA
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Books on Directing/Theatre

    Posted 09-29-2019 13:25
    Backwards and Forwards is an excellent book, that really makes you think about how everything should have a cause and effect. I also love Mamet's True and False. The Practical Handbook for the Actor is also a great starting point into the basics of acting. These are three simple, easy and enjoyable to read practical books.

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    Sterling Johnson
    Middle School Drama
    Cairo American College
    Cairo
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Books on Directing/Theatre

    Posted 09-28-2019 09:55
    My favorite book on directing is Thinking Like a Director by Michael Bloom - it goes over the entire process of choosing, casting and rehearsing a play and gives lots of practical advice (it's not too heavy on the theory). Also, Notes on Directing by Hauser and Reich - 130 short (often paragraph long) things to consider over the course of putting a show together. Notes on Directing is an easy read and something a student director could finish in a day or two and come away with lots of ideas. 

    And I'll second Backwards and Forwards - you'll never look at Hamlet the same way again!

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    Ken Buswell
    Drama Teacher
    Peachtree City, GA
    http://mcintoshtheater.org/

    Theater kills ignorance
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Books on Directing/Theatre

    Posted 10-01-2019 08:15
    Ken, you beat me to my recommendation.  Bloom's book is great--a very satisfying mix of big picture and practical.

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    Ryan Moore
    Theatre Teacher and Forensics Coach
    Royal Oak MI
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Books on Directing/Theatre

    Posted 09-28-2019 15:35
    I just found a used copy of "A Sense of Direction; some observations on the art of directing" by William Ball (Drama Publishers, 1984) It was very highly recommended by a few theatre educator friends of mine, saying it was the best book on directing they have ever read. Don't let the publishing date put you off.  Its insight and clarity make it ageless.

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    Roger Paolini
    Buffalo NY
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Books on Directing/Theatre

    Posted 09-28-2019 17:23
    I heartily endorse Ken's suggestion of Notes on Directing: 130 Lessons in Leadership From the Director's Chair by Hauser and Reich.  My co-sponsor had it on her bookshelf, and I started idling through it one day and fell in love with it.  I've picked up many useful tips from this book, and it's hard to ignore it when a cover blurb from Judi Dench says that every director ought to read it!

    I also admire Terry McCabe's Misdirecting the Play: An Argument Against Contemporary Theatre.  McCabe deplores directors who treat a script as "found material" to be manipulated in any way those directors desire.  At the same time, he's not a textual prude who insists that Richard III must always be staged exactly as it was at the Globe in Shakespeare's lifetime.  He starts with that simple old notion that a director's first and foremost job is to guide the entire production team in telling the author's story as clearly as possible for the audience, and develops his tenets from there.

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    Jeff Grove
    Theatre Teacher, Aesthetics Department Chair
    Stanton College Preparatory School
    Jacksonville FL
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Books on Directing/Theatre

    Posted 09-29-2019 13:55
    "How To Read a Play: Script Analysis for Directors" by Damon Kiely is a great book and a fascinating read. It's filled with great insights and awesome interviews with working directors.

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    Patrick McGuire
    Drama Director
    Round Lake High School
    Round Lake, IL
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Books on Directing/Theatre

    Posted 09-30-2019 07:33
    How to Read a Play is full of good advice. How to Write a Play is another great book for high school students (and teachers) who might be adding playwriting to the curriculum. It's also an easy read and easy to apply.

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    Jean Klein
    Playwright/Founder HaveScripts/BlueMoonPlays
    Playwriting Teacher in MFA program, Wilkes University]
    Virginia BeachVA
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    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Books on Directing/Theatre

    Posted 09-30-2019 14:10
    You can check out On Directing Film, also by Mamet. It works just as well for the stage.

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    Josh Kauffman
    Teacher
    Winfield AL
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    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Books on Directing/Theatre

    Posted 10-02-2019 09:27

    My favorite book on directing (and script analysis!) is The Director's Craft: A Handbook for the Theatre by Katie Mitchell.

    Although I probably wouldn't give it to students below the MFA level, it changed my life as a director and as a playwright and I highly recommend it.



    ------------------------------
    Arlene Hutton, playwright
    Letters to Sala
    I Dream Before I Take the Stand Kissed the Girls & Made Them Cry
    As It Is In Heaven
    Susie Sits Shiva (EdTA commission)

    faculty, The Barrow Group, NYC
    arlene@barrowgroup.org
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: Books on Directing/Theatre

    Posted 10-02-2019 11:48
    One of the best books on directing that I have ever come across is Francis Hodge's "Play Directing: Analysis, Communication, and Style."  I just taught a class at the Southern Nevada Leadership and Technical Theatre Conference using her concepts.  I have been using these ideas, thanks to Tom McNally and Mary Schuttler at U.N.C., since I graduated and it has helped me immensely. 

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    Sincerely,
    David T. Kelley, M.Ed.
    Theatre Arts/Film Studies Educator
    Arbor View High School
    (702)799-6660 x4095
    http://bit.ly/crimsonplayers

    "Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves." - Henry David Thoreau
    ---------------------------------------
    Check out my classroom grant projects!
    https://arbor-view-high.ed.co/avhs-crimson-players
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 13.  RE: Books on Directing/Theatre

    Posted 10-03-2019 06:54
    We also have a wonderful webinar on directing in the new EDTA online learning site at http://learn.schooltheatre.org
    Director Michael Bigelow Dixon and Kentucky member Amie Kisling walk you through a great approach to analyzing and directing a show.  It also includes all of the materials you need to teach a unit on directing to your students.  Just go to the site and scroll down to webinars.

    Cory Wilkerson
    EdTA Education Manager
    513-713-5895
    cwilkerson@schooltheatre.org

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    Cory Wilkerson
    Education Manager
    Educational Theatre Association
    Palmyra PA
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    Original Message


  • 14.  RE: Books on Directing/Theatre

    Posted 10-10-2019 06:04
    These are some of the great books that i often go back to for specific reasons as specified:

    1. The Little Prince: by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
    2. The Improv games guidebook by Viola Spolins ( i enjoy the academic one more than the game book)
    3. Viewpoints by Anne Bogart especially for ensemble and absurd work. I really enjoy the coming together of physical theatre and direction.
    4. Cognitive Psychology, especially the part on motivations and intentions in it to understand character psychology. I prefer the fifth edition.
    5. Lastly, a lot of fiction by Zadie Smith. I believe that she is such a great student of human psyche in its complex sociopoliticpo-cultural realities that there is a lot to learn theatre-wise there.

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    Lisa Coy
    New York NY
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    Original Message


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