ABSTRACT

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 These collect together a broad range of exciting unpublished material, drawn from Boleslavsky’s pivotal and unprecedented teachings on acting at the American Laboratory Theatre.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:

    • "The Creative Theatre Lectures" by Richard Boleslavsky
    • Boleslavsky’s "Lectures from the American Laboratory Theatre"
    • "Acting with Maria Ouspenskaya," four short essays on the work of Ouspenskaya, Boleslavsky’s colleague and fellow actor trainer
    • A new critical introduction and bibliography by the Editor.

part |63 pages

Acting: The First Six Lessons

chapter |7 pages

The First Lesson

Concentration

chapter |11 pages

The Second Lesson

Memory of Emotion

chapter |9 pages

The Third Lesson

Dramatic Action

chapter |14 pages

The Fourth Lesson

Characterization

chapter |8 pages

The Fifth Lesson

Observation

chapter |11 pages

The Sixth Lesson

Rhythm

part |56 pages

The “Creative Theatre” Lectures

part |59 pages

Boleslavsky Lectures from the American Laboratory Theatre

chapter |7 pages

Lecture 3

chapter |7 pages

Lecture 5

chapter |5 pages

Lesson 6

chapter |8 pages

Lecture 7

chapter |6 pages

Lesson 8

chapter |8 pages

Lesson 9

chapter |5 pages

Lecture 10

chapter |11 pages

Lecture 11

part |26 pages

Notes on Acting with Maria Ouspenskaya

chapter |6 pages

October 1954

chapter |6 pages

November 1954

chapter |6 pages

December 1954

chapter |6 pages

January 1955