Stella Adler On America's Master Playwrights: Eugene O'Neill, Thornton Wilder, Clifford Odets, William Saroyan, Tennessee Williams, William Inge, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
Stella Adler was one of the most influential acting teachers of all time, a legendary force of nature whose generations of students include Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Anthony Quinn, Diana Ross, Robert De Niro, Warren Beatty, Annette Benning, and Mark Ruffalo.This long-awaited companion to her book on the master European playwrights brings to life America’s most revered playwrights, whom she knew, loved, and worked with. Brilliantly edited by Barry Paris, Adler’s lectures on the giants of twentieth-century theater feature her indispensable insights into such classic plays as “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” “The Skin of Our Teeth,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Come Back, Little Sheba,” “The Glass Menagerie,” and “Death of a Salesman,” while shedding new light on such lesser known gems as Tennessee Williams’s “The Lady of Larkspur Lotion” and Arthur Miller’s “After the Fall.” Illuminating, revelatory, inspiring—this is Stella Adler at her electrifying best.
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Vintage (September 10, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0679746994
ISBN-13: 978-0679746997
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #221,098 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #38 in Books > Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Play & Scriptwriting #54 in Books > Arts & Photography > Performing Arts > Theater > Playwriting #117 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Genres & Styles > Drama
Stella Adler was a force in the American theater, a larger than life actress, acting coach, the only American actress to have studied with Stanislavski, the mentor of Marlon Brando, the wife of Harold Clurman. This book, edited from the transcripts of lectures she gave to students in California, is more than a series of lessons on how to perform the plays of America's greatest playwrights--O'Neill, Miller, Williams, Inge, Odets and Albee--it is also an invaluable history book of a country's ideals and dreams, mistakes and suppressions, and how they found expression through the handful of dramatists who managed somehow to have their voices heard on the commercial stage of Broadway. Adler contends that to gain the American dream of fame and success a writer or an actor must know his or her country's history: when and why these classic plays were written, who were the men who had the courage to speak out, and how they reflected their moment in American time. She encourages her student actors to be big, big as the country, to make the theater a forum for unpleasant truths rather than escapism and mindless entertainment, In the course of these talks, Stella is never too modest to remind you how bright, talented, sexy and irresistible she was; how he knew everyone who was anyone, and what she said to them and they said to her. Those who are not actors will delight in the backstage gossip, and the sense of excitement all those bright young people of her generation felt because they sincerely believed that their voices, their theater, would change the world. Reading the book, you are left with the feeling that once upon a time giants walked, if not the earth, at least on that stretch of New York City where plays were performed and people paid to learn about themselves. Those days may be over. Those who remember them or wish for their return will find no better guide book to America's golden age of theater than this amazing document of a life fully lived.
Stella Adler takes play readers, actors and directors on an inspiring and eye-opening journey of exploration. She examines the words the playwrights use to tell their story, strips them of superficiality by insisting that they be understood in the context of the social order and the uneasy place of individuals in that order. Her warnings that mere recitation of the words, without an understanding of the dynamics underlying the life of the individuals expressing them, deprives the play of the passions that should animate the words. Whether one is an actor or reader, Adler's emphasis on understanding the turbulence behind the words leads to rewarding insights.
I love this book. The NY Times review by Peter Bogdanovich was right on. You can pick up this book and open it anywhere on any of the American Masters she discusses and be totally captivated. She explains the context of the culture these men were writing in and explains their work in a totally clear and compassionate understanding of Americans at that time.This book is amazing for any American Theater lover or for the merely curious about what made O'Neill. Tennessee Williams, et.al so great. A real eye opener, as they say. If you have a library, this book should be in it.
I have seldom read a book that brought such an equal measure of enjoyment and learning. Ms. Adler's book provides the equivalent of a college semester of lectures and research on America's master playwrights. But the verve, perception, and personality in the words provide the real joy. She not only presents the essence of the playwrights' works; because she believes that an actor's knowledge of the social and political environment in which the plays take place is the absolute core of good acting, she provides invaluable historical nuggets on each of the eras covered in the plays.Stella Adler proves she is truly one of a kind. Her insights on acting, for this layman on the subject, adds a unique dimension that draws the reader in and keeps him enthralled. The advice of this native Southerner: Want to read one of the best, concise synopses ever written of what the term "Southern culture" really means? Forget W.J. Cash's seminal work, "The Mind of the South." Read Stella Adler's review of Tennessee William's "Summer and Smoke" in this book.Anyone who reads this book will come away a Stella Adler fan, her name high on the list of "people I wish I had known." No wonder a generation of America's leading actors, led by Marlon Brando, virtually worshiped her. She was a national treasure, and the two books preserving her lectures are, too.
Stella Adler's lectures on Script Analysis were legendary. To have these transcriptions is a unique gift, not just to the Acting community, but to artists and thinkers everywhere. Miss Adler's analyses of these American playwrights gives the reader a road into the depth that these plays deserve.
This is a perfect follow-up to the first volume on Ibsen, Strindberg and Chekhov. There was and will never be another Stella Adler. Her voice, in each of these brilliant books, comes through quite strongly. They have changed my thinking in the most wondrous way. She proves that she is simply one of the greatest acting teachers of our time, and unrivaled in terms of script analysis. Barry Paris and Victoria Wilson deserve a lot of praise for putting these together so well. Stella Adler was epic. A force of nature and a powerful teacher. Absolutely thrilling!!!
Stella Adler on America's Master Playwrights: Eugene O'Neill, Thornton Wilder, Clifford Odets, William Saroyan, Tennessee Williams, William Inge, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee Arthur's Eyes: An Arthur Adventure (Arthur Adventure Series) Master the Miller Analogies Test 2004 (Arco Master the Miller Analogies Test) Master the Miller Analogies Test 2002 (Arco Master the Miller Analogies Test) Master the Mat 2001: Miller Analogies Test (Master the Mat: Miller Analogies Test, 8th ed) Master the Miller Analogies Test 2006 (Arco Master the Miller Analogies Test) Clifford's Good Deeds (Clifford 8x8) Clifford's First School Day (Clifford the Small Red Puppy) Clifford The Big Red Dog (Clifford 8x8) Clifford's Abc (Clifford 8x8) Clifford's Manners (Clifford 8x8) Clifford's First Autumn (Clifford 8x8) Lector de Scholastic Nivel 1: Clifford va al doctor: (Spanish language edition of Scholastic Reader Level 1: Clifford Goes to the Doctor) (Spanish Edition) Mat: Miller Analogies Test (Arco Master the Miller Analogies Test) Tennessee Williams: Plays 1937-1955 (Library of America) Adler's Physiology of the Eye: Expert Consult - Online and Print, 11e Southern Africa: South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe (Thornton Cox Guides) Mel Bay O'Neill's Music of Ireland Matsuri: The Festivals of Japan: With Annotated Plate Section by P.G. O'Neill (Japan Library) Tenn at One Hundred: The Reputation of Tennessee Williams
