Author: Craig Wroe

Publisher: Limelight Editions

Copyright: 2003

ISBN: 0879109866

My Advice: Own it

“New York, New York what a wonderful town”

It is the Mecca for all that is Theatre and the Arts. Anyone associated with theatre, plans or dreams of going there, living there, and being successful there. However, a lot of questions that potential New Yorkers come across when planning their move are: where to begin, how will I find a place to live, and where will I be able to afford to live? Ultimately, how can I endure long enough on a limited budget till I’m established?

That’s what Craig Wroe provides for you in his book, An Actor Prepares: To Live in New York City. Mr. Wroe is an actor, writer, and teacher who has lived in the Big Apple since 1984. He takes his life experience with New York and offers you a guide to all things necessary for survival on a limited budget. His wit and sense of humor makes what could be a tedious book to read, a joy. The simple and concise manner at which deals with the plethora of daily life issues is refreshing and appreciated.

The issues he deals with first are getting settled, finding a home, and dealing with banks. He paints an honest picture of the ordeals of finding a home. His advice, “Apartments being as hard to come by as they are, if you find something that is even remotely suitable, take it immediately. If you don’t someone else will.” Keys to deeming if a place is “suitable” are: 1) examine the apartment, building, and neighborhood 2) the commute to midtown 3) do you feel safe and content living there. The book lists several options to aid in securing a place to live. Wroe also offers some sage advice in regards to roommate-pairing services, basically, DON’T USE THEM. His examples of why one shouldn’t use them are priceless.

He even decodes the mystery of finding an address on the Avenues in Manhattan. He claims of the formula, “I won’t attempt to explain how it works (as if I knew, I’m an actor for God’s sake: I can barely balance my checkbook), but it does.”

The book is broken down into five categories. They are: Getting Settled, Staying Healthy, Personal and Professional Resources, Shopping, and All Work and No Play. Each one of these categories has sub- points and they are very detailed. For Example under Shopping, the book addresses each of the following topics: Provisions; Spirits, Beverages, and Brews; Vitamins and Supplements; Clothing; Shoes; Handbags and Accessories; Leather Goods; Makeup; Sunglasses; Furniture; Mattresses; Housewares; Electronics; Books, Plays, and Scripts; CDs; Flowers and Plants; Art Supplies; General Merchandise Stores; Sample Sales; Flea Markets; Thrift Shops; Street Fairs; Outlet Stores; Weekly Sales Listings and Discount Coupons and finally Bargain Retail Areas.

In each one of these sub-points, Wroe lists the stores complete with their address and phone numbers that in his estimation give the most value for money spent. He also gives at least a paragraph of justification for his choice. There is a “best bargain” per sub-point; for example, when one is looking for men’s and women’s shoes the best bargain is: Make 10 Ladies and Gents Shoewear Warehouse Store (44 West 39^th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, 212-391-2926) and socks can be purchased at either the sock vendor at the Sunday Greenflea Market at I.S. 44 (Columbus and 76^th Street, 212-721-0900) or the sock guy who sets up a card table on the west side of Ninth Avenue between 42^nd and 43^rd Streets every weekday from about 3 pm on.

The amount of effort that is involved in just searching down the right place to buy socks is amazing and every aspect of this book is that detailed. He explains when, where, and who to sign up with to get discounts or sales notifications for all areas under Shopping. There is a very informative and amusing tutorial about the proper way to “borrow” apparel from the leading retailers and the art of haggling.

In this 350 page book, he covers every possible want or need to having a comfortable level of lifestyle without having to spend an extravagant amount of money to do it.

The book is organized extremely well and is a quick, entertaining read. Not only that, Wroe’s writing style gives you a sense the book was written just for you by a trusted friend. It’s a great reference book to help you prepare for your move to New York City. Even though it is geared toward the actor anyone can find useful information in it.

Buy it from Limelight Editions

Author: Mark Brandon

Publisher: Limelight Editions

Copyright: 2005

ISBN: 0879103167

My advice: Own it

It seems the longer you stay in the entertainment business, the more and varied advice you’ll receive about how to go about landing that break-through role. Most of the advice that is presented, however, is based in some kind of fantasy world and was probably created by people who were looking for excuses as to why they weren’t getting cast. The fact of the matter is, for the professional, there are techniques that can be employed that will help any actor, regardless of experience level,increase their chances for nailing that next audition.

That’s what Mark Brandon provides for you in his book, Winning Auditions: 101 Strategies for Actors. Having worked in the industry and been through several university training programs as well as a number of workshops, I can tell you that Mr. Brandon has provided a product that is worthwhile. Most of these strategies he has developed after teaching workshops on acting for the camera and discussing these problems with his students. In his introduction to this book, he talks about the process of culling through his copious notes and compiling them into its current form.

Furthermore, he goes to the trouble of breaking them up into three categories: Preparation Strategies, Presentation Strategies, and Performance Strategies. He also cross-references himself several times throughout the book linking one strategy with another and pointing out their most important differences.

His strategies were devised from actors working in the field. These are the actors who are continually going out and being seen before scores of casting directors and agents and their own observations about acting techniques and how to apply them in the highly competitive world of film and television auditions.

Perhaps his simplest strategy is the one that he references the most; in fact, its so simple, it’s elegant: Have Confidence. I know that sounds simple, but throughout the book, he references this strategy (it’s number 5 in the book, by the way) and tells you exactly how a lack of confidence can affect you and your performance at the precise moment you need it the most. He goes into detail about how to use the various types of sides you’ll see in the casting director’s office from film/TV scripts to commercial copy and beyond. He also talks about simple strategies to help you improve your cold-reading technique and how to keep it at its best.

The strategy that is provided the most detail in the book is Number 71: Above All Else, Aspire to Truth. In this strategy, Brandon details the difficulty and inherent problems most actors face in preparing their audition ahead of time: getting so bogged down in their preparation that they forget to just let it go and strive for honest and truthful reactions when they are reading before the casting director. He outlines several techniques to help actors with less experience overcome this problem.

In short, in this short 110 page book, he covers the absolute basics of what to expect in auditioning for pretty much anything in front of a camera.

The book is organized extremely well and is a quick, easy read. Not only that, it’s just as easy to use as a reference book to help you prepare for those auditions where you’ve got a few doubts or feel a bit behind the 8-ball.

If you are an actor, or are thinking about getting into the film/TV business, you could do a lot worse than to have a copy of this book handy.

A Practical Handbook for the Actor

by: Melissa Bruder, Lee Michael Cohn, Madeleine Olnek, Nathaniel Pollack, Robert Previto, and Scott Zigler, with an introduction by David Mamet

Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, New York, � 1986

My thoughts: Own it. Don’t wait. Go now.

We all know that not everyone believes in or adheres to the same approach to acting technique. Most of us realize that there is some kind of process to develop a character for performance however, not many of us agree on what that process is exactly. That’s because each of us is a completely different human being (gasp!) and has our own needs and methods of working. Failure to truly grasp this concept has been the problem with so many books on acting in the past. Everyone was trying to write a book that would explain what it is that an actor does and how great performances are derived.

No such book exists. Not even this one.

The writers of this book don’t try to make the claim that this is the only book you’ll ever need to learn the craft and the art of acting. However, they do provide a simple, concise look at a technique that has been developed and has worked for many people all over the world with some success.

The entire book weighs in at less than 100 pages (only slightly more than most play scripts) and can honestly boast that it has dug it’s way past all the years of crap and stigma that Acting has had heaped on it and gotten to its core. The techniques listed here are derived from the Stanislavki’s method, but his method has been modified, added to, and subtracted from in order to update it for a more modern (and, I might add, American) audience. To be quite honest, whether you are a newcomer to the world of theatre with stars in your eyes, but not much experience, or you are a hardened veteran of the stage, this book is worth keeping on your shelf and returning to time and again.

The book is broken up into two major sections: The Technique and Pitfalls (Working in the Real World).

The first section is not filled with exercises that are impossible to figure out (much less learn anything from) in book form. It simply goes through a technique of analyzing a script and preparing a performance. The writers’ major philosophy is that acting is doing; you can’t just be something. After they establish this, they simply and elegantly lay out a method for which you can decide what it is you want to do on stage. However, it doesn’t stop there.

After you have figured out what to do, the writers tell you to get the hell out of the way. You should always be ready to improvise within your given circumstances in the moment. They provide examples of this, but unless you are familiar with the plays they use as examples, you will feel a bit lost. As always, being as well-read in the world of theatrical literature is a must for any actor.

The second section deals (in very simple terms) with working and using these techniques in the real world. It is titled “Pitfalls” for a reason. It is very honest with its readers about the fact that this technique is great in the studio where you’ve got the freedom to fail and learn from those failures, but is more difficult to put into practice in the real world because of time contraints, budgets, overbearing (and often impatient) directors, and, of course, the egos of actors (yours and others’). When you are in rehearsal for a professional production, it is expected that you come to each rehearsal prepared; having done your homework. The technique outlined in the first section, they say, is your homework! You are expected to do your homework outside of rehearsal and bring that homework into rehearsal ready to put it to the test.

The other great thing about this book is that they place emphasis on the fact that simply reading this book and writing down some analysis on paper will not make you a great actor. You must get this stuff up on its feet and put it in…say it with me…action! They stress that the best way to do this is to continually seek out acting classes; merely reading about acting can not and will not make a novice a better actor or an experienced actor any better.

If you don’t already own a copy of this book, go ahead and pick it up from amazon! It’s a quick, easy read and it really quite insipiring.