conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Do you know a description for a book titled Sanford Meisner on Acting about Acting, Dennis, Longwell with the genre: Arts & Photography, Performing Arts?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: the author has been called "the theater's best-kept secret," and the author on Acting by Dennis Longwell gives some insight into what techniques the hugely influential drama teacher used in his 50-plus years of work. One of the founding members of the Actors Studio (with Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, and Harold Clurman), the author developed his own special lessons based upon his understandings of the great Russian teacher Stanislavsky. Turning away from the sense-memory exercises common among his colleagues, his training focused instead on a realistic approach to imagination and creativity. Unlike many other educators associated with "the Method," the author had little tolerance for self-absorption or striving after strong emotional effect, instead preaching that clarity of purpose and efficient use of the psyche are the actor's greatest tools. Longwell's book follows a class of eight men and eight women through one of the author's 15-month courses at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, with extensive transcripts taken directly from the author's notes to the students on the basis of their exercises. With an introduction by director Sydney Pollack, one of the many influential artists who studied with the author (the book includes accolades from Maureen Stapleton, Arthur Miller, Gregory Peck, and Eli Wallach), this is an excellent introduction that helps to demystify the work of a great theatrical teacher. --John Longenbaugh
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the last sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: the author has been called "the theater's best-kept secret," and the author on Acting by Dennis Longwell gives some insight into what techniques the hugely influential drama teacher used in his 50-plus years of work. One of the founding members of the Actors Studio (with Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, and Harold Clurman), the author developed his own special lessons based upon his understandings of the great Russian teacher Stanislavsky. Turning away from the sense-memory exercises common among his colleagues, his training focused instead on a realistic approach to imagination and creativity. Unlike many other educators associated with "the Method," the author had little tolerance for self-absorption or striving after strong emotional effect, instead preaching that clarity of purpose and efficient use of the psyche are the actor's greatest tools. Longwell's book follows a class of eight men and eight women through one of the author's 15-month courses at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, with extensive transcripts taken directly from the author's notes to the students on the basis of their exercises. With an introduction by director Sydney Pollack, one of the many influential artists who studied with the author (the book includes accolades from Maureen Stapleton, Arthur Miller, Gregory Peck, and Eli Wallach), this is an excellent introduction that helps to demystify the work of a great theatrical teacher.