"This book is a practical and theoretical exploration of the embodied imagining processes of devised performance in which the human and more-than-human are co-implicated in the creative process. This study brings together the work of French theatre pedagogue Jacques Lecoq (1921-1999) and French philosopher of science and the imagination Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962), to explore the notion of the imagination as embodied, enactive, and embedded in the devising process. An exploration of compelling correspondences with Bachelard, whose writings imbue Lecoq's teaching ethos, offers new practical and theoretical perspectives on Lecoq's 'poetic body' in contemporary devising practices. Interweaving first-hand accounts by the author and interviews with contemporary international creative practitioners who have graduated from, or have been deeply influenced by Lecoq, The Imagining Body in Performer Training interrogates how his teachings have been adapted, developed, and extended in various cultural, political, and historical settings, in Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, North and South America. These new and rich insights reveal a teaching approach that resists fixity and instead unfolds, develops, and adapts to the diverse cultural and political contexts of its practitioners, teachers, and students"--

This book is a practical and theoretical exploration of the embodied imagining processes of devised performance in which the human and more-than-human are co-implicated in the creative process. This study brings together the work of French theatre pedagogue Jacques Lecoq (1921-1999) and French philosopher of science and the imagination Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962), to explore the notion of the imagination as embodied, enactive, and embedded in the devising process. An exploration of compelling correspondences with Bachelard, whose writings imbue Lecoq's teaching ethos, offers new practical and theoretical perspectives on Lecoq's 'poetic body' in contemporary devising practices. Interweaving first-hand accounts by the author and interviews with contemporary international creative practitioners who have graduated from, or have been deeply influenced by Lecoq, The Imagining Body in Performer Training interrogates how his teachings have been adapted, developed, and extended in various cultural, political, and historical settings, in Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, North and South America. These new and rich insights reveal a teaching approach that resists fixity and instead unfolds, develops, and adapts to the diverse cultural and political contexts of its practitioners, teachers, and students.

David Zinder’s Body Voice Imagination is written by one of the master teachers of the Michael Chekhov technique of acting training. This book is a comprehensive course of exercises devoted to the development of actors’ creative expressivity, comprising both pre-Chekhov ImageWork Training and seminal exercises of the Chekhov technique. It also details the way in which these techniques can be applied to performance through a discovery of the profound connections between the actor’s body, imagination and voice.

The beginning actor will find here the tools to prepare for a life on stage, and the experienced performer will appreciate techniques that will turn good performances into great ones.

First published in 2008. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Lights go up, the actor takes the space, and is perceived by the audience. Communication has begun. The Articulate Body: The Physical Training of the Actor considers the unique responsibility of the actor to convey, through his physical being, the thoughts and feelings of the theatrical event. The actor's training must provide a process through which the actor gains the physical skill, imagination, and confidence necessary to be as articulate with his body as he is with words. This book attempts to re-think and analyse a contemporary actor's physical needs, looking at the actor's physical training not as a series of skills, but as a skill in itself, specific to the actor. Exercises are included to serve the actor, teacher, director, movement director and actor's choreographer as a point of departure in applying the principles and concepts of the book to their own work.

In Mythic Imagination and the Actor, Marissa Chibás draws on over three decades of experience as a Latinx actor, writer, filmmaker, and teacher to offer an approach to acting that embraces collective imagination, archetypal work, and the mythic. The book begins with a comparative analysis between method acting and mythic acting, encouraging actors to push past the limits of singular life experience and move to a realm where imagination and metaphor thrive. In the context of mythic acting, the book explores awareness work, solo performance creation, the power of archetypes, character building exercises, creating a body/text connection, and how to be the detective of your own process. Through this inclusive guide for a new age of diverse performers traversing gender, ability, culture, and race, readers are able to move beyond their limits to a deep engagement with the infinite possibilities of rich imagination. The final chapter empowers and motivates artists to live healthfully within the practice and create a personal artistic vision plan. Written for actors and students of acting, American Drama, and film and theatre studies, Mythic Imagination and the Actor provides practical exercises and prompts to unlock and interpret an actor’s deepest creative sources.