The Actors Bookshelf

We're back at it dropping a proper banger of an episode, the conclusion of  what we're calling Season 1 with the long awaited deep read of…. Act 3!!! We got gossip, we got death and downfall, and we go lots to say about all of it. After this one we'll take a bit of a break, read some more books, book more jobs, watch more shows, and maybe try out some teaching and then come back with m...

bad it's bad. You know it (or do you?), you love it (but should you?), it's Konstantin Stanislavski's major text  An Actor Prepares  (not the original title in Russian). Dan and Patrick had a grand old time snuffling through this pile of dirt for a couple of juicy informational truffles, and we're here to let you know whether or not this book belongs on your Actors Bookshelf. Some...

After two weeks.... Two hosts... Cover two chapters... To finish Act Two of The Method ... Over two hours... This is the jumping-off point of the beginning of the Actors Studio and then a cheeky whole chapter on Marlon Brando (let's go Brando!). Let's go! ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ We're on Instagram! @TheActorsBookshelf Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and...

A day late, but no dollars to be short! In this episode, the Group Goes West. Turns out the life of a...... .person of the evening....... ain't too bad! ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ We're on Instagram! @TheActorsBookshelf Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf Follow Patrick on Instagram @dfwpadraig Follow Dan on Instagram @the.other.dan.stevens...

Stella meets Stan. (Not Kowalski. Not Laurel). More confusion and discord in the Group. Clifford Odets has his first success, despite Lee's best efforts. Plus we caught up our chapters with our episode numbers! Go on, give us a listen. ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ We're on Instagram! @TheActorsBookshelf Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf Fol...

Hey lookit we both have theatre jobs we're doing the thing guysssssss! This is a special bonus episode that we recorded on our AEA days off (while we probably should have been on vocal rest) to talk about the magic of making theatre in the waning days of our fading republic, the foibles and vicissitudes of putting the thing together, and the reality of being dumb fleshy sacks of meat and elect...

The Group Theatre hits it big, egos clash, and worlds collide on the other side of the world. ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ We're on Instagram! @TheActorsBookshelf Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf Follow Patrick on Instagram @dfwpadraig Follow Dan on Instagram @the.other.dan.stevens Questions? Comments? Email us at actorsbookshelfpod@gmail....

It turns out being booked and blessed also involves being busy. But here we are, bestowing another beloved binstallment of The Bactors Bookshelf benevolently! We get the early days of the Group Theatre, the early members, their successes and foibles, and some of their first productions. ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ We're on Instagram! @TheActorsBookshelf Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter...

Where Michael Stipe sings "I Thought That I Heard You Acting." The Boleslavsky Talks! The American Theatre Lab! We meet Adler! We meet Strasberg! It's happening here folks! Featuring a special appearance from Amara the funnier ginger. ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ We're on Instagram! @TheActorsBookshelf Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf Foll...

We're back with Isaac Butler and the incredible history of the evolution of acting technique! This one has been in the works for a Minute, y'all and we're very excited to be dropping it into your feed now. In this one we experiment with bringing some outside voices into the pod. Thanks a million and a half to our loving contributors. Please, listeners, let us know if this is the kind of thing you'...

Some words in reference to the groundbreaking Moscow Art Theatre tour of the United States, and Patrick for sure knows how to read. ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ We're on Instagram!! @theactorsbookshelf Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf Follow Patrick on Instagram @dfwpadraig Follow Dan on Instagram @the.other.dan.stevens Questions? Comments...

we've got an announcement about upcoming episodes. they're coming up! ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf Follow Patrick on Instagram @dfwpadraig Follow Dan on Instagram @the.other.dan.stevens Questions? Comments? Email us at actorsbookshelfpod@gmail.com

We're wrapping up that one book we were supposed to have read in acting school. You were supposed to as well and you didn't, don't play pretend. Listen to our sweet book report on Richard Boleslavsky's big book o' acting and tell your teacher you totally did the reading. All apologies to Sarah Goldberg for messing up your name, we love you so much. Please come on our podcast and play The Creature...

Finally, one of the books we were supposed to have read! It's Richard Boleslavsky's book, possibly the first book on the modern approach to acting (yes, it came out BEFORE An Actor Prepares)! ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf Follow Patrick on Instagram @dfwpadraig Follow Dan on Instagram @the.other.dan.stevens...

Curtain down on Act One of The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act , and we go out on a bang! Thus concludes our background discussions on the history of the revolutionary approach to acting that would go on to influence the American "Method" and the new approach to psychological realism that would take the world by storm once a certain Polish Lancer made his way behind enemy lines to...

The title of this chapter is just too good, and we're moving toward the time when Stanislavski's system is going to expatriate to a new land to proliferate and convince generations of actors that pausing is the key to genius. ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf Follow Patrick on Instagram @dfwpadraig Follow Dan on...

This week on TAB, Dan and Patrick are learning about the difference between what they do (hack work) and what our boy Stan the Man was trying to implement with his first workshop of actors back in Moscow with the System. We're more than halfway through the first act of The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act by Isaac Butler. We promise, dear listener, those books we were supposed to h...

We're trying new episode titles. This is Part 2 of Chapter 4 of The Method, aka Patrick wraps up his book report.... We got off the chapter numbering anyway. Our last episode ended with the Ya Yes'm lesson (я есмь), this week we'll revisit that, and we'll cover how Stan got around to some of his profound acting theories, including Concentration, Affective Memory (oy...), the Magic If, and the big...

Well horsefeathers..... Turns out a lot happened in Russia after the turn of the Twentieth Century, and our heroes Stan and Nemo were caught in the maelstrom. This week Dan and Patrick are talking about Chapter 4 of Isaac Butler's The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act . But it's a dense chapter, lots of scene-setting to set about, so we dive on in headfirst to the development of Mis...

We did it. We caught up the chapters with our episode numbers. We all lived happily ever after, in Moscow, with Trigorin, and the Cherry Orchard is continuing to bring us residual income. Huzzah. This week Dan and Patrick talk about Chapters 2 and 3 of Isaac Butler's The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act . We'll cover some of the early productions of the Moscow Art Theatre (original...

Oh no. We're spending Episode 2 looking at Chapter 1. This can only end in tears. In Chapter 1 of Isaac Butler's book The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act , we meet our heroes Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, theatre artists hungry for new forms and eager to form a partnership. We talk about finding the art in yourself and other such nonsense, and the orig...

It's our first full episode, and today we're diving headfirst into the ur text for our podcasting project, The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act , written by Isaac Butler and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. The Method is a thorough investigation of both the correct and incorrect attributions of the teachings of Konstantin Stanislavski as they've been filtered down through his st...

You made it! Make yourself comfortable. Welcome to the show where we go deep into the books we were supposed to have read in acting school. Some you've heard about. Some you've maybe not heard about. We're here to build a community and have some good long-form discussions about how we do what we do. We'll talk to other actors, directors, teachers, and theatre practitioners about wh...