“Bill Esper’s training gave me many precious gifts. . . . He is a master teacher and I use what I learned with him every single time I work. I will be forever grateful.” —Christine Lahti, Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor, Academy Award-winning director
“Simple, straightforward, inspiring and invaluable. . . . This book reminds me of how incredibly fortunate I was to have been taught by Bill Esper.” —Timothy Olyphant, Emmy and SAG Award winner
“Reading this book brought me back to Bill’s classroom. His vast experience and joy of the craft resonate on every page. Studying with Bill was an amazing time of discovery.” —Gretchen Mol, Boardwalk Empire
“My time studying with Bill Esper left me feeling like a completely trained actor and a more honest, grounded person. Training and studying with him has informed all the stand-up, acting and writing I do. I am forever grateful.” —Amy Schumer, Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer
“Anyone serious about acting ought to read this excellent book and then run to New York to study with Bill. He is the real deal—insightful, generous, uncompromising, and endlessly inspiring.” —Stephen Adly Guirgis, actor, playwright, artistic co-director of LAByrinth Theater Company
“I read Bill Esper’s first book with total glee because it reminded me of all the guidance he gave me not only as a beginning actor, but as a person hungry to live a full artistic life. His words not only illuminate the Meisner technique brilliantly, they also serve as a beautiful rumination of how to live a creative life. He was and is my teacher and spirit guide. Bill Esper is a national treasure and he has generously shared his wisdom and effervescent soul through these books and I am eternally grateful.” —Patricia Wettig, Thirtysomething, Prison Break, Brothers & Sisters
Introduction by Patricia Heaton
Prologue
Chapter One: Welcome Back – and Back to Work
Chapter Two: Gimps, Limps, and Lisps: Physical Impediments
Chapter Three: How Being in Intense Pain Can Actually Help Your Work
Chapter Four: How to Explore Drugs and Alcohol without Rehab, Prison, or Death
Chapter Five: Imitation and Point of View
Chapter Six: Come, Sit at the Table! The Essence of the Character
Chapter Seven: Still at the Table: Actions and Super Objectives
Chapter Eight: Beats, Homework, Inner Emotional Lines, and Particularizations
Chapter Nine: Nursery Rhymes
Chapter Ten: Spoon Rivers
Chapter Eleven: Periods and Styles
Chapter Twelve: Periods and Styles in Practice
Chapter Thirteen: Acting in Film and TV
Chapter Fourteen: Commencement: The Serious Actor Business
Afterword by David Mamet
