What do you think?
Rate this book
The Actor's Scenebook: Scenes and Monologues From Contemporary Plays
Here is wonderful, up-to-date material for scene study, selected from the best plays from recent theater seasons.
More than 20 monologues for both men and women, carefully chosen to display the widest range of dramatic ability, are essential for auditioning actors. A large selection of parts for woman provide exciting opportunities to sharpen acting skills in roles that brought accolades from New York's toughest critics. More than 80 scenes in all, many previously unpublished, allow every actor, professional, amateur or student, to choose from either smart, sassy, often outrageous comedy or deeply moving drama—a unique, balanced collection of the most successful contemporary plays.
More than 20 monologues for both men and women, carefully chosen to display the widest range of dramatic ability, are essential for auditioning actors. A large selection of parts for woman provide exciting opportunities to sharpen acting skills in roles that brought accolades from New York's toughest critics. More than 80 scenes in all, many previously unpublished, allow every actor, professional, amateur or student, to choose from either smart, sassy, often outrageous comedy or deeply moving drama—a unique, balanced collection of the most successful contemporary plays.
384 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1984
5 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
Michael Schulman
41 books12 followersThis profile is for the acting teacher and psychologist. For the New Yorker staff writer, see Michael Schulman.
Michael Schulman, editor of Play the Scene and Great Scenes and Monologues for Actors, is an acting teacher who has taught at the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and the Actors Studio. He founded the British-American Acting Academy and has written and directed a number of plays for Off-Broadway theatre. He is also a psychologist and an author of books on child development.
Michael Schulman, editor of Play the Scene and Great Scenes and Monologues for Actors, is an acting teacher who has taught at the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and the Actors Studio. He founded the British-American Acting Academy and has written and directed a number of plays for Off-Broadway theatre. He is also a psychologist and an author of books on child development.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Read
January 9, 2019Personal response:
My personal response for the book is pretty good. All the scenes are interesting, talking about terms of quality there are ups and downs. Some scenes are from plays, they are hard to understand because there is no context, and as a consequence the effect of the scene is different for the reader. I also find interesting that a historical background was used in some stories.
Plot:
There are scenes for one man and one woman, two women, two men, and monologues for both men and women. Each story has it own events. Even though they are extremely different most of the time, they can be similar. An example of that is the characters Mel and Edna from The prisoner of second avenue-pg.29, Simon, Neil; and Ruth and Eileen from My Sister Eileen - pg.206 A. Fields, Joseph & Jerome
Chodorov. Both stories setting is in an apartment in New York.
However, each story goes to a different direction, it is also notable humor in a lot of scenes. It is present in other scenes in the book as: Barefoot in The Park; Romantic Comedy; My Cup Ranneth Over-pg 220, Patrick, Robert, and others.
Characterization:
Before each scene there is a quote with details of the play, scene, or monologue, they have the function to guide the reader, or the actor that are doing It. This also gives a quick characterization of the persona, that is extremely important if Those interprets are in the beginning of the artistic career. It is also extremely important for those scenes that are from the middle of a play, because it gives us an important guide about who’s who in the following page. However, it is confusing in some stories, as said before.
One great example of this is in My Cup Ranneth Over - “Yucca Concklin is a dizzy, young rock singer who wakes up one morning to find herself famous. Her roommate, Paula, is a struggling and serious writer who has trouble adjusting to Yucca’s overnight success.”-pg 220, Patrick, Robert. Even though this quote is really short comparing to the others, it shows the reader a guide about what he needs to imagine, where is it, and who are the character(s).
Setting:
The settings are different for each story. Even though, as the book is for two people scenes or monologues, usually the set is a private place. I think that was a good choice from the editors Michael Schulman and Eva Mekler to choose scenes with simple settings, because It can be used on auditions easily.
A great part of the scenes passes in a house or an apartment, an example of that is Jimmy Shine; Waiting for Lefty-pg.114, Odets,Clifford; and Awake and Sing-pg.108, Odets, Clifford. Another common places to set a story are schools, bars, or the place that the person works.
Recommendation:
I would recommend this book for people who enjoys theater, for those who wants to study acting or is preparing for an audition. However, the humor sometimes pass through the limits for an audition or a school reading. The age needs to be take in consideration too. Besides that, everyone are capable to read. Finally, the book is a really good option for improvisation exercises on drama classes.
My personal response for the book is pretty good. All the scenes are interesting, talking about terms of quality there are ups and downs. Some scenes are from plays, they are hard to understand because there is no context, and as a consequence the effect of the scene is different for the reader. I also find interesting that a historical background was used in some stories.
Plot:
There are scenes for one man and one woman, two women, two men, and monologues for both men and women. Each story has it own events. Even though they are extremely different most of the time, they can be similar. An example of that is the characters Mel and Edna from The prisoner of second avenue-pg.29, Simon, Neil; and Ruth and Eileen from My Sister Eileen - pg.206 A. Fields, Joseph & Jerome
Chodorov. Both stories setting is in an apartment in New York.
However, each story goes to a different direction, it is also notable humor in a lot of scenes. It is present in other scenes in the book as: Barefoot in The Park; Romantic Comedy; My Cup Ranneth Over-pg 220, Patrick, Robert, and others.
Characterization:
Before each scene there is a quote with details of the play, scene, or monologue, they have the function to guide the reader, or the actor that are doing It. This also gives a quick characterization of the persona, that is extremely important if Those interprets are in the beginning of the artistic career. It is also extremely important for those scenes that are from the middle of a play, because it gives us an important guide about who’s who in the following page. However, it is confusing in some stories, as said before.
One great example of this is in My Cup Ranneth Over - “Yucca Concklin is a dizzy, young rock singer who wakes up one morning to find herself famous. Her roommate, Paula, is a struggling and serious writer who has trouble adjusting to Yucca’s overnight success.”-pg 220, Patrick, Robert. Even though this quote is really short comparing to the others, it shows the reader a guide about what he needs to imagine, where is it, and who are the character(s).
Setting:
The settings are different for each story. Even though, as the book is for two people scenes or monologues, usually the set is a private place. I think that was a good choice from the editors Michael Schulman and Eva Mekler to choose scenes with simple settings, because It can be used on auditions easily.
A great part of the scenes passes in a house or an apartment, an example of that is Jimmy Shine; Waiting for Lefty-pg.114, Odets,Clifford; and Awake and Sing-pg.108, Odets, Clifford. Another common places to set a story are schools, bars, or the place that the person works.
Recommendation:
I would recommend this book for people who enjoys theater, for those who wants to study acting or is preparing for an audition. However, the humor sometimes pass through the limits for an audition or a school reading. The age needs to be take in consideration too. Besides that, everyone are capable to read. Finally, the book is a really good option for improvisation exercises on drama classes.
November 8, 2014
great source!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews