by EllenMargolis (Editor), Lissa Tyler Renaud (Editor)
The essays in this volume address the historical, social, colonial, and administrative contexts that determine today's U.S. actor training, as well as matters of identity politics, access, and marginalization as they emerge in classrooms and rehearsal halls. It considers persistent, questioning voices about our nation's acting training as it stands, thereby contributing to the national dialogue the diverse perspectives and proposals needed to keep American actor training dynamic and germane, both within the U.S. and abroad. Prominent academics and artists view actor training through a political, cultural or ethical lens, tackling fraught topics about power as it plays out in acting curricula and classrooms. The book offers a survey of trends in thinking on actor training and investigates the way American theatre expresses our national identity through the globalization of arts education policy and in the politics of our curriculum decisions.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 228
Edition: 1
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 13 Jul 2011
ISBN 10: 0415896533
ISBN 13: 9780415896535
With The Politics of American Actor Training, coeditors Ellen Margolis and Lissa Tyler Renaud make an important contribution to the fields of theatre history and acting pedagogy. Along with twelve contributors, they have created an excellent publication that moves seamlessly among history, pedagogy, theory, and practice. As such, The Politics of American Actor Training serves several needs and deserves consideration from scholars, teachers, and professional theatre artists alike.
-Steven Harrick, Theatre Topics (USA)
[A]n exemplary book on education policy in United States acting...
-Rodolfo Obregon, La Isla de Prospero (Mexico)
What is delightful-and, to me, unexpected-about both parts of the anthology is that the editors have taken seriously the politics of American actor training programs not only in the US proper, but also as they are transmitted to other countries and cultures outside US national borders. ... This multicultural perspective broadens the usefulness of the anthology as a whole, and offers an important check on discussions of actor training politics. The authors remind us that the question cannot only be what do we owe our students and our country in the way of actor training but also how do we want to represent our national identity in the broader context of global theatre training practices?
-Elise Robinson, Voice and Speech Review (International)