BiblioVault - Books about Spolin, Viola

Improvisation for the Theater

A Handbook of Teaching and Directing Techniques

Viola Spolin

Northwestern University Press, 1999

Here is the thoroughly revised third edition of the bible of improvisational theater.

Viola Spolin's improvisational techniques changed the very nature and practice of modern theater. The first two editions of Improvisation for the Theater sold more than 100,000 copies and inspired actors, directors, teachers, and writers in theater, television, film. These techniques have also influenced the fields of education, mental health, social work, and psychology.

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Improvisation for the Theater

A Handbook of Teaching and Directing Techniques

Viola Spolin

Northwestern University Press, 1983

In Force, Drive, Desire, Rudolf Bernet develops a philosophical foundation of psychoanalysis focusing on human drives. Rather than simply drawing up a list of Freud’s borrowings from Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, or Lacan’s from Hegel and Sartre, Bernet orchestrates a dialogue between philosophy and psychoanalysis that goes far beyond what these eminent psychoanalysts knew about philosophy. By relating the writings of Freud, Lacan, and other psychoanalysts to those of Aristotle, Leibniz, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, and, more tacitly, Bergson and Deleuze, Bernet brings to light how psychoanalysis both prolongs and breaks with the history of Western metaphysics and philosophy of nature.

Rereading the long history of metaphysics (or at least a few of its key moments) in light of psychoanalytic inquiries into the nature and function of drive and desire also allows for a rewriting of the history of philosophy. Specifically, it allows Bernet to bring to light a different history of metaphysics, one centered less on Aristotelian substance (ousia) and more on the concept of dunamis—a power or potentiality for a realization toward which it strives with all its might. Relating human drives to metaphysical forces also bears fruit for a renewed philosophy of life and subjectivity.

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The Lone Actor

Viola Spolin

Northwestern University Press, 2001

Viola Spolin's Theater Games for the Lone Actor offers theater games and side coaching for the solo player. Available for the first time, this handbook presents more than forty exercises that allow actors to side coach themselves at home, in rehearsal, or in performance.

Spolin's improvisational techniques changed the nature and practice of modern theater. Her work has inspired actors, directors, teachers, and writers in theater, television, and film. Her techniques have also influenced the fields of education, mental health, social work, and psychology.

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Theater Game File

Viola Spolin

Northwestern University Press, 1989

Violin Spolin was one of the greatest acting coaches in American theater. Improvisation for the Theater, her classic collection of games, acting exercises, and commentary, has been a best-seller for three decades. In the Theater Game File, Spolin creates a special selection of theater games, presented on separate cards in a convenient file box as self-contained classroom workshops. With the the Theater Game File, teachers and students alike, with no prior training or theater experience, can play theater games in the classroom with benefit to all.

Features include:

Over 200 color-coded cards

Suggestions for focusing, side-coaching, and evaluating games

Games for students of all ages and levels of experience

Handbook included

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Theater Games for Rehearsal

A Director's Handbook

Viola Spolin

Northwestern University Press, 1985

Theater Games for Rehearsal

A Director's Handbook, Updated Edition

Viola Spolin with a foreword by Rob Reiner

Northwestern University Press, 2010

Theater Games for Rehearsal: A Director’s Handbook, first published in 1985, is a practical application of Viola Spolin’s famous method that guides directors and their companies step-by-step through all phases of the rehearsal period. Spolin shows in easy-to-follow detail how her techniques can be used for a variety of theater situations, ranging from selecting plays or material to be performed, casting, and building a harmonious company to warming up actors, creating stage space, and overcoming opening night jitters.

The edition reflects Spolin’s wished-for updates: five important exercises have been added, and instructions presenting her improvisational approach have been clarified throughout. Her wealth of useful notes remain undiminished. Sidecoaching instructions and game evaluations are boxed and highlighted for on-the-spot reading by the director, in rehearsal. Viola Spolin has been called "the high priestess of improvisational theater," and the method that she created andpresented in her books not only remains the pedagogical standard but has found an even wider audience beyond theater.

Featuring a new foreword by renowned film director Rob Reiner, the updated edition is a necessary addition to any theater bookshelf.

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Theater Games for the Classroom

A Teacher's Handbook

Viola Spolin

Northwestern University Press, 1986

This best-selling book by Viola Spolin offers the most comprehensive theater instruction for all types of students, from small children to young adults. It includes over 130 theater games, plus exercises and instructional strategies. First developed by Spolin, the originator of modern improvisational theater techniques, these games have been tried and tested for over fifty years.

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