How I Got to Be Whoever It Is I Am
By: Charles Grodin
Published by: Springboard Press
Publication Date: April 9, 2009
List price: $24.99, hardcover; 272 pages
Anyone who's ever seen Charles Grodin in his guest spots on talk shows, his stint as a commentator for "60 Minutes II" or his current role as commentator for CBS News, or who has read his weekly op-ed column for the "New York Daily News" website knows that he is an articulate fellow with a dry wit. He is also a storyteller, and this memoir, his seventh book, finds the actor, author and activist in a reflective mood as he looks back on events both public and private that have shaped his life. From his impeachment as class president by his fifth grade teacher to being kicked out of Hebrew School for asking too many questions, Grodin learned early on how to deal with something that faces every actor: rejection. Absorbing those experiences, he found success in high school and college theatrics and chose a career as a professional actor, studying with teaching greats Uta Hagen and Lee Strasberg. Grodin tells behind-the-scenes tales of working on Broadway in Same Time, Next Year, in such films as "The Heartbreak Kid" and "Midnight Run" and how he came this close to getting the lead in "The Graduate," the part that brought fame to Dustin Hoffman. His star-studded stories feature many with whom he's worked: Robert DeNiro, Hoffman, Johnny Carson, Orson Welles, Warren Beatty, Robert Redford, Gene Wilder, to name a few. Grodin's other career — that of a commentator — is also covered in his memoir, as he writes about the political and personal aspects of journalism and insights he's gained from the people he's interviewed. As a mark of his personal commitment to his role as an activist, Grodin, according to publisher notes, "is donating 100 percent of his royalties from sales of this book to Mentoring USA, a New York City-based nonprofit [organization] that forges powerful, transformative connections for young people through the advocacy and involvement of mentors."
The American Theatre Reader
Edited by: The Staff of American Theatre Magazine
Published by: Theatre Communications Group
Publication Date: April 2009
List price: $24.95, paperback; 640 pages
American Theatre magazine marks its silver anniversary with this collection of significant articles, essays and interviews from its history. Over 100 artists, critics and theatre professionals are represented in this compilation, which reads like a Who's Who of the American theatre of the last quarter of a century. "The Reader" includes articles and essays by Eric Bentley, Peter Brook, Eisa Davis, Zelda Fichhandler, Athol Fugard, Tyrone Guthrie, David Henry Hwang, Adrienne Kennedy, Tony Kushner, Robert MacNeil, Marsha Norman, Suzan Lori-Parks, Hal Prince, Frank Rich, Wallace Shawn, José Rivera and Studs Terkel. The collection also includes conversations with Anne Bogart, Olympia Dukakis, Lorraine Hansberry, Jonathan Larson, Arthur Miller, Joseph Papp, John Patrick Shanley, Sam Shepard, Stephen Sondheim, Wole Soyinka, Luis Valdez and August Wilson. The book captures the diverse experience of these artists and, notes the publisher, makes this "essential reading for theatre professionals and theatergoers alike." But perhaps the devotion to American Theatre magazine is best summed up in the words of Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Paula Vogel's Foreword: "I would run each month to the library in the days when I could ill afford a subscription and pester the librarian with the same impatience ('Is it in yet?') that 19th-century Americans possessed on the docks of New York, waiting for the next installment of Dickens' 'The Old Curiosity Shop' ('Is Little Nell dead?')."
The Dramatic Writer's Companion: Tools to Develop Characters, Cause Scenes, and Build Stories
By: Will Dunne
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Publication Date: April 2009
List price: $45, cloth; $19, paperback; 346 pages
Author Ray Bradbury once said, "First, find out what your hero wants. Then just follow him." Playwright and teacher Will Dunne might well agree. In his new handbook for writers Dunne adheres to the idea that character development is essential to telling a story. "The character is not something added to the scene or to the story," he writes. "Rather, the character is the story." Dunne employs his wealth of experience as the current resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists, a Charles MacArthur Fellowship honoree, a former O'Neill Theatre Center dramaturg and an award-winning author of such plays as How I Became an Interesting Person, Love and Drowning and Hotel Desperado to give writers a blueprint on how to examine their ideas in depth in order to develop their plays and screenplays. According to publisher notes, Dunne "blends condensed dramatic theory with specific action steps — over 60 workshop-tested exercises that can be adapted to virtually any individual writing process and dramatic script." To learn more about Dunne, his workshops and "The Dramatic Writer's Companion," go to www.willdunne.com.
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The Back Stage Guide to Stage Management
By: Thomas A. Kelly
Published by: Backstage Books
Publication Date: June 16, 2009
List price: $19.95, trade paperback; 304 pages
This third edition of Thomas Kelly's instructional guide for stage managers (it was first published in 1991, then again in 1999) imparts wisdom from his personal experience as a stage manager at various Broadway theatres, Lincoln Center and Chicago's Lyric Opera as well as that of other top-level stage managers. The book features practical information about all aspects of the stage manager's job, including, according to publisher notes "preproduction planning; organizing all rehearsals and performances; maintenance of the working script, cue sheets and daily records; supervision of the technical aspects of the show; and dealing with performers and crew members on all levels." Kelly's text is supported by visual aides such as diagrams and charts demonstrating rehearsal schedules, scene breakdowns, cue sheets, prop lists and much more. New in this edition is a section on stage management for the opera as well as information on the latest technological developments in stage machinery and computer software and tips for finding employment.
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Judy Samelson gathers information on theatre-related books, including published plays, for Playbill.com's monthly Shelf Life column. Write her at jsamelson@playbill.com.
