Focal Press An Actress Prepares: Women and "the Method"

An Actress Prepares from Focal Press interrogates method acting from a specifically feminist perspective. Author Rosemary Malague addresses the method not only with much-needed critical distance, but also from the crucial insider's view of a trained actor. Case studies examine the preeminent American teachers—Strasberg, Adler, Meisner, and Hagen—who popularized and transformed elements of Stanislavsky's system within the U.S. The case studies analyze and compare the related but distinctly different approaches of these teachers.

This book confronts the sexism that still exists in actor training and exposes the gender biases embedded within the method itself. Its in-depth examination of these Stanislavskian techniques seeks to reclaim method acting from its patriarchal practices and to empower women who act.

Author Rosemary Malague is the director of the Theatre Arts Program and a senior lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. She holds a doctorate in theatre from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.