Theater Games for Rehearsal : A Director's Handbook

First published in 1985, this 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. In this updated edition five important exercises have been added, and instructions presenting her improvisational approach have been clarified throughout. Her wealth of useful notes remain undiminished.

Theater Games for Rehearsal is a practical application of the famous methods which have led Viola Spolin to be called "the high priestess of improvisational theater." Spolin's first book since the best-selling Improvisation for the Theater, this handbook guides directors and their companies step-by-step through all phases of the rehearsal period. Distilling her lifetime of experience in the theater, Spolin shows in easy-to-follow detail how her techniques can be used for a variety of theater situations, ranging from selecting plays to be performed, auditioning the cast, and building a harmonious company to warming up actors, creating stage space, and overcoming opening night jitters. The convenient, large format presents the Spolin method clearly, explains the uses of each game, and provides a wealth of useful hints and notes. Sidecoaching instructions and game evaluations appear in large, readable type for easy reference in the rehearsal hall. By making Spolin's approach to scripted theater accessible for the first time to large audiences, Theater Games for Rehearsal will have a lasting effect on strategies of theatrical production.