William Esper - The actors guide to creating a character. William Esper teaches the Meisner technique. Street smart

Acclaim for the work of
William Esper and Damon DiMarco

THE ACTORS GUIDE TO CREATING A CHARACTER

Anyone serious about acting ought to read this excellent book and then run to New York to study with Bill. He is the real dealinsightful, generous, uncompromising, and endlessly inspiring.

Stephen Adly Guirgis, actor, playwright, and artistic codirector of Labyrinth Theater Company

I read Bill Espers first book with total glee because it reminded me of all the guidance he gave me not only as a beginning actor but as a person hungry to live a full artistic life. His words not only illuminate the Meisner technique brilliantly; they also serve as a beautiful rumination on how to live a creative life. He was and is my teacher and spirit guide. Bill Esper is a national treasure and he has generously shared his wisdom and effervescent soul through these books, and I am eternally grateful.

Three-time Emmy Award winner Patricia Wettig

I feel so lucky to have studied at Bills studio. His teaching of the Meisner technique is beautiful in its simplicity, clarity, and honesty. I think about his lessons days after day, in every role. Bills teaching is a gift that every actor should have, and reading this book is like being back there in his studio again (minus the F train, two buses, and the questionable deli coffee).

Mary McCormack

THE ACTORS ART AND CRAFT

A fantastic, long-overdue exploration of actor training. Esper is one of the most accomplished and recognized acting teachers in the United States. An amazing tool and resource without being dogmatic or hampering.

Backstage

A must-read for aspiring and established actors of all stripes. The book is a nimble read, yet DiMarcos engaging prose adds a textured layer to some of the everyday circumstances encountered by Espers students.

Show Business Weekly

Whether youre a fan, a novice actor, or a seasoned professional, youll find something to like in this book. You feel like youre the fly on the wall observing the work of the master with his students.

Armchair Interviews

Espers book provides the reader a front-row seat in the classroom of one of our most important contemporary master-acting teachers.

Theatre Topics

A veritable magnum opus on acting from a master teacher.

Olympia Dukakis

Every serious actor who dreams of becoming a first-rate artist must read this book!

Calista Flockhart

Its the best book on the craft of acting that I have ever read.

Mary Steenburgen

Bill Esper changed my life. After studying with Bill, I had the tools and techniques to deliver great performances regardless of talent and inspiration, even if I wasnt in the mood. His method delivers consistent results.

Tonya Pinkins

The time I spent studying under Bill has been invaluable. He helped me find a road map to my craft that has stayed with me along my journey as an actor. I am forever grateful to Bill for the wisdom and expertise he has shared.

Dul Hill

The essence of this book is like William Esper himself: kind/clear, caring/generous, passionate/graceful, brilliant/profound. Inspiring. Invaluable.

Jeff Goldblum

This book is a wonderful journey into Bills process. It gives the novice and even the veteran actor a vocabulary and guidelines on how to solve the acting problems that any text presents.

Sam Rockwell

AN ANCHOR BOOKS ORIGINAL, APRIL 2014

Copyright 2014 by William Esper and Damon DiMarco

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Anchor Books, a division of Random House LLC, New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto, Penguin Random House companies.

Anchor Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Esper, William.
The actors guide to creating a character : William Esper teaches the Meisner technique / by William Esper and Damon DiMarco.
pages cm
1. Acting. 2. Meisner, Sanford. I. DiMarco, Damon. II. Title.
PN2061.E88 2014 792.028dc23 2013042480

Anchor Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0-345-80568-3
eBook ISBN: 978-0-345-80569-0

Cover design by Carson Dyle
Cover photograph italianestro/Shutterstock

www.anchorbooks.com

v3.1

For Suzanne,

Michael, and Shannon.

As always.

William Esper saved my life.

Having graduated (just) from Ohio State University with a very hasty BA in Theater and having no idea of how to do acting, I ventured off to New York to try to figure it out. I wasted time and money lurching from class to class, never finding a teacher who had a cohesive, reliable method that would give me the tools to harness what I thought I might be capable of.

I remember one class in particular, filled with a lot of models, where the goal was to work up some emotion. One very pretty young woman stood awkwardly onstage, twisting her fingers together, while the teacher kept asking her to think of something sad. Nothing. Anything at all that was sad for you. Awkward giggle, then nothing. Like maybe a boyfriend broke up with you? Nothing. Then a (dim) lightbulb went on in her head. I had a cat that died that was saahd.

Hmm.

I now know the problem with this class. It wasnt just that there was no particular technique being taught; the greater sin was that the teacher was trying to get his students to go for a result.

If youre new to acting, let me help younever go for the result. Working in this fashion produced a number of very embarrassing scene studies for me. Id be in my seat waiting for my turn, trying to think of something saahd so that I would be sure to cry real tears when I got to that one particular point in the scene where some emotion was required. In one case, after I had huffed and puffed my way through a scene from The Childrens Hour, the teacher shook his head and said, What were you DOING?! I yelled back, Why didnt you STOP me?! Disaster.

I was desperate. I didnt know what the hell I was doing. The very few auditions I managed to scare up were going badly. And the thought of moving back to Ohio with my tail between my legs was unacceptable. It was Act or Diebut who was going to help me?

When I heard about a class that was almost impossible to get into, I instinctively knew that I needed to be there. It was the William Esper Studio, and though I didnt know anything about the Meisner Technique, or Bill, something told me this was the answer to my problem.

I left a number of pestering messages until I got an interview. I sat in Bills tiny office on the second floor of a building on Seventh Avenue that also housed the best slice-for-a-dollar in New York City. Bills office was small and cramped, and he was disarmingly sweet and gentle. We bonded a bit over our shared Cleveland roots, and I expressed my frustration at not finding the right acting class. He told me his class was full, but that I could study with his assistants and sit in on his class until someone dropped out. He gently assured me that someone always drops out. Hmm a little scary