STELLA ADLER began her life on the stage at the age of five in a
production that starred her father, the legendary actor of the
Yiddish Theatre, Jacob Adler. Stella Adler was one of the
co-founders of the revolutionary Group Theatre. In 1934, she met
and studied with Konstantin Stanislavski and began to give acting
classes for other members of the Group, including Sanford Meisner
and Elia Kazan. Adler established the Stella Adler Conservatory of
Acting in 1949 and taught at Yale University.
BARRY PARIS is the author of biographies of Louise Brooks,Greta
Garbo, and Audrey Hepburn,and the editor of Stella Adler on Ibsen,
Strindberg, and Chekov and Stella Adler on America's Master
Playwrights.
“An essential text . . . Adler worked to bring a greater
understanding of the human condition to the American stage.” —The
New Yorker
“Intoxicating . . . Paris has done a magnificent job. . . Every
sentence is a treasure. . . . For actors and actresses this rich
material is essential. For those interested in the American
theater, it is a must. For cultured people everywhere, this book
belongs in their personal canon. . . . It is about so much
more than simply bringing to life the work of major artists; it is
really the expression of a way of life, and of looking at art as
something larger than life." —Peter Bogdanovich, The New
York Times Book Review
“Adler’s voice pops into life on the pages . . . Fascinating . . .
often hilarious. . . . Adler knows these plays the way a master
violist knows her instrument.” —The Boston Globe
“Adler projects to the back of the house. It is indeed the voice of
a giant . . . Provides invaluable insights . . . and erupts into
sustained verbal fireworks as you’ve never heard elsewhere.” —The
New York Times
“Passionate, opinionated, and consummately dramatic, Stella Adler’s
voice and personality come through in every word . . . dense and
detailed . . . filled with insight, wit, and fervor . . . a lively
and fascinating look into the beliefs and methods of the late
teacher, who, twenty years after her death, is still regarded as
one of the greatest in the history of American theater.” —STAGE
Magazine
“[The book is] about so much more than simply bringing to life the
work of major artists; it is really the expression of a way of
life, and of looking at art as something larger than life. . . .
Stella had a marvelous way of mixing erudition with down-to-earth
realities, show business know-how with a few Yiddishisms, all
combined with a vivid sense of what she called a theater of
‘heightened reality’. . . . This book brings her voice back quite
viscerally. It’s Stella talking, taking you on her particular
roller-coaster ride through the playwrights and their characters.”
—Peter Bogdanovich, The New York Times Book Review
“We usually go to scholars, dramaturgs, and critics for detailed
analyses of the modern American theatre. Well, forget that! Here in
this amazing book is Stella Adler in full and insightful bloom,
preaching, exhorting, insulting, provoking, and always helping her
many acting students. Through character study and scene breakdown
within a specific play, she manages to give us a personal tour of
the times and lives of the 20th Century’s most illustrious
playwrights. She knew them, she knew the world they lived in, and
she remembers EVERYTHING! A brilliant book.” —Andre Bishop, Lincoln
Center Theater
“Stella was a first-name force of nature . . . There is
considerable entertainment in the energy of her assertions . . .
And then there is the staggering clarity, the piercing insight and
the pure, undeniable genius of her dissection of the plays
themselves.” —Washington Independent Book Review
“Paris has performed a great service by presenting Adler’s astute
perspectives about these writers, whom she knew and admired. Her
views are valuable not only for actors, but for anyone interested
in the American theatre and its extraordinary achievements.” —Bay
Area Reporter
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