Table of Contents

Introduction – Acting Comedy 1. ‘Through Wall’s Chink’. Or, Audience Interplay in Comic Acting - Ian Wilkie 2. Straight Line/Wavy Line - Steve Kaplan 3. Using Punctuation to Facilitate Comedy in the plays of George Bernard Shaw and Beyond - Candice Brown 4. Comedy Through Commedia - Judith Chaffee 5. Physicalizing Farce - Davis Rider Robinson 6. Comic Gesture Using "Viewpoints" - Christopher Olsen 7. Playing with language: wit and wordplay - Merry Conway 8. Comedy Structure and Acting Choices - Greg Dean 9. ‘The Secret of Great Comedy - Scott Meltzer 10. Unexpected: 5 ½ Rules to Better Improvisation - Shad Willingham

About the Author

Christopher Olsen began as an actor in the Off-Off Broadway theatre scene in New York City in the 1970s and 1980s and later received his PhD in Theatre History and Criticism from the University of Maryland. He continues to work as a Drama professor at the University of Puerto Rico.

Reviews

"Highly recommended - a healthy smorgasbord of essays on ways to approach the challenges of comedic acting. The contributors are thoroughly seasoned practitioners and instructors, with comic experiences ranging from stand-up comedy, writing, juggling and street performance to traditional acting. This interesting collection will be valuable for the classroom and for individual actors."- E. C. Skiles, Choice