The Actor's Guide to Creating a Character: William Esper Teaches the Meisner

William Esper was a graduate of Western Reserve University and the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre in New York City. Bill trained as both actor and teacher under Sanford Meisner. Bill and Sandy worked closely together for 17 years, during which time Bill served as Associate Director of the Playhouses's Acting Department (1973-1976). Bill founded the William Esper Studio in 1965 and the Professional Actor Training Program at Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts in 1977. These two schools are renowned for routinely contributing actors of the highest quality to the International stage and screen. He died in 2019 at age 86.

Damon DiMarco earned his M.F.A. from the Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts under Bill Esper's tutelage. He acts professionally on stage, screen, and TV, and teaches at Drew University. Damon's other books include, Tower Stories: an Oral History of 9/11; Heart of War: Soldiers' Voices from the Front Lines of Iraq; and My Two Chinas: The Memoir of a Chinese Counterrevolutionary with Baiqiao Tang, which features a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Introduction by Patricia Heaton
Prologue                     
Chapter One: Welcome Back – and Back to Work
Chapter Two: Gimps, Limps, and Lisps: Physical Impediments
Chapter Three: How Being in Intense Pain Can Actually Help Your Work
Chapter Four: How to Explore Drugs and Alcohol without Rehab, Prison, or Death
Chapter Five: Imitation and Point of View
Chapter Six: Come, Sit at the Table! The Essence of the Character
Chapter Seven: Still at the Table: Actions and Super Objectives
Chapter Eight: Beats, Homework, Inner Emotional Lines, and Particularizations
Chapter Nine: Nursery Rhymes
Chapter Ten: Spoon Rivers
Chapter Eleven: Periods and Styles
Chapter Twelve: Periods and Styles in Practice
Chapter Thirteen: Acting in Film and TV
Chapter Fourteen: Commencement: The Serious Actor Business
Afterword by David Mamet