Acknowledgments

FOR THE THIRD edition, special thanks to my editor at Skyhorse Publishing, Chamois Holschuh, and to Tad Crawford, publisher of Allworth Press, who persisted until the third edition of Clues to Acting Shakespeare came to be. In memoriam, thanks to Nicole Potter, who edited the first and second editions before passing away in 2013—at much too young an age. I owe so much of this book to her. My appreciation to Kate Willard of Sydney, Australia, for emailing me wonderful questions. Thanks to the three community theatres in Casper, Wyoming—Casper Children’s Theatre, Casper Theatre Company, and Stage III, together with Casper College—for helping “spread the word” about our Shakespeare workshops. Thank you to the actors who participated in the workshops, all named in part three, and to Jim Brown and the folks at Unitarian Universalist Community of Casper for use of their lovely building. And a very special thank you to my wife, Dude, partner in the workshops, and researcher of huge blocks of materials to update the resources section of the third edition.

TO CICELY BERRY, for the published account of her work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, a huge debt is gratefully acknowledged. She has shared her discoveries brilliantly through her acting and voice books, notably The Actor and the Text (Scribner’s, 1988), which is one of the best books on acting ever written.

Together with thousands of other actors, directors, and coaches in America, I am grateful to John Barton for producing his invaluable Playing Shakespeare text and accompanying videos (Methuen, 1984).

I am indebted to Kristin Linklater, especially for her Freeing Shakespeare’s Voice (Theatre Communications Group, 1992), Delbert Spain’s study, Shakespeare Sounded Soundly (Capra, 1988), Edward S. Brubaker’s Shakespeare Aloud (Author, 1976), Robert Cohen’s Acting in Shakespeare (Mayfield, 1991), and Patsy Rodenburg’s The Need for Words (Routledge, 1993), all of which in their different ways affirmed what I have been doing the past thirty years.

Special thanks to Penguin Books for permission to quote from The Complete Pelican Shakespeare (Alfred Harbage, General Editor).

My gratitude is expressed to the following persons who read the manuscript and made invaluable contributions: Don Perkins (Actor, New York and Williamstown Theatre Festival); Patricia Norcia-Edwards (Rutgers University, M.F.A. Program); Joel Fink (Roosevelt University, M.F.A. Program, Chicago, and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival); Bonnie Raphael (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, M.F.A. Program); Sandy Robbins (University of Delaware, M.F.A. Professional Actor Training Program); Harris D. Smith (University of Nebraska, M.F.A. Program); Scott Hayes (Florida State University, Asolo Theatre Conservatory, M.F.A. Program); Fred Goodson (Director and Elmira College Theatre Program Chair, New York); Charles Leader (Actor and Chair, Kansas City Community College Theatre Program); Leslee Caul and Michael J. Smith (Central Washington University Theatre Program); Jennifer Bennett (Actress, Washington); Nedra Dixon (Actress/Director, New York); Wendy Waterman (Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, Collaborative Arts Project); Jon Kerr (Pierce College, Washington); Laurie Kash (Sunset High School Drama Program, Beaverton, Oregon); Clint Pozzi (Actor and Drama Director, Meadowdale High School, Seattle); Nola Boughton, Robert Pierce and Anna Thorpe (Conroe High School, Texas); Zoe Climenhaga and Miriam Climenhaga (Bisbee Community Theatre and Cochise College).

Special thanks to actors David Plant, David Shoup, Kerri Van Auken, Keith Edie, and David Foubert, who helped introduce the manuscript to readers; to Nance Bracken for the graphics; and to Jen Huszcza, video librarian at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Special thanks to Neil Freeman, University of British Columbia and editor of the modern-type First Folio Editions of Shakespeare. Together with the persons listed above, eleven teachers in a 1999 summer workshop made wonderful suggestions for part two. My thanks to Chris Carey (Huntington High School, Oregon), Katherine Carey (Eastside High School, Covington, Georgia), Hendrea Ferguson (Newberg High School, Oregon), Jim Fewer (Marshfield High School, Coos Bay, Oregon), Brian Hanson (Choteau High School, Montana), Leeann Mueller (Tenino High School, Washington), George Obermiller (West Valley Junior High School, Washington), Chris Pierson (Port Townsend High School, Washington), Jay Thornton (Enumclaw Junior High School, Washington), and Kate Wilson (Olympic College, Washington).

Special thanks and appreciation are expressed to Allworth Press publisher Tad Crawford, my editor Nicole Potter, her editorial/production assistant Katie Ellison, and their staff, whose excellent work on the book makes me look better!

And finally, my thanks to the several hundred actors and actors-in-training who I’ve had the pleasure to coach in “acting Shakespeare.” You are too many to name, but you know who you are! Those hours were both a great pleasure and a special privilege for me, and I hope they were for you!

Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE, II, ii