Elementary Secondary Higher Ed Common Reads
0 0
Download high-resolution image

True and False

Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor

Author David Mamet
Ebook
Knopf | Vintage
On sale Sep 07, 2011 | 144 Pages | 9780307806499
Grades 9-12 + AP/IB
Add to cart Add to list Exam Copies

See Additional Formats
One of our most brilliantly iconoclastic playwrights takes on the art of profession of acting with these words: invent nothing, deny nothing, speak up, stand up, stay out of school. Acting schools, “interpretation,” “sense memory,” “The Method”—David Mamet takes a jackhammer to the idols of contemporary acting, while revealing the true heroism and nobility of the craft. He shows actors how to undertake auditions and rehearsals, deal with agents and directors, engage audiences, and stay faithful to the script, while rejecting the temptations that seduce so many of their colleagues. Bracing in its clarity, exhilarating in its common sense, True and False is as shocking as it is practical, as witty as it is instructive, and as irreverent as it is inspiring.
DAVID MAMET is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, as well as a director, novelist, poet, and essayist. He has written the screenplays for more than twenty films, including Heist, Spartan, House of Games, The Spanish Prisoner, The Winslow Boy, Wag the Dog, and the Oscar-nominated The Verdict. His more than twenty plays include Oleanna, The Cryptogram, Speed-the-Plow, American Buffalo, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and the Pulitzer Prizewinning Glengarry Glen Ross. Born in Chicago in 1947, Mamet has taught at the Yale School of Drama, New York University, and Goddard College, and is a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company. View titles by David Mamet
"Mamet manages to demolish the myths...that pass for theory with regard o acting and directing. . . True and False is a revealing book of the highest order and a pleasure to read"—Anthony Hopkins
 
"Hard-edged, pragmatic and idealistic. . . . Every actor or would-be actor should read this book."—Chicago Tribune 
 
"Trenchant...Meet’s pared-down, occasionally cryptic prose can make powerful sense."—The New York Times
 
"This book should be read and considered by everyone who acts."—Steve Martin 

About

One of our most brilliantly iconoclastic playwrights takes on the art of profession of acting with these words: invent nothing, deny nothing, speak up, stand up, stay out of school. Acting schools, “interpretation,” “sense memory,” “The Method”—David Mamet takes a jackhammer to the idols of contemporary acting, while revealing the true heroism and nobility of the craft. He shows actors how to undertake auditions and rehearsals, deal with agents and directors, engage audiences, and stay faithful to the script, while rejecting the temptations that seduce so many of their colleagues. Bracing in its clarity, exhilarating in its common sense, True and False is as shocking as it is practical, as witty as it is instructive, and as irreverent as it is inspiring.

Author

DAVID MAMET is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, as well as a director, novelist, poet, and essayist. He has written the screenplays for more than twenty films, including Heist, Spartan, House of Games, The Spanish Prisoner, The Winslow Boy, Wag the Dog, and the Oscar-nominated The Verdict. His more than twenty plays include Oleanna, The Cryptogram, Speed-the-Plow, American Buffalo, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and the Pulitzer Prizewinning Glengarry Glen Ross. Born in Chicago in 1947, Mamet has taught at the Yale School of Drama, New York University, and Goddard College, and is a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company. View titles by David Mamet

Praise

"Mamet manages to demolish the myths...that pass for theory with regard o acting and directing. . . True and False is a revealing book of the highest order and a pleasure to read"—Anthony Hopkins
 
"Hard-edged, pragmatic and idealistic. . . . Every actor or would-be actor should read this book."—Chicago Tribune 
 
"Trenchant...Meet’s pared-down, occasionally cryptic prose can make powerful sense."—The New York Times
 
"This book should be read and considered by everyone who acts."—Steve Martin 

Additional formats

Other Books by this Author

Related Articles

Social Studies Books in Spanish The Arts History High School Middle School General Education & Professional Learning Graphic Novels English Language Arts Environmental Science Favorite Authors & Series Science

2024 Middle and High School Collections

The Penguin Random House Education Middle School and High School Digital Collections feature outstanding fiction and nonfiction from the children’s, adult, DK, and Grupo Editorial divisions, as well as publishers distributed by Penguin Random House. Peruse online or download these valuable resources to discover great books in specific topic areas such as: English Language Arts,

Read more

2024 Middle and High School Collections

Social Studies Books in Spanish The Arts History High School Middle School General Education & Professional Learning Graphic Novels English Language Arts Environmental Science Favorite Authors & Series Science
new penguin random house education high school collections sixteen thematic collections and resources for grades 9-12 curated by lorena german cicely lewis morgan taylor julia e torres and ronell whitaker
General Classroom Libraries English Language Arts Advanced Placement High School Graphic Novels

PRH Education High School Collections

All reading communities should contain protected time for the sake of reading. Independent reading practices emphasize the process of making meaning through reading, not an end product. The school culture (teachers, administration, etc.) should affirm this daily practice time as inherently important instructional time for all readers. (NCTE, 2019)   The Penguin Random House High

Read more

PRH Education High School Collections

General Classroom Libraries English Language Arts Advanced Placement High School Graphic Novels
education translanguaging collections affirming bilingual and multilingual learners
General Graphic Novels Education & Professional Learning English Language Arts Favorite Authors & Series Classroom Libraries References Science Translanguaging Collections Social Studies The Arts History High School Middle School

PRH Education Translanguaging Collections

Translanguaging is a communicative practice of bilinguals and multilinguals, that is, it is a practice whereby bilinguals and multilinguals use their entire linguistic repertoire to communicate and make meaning (García, 2009; García, Ibarra Johnson, & Seltzer, 2017)   It is through that lens that we have partnered with teacher educators and bilingual education experts, Drs.

Read more

PRH Education Translanguaging Collections

General Graphic Novels Education & Professional Learning English Language Arts Favorite Authors & Series Classroom Libraries References Science Translanguaging Collections Social Studies The Arts History High School Middle School

Penguin Random House Secondary Education

© 2025 Penguin Random House

Back to Top
0
    • 0
    Wish List (0)