The Laban Workbook for Actors ─ A Practical Training Guide With Video

The Laban Workbook is a compendium of unique exercises inspired by the concepts and principles of movement theorist and artist, Rudolf Laban.

Written by five internationally recognized movement experts, this textbook is divided into single-authored chapters, each of which includes a short contextual essay followed by a series of insight-bearing exercises. These expert views, honed in the creation of individual approaches to training and coaching actors, provide a versatile range of theory and practice in the creative process of crafting theatre. Readers will learn:

Enhanced expressivity of body and voice;
Clearer storytelling, both physical and vocal, facilitating the embodiment of playwrights' intentions;
Imaginative possibilities for exploring an existing play or for creating devised theatre.

Featuring many exercises exploring the application of Laban Movement Studies to text, character, scene work, and devised performances - as well as revealing the creative potential of the body itself - The Laban Workbook is ideal for actors, teachers, directors and choreographers.

Katya Bloom, PhD, (volume editor) taught Laban-based movement on the core acting course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London from 1989 to 2009. She is author of The Embodied Self (2006), and co-author of Moves: A Sourcebook of Ideas for Body Awareness and Creative Movement (1998), as well as three stage plays. She is based in Santa Barbara, CA, USA.

Barbara Adrian is a Professor of Theatre Arts at Marymount Manhattan College, NY, USA.

Tom Casciero is a Theatre Professor at Towson University, MD, USA.

Jennifer Mizenko is a Professor of Dance and Movement for the Actor at the University of Mississippi, USA.

Claire Porter is a freelance Movement specialist and director, based in the USA.