The Actor's Secret: Techniques for Transforming Habitual Patterns and Improving Performance Paperback - 2013

“The Actor’s Secret contributes to the actor’s awareness of his or her body and voice—an approach to conditioning that awakens possibilities.”
—Olympia Dukakis, Academy Award– and Golden Globe–winning actress,
Moonstruck and Steel Magnolias
 
“I have worked with many fine Alexander Technique teachers over the years and Betsy Polatin is far and away one of the finest. Her touch, her instincts, and her knowledge are miraculous.”
—André Gregory, actor, My Dinner with André, and director, The Master Builder

“This is an indispensable book for people seriously interested in acting and is the most important book on acting I have read in a long time. The details and techniques discussed are very impressive and essential for the serious actor.”
—Stewart F. Lane, acclaimed five-time Tony Award–winning Broadway producer,
War Horse and Top Hat
 
“I have often puzzled at what makes an actor believable; what really lets you enter into their character’s world. Here in The Actor’s Secret, some of those very secrets are made tangible and accessible in clear descriptive prose. By learning to become embodied—in breath, in posture, and in movement—these powerful techniques are revealed, not only to the actor, but to all of us in how we live our everyday roles—whether awkwardly and inefficiently, or comfortably with grace and flow.”
—Peter A. Levine, PhD, best-selling author of In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body
Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness and Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma

“[The Actor’s Secret] skillfully blends three disciplines in laying out a path to enhanced wellbeing and professional efficacy: the Alexander Technique, the focus of which, simplistically stated, is body alignment, Breathing Coordination, and Somatic Experiencing, which involves working through traumatic experiences to restore and enhance physical and mental health. … Polatin delves deeply beyond the familiar jargon of ‘vulnerability’ and ‘being in the moment’ with elaborate explanations of and methods of achieving these essential states. … The approach set forth in The Actor’s Secret is in my opinion the most comprehensive, straight forward, non-mystical, and, therefore, most likely to produce good results. … The book is extremely well presented.”
—Gordon Osmond, award-winning playwright and reviewer for bookpleasures.com

BETSY POLATIN is a movement specialist with four decades of experience in body-mind education and performance training. She has worked with many performing artists in theater, film, and music, including such luminaries as Rashida Jones, Ginnifer Goodwin, Andre Gregory, and John Denver. As a highly respected senior Alexander Technique educator, she pioneered a four-year Alexander curriculum for the acting conservatory program at Boston University's College of Fine Arts, where she is a master lecturer. A certified Breathing Coordination instructor and a Somatic Experiencing practitioner, she holds a BA in dance and an MFA in theater education. She continues to teach her work extensively, both privately and in master classes in the United States and abroad.