Customer Reviews

How to Get the Part... Without Falling Apart!: Featuring the Haber Phrase Technique for Actors

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am just entering the film acting business, and I have tried to hold no illusions about how the industry works. Unfortunately, no matter where you live, you'll hear stories about Hollywood, both good and bad ones. It feels so intimidating to even consider acting as a profession, and there seems to be no one willing to guide you in the proper direction. How much does a mentor cost these days? In this book, Margie Haber gives us actors the help we need to feel comfortable and confident at auditions. She helps us understand that the casting director is not an evil monster toying with our fate and our careers, but a harried and tired worker, the same as we are. She also gives us tips and exercises to be a better auditioner. The icing on the cake is the stories, told by established actors, about their own mistakes and successes. Seeing that even well-known and respected actors have their slip-ups helps to bring the green actor more confidence. Whether you are new to auditioning or a seasoned professional, this book will help alleviate the cold reading jitters.

As a talent agent, I always recommend this book to both new and working actors. Margie is one of the best acting teachers in LA. Her book is written in a no nonsense manner and the advice is very valuable. It's the next best thing to being in her class. This one's a must have.

I LOVED this book! We actors all know what it's like to not prepare the way we need to for an audition. In reading Margie's book, I realized it's not just fear (masked as paralysis or procrastination) that keeps us from preparing. It's cause we aren't sure what questions to ask -- questions that will REALLY stimulate and plug us in when we only have 10 minutes, an hour, a day -- at any rate, not 4 nice, long weeks of rehearsal -- to bring life to the role. Just by reading this, I felt like I had taken a course. For seasoned actors as much, if not more, than for beginners. A handbook of what we could all stand to be reminded of. This book has made auditioning FUN again.

We use Margie's books in our classes at yourACT Acting Classes in Atlanta, and Margie herself comes to teach her Advanced Intensive once or twice a year. We were impressed with the book, and even more impressed with Margie. I have been acting for more than 3 decades, and she taught me things about auditions and cold-reading that I had not learned anywhere else. In particular, her "Phrase Technique" allows actors to "take it off the page" without trying to memorize the text as they go. It's revolutionary and freeing.

This is a great book on acting. It covers everything you have to know about auditions. It has very valuable information of what to do and not to do in the audition room. It also has scenes and breakdowns step by step so you, actor, can understand better how to do it. It comes with examples of good resumes, interviews with agents, casting directors and managers. I think this book helps the actor how to better understand a good performing audition and learning how to control nerves. It's full of tips for the actors and is a fun book to read.

Fantastic refresher for seasoned actors and a must have for beginners. It's not only for auditioning, rekindled my passion for the work and helped me refine my art.

This is a very worth while book for anyone studying drama. I purchased it for my 17 year old grandson who has great talent and a strong will and determination to enter the acting profession. He followed it step-by-step and set about passing the tasks presented. We live in a very small town without much offered (except for a high school teacher on her own time, as he graduduated early from high school) that is working with him privately. This book was like being in a class and receiving assignments in his junior year while he homeschooled himself, only better. Pauline Adamson

This book gives alot of practical information about the Audition process and the actors interview. Also in the book is the "The Harber Phrase Technique" specifically created by the author. There is advise on your pictures and resumes and more.
I really liked the real-life stories given by popular actors and actresses about their audition experiences.
This a is a great book for any actor who want to have better auditions and get more call-backs.

As an up and coming actress, I found this book extremely helpful. I initially heard about it while reading an article in Backstage.com. It is packed full of useful tips, techniques and information given by established and well known actors as well as the writer who is a well respected acting coach. It covers everything from how to break down the scene to using the Haber Phrase Technique. I highly recommend this book for all aspiring actors.

Though this book comes highly recommended, as an acting professional I find the technique, for cold reading and auditioning especially, misdirected and manipulative. The best approach for being "real" at an audition, I believe, requires absolute 100% attention on the other person - this book's technique is too concerned with keeping one's place and not making reading mistakes. An actor should certainly be adept and practiced at reading accurately, but attention to that detail should not be a consideration during the audition. Working actors know that when an actor's attention is totally with the other, the involvement is rivetting and mistakes are of no consequence.