An improvised life: a memoir PDF
Preview An improvised life: a memoir
A L A L A N A RKIN From the Oscar®-winning costar of A Little Miss Sunshine, a direct, articulate N an improv ised A reflection on what theater has taught R life him about both craft and life a memoir K I N “ Earnest, intelligent, and well-observed . . . a serious consideration of the principles of acting and improvisation.”—Kirkus Reviews ALAN ARKIN KNEW he was going to be an actor from the age of fi ve. “Every fi lm I saw, every play, every piece of music fed an unquenchable a need to turn myself into something other than what I was.” Following n Arkin’s professional journey as an actor and his personal development i m along the way, An Improvised Life is a revealing look into the creative p mind of one of the craft ’s best practitioners on stage or screen. Refl ecting r on the acting process and the life lessons that can be gleaned from o v improvisational theater, Arkin reveals not only insights about himself, i but also truths for the rest of us about our work, relationships, and sense s e of self. The result is a wise and unpretentious examination of what it d means to act, and in turn what we all can learn about ourselves and the l roles we play in the world. i f e A LAN ARKIN is an Academy Award®-winning actor, director, musi- cian, and children’s book author who has starred and appeared in over eighty fi lms. Born in Brooklyn, he currently lives in New Mexico. $17.00 / £9.99 / $19.95 CAN MEMOIR Da Capo Press A Da Capo Original A Member of the Perseus Books Group Cover design by Alex Camlin www.dacapopress.com Cover photograph © Sean Kernan 9780306819667-text_224_Layout 1 11/30/10 2:26 PM Page i An Improvised Life 9780306819667-text_224_Layout 1 11/30/10 2:26 PM Page ii 9780306819667-text_Layout 1 12/28/10 12:35 PM Page iii ALAN ARKIN an improvised life a memoir DA CAPO PRESS A Member of the Perseus Books Group 9780306819667-text_224_Layout 1 11/30/10 2:26 PM Page iv Copyright © 2011 by Alan Arkin All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address Da Capo Press, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142. Designed by Trish Wilkinson Set in 12 point Adobe Garamond Pro Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Arkin, Alan. An improvised life : a memoir / Alan Arkin. — 1st Da Capo Press ed. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-306-81966-7 (alk. paper) 1. Arkin, Alan. 2. Motion picture actors and actresses— United States—Biography. I. Title. PN2287.A685A3 2011 791.43'028'092—dc22 [B] 2010045034 First Da Capo Press edition 2011 Published by Da Capo Press A Member of the Perseus Books Group www.dacapopress.com Da Capo Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the U.S. by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail special.markets @perseusbooks.com. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9780306819667-text_224_Layout 1 11/30/10 2:26 PM Page v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks To Susan Cohen, my wonderful literary agent who stead- fastly refused to let me abandon this project. To Barry Berg, my editor and now friend, who was end- lessly encouraging, supportive and wise and who miracu- lously made working and reworking this book a joy. And to my wife, Suzanne, my constant companion, my best friend and my muse. She is also an integral part of the workshops. She organizes them, she takes every one of them and interprets my broken English when I become inarticu- late, which is more often than I’d like to admit. Her partici- pation in the workshops is endlessly joyous, rooted in the moment, and without dropping character she becomes a perfect litmus paper when someone else in a scene is either ‘playwriting’ or making jokes. As a result, when she’s up there she has an unfailing ability to keep other participants in the reality of a scene. In addition, many comments we get from alumni speak of the joy they feel at the comfortable way we work together. Our collaboration seems to have be- come an important part of the workshops, and completely unintended. And miracle of miracles, Suzanne has no inter- est whatsoever in becoming an actress. v 9780306819667-text_224_Layout 1 11/30/10 2:26 PM Page vi 9780306819667-text_224_Layout 1 11/30/10 2:26 PM Page vii An Improvised Life 9780306819667-text_224_Layout 1 11/30/10 2:26 PM Page viii 9780306819667-text_224_Layout 1 11/30/10 2:26 PM Page ix CONTENTS Prologue xi Part One 1 Intermission 119 Part Two 123 Index 193 ix
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