How do you read a teacher's broader life framework while preserving your own judgment?
A Second Chance at Life, by Eric Morris.
What the book addresses
Morris's ninth book, presented by its author as a personal-development work about the effects of formative experience.
How to read it
Separate personal testimony, proposed practice and claims about outcomes. An author may describe a profound change in his own life. Your reading can take that account seriously without assuming that every reader will have the same experience. Notice where the book's concerns move beyond preparing a role into questions about living.
An original rehearsal investigation
Keep three kinds of notes: an idea you understand, a question you need clarified and a claim that would require further evidence. Relate a chosen idea to a specific creative habit only where the connection is useful. Personal disclosure is optional, and an acting classroom is not a substitute for clinical treatment.
Connections and distinctions
Read this later book as a distinct part of Morris’s body of work. Compare its treatment of personal experience with the instrument-and-craft distinction developed in the acting books.
Instrumental work and acting craft
Instrumental work develops the actor’s expressive resources; craft applies those resources to the demands of a role. At JBAS, the six craft tools are Sensory Work, Improvisation, Archetype Work, Externals, Imaging and deep Script and Character Analysis, with voice supporting the work throughout. Morris’s work informs the distinction between instrument and craft. Roy Hart voice work and the Stones’ Psychology of Selves contribute further resources for vocal expression, awareness and imaginative exploration.
This is an original JBAS reading guide with an attributed overview and study questions. Read the complete book for the author's developed argument and exercise instructions.
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