Christopher J Staley

A Tour de Force

Revisado: 09-07-15

If you could sum up The Existential Actor in three words, what would they be?

Tour de Force

Any additional comments?

The existential actor is a tour-de-force survey of acting and theater history, contextualized and explicated with the deep body of experimental research into existential psychology. There are so many different lenses with which to read and use this book, whether as an actor, director, teacher, audience member, psychologist - or for anyone interested in tracing a massive and broad sweep of human culture and thought. Zinn manages to weave the history of performance and acting together with a historical continuum of understanding in human psychology; it is a tall order that Zinn pulls off with ease.

Actors and directors who are hungry of a scientific understanding and approach to the craft should stop here first, if only in so far as Zinn provides a guidepost and map to what seems like every branch of performance that has existed, from proto-rituals around the campfire to the Greeks to Shakespeare to Chekhov to Breaking Bad. It is a brilliant tool for those who need to buff up their theater history. And Zinn's breakdown of the 4 elements (shape, action, transaction, surrender) is stunningly powerful in its simplicity.

Moreover, for psychologists who have long studied mortality salience and following the workings of Rank, Becker, Solomon and Terror Management Theory, The Existential Actor applies the architecture of TMT into the purview of film, theater and performance. These cultural escapes and entertainment domains are of huge import and implicate broad motivations within our day to day lives. Zinn's application elucidates critical insights into the myriad ways worldview defenses take hold, and in this regard it equally advances our understanding of both performance and psychology.

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