One of the disadvantages of moving into a new apartment is that one must reorganize every item to fit the new space, particularly when one is sharing that space with someone else.  One of the advantages of moving into a new apartment is that one has the opportunity to reorganize one’s items.

This week I completed unpacking my theater books for our collective theater library.  One tall shelf is designated as the theater library and, of course, not all the books fit.  This is not a bad thing, however, as some of the plays I have never even read and they would better housed on the shelves of a used bookstore like Strand or, better yet, the theater book exchange at Manhattan Theater Source.

In selecting which books are important enough to keep and in finding creative ways to fit them on the shelves, I created a “foundations” stack.  These are the books that, of all the books in the library, with the exception of the entire shelf below it filled with Shakespeare’s plays and studies, are the ones that had a particular impact on me.  These are the books that I hold with a special fondness.  These are the books that I would recommend that a young theater practitioner gather for her own theater library.

Greek Tragedy by HD Kitto

Comedy by Meredith & Bergson

Aristotle’s Poetics

Audition by Michael Shurtleff

The Theater and Its Double by Artaud

Backwards and Forwards by David Ball

The Empty Space by Peter Brook

A Director Prepares by Anne Bogart

On Directing by Harold Clurman

The Art of Course Acting by Green

Michael Chekov’s Lessons for the Professional Actor

Fundamentals of Play Directing by Dean and Carra

Play Directing by Francis Hodge

(Most theater folks will know most all of these books.  However, you may not know The Art of Course Acting.  If you don’t and don’t already have a copy in your own library, find a way to get one.  The book is out of print, when last I checked, but it is worth it.  It is one of the funniest books about acting I have ever read.  The author is a long-time British community theater actor who blunders his way through play after play and tells the sad and comic tale of his fiascos on stage and in the wings.  If you love Waiting for Guffman, you’ll love this book…)