Kava presents a learning-by-doing actors’ guide to improvisation, play analysis, and performance.

Subtitled “All-purpose recipes for the actor,” this well-organized primer, delivered in conversational segments, was inspired by what has been many a home cook’s bible since 1931:Joy of Cooking. The author is a playwright and veteran actor of stage, television, and film who has taught acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Barnard College, and other universities. Here, she draws upon her training in the Meisner technique under famed acting teacher Sanford Meisner to clarify “the fundamentals” of the Meisner exercises and discuss “how they could be directly applied” to professional work. Chapters encompass individual, partner, and collaborative work, arranged under three headings: “Improvisation,” “The Spoon River Exercise,” and “Acting in a Play and a Scene.”  Part I, consisting of five chapters, begins with “Repetition: The Language of Improvisation,” an exercise that, Kava writes, may be the “most significant innovation to Stanislavski’s core technique.” It includes three levels of practice with a duration of one to two weeks and a fourth level to practice “ad infinitum” as a career-long “second language.” Subsequent chapters progress through “The Independent Activity,” “The Objective and The Emotional Preparation,” “Relationships,” and “The Full Improvisation.” Part II uses text from Edgar Lee Masters’ classic Spoon River Anthology (1915) in an 11-step exercise covering such subjects as choice of text to emotional preparation for interpretation through performance and improvisation. In Part III, the author breaks down the process for performance with a multifaceted approach to analysis, table reads, rehearsals, and improvisation—using her own published version of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler (2019) and Shakespeare’s Othello as examples. Throughout the book are tips, answers to actors’ potential questions, and definitions of terms designed for visual and contextual clarity. The exercises and processes are further clarified in illustrations presented in a simple, cartoon-strip format. This “recipe book” ends with an inspirational personal note to actors from the author.

Clearly presented techniques, practice, and pointers for aspiring and working actors.