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Paul Austin
In poems that balance the lyrical with the narrative, Austin explores the inner life of a proud and reticent woman. This is a work of deep sympathy and real human feeling, painting a picture of a love that is as big and real as it is imperfect. Work, love, anger, and prayer are all made equally palpable in Austin’s observant and lively verse. These poems are likely to remind you of someone whom you have loved and fought, someone you have cursed and blessed, and forgiven. There is no baloney here: Mother and Son is real art because it is the real stuff of human life.
--Benjamin Myers
Paul Austin, theater director, actor, author, and poet, has created a poetic drama that advances as a sequence with lyrical impact. The narrative is more than implicit throughout the linked lyrics. It moves in time from 1932 to 1975, a lifetime that feels like a lived life of mother and son. This is a drama that hurts – for “the kid” and equally for the mom – yet the hurt is assuaged by the empathy (so muted) provided by this poet-dramatist.
--Barry Wallenstein, author of It’s About Time.
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Spontaneous Behavior lays out for actors at all levels, beginning to professional, how to shape a spontaneous performance unmistakably their own. Paul Austin draws on years of experience in his professional career as actor and director on stage, film and TV, and teaching at the Image Theatre in New York, to investigate the art and craft of acting. The workbook of detailed exercises offers techniques for creating character from pre-rehearsal to opening night.
As insightful and inspiring as it is practical, Paul Austin’s Spontaneous Behavior should be required reading for any actor interested in creating a character, shaping a performance and navigating a dramatic text. But don’t be fooled, Spontaneous Behavior isn’t just for actors. It’s also an invaluable resource for artists and storyteller of all stripes - playwrights, educators, directors and anyone else hoping to create, interpret or embody authentic and dimensional characters. Paul Austin looks at the art and craft of acting from several different angles, integrating and articulating everything he’s learned in a way that’s both accessible and illuminating to anyone lucky enough to read his wondrous book.
- David Lindsay-Abaire, playwright, Pulitzer Prize for Rabbit Hole
A unique exploration of the craft of acting with creative exercises that guide the actor from preparation to performance. A must for the dedicated actor.”
-Rob Decina, VP Casting, NY, CBS Studios
After decades of teaching acting with his unique and successful emphasis on layers of preparation at the same time as he emphasizes freedom of the moment, Paul Austin has gathered his teaching into a comprehensive why-to, how-to, what-to-do. At some early point while reading Spontaneous Behavior, you will experience what his students like myself felt and would carry within them going forward. Pursuing acting can be a conduit to resources inside yourself that will draw you deeper into the guidance of good literature and the joy of discovering the layered nuances of behavior.
--Bill Pullman
To purchase books directly from Paul Austin, click here.