When a local critic takes an acting role with a top-tier theater company in order to write about the experience, he gets more of a story than he bargained for. “An irrational, overriding, mind-numbing fear.” That’s how Asher Kaufman describes his relationship with Shakespeare—not what you might expect from a veteran theater critic. So when Asher learns he’ll be trying out for As You Like It, he realizes this assignment will be a very bumpy ride. What starts out as a stunt to increase readership for the Cleveland Jewish Chronicle becomes one man’s personal battle with the Bard and ends up a laugh-out-loud tale full of twists and turns, endearing characters, and behind-the-curtain action. How will this clandestine critic overcome his lifelong fear—while sharing the stage with actors whose past performances he panned (and without getting panned himself by his fellow critics)? It’s enough to give anyone opening night jitters! This fictional memoir will delight theater fans who have ever wondered what might be going on backstage during a performance—or in the mind of a theater critic.

Never before has the problem of stage fright been so eloquently examined; 40 interviews with some of the most highly-accomplished public figures shed light on this affliction, offering tips from their own experiences for overcoming it. Jason Alexander, Mose Allison, Maya Angelou, David Brenner, Peter Coyote, Olympia Dukakis, Richard Lewis, and many more sound off about their trials with stage fright, candidly discussing their fears and insecurities with life in the public eye and ultimately revealing the various paths they followed to overcoming them. Stage fright sufferers from all walks of life—whether a high school freshman nervous about an oral presentation or a professional baseball player with the eyes of the world on his bat—will find consolation by understanding the commonality of their problem, as well as helpful information to finally shed their inhibitions.

Out of the darkness of the fetid Hudson River, the undead rose to eat their victims alive.... Horror-movie monsters burst from late-night TV screens -- to turn their viewers into victims. Biker gangs of decomposing corpses rode the highways of America, on the hunt for unsuspecting motorists.... Take a front seat in the baddest nightmare in town. Superstar Izzy Stark has the power to make your dreams -- and nightmares -- come true. He's the master of disaster, the guru of gore, the doctor of doom, the duke of death and destruction -- and you can't escape this command performance. This first-ever reprint of Garrett Boatman's rare '80s paperback horror gem Stage Fright (1988) features a new introduction by Will Errickson and the original cover art.

Can Sara overcome her shyness to perform in the school play? Sara is extremely timid—she only has two friends, and one of them is her cousin. Her mother is constantly pushing her to leave the safety of her room and be more social, but for Sara, being in public is a punishment worse than death. When Sara’s teacher insists that everyone this year—shy or not—participate in the school play, Sara is filled with terror. To top it off, she finds out her best friend, the one person who understands her, might be moving away. More than ever, Sara wants to climb into her shell, but the play is looming and there’s no place to hide. This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Ann M. Martin, including rare images from the author’s collection.

The #1 bestselling chapter book series of all time celebrates 25 years with new covers and a new, easy-to-use numbering system! The show must go on! That's what Jack and Annie learn when the Magic Tree House whisks them back to Elizabethan England. There they meet William Shakespeare himself—one of the greatest writers of all time! But Mr. Shakespeare's having a hard time with some of the actors in his latest show. Are Jack and Annie ready to make a big entrance? Or will it be curtains for Shakespeare? Did you know that there’s a Magic Tree House book for every kid? Magic Tree House: Adventures with Jack and Annie, perfect for readers who are just beginning chapter books Merlin Missions: More challenging adventures for the experienced reader Super Edition: A longer and more dangerous adventure Fact Trackers: Nonfiction companions to your favorite Magic Tree House adventures

Grounded equally in discussions of theater history, literary genre, and theory, Martin Puchner's Stage Fright: Modernism, Anti-Theatricality, and Drama explores the conflict between avant-garde theater and modernism. While the avant-garde celebrated all things theatrical, a dominant strain of modernism tended to define itself against the theater, valuing lyric poetry and the novel instead. Defenders of the theater dismiss modernism's aversion to the stage and its mimicking actors as one more form of the old "anti-theatrical" prejudice. But Puchner shows that modernism's ambivalence about the theater was shared even by playwrights and directors and thus was a productive force responsible for some of the greatest achievements in dramatic literature and theater. A reaction to the aggressive theatricality of Wagner and his followers, the modernist backlash against the theater led to the peculiar genre of the closet drama—a theatrical piece intended to be read rather than staged—whose long-overlooked significance Puchner traces from the theatrical texts of Mallarmé and Stein to the dramatic "Circe" chapter of Joyce's Ulysses. At times, then, the anti-theatrical impulse leads to a withdrawal from the theater. At other times, however, it returns to the stage, when Yeats blends lyric poetry with Japanese Nôh dancers, when Brecht controls the stage with novelistic techniques, and when Beckett buries his actors in barrels and behind obsessive stage directions. The modernist theater thus owes much to the closet drama whose literary strategies it blends with a new mise en scène. While offering an alternative history of modernist theater and literature, Puchner also provides a new account of the contradictory forces within modernism.

The last time you whistled a tune or hummed a song-why did you choose that one? You may not consider yourself a musical person, but your little act of unintended music may be the key to unlocking within you a wealth of unsuspected creativity-a kind of creativity that goes way beyond music, too. Lane Arye, PhD, a musician himself, focuses on the music that people do not intend to make. Using the highly regarded psychological model called Process Work, developed by Arnold Mindell, PhD, Arye has been teaching students around the world how to awaken their creativity, using music as the starting point, but including all art forms and ways of expression. The unintentional appears at moments when some hidden part of us, something beyond our usual awareness, suddenly tries to express itself. If we start paying attention to what is trying to happen rather than to what we think should happen, we open the door to self-discovery and creativity. Sometimes what we regard as "mistakes" in self-expression are in fact treasures. The book is rich with real-life stories, ideas, and practical techniques for unlocking creativity, which Arye dispenses with humor, insight, and enthusiasm.