The Golden Buddha Changing Masks

An Opening to Transformative Theatre

by Mark Olsen

BK025

$19.95

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The Golden Buddha Changing Masks

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Preface

In The Golden Buddha Changing Masks, Mark Olsen asks, “Why should inspiration and growth in the spiritual dimension be relegated only to poets, musicians, painters, and dancers? The actor, too, has the right and the means to enter through the mysterious gates and struggle to awaken.”

In this ground-breaking and stimulating book, the author reminds us ofthe spiritual longings that gave rise to the craft of acting in the dis- tant past; he skillfully details how the spiritual path to awakening par- allels, in important aspects, the path of the actor as he prepares his body, voice, intellect, and spirit for the practice of his craft. In an aston- ishing new look at Stanislavski, Olsen uncovers the strong influence of the perennial wisdom traditions, including the Hindu, on the man who formulated the most influential acting theories of the modern Western theater.

Above all, in an era in which mass entertainment and commercial necessity seem at times to have all but obliterated the spiritual practice and ritual that brought the theater to life, Mark Olsen reminds actors and people of the theater of who we really are, and what we may yet become, if we have sufficient discipline and courage.

This book is sure to be greeted with joy and relief that, at last, we have been reminded of the “road less travelled” that was there all along, waiting to be reclaimed by a new generation of artists. For those eager to start the journey, the book is full of practical exercises and suggestions for beginning, one step at a time, to recon- nect their artistic energies to the ancient sources of power and joy.

Ruby Allen, Ph.D.
Jungian Analyst and former Director of Voice and Speech Training
The Florida State University Asolo Conservatory of Professional Actor Training

"This book is scholarly and wise, yet enormously accessible, and filled with information that can take any actor deeper into his craft and more importantly into a deeper perception of his own life."

-- Alan Arkin

"Mark's imaginative, rigorous, and soulful work guides actors to discoveries that are at once both astonishingly truthful and wonderfully unexpected. In his book, as he is in person, he is refreshing optimistic."

-- Michael Wilson (Artistic Director of the Hartford Stage Company)

Click here for Author Bio and Workshop Information.