If you know of Stanislavsky, Strasberg, Adler, Meisner, and Linklater, if you studied their methods, and are serious about booking a role, you'll want to add Kimberly Jentzen to the fold. Jentzen's Acting With Impact is like a good witch's brew, a fizzy, fruity punch drawing from earlier magicians' potions, spiced with her own magical kick. Jentzen helps the actors access emotions by tracing feelings to their source.
An actor herself and a true storyteller, Jentzen's tone and presentation in print are entertaining. If you already know her from YouTube or TikTok, you'll recognize her voice on the page.
Jentzen's Technique will be interesting and helpful to actors, the author's fellow coaches, anyone in the industry, as well as to writers who want to deepen their characters' motivation.
"Your eyes are like pools of water, in which your very essence,
depth, emotion, and energy communicate something specific. If your
focus is engaged in the character’s thoughts, the expressions become
more authentic and believable." ~ Kimberly Jentzen
The titles of each of the eighteen lessons are followed by content details (ingredients for success) and one or more exercises. Every so many chapters offer an example of the author coaching a student.
These sessions are great lessons in how psychological analysis and emotional intelligence help develop a deeply believable character, whether on the stage, screen, or the page.
Throughout the book, Jentzen adds many wonderful examples to illustrate her teaching. In Lesson Eleven: Want vs. Need, for instance, it is Eli Whip, a character in the Amazon/BBC limited series The English. "Difference between what you need and what you want is what you can put on a horse."
For those who already own a copy of the first edition, it's not just the *Coaching Notes* that are added; according to the author, this is not just a second edition, but a complete rewrite.
If I were you, I'd make room for this book in your saddlebag.
This work by by Judith van Praag is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
