Includes index.

Starting Out -- Inching into the Profession -- The Pleasures of Imitation -- An Actor's Calling -- The Anti-Theatrical Prejudice -- Getting There -- How to Act in College -- The Case for Advanced Training -- How to Act in Drama School -- Into the "Real World" -- When Worlds Collide -- Looking for Work -- Being There -- Some Exemplary Careers -- The Transforming Actor -- The Actor's Intelligence -- Film Versus Theatre -- The Repertory Ideal -- Working There -- Actors and Management -- Actors and Audiences -- Actors and Directors -- Actors and Auteurs -- Actors and Playwrights -- Actors and Designers -- Actors and Coaches -- Actors and Critics -- Ephemeris, Ephemeris.

Having been at the forefront of the American theatre for the duration of his illustrious career, Robert Brustein has long been a mentor to many of today's most accomplished actors. Here, for the first time, he offers both sage advice and hard-earned wisdom for performers on every stage and screen, and at any level of experience. Letters to a Young Actor promises not only to inspire the multitudes of struggling actors out there pounding the pavement, but also to reinvigorate the art of acting itself.

A man of strong opinions and formidable intellect who is stocked with a wealth of stories about the world's leading performers (Brustein has at various points in his career worked with such brilliant talents as Meryl Streep, Marisa Tomei, Cherry Jones, Debra Winger, Sigourney Weaver, Kathy Bates, Christopher Walken, Tony Shalhoub, Henry Winkler, W.H. Macy, Christopher Lloyd, F. Murray Abraham, Elaine Stritch, and many others), Brustein brings both passionate commitment and a peerless authority to his subject. From why method acting is a limiting technique, to the importance of a good education and classical training, Brustein's advice is clear, persuasive, and inspiring.