The Director’s Eye

A Comprehensive Textbook for Directors and Actors

Can a theater class text­book be both inspi­ra­tional and infor­ma­tive? Yes! This holis­tic book on direct­ing and acting does it all. Students will keep it as a life­long career refer­ence on how to make things work. Written subjec­tively, it’s based on nearly a half-century of teach­ing and direct­ing. A text that compels involve­ment in all layers of creat­ing memo­rable theatre. Thirty-five chap­ters in seven sections with assign­ments and conve­nient section summaries make a complete semes­ter course. This text is far more than “how-to;” it’s a narra­tive about artis­tic discov­ery. Experientially it reveals how to jolt lagging imag­i­na­tions into an ensem­ble of lively and involved perform­ers. Adaptable for use by student direc­tors and actors from secondary to grad­u­ate level. Recommended by lead­ing theatre educa­tors as the text they’ve been wait­ing for.

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Reviews for The Director’s Eye

“I’ve read Clurman and Brook but no text has the depth and breadth of John Ahart’s The Director’s Eye. …It will shake up many conven­tions that work against the imme­di­ate theatri­cal expe­ri­ence. Just one exam­ple is the way Ahart advises having actors memo­rize their lines — a seem­ingly banal task few have inves­ti­gated.” — Paul Swanson, Chicago

“Thirty chap­ters on every­thing from impart­ing the style and content of a play to the special chal­lenges of comedy and other formats. A ‘must’ for aspir­ing direc­tors.” — Midwest Book Review

“Along with William Ball’s superb A Sense of Direction, John Ahart’s The Director’s Eye stands as the finest book ever writ­ten about the art of direct­ing.” — J. Remington, Adams, Oregon