New Book Urges Performers To Get BACK TO THE BODY

Back to the Body: Infusing Physical Life into Characters in Theatre and Film is a groundbreaking new book by renowned acting coaches Jean Louis Rodrigue and Scott Weintraub with industry techniques used by actors like Margot Robbie and Ke Huy Quan to create unforgettable performances.

Drawing on the authors' four decades of teaching experience, Back to the Body orients readers to the full range of tools in the actor's arsenal, and including exercises and a step-by- step guide to systematically integrate voice, mind, emotion, and physicality into one seamless performance.

Long-time collaborators, Rodrigue and Weintraub wrote the book after years of observing students were alienated from their bodies. They would know-Rodrigue, whose clients have included Margot Robbie, Ke Huy Quan, Juliette Binoche, and Leonardo DiCaprio-spent years teaching theater and movement at UCLA. Weintraub, an icon at Santa Monica's prestigious Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences, has taught Jack Black, Maya Rudolph, Simon Helberg, and Maude Apatow.

Part manual, part rallying cry, the book promises to be an indispensable tool for actors and performers-but the lessons are applicable to anyone who finds themselves with a story to tell on screen, which in this current age of Zoom, is all of us.

Back to the Body: Infusing Physical Life into Characters in Theatre and Film is available for purchase on Amazon and other major book retailers beginning May 9, 2023. Click here to buy the book.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Jean-Louis Rodrigue is an internationally recognized acting coach, movement director, and specialist in the application of the Alexander Technique to film, theater, and television. In film, he coached actors and collaborated with directors in Passion Fish, Vice, J. Edgar, Life of Pi, W., I, Tonya, and many more. In theater, he collaborated with director Larry Moss and former NFL player Bo Eason in his play Runt of the Litter, and playwright Pamela Gien in her Obie- and Drama Desk- award-winning one-person play, The Syringa Tree, both in New York and internationally. Jean-Louis has worked on- and off-Broadway, and at major performing arts institutions such as Berlin International Film Festival, Cirque du Soleil, Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, Getty Villa, Geffen Playhouse, Royal National Theatre, Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Verbier Festival, and Royal Shakespeare Company. For the past 34 years, Jean-Louis has taught at the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television, and the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Jean-Louis lives in Los Angeles with his husband, Kristof.

Scott Weintraub is an actor, director, and educator. Growing up first in New York and then in Santa Barbara, California, Scott knew at an early age that theater was his passion. He studied with Bradford Dillman, then at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, with Michael Winters, Donovan Marley, and William Frankfather. Returning to New York, Scott played Berger in the National tour of Hair. He then became artist-in-residence at Theatre by the Sea in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Scott's TV credits include Deadwood and Curb Your Enthusiasm. For the past 37 years, Scott has taught and directed theater at Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica. Many of his students-including Jack Black, Maya Rudolph, Simon Helberg, Zoey and Emily Deschanel, Maude Apatow, Jason Ritter, and Maya Erskine-have gone on to have successful careers in theater, television, and film.