Beau Bridges and Daughter Emily to Bring ACTING: THE FIRST SIX LESSIONS to Illusion Theater

Famed TV-film actor Lloyd Bridges gave each of his children the novel, Acting: The First Six Lessons, when they decided to go into show business. Eldest son, Beau Bridges, passed it on to his daughter, Emily Bridges, and together they adapted the book into a two-person play, published by Samuel French in 2011.

Illusion Theater will present Acting: The First Six Lessons on Monday, September 11 at 7:30pm at the downtown Minneapolis theater, located on the eighth floor of the Cowles Center, 528 Hennepin Ave. The free performance will be followed by a post-show discussion and book signing with Beau and Emily.

In this special staged reading, Beau Bridges, winner of three Emmys, two Golden Globes, and a Grammy Award, will again team up with his daughter, Minnesota-based Emily, who co-created this stage version of Richard Boleslavsky's 1933 narrative about a dedicated acting teacher who, while instructing a young actress in her craft, gives her valuable lessons for living as well. Over the course of 10 scenes, the action moves from the teacher's studio to a small theater to a film set to Central park and back, and finally, to a moving denouement atop the Empire State Building in 1936.

The original 2010 performance of Acting: The First Six Lessons received rave reviews in Los Angeles. StageSceneLA exclaimed, "Whether you are a student of acting, or simply a lover of good theater, Acting: The First Six Lessons has many tips to offer and many life lessons to bestow....[It is] an enthralling and edifying hour and a half of theatre....a big, big hit!" Examiner.com encouraged audiences to see the show "twice, once to enjoy the story and again to learn the lessons that work equally well in life as on stage....Rare and Wonderful!"

Tickets to Acting: The First Six Lessons are free but must be reserved by calling the Illusion Theater Box Office at 612-339-4944. There will be no online reservations.

Beau Bridges has appeared in over 50 feature films, including "The Other Side of the Mountain," "Norma Rae," "Heart Like a Wheel," "Sordid Lives," "Max Payne," "The Descendants" and "The Fabulous Baker Boys," opposite his brother Jeff for which Beau received the Best Supporting Actor Award from the National Society of Film Critics. In television, Bridges has received 14 Emmy nominations and won three, along with two Golden Globes, for "Without Warning: The James Brady Story," "The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom" and "The Second Civil War." Beau was nominated for Showtime's "Masters of Sex." He can also be seen currently in Netflix's "Bloodlines." On Broadway, he appeared in "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." He co-authored a play with his daughter Emily called, "Acting The first Six Lessons," published by Sam French. He won a 2009 Grammy for Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" in the category of Best Spoken Word Album. Beau was inspired by his father Lloyd to work towards promoting and preserving a healthy planet. He currently serves on the board of Wishtoyo, an organization that works to protect the California coastline and sacred Chumash sights.

Emily Bridges is known to Twin Cities audiences for her work on stage in Extremities with Dark and Stormy Productions and Parent Observation Day with Sparkle Theatricals, as well as Twin Cities film projects including The Public Domain, Caught in the Act, and Theater People Season 2. Emily has appeared onstage in New York and Los Angeles and recently in film and television as a guest-star role last season on Code Black and in the award-winning film Grooming.

Since the Illusion Theater's beginning in 1974, Producing Directors Michael Robins and Bonnie Morris have used the power of theater to catalyze personal and social change, illuminating the illusions, myths, and realities of our times. For more than 40 years, Illusion has generated over 500 plays, developed thousands of artists and created ground-breaking educational works. Plays developed at Illusion have been produced in theaters throughout the world. Illusion's work has catalyzed conversations in living rooms, kitchens, coffee houses, schools and board rooms, and has led to transformations in policy, in organizations and in individuals.

Photo courtesy of Emily Bridges

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