Introduction

This book links non-Stanislavskian training methods to performances of non-human characters such as zombies, vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein’s monster, robots, extraterrestrials, and others. The theories and training practices examined – Michael Chekhov, Vsevolod Meyerhold’s Biomechanics, Tadashi Suzuki, Lev Kuleshov, François Delsarte, and many others – were not specifically developed to aid the actor in the performance of the non-human. Nor, to my knowledge, did the actors whose performances are cited throughout this book train in, or even know about, the methods discussed. Thus, this book takes training methods out of historical and conventional context and applies them to new and unconventional performance environments. Indeed, I freely take a wide variety of training methods and apply them to a broad array of non-human character types without concern to the original intent of the practitioner who developed these methods.