William Esper, among the leading performing teachers of our time, explains and extends Sanford Meisner’s legendary technique, offering a crystal clear, concrete, step-by-step method of becoming a truly creative professional.Esper worked closely with Meisner for seventeen years and offers spent years developing his famous system for actor’s teaching. The result is normally a rigorous program of exercises that builds a solid foundation of acting skills from the ground up, and that’s flexible enough to be applied to any problem an professional faces, from soap operas to Shakespeare. Co-writer Damon DiMarco, a previous pupil of Esper’s, spent over a season observing his coach teaching first-year performing students. With this reserve he recreates that encounter for us, allowing us to observe how the progression of exercises works used. The Actor’s Art and Build vividly demonstrates that good training will not constrain actors’ instincts-it frees them to create individuals with truthful and convincing inner lives.