Table Of ContentA
L A L A N A RKIN
From the Oscar®-winning costar of
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Little Miss Sunshine, a direct, articulate N
an improv ised
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reflection on what theater has taught
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life
him about both craft and life a memoir
K
I
N
“ Earnest, intelligent, and well-observed . . . a serious consideration of the
principles of acting and improvisation.”—Kirkus Reviews
ALAN ARKIN KNEW he was going to be an actor from the age of fi ve.
“Every fi lm I saw, every play, every piece of music fed an unquenchable
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need to turn myself into something other than what I was.” Following n
Arkin’s professional journey as an actor and his personal development i
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along the way, An Improvised Life is a revealing look into the creative
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mind of one of the craft ’s best practitioners on stage or screen. Refl ecting
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on the acting process and the life lessons that can be gleaned from o
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improvisational theater, Arkin reveals not only insights about himself,
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but also truths for the rest of us about our work, relationships, and sense s
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of self. The result is a wise and unpretentious examination of what it
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means to act, and in turn what we all can learn about ourselves and the
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roles we play in the world. i
f
e
A LAN ARKIN is an Academy Award®-winning actor, director, musi-
cian, and children’s book author who has starred and appeared in over
eighty fi lms. Born in Brooklyn, he currently lives in New Mexico.
$17.00 / £9.99 / $19.95 CAN MEMOIR
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An Improvised Life
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ALAN ARKIN
an improvised
life
a memoir
DA CAPO PRESS
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
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Copyright © 2011 by Alan Arkin
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without
the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States
of America. For information, address Da Capo Press, 11 Cambridge
Center, Cambridge, MA 02142.
Designed by Trish Wilkinson
Set in 12 point Adobe Garamond Pro
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Arkin, Alan.
An improvised life : a memoir / Alan Arkin. — 1st Da Capo Press ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-306-81966-7 (alk. paper)
1. Arkin, Alan. 2. Motion picture actors and actresses—
United States—Biography. I. Title.
PN2287.A685A3 2011
791.43'028'092—dc22
[B] 2010045034
First Da Capo Press edition 2011
Published by Da Capo Press
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
www.dacapopress.com
Da Capo Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases
in the U.S. by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For
more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the
Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks
To Susan Cohen, my wonderful literary agent who stead-
fastly refused to let me abandon this project.
To Barry Berg, my editor and now friend, who was end-
lessly encouraging, supportive and wise and who miracu-
lously made working and reworking this book a joy.
And to my wife, Suzanne, my constant companion, my
best friend and my muse. She is also an integral part of the
workshops. She organizes them, she takes every one of them
and interprets my broken English when I become inarticu-
late, which is more often than I’d like to admit. Her partici-
pation in the workshops is endlessly joyous, rooted in the
moment, and without dropping character she becomes a
perfect litmus paper when someone else in a scene is either
‘playwriting’ or making jokes. As a result, when she’s up
there she has an unfailing ability to keep other participants
in the reality of a scene. In addition, many comments we get
from alumni speak of the joy they feel at the comfortable
way we work together. Our collaboration seems to have be-
come an important part of the workshops, and completely
unintended. And miracle of miracles, Suzanne has no inter-
est whatsoever in becoming an actress.
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An Improvised Life
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CONTENTS
Prologue xi
Part One 1
Intermission 119
Part Two 123
Index 193
ix
