The Actors Bookshelf

By Patrick Harvey and Daniel A Stevens

Two moderately-not-infrequently employed actors go through the books their teachers assigned them to read in conservatory, in a digestible audio medium. Will they absorb the information this time roun... more

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FAQs about The Actors Bookshelf:

How many episodes does The Actors Bookshelf have?

The podcast currently has 15 episodes available.

The Actors Bookshelf episodes:

January 20, 2026 Ep 10 - The Method (Chapter 9)
Where Michael Stipe sings "I Thought That I Heard You Acting."
The Boleslavsky Talks! The American Theatre Lab! We meet Adler! We meet Strasberg! It's happening here folks! Featuring a special appearance from Amara the funnier ginger.
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We're on Instagram! @TheActorsBookshelf
Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf
Follow Patrick on Instagram @dfwpadraig
Follow Dan on Instagram @the.other.dan.stevens
Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected]
...more
1h 11min
January 17, 2026 Ep 9 - The Method (Chapter 8 )
We're back with Isaac Butler and the incredible history of the evolution of acting technique!
This one has been in the works for a Minute, y'all and we're very excited to be dropping it into your feed now.
In this one we experiment with bringing some outside voices into the pod. Thanks a million and a half to our loving contributors. Please, listeners, let us know if this is the kind of thing you'd like to hear more in future episodes. Let us know if you think there are other pods out there we could be reaching out to for crossover episodes! Let us know, we beg you, that you're out there and that we exist.
We're both in production mode for in-person performance work, so keep an eye on the feed because it might be a little inconsistent for the next couple months.
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We're on Instagram! @TheActorsBookshelf
Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf
Follow Patrick on Instagram @dfwpadraig
Follow Dan on Instagram @the.other.dan.stevens
Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected]
...more
1h 48min
January 04, 2026 TEASER - The Method (Chapter 8)
Some words in reference to the groundbreaking Moscow Art Theatre tour of the United States, and Patrick for sure knows how to read.
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We're on Instagram!! @theactorsbookshelf
Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf
Follow Patrick on Instagram @dfwpadraig
Follow Dan on Instagram @the.other.dan.stevens
Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected]
...more
5min
November 24, 2025 a special video episode
we've got an announcement about upcoming episodes. they're coming up!
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Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf
Follow Patrick on Instagram @dfwpadraig
Follow Dan on Instagram @the.other.dan.stevens
Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected]
...more
4min
November 17, 2025 Acting - The First Six Lessons (part 2)
We're wrapping up that one book we were supposed to have read in acting school. You were supposed to as well and you didn't, don't play pretend. Listen to our sweet book report on Richard Boleslavsky's big book o' acting and tell your teacher you totally did the reading.
All apologies to Sarah Goldberg for messing up your name, we love you so much. Please come on our podcast and play The Creature in our music stand reading of Acting: The First Six Lessons to raise money for the miniseries we're inevitably going to make.
We are slowing down a little bit. Turns out we're way too busy for our own good. Get caught up on prior episodes and meet us again to start Act 2 of The Method!
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Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf
Follow Patrick on Instagram @dfwpadraig
Follow Dan on Instagram @the.other.dan.stevens
Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected]
...more
1h 7min
November 10, 2025 Acting - The First Six Lessons (part 1)
Finally, one of the books we were supposed to have read! It's Richard Boleslavsky's book, possibly the first book on the modern approach to acting (yes, it came out BEFORE An Actor Prepares)!
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Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf
Follow Patrick on Instagram @dfwpadraig
Follow Dan on Instagram @the.other.dan.stevens
Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected]
...more
59min
November 04, 2025 Ep 8 - Chapter 7 (The Method)
Curtain down on Act One of The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act, and we go out on a bang! Thus concludes our background discussions on the history of the revolutionary approach to acting that would go on to influence the American "Method" and the new approach to psychological realism that would take the world by storm once a certain Polish Lancer made his way behind enemy lines to spread the good word abroad.
Check out our back catalogue of discussions on The Method for information that is going to provide atmosphere and context for the books on acting we'll be reading going forward, by such luminaries as Richard Boleslavski, Michael Chekhov, Vasily Toporkov, and even Stan the Man himself....
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Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf
Follow Patrick on Instagram @dfwpadraig
Follow Dan on Instagram @the.other.dan.stevens
Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected]
...more
1h 21min
October 28, 2025 "I Need a New Theatre" - Chapter 6 (The Method)
The title of this chapter is just too good, and we're moving toward the time when Stanislavski's system is going to expatriate to a new land to proliferate and convince generations of actors that pausing is the key to genius.
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Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf
Follow Patrick on Instagram @dfwpadraig
Follow Dan on Instagram @the.other.dan.stevens
Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected]
...more
59min
October 20, 2025 The Fourth Wall and other insane ideas...
This week on TAB, Dan and Patrick are learning about the difference between what they do (hack work) and what our boy Stan the Man was trying to implement with his first workshop of actors back in Moscow with the System.
We're more than halfway through the first act of The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act by Isaac Butler. We promise, dear listener, those books we were supposed to have read in acting school are coming. But first, we must get down with THE STANISLAVSKI SICKNESS (cue Disturbed throat noises).
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Media mentions in this episode:
Odessa Steps Sequence from "Battleship Potemkin" (dir. Sergei Eisenstein) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBqAGdqTNz0
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Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf
Follow Patrick on Instagram @dfwpadraig
Follow Dan on Instagram @the.other.dan.stevens
Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected]
...more
1h 17min
October 13, 2025 Actual Acting Lessons? No way!
We're trying new episode titles. This is Part 2 of Chapter 4 of The Method, aka Patrick wraps up his book report....
We got off the chapter numbering anyway.
Our last episode ended with the Ya Yes'm lesson (я есмь), this week we'll revisit that, and we'll cover how Stan got around to some of his profound acting theories, including Concentration, Affective Memory (oy...), the Magic If, and the big M word.
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Follow The Actors Bookshelf on Twitter @actorsbookshelf and Bluesky @theactorsbookshelf
Follow Patrick on Instagram @dfwpadraig
Follow Dan on Instagram @the.other.dan.stevens
Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected]
...more
37min

FAQs about The Actors Bookshelf:

How many episodes does The Actors Bookshelf have?

The podcast currently has 15 episodes available.