This comprehensive textbook is aimed at high school and college level drama students who have the maturity to understand that of all the arts, drama - with its exploration of human characters and relationships - is closest to everyday life. Acting for Life emphasizes this connection, presenting the fundamentals of drama and acting techniques in the context of ordinary experiences and interactions. It is designed in scope to be adaptable for both beginning students who want to explore the experience of acting and develop basic skills for the first time and advanced students who want to improve their techniques. Five sections help readers discover the joy of acting: basic acting skills, preparing to perform a scene, techniques in character development, the play script, and film acting. Teachers will love the chapter-by-chapter planned sequence of explanations, exercises, activities, and discussion questions. This step-by-step approach offers the student a full range of experiences that should not only enhance acting abilities, but also increase self-awareness and cooperation among classmates.