A Studied Madness

Brought back into print after 14 years and published in paperback for the first time, this leisurely meditation on the art of acting and on the author’s life in that art demonstrates a good-natured sense of humor and an engaging style. In a series of essays, Broun gently knocks the theatrical world—the audience traveling from small town to small town only to have a production fold right outside of New York; the trauma of doing live TV; getting bit parts in commercials or horror movies after years of classical training; and so on. Oddly enough, while deglamorizing his profession, he makes a good case for it: he enjoyed his life.