Beau Bridges and daughter to perform

Beau Bridges Actor, producer, director Beau Bridges and his 22-year-old daughter, Emily, will perform an adaptation of Richard Boleslavsky's 1933 instructional guide "Acting: The First Six Lessons" at the new Calabasas Civic Center Amphitheatre on Thurs., Oct. 16 at 7 p.m.

The father-and-daughter team adapted the guide into a 50minute play that features a dialogue between an acting professor and his student over the course of seven years.

"It's the only book my father (actor Lloyd Bridges) gave to me on the craft of acting when I was Emily's age," said Bridges, 61. "I was very impressed at the time. What I really liked about it when I first read it (is), unlike most books, it's a dialogue."

The story line in the book and in the first live performance provides more than just lessons for aspiring actors.

"It's a howto book about acting and a relationship book," Bridges said. The life lessons appeal to everyone, regardless of their profession, he said.

The book, as noted in its title, provides six lessons for actors. Chapter one explores concentration.

Emily Bridges "He gets in her face," Bridges said of the teacher's rough treatment of his student, who has no theatrical experience before the first class.

"He's angry with her and discourages her from acting—he doesn't think she has any kind of talent," he said.

Emily Bridges, an actor who recently graduated from Fordham University in New York, said she read the book for the first time at the age of 15 after her father gave her a copy.

"Every time I go back to it I find something new," Emily Bridges said. "Whatever is bothering me is addressed in the book. The relationship between student and teacher is so eloquently explained in the book and the play."

The book, she said, explores how much students can learn from their elders and eventually what adults must learn from their students.

"By the last lesson, the student is now an accomplished actress," Beau Bridges said. "She starts to school the teacher—much like my daughter schools me."

Emily Bridges said the themes of the play evolve into an overall life lesson about appreciation, sensitivity and the importance of "taking note of your own internal rhythms."

Beau Bridges related the play's theme to a course he took in college.

"I took my one and only course in drawing in college, but it changed forever how I look at nature," he said. "Every time I look at a leaf I look at it in a different way."

The public will see the connection between the lessons of acting and the need to appreciate life more fully, Bridges said.

"All acting is really breaking down the human soul," he said. "In the theater, we re-create life."

The period of the 1930s is depicted through stark set, music and costumes, he said. During that period, Ghandi was fasting in India, Adolf Hitler was on the rise and America was trying to deal with the Great Depression.

"It was an interesting time," Bridges said.

Bridges, star of "The Fabulous Baker Boys," launched his acting career as a child, performing in hundreds of film, television and stage productions. He has lived in Hidden Hills for 20 years.

Emily, who recently completed a four-month stint as Mariah in the "School For Scandals" at the Will Geer Theatre, will return to New York in the next few months.

There is no charge for admission to the play, but seating will be on a first come, first served basis and limited to 150 seated guests plus standing room. After the play, the actors will answer questions from the audience.

The city's new amphitheatre, at 200 Civic Center Way adjacent to The Commons shopping center, opened just last summer.

Beau and Emily Bridges also recorded the play on KPFK 90.7 FM. The audio recording is available on KPFK's website "Audio Archives" at www.KPFK.org. For information, call (818) 224-1600.