This handbook of stage directing was created by Michael Wainstein (performing arts, Savannah College of Art and Design). It is very clearly designed for a single use: an introductory textbook for beginning college, community college, and high school students preparing to direct their first production. Some aspects of the book are elementary: the student director is instructed on how to evaluate the musicianship of auditioning players: "Do they make music or just noise?" Exercises in directing actors include asking the actor to imagine the event is actually happening to them. However, Wainstein is a veteran workhorse director. The book's structure is carefully, logically designed to take a person with no experience start-to-finish through the process of directing a standard American stage production. The book goes step-by-step through the itinerary: choosing the play, securing rights, budgeting, reading and interpreting the script, visual design, casting, table work, staging and blocking, working with actors in rehearsal, run-throughs, tech, and opening. A separate chapter looks at the rehearsal and staging of musical theatre. Appendices include a script analysis, sample schedules, and contracts. The book is a highly functional do-it-yourself guide for getting a traditional production onstage. Wainstein finds the most depth in his advice on juggling diverse personalities: establish control and then relax, never correct a diva in public, give a resistant actor a victory right before you need them to do as you say, and so on. At its best, the book's advice is clear, economical, won from years of practical production experience, and will save students much time and stress. Inexperienced directors and their teachers and assistants would do very well to keep this book close; it is built to include all the things people assume directors already know. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)