AN ACTRESS PREPARES: WOMEN AND "THE METHOD."

A zeitgeist now exists in which the actress takes center stage in a host of new plays that feature the actress as a dramatic character-Venus in Fur (David Ives), Stage Kiss (Sarah Ruhl), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Christopher Durang), The Com- mons of Pensacola (Amanda Peet), for instance-a moment enhanced by Rosemary Malague's vibrant scholarly analysis of Method acting from a feminist perspective. The first is the way in which a vulnerable young actor is exposed to a guru-like teacher or di- rector, and the second point follows from this: how such authority requires the female student/actor to relinquish her autonomy to potential exploitation, both sexual and psychological.