Rather than focus on the well-known truism that great plays and dramatic performances can deeply transform and ennoble us, Marcus draws from a much less known dimension of theatre, namely, acting technique theory, how actors and actresses learn dramatic performance as an art, profession and way of life. They claim the emotional, intellectual and physical insights the actor must internalize and ultimately translate into action to become a great actor are technique[s] of the self that can be enormously helpful to the average person struggling with the problem of living a better life, the good life, as they call it. Drawing from the psychological insights of Constantin Stanislavski and other such master teachers like Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner, as well as performers like Lawrence Olivier, Marlon Brando and Meryl Streep, Theater as Life is the first book that makes the actors magical soul craft, her way of transforming herself into a character accessible and applicable to real-life, to living the good life.
