Actor and author Blumenfeld offers practical suggestions and exercises for applying different theories of psychology, such as psychoanalysis, object relations, and existentialism, to character interpretation. He explains these various theories and their terminology and offers character studies that exemplify psychological concepts based on characters from Shakespeare, Chekhov, Strindberg and several modern playwrights. The text includes a foreword by acting teacher Alice Spivak. Annotation 2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)