Andreas Voutsinas & Lee Strasberg
Andreas Voutsinas completed a sex scene, and Lee (Strasberg) asked, “What did you use there? I saw you were working on something, but I couldn’t quite see what it was.”“I used a sensory memory of having taken a bath.”“Why? What did that have to do with the scene?”“I did it because I wanted to have […]
The Actors Studio and Lee Strasberg (By Robert H. Hethmon)
In recent years, visitors to New York seeking serious theater inevitably find themselves drawn beyond the glitz of Broadway and Ninth Avenue to a humble, two-story church building in a neoclassical Greek style. Surrounded by drab apartment buildings, it sits just a few feet back from the sidewalk, enclosed in front by black-painted iron railings. […]
“Technique-unfaithful”
At S.A.M., we honor tradition. We respect all existing methods and techniques. However, we constantly challenge the rules to create new approaches. The idea that actors should be “technique-unfaithful,” exploring various disciplines and methods, is not groundbreaking, but it remains essential. Anyone who has set foot on stage or worked in diverse environments knows that […]
TRAINING AND DRILL = ETUDES ?
In his third (abridged) book, Demidov, in the first two chapters, explains what Stanislavsky was trying to figure out in the “school” he created. Stanislavsky, according to Mr. D, had planned two paths (even though a third is always there “the path of the “naturally gifted” actor is by nature there). The first path is that of […]
3 TEXTS I USED TO READ IN THE FIRST YEAR ACTING CLASS, FIRST DAY (NOT ANYMORE)
To Train or Not to Train (Excerpt from a 1978 text written by an actor) Many people believe that training in a drama school is a waste of time.Acting, they claim, is something you either have or you don’t. How can you teach someone to do something that is either in their nature or not? […]
Stanislavski’s Vision of the Taskbook
Beyond Self-Observation Training: Stanislavski’s Actor Cultivation Apart from self-observation training, Konstantin Stanislavski had two other types of training under the title “cultivation of the actor.”G.V. Kristi describes its content: “The cultivation of the actor, as understood by K.S. Stanislavski, is the daily training of the internal, psychological, and physical qualities that support the actor’s creativity.” […]
Solve et Coagula
“The desperate need for coagulation.” In the world of alchemy, the precursor of science-based thinking, magic, and logic were intertwined. In the “golden bough” a book by anthropologist James George Frazer, one can see the history of magic, reason, religion, and science. It all starts with a need to “control” the environment and fate. A crude example of what […]
# 1
I don’t only read acting books, even though people who know me best, know as a fact, that reading acting books is my main source of daily entertainment (yes I am boring) hey, I do other stuff too, you know…stuff that involves mostly uh… fuck it…reading. So to make a dull announcement even duller, I […]
Please sit…tell me all about it!
The actor’s coach, Um…COUCH, I meant couch, yeah! Sorry, a Freudian slip. Ohboy, do you hear that? Do you hear that slight metallic sound? Heh! It’s the sound of a can of worms!Enjoy this small article on a HUGE subject! More and more teachers find it necessary to study and adapt their techniques and teaching […]
HOW DOES ONE APPROACH A NEW TECHNIQUE?
And why on earth “are we so f@&^ing useless ?” Whenever we delve into the world of a new technique, be it M.Chekhov, S. Meisner, it doesn’t matter; you will fail…My advice?…do so gloriously! You ARE supposed to fail! The technique is new…at least to you, it is! Every step, every minute (mī-ˈnüt) addition in […]
