The Blind Spots of Critical Response Process (CRP) in the Field of Acting
(It is probably fine in the “fine arts”)A Nuanced and Very-Very (VERY) Biased Examination AGAINST IT. Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process (CRP) is designed to create a structured and supportive environment for giving and receiving artistic feedback. While its methodology has gained popularity in the arts—particularly in the academic and artistic environment of theater and […]
Charles Erich Conrad: The Evolution of Meisner BY CONRAD and the Almost Arrival at Demidov
In the history of acting, very few teachers have managed to challenge and significantly improve upon the teachings of their predecessors. One of them is Charles Erich Conrad, who, despite being a direct student of Sanford Meisner, ultimately rejected and reshaped key aspects of Meisner’s technique. His approach corrected several weaknesses of Meisner’s system, particularly […]
Oldie but goldie – On the WHY and NOT the HOW
It seems that the why, a question that usually befuddles us during our earlier years and then dissipates—either because of our profession or the obscurities of everyday life—is a more important question than the how. The how is a question that usually comes to the surface when we enter the profession as neophytes or when […]
A-EFFECT (Alienation Effect)
(Excerpts from the book Shall We Stop Listening to Nonsense?) Brecht states that the A-EFFECT (Alienation Effect) is not about the absence of emotion but about creating a different kind of emotional response: “For the actor, it is difficult and exhausting to evoke specific internal states or emotions night after night. It is simpler to […]
It kind of reminds me of a certain philosophy…
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. […]
I watched the Howard Hawks film Red River.
Great movie, no doubt about it and well worth a watch. I’ve become fascinated with the female lead in the film, SHE IS AHEAD OF HER TIME. It turns out that Hawks had such a signature way with his female leads that there is a name for them, “Hawksian Women”, a term that nearly became […]
Reflections on memories and influences
I am trying to reflect not only on my later influences as I grew up but also on my earlier memories and influences that still seem to have a grip on me as both a human being and an artist. Throughout my life, I have fallen in love with many artists, and I have cried […]
You can either BE a character or intellectually KNOW who the character is
Andrei Malaev-Babel explains the words by Demidov by saying You can either BE a character, and be in the heat of the moment, or intellectually KNOW who the character is, what the character does or wants – one or the other. I can either be inside a story or be outside of it and “tell a […]
Chekhov’s Five Principles
Michael Chekhov speaks about five principles in a series of lectures he gave to a group of actors in Hollywood in 1955. For example, the “psychological gesture,” which is externally invisible during performance, serves as “material” for inspiration during rehearsal and performance. This also applies to the “imaginary or energetic body,” the “imaginary/ideal center,” and […]
