DOGMA AND ORTHODOXY IN ACTING
Each acting technique, each approach to the craft, has its own lineage — practitioners who serve as guides, passing down their knowledge and helping actors unlock their full creative potential. Think about it — once, the relationship between actors and their craft was direct and diverse. Actors learned through trial and error, through real-time experience, […]
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 […]
The Transparent Eye
If the eye is cloudy → the mind is unclear. If it is restless → the body is unfocused. If it is closed → with contracted pupils, the actor is not receptive. Cleansing and calming the eye stabilize both body and spirit. Exercise for Attaining the Transparent Eye Select an object and look at it. […]
Beyond Identity to Artistic (Trans)cendence
Let’s start with this: Acting is transformation. And no, I don’t mean putting on a wig and a costume. I mean diving deep into something unfamiliar, finding the universal truths that connect us all, and then bringing that to life. When we talk about transformation, we’re not just talking about makeup and voice changes—we’re talking […]
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 […]
An interesting take from article in literature
“[…]Sulerzhitsky and Demidov stand beside the more familiar “figures of Meyerhold, Vakhtangov and Mikhaïl Chekhov and, in their vicinity, Sushkevich, Boleslavsky, Birman, Uspenskaya and Giatsintova from the efflorescent First Studio.[..] Apparently the highly regarded people that knew how to teach the system were people like Sulerzhitsky, Demidov, Vakhtangov, MIkhail Chekhov, Meyerhold (as you notice all […]
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 […]
Different Approaches to Dramatic Works: “Transcendence” and the Murder of the Author (Demidov 4:4:460)
This particular approach to the author is not always present in theater. Nowadays, the antagonistic relationship between the performer and the writer is considered entirely normal. In recent years, a peculiar term has emerged: “transcendence.” Today, you gain no recognition if you solve the mystery of the playwright, if you open yourself up to them, […]
