Actors Studio

The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights located in the Old Labor Stage at 432 West 44th Street in the Hells Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Founded in 1947 by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, and Robert Lewis. Anna Sokolow taught movement for actors, but the Studio is best known for its work refining and teaching method acting. This approach was originally developed by the Group Theatre in the 1930s based on the innovations of Constantin Stanislavski.

The Studio came to worldwide recognition under the leadership of Lee Strasberg, who took over the helm in 1951. Its members have included such greats as Marlon Brando, Robert de Niro, Norman Mailer, Eli Wallach, Sidney Poitier, Edward Albee, Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean.

While at the Studio, actors work together to develop their skills in an experimental environment, where they can take risks as performers without the pressure of commercial roles.

New School collaboration

From September 1994 through May 2005, the Studio collaborated with The New School in the education of masters-level theater students at the Actors Studio Drama School (ASDS). In 2005, New School President Bob Kerrey chose not to renew a contract with the Actors Studio, ending the collaboration and causing much controversy.

New collaboration

Since fall 2006, the Actors Studio has offered a three-year MFA degree program through Pace University. [1]

TV program

The television program Inside the Actors Studio airs on the cable television network Bravo. It is hosted by James Lipton, Dean Emeritus of the Actors Studio Drama School, and provides in-depth interviews with actors, directors, writers, and other artists, some of whom are members of the Studio. The program was taped in front of the students of ASDS, and served as a class seminar for them, until the school's dissolution. Beginning with the twelfth season, in the fall of 2005, Inside the Actors Studio is taped at the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts at Pace University's New York City campus.

Famous alumni

Over its long history, many famous and successful actors, directors and playwrights have come out of the Studio, including:

Edward Albee Carmen Argenziano Carroll Baker Barbara Bain James Baldwin Anne Bancroft Ellen Barkin Marlon Brando Ellen Burstyn Nandita Chandra Lee J. Cobb Montgomery Clift Bruce Dern

Robert De Niro James Dean Jane Fonda Robert Ginty David Groh Steven Hill Pat Hingle Dustin Hoffman Anne Jackson Salome Jens Harvey Keitel Bruno Kirby Richard Kuranda Martin Landau Diane Ladd

Brandon Lee Norman Mailer Karl Malden Terrence McNally Steve McQueen Allan Miller Marilyn Monroe Paul Newman Jack Nicholson Gerald S. O'Loughlin Al Pacino Geraldine Page

Estelle Parsons Chazz Palminteri Will Patton Sidney Poitier Michael J. Pollard Julia Roberts Mickey Rourke Eva Marie Saint Gene Saks P.J. Soles Sissy Spacek Kim Stanley Maureen Stapleton

Rod Steiger Eric Stoltz Susan Strasberg Rip Torn Christopher Walken Eli Wallach Gene Wilder Tennessee Williams Shelley Winters Joanne Woodward Lance Henriksen

Legacy

[2] [3]

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Adams, Cindy Heller. 1980. Lee Strasberg, The Imperfect Genius of the Actors Studio. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday. ISBN 0385124961
• Frome, Shelly. 2001. The Actors Studio: A History. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. ISBN 0786410736
• Garfield, David. 1980. A Player's Place: The Story of the Actors Studio. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 0025426508
• Hirsch, Foster. 1984. A Method to Their Madness: The History of the Actors Studio. New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 0393017834

External links

• The official web site of The Actors Studio.
• The Actors Studio
• A Method to Their Madness
• The Cambridge History of American Theatre
• Stanislavsky in Focus
• PBS American Masters Series profile. Retrieved May 3, 2008.
• Inside the Actors Studio.
• The Actors Studio MFA Program at Pace University.
• Stars to make Method work at Actors' Studio
• Noises Off at the Venerable Actors Studio
• Actors Studio to Teach Program at New School
• New School, in Split With Actors Studio, to Create Own Program
• Gussow, Mel. 1997. Once-Exclusive Actors Studio Reaches Out to the Public Query.nytimes.com.
• Audio collection of the Actors Studio from 1956-1969 at the Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved May 3, 2008.

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