Do It Go

Many people throughout the country may have become familiar with the Actors Studio in New York due to the show on the Bravo Channel hosted by James Lipton.  It is so popular now that the host has even been poked fun of on Saturday Night Live.  However the history of the actual school dates back to 1947, when it was founded by Cheryl Crawford, Robert Lewis, and Elia Kazan.  For just over sixty years, aspiring performing artists from around the world have traveled seeking Manhattan accommodation and a live on the stages of the theater in New York City or on the film screens in Hollywood, be it as actors, as playwrights or as directors.

The founders of the Actors Studio were originally part of the Group Theater, who performed work that was inspired Konstantin Stanislavski, a Russian director and actor.  He toured the United States with the Moscow Theater, and when the tour had ended in New York, some of the members stayed in the city, including Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg.  The remained inspired by the ways and the teachings of Stanislavski and delved further into the study and the practice of his methods, and in this way a new form of American theater and style of acting had been born.  When an actor chooses to go to the Actors Studio, all that they must bring with them is their talent.  For once they go through a series of auditions and are accepted they are members for life, free of charge.

This place, with a location that opened in Hollywood, California in 1966, has become a refuge for actors the world over.  An actors work is never done, and throughout their careers, many actors have returned to work that craft, those such as Harvey Keitel, Al Pacino and Ellen Burstyn.  I was lucky enough to attend one class, as a drop-in guest when I was in New York in 1996.  This was a strange and wonderful experience, to think that I may have been sitting on the same bench wherein Marlon Brando may have sat many years earlier.  There is a reason there are so many incredible theaters in New York and shows to see, and one of those reasons is the existence of this marvelous house of study and creativity.

Related posts:

1. Studio 9 at The Patravadi
2. Living Sculptures of Christian Jankowski
3. The Fringe in Adelaide

Tags: Actors Studio, Konstantin Stanislavski, Manhattan accommodation, Marlon Brando

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 1:34 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.