Resources

If you are interested in a film career, you should know about The Method. I hope you find this to be an interesting article.

It doesn't matter whether you want to be an actor or not; you will be dealing with actors and hence you should know about this. if you like this article, you

Here it is:

The Method
An Actor's Journey

By Ron Gilbert
Actors Studio Member

The Method is like the quest for the Holy Grail. Once you find it, what fortune will it bring? After you read this, hopefully you will have an understanding of its origin and how it can help you as an actor.

This process does not happen overnight or after a 12 week or 9 month class at the Strasberg Institute or the Masters Class at the New School. It is an ongoing process. A constant state of creativity. Sanford Meisner said it takes 20 years to become an actor. It does not guarantee stardom or an agent or even a living. You must be excited about the work and still feel the thrill go up your spine when you read "The Collected Works" of Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg's "Dream of Passion ", "Stella Adler On Ibsen, Strindberg and Chekhov", Robert Lewis' "Slings and Arrows", Sidney Lumet's "Making Movies", The Life and Work of Konstantin Stanislavsky, or any book relating to this business. It is the blood that pumps throughout your veins.

When used properly, the Method is the most useful tool for an actor, particularly in film, where most of your careers will be. A physical and emotional process that will help create a subtext for the role you are working on.

For the most part, the Method is misunderstood. In film, Marlon Brando and James Dean made the method famous almost 50 years ago and we can still view their performances. Brando mumbled and scratched and brought the character of Stanley, in Tennessee Williams' " A Streetcar Named Desire" to life on the Broadway stage in 1947, because of his genius, talent and character interpretation under the direction of Elia Kazan.

The world of acting would never be the same. We should all be so lucky to have a director like this, but the talent must be there. Kazan could make you reach your heights as an actor because it was a collaborative journey. So actors mimicked Brando' s performance by scratching and mumbling and they thought that was creating realism in their acting. His performance in the film, "On the Waterfront" directed by Elia Kazan, changed my life forever. His character, Terry, was like a guy from my neighborhood, but he was able to show his sensitivity.

Sly Stallone copied this character in "Rocky" and it made him a star. Vulnerability, likeability, charm and talent are the ingredients that you must tap into to be a star.

We have a lot of personality actors who are stars and then Al Pacino, Kate Blanchette, Robert DeNiro, Kathy Bates, Ed Harris, Johnny Depp, Susan Sarandon, John Malkovich, Meryl Streep, Daniel Day Lewis, Glen Close, Nick Nolte, and Jessica Lange who disappear into the characters they portray. The Method was the vehicle to bring out your personal choices. Your personality would make you unique.

When I first started my life in acting, the Actors Studio and Lee Strasberg, the artistic director, were the goals of every actor who wanted to be part of that legacy, where Brando, Dean, Newman and later Pacino and DeNiro had been members. Being a member validated you as Method actor and you were connected to that vein that went back to its origins in the Moscow Art Theatre in Russia and Konstantin Stanislavsky, the grandfather of the Method.

When I was asked to teach at the Lee Strasberg Institute, I had to go back and retrace the steps of this phenomenon in acting. Lee Strasberg was considered the father of The Method in America, because once actors became members of the Actors Studio, he was their mentor. Many studied with other great teachers like Stella Adler, Michael Chekhov, Robert Lewis, and Sandy Meisner and entered the Actors Studio with their training.

I will share my journey with you. Stanislavsky was born Konstantin Sergeyevich Alexeyev in 1863 into a very wealthy Russian family. The only artistic connection was his maternal grandmother, Marie Varley, a touring French actress. He was encouraged by his mother to become familiar with all aspects of the performing art, particularly opera and circus, which became his obsession.

One of his passions was puppetry, which preceded his acting career. In 1877, the Alexeyev family opened their own theatre group and by 1881 it was clear that his love of theatre was no longer that of a stage -struck youngster, so off he went to Moscow to study at the Mal theatre. He was constantly looking for inspiration and in 1882 the performance of Tommaso Salvini, the Italian tragedian, in "Othello", was to be the turning point in his life. Salvini was "a tiger of passion" and not only his voice, but his body showed his feelings.

In 1888, Stanislavsky changed his name, as we know him today, and started his own professional art theatre called "The Society for Art and Literature", where he created his own preparatory techniques, using relaxation was the first step in the process. Alexander Fedotov, a noted professional director and playwright taught him to find his character models from living people not actors.

In 1897, along with Nemirovich-Danchenko, he created the Moscow Art Theatre where each actor would be part of a democratic ensemble whose motto was the famous phrase by the Russian actor, Michael Shchepkin; "There are no small parts, only small actors". In 1896,the French psychologist, Theodule- Armand Ribot, wrote" The Psychology of the Emotions" from which the affective memory exercises that were used in the actor's training were drawn. It focused on recalling the sensory atmosphere of a past activity, so that one can recapture the past emotion.

Classical and historical plays were brought into the everyday world and an original sense of realism was seen in Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull" and MAT was known as " The House of Chekhov " because they produced his plays. In Maxim Gorky's play, "The Lower Depths", actors demonstrated another mode of performance: Naturalism.

In 1906, the forty three-year-old Stanislavsky underwent his greatest crisis and had a nervous breakdown so he took a long overdue vacation. During his convalescence, he still searched for answers to enhance the actor's work. He called this inspired artistic condition, " The Creative State of Mind." When he returned to MAT, his new collaborator was the Leopold Sulerzhitsky, a stagehand and jack-of-all-trades. Sulerzhitsky incorporated affective physical and psychological exercises, which he called yoga, into the actors training. Stanislavsky encouraged his students with skills in foreign languages to investigate theatrical and scientific literature in other languages to support his theories.

In 1912, Stanislavsky and Suler started their First Studio which consisted of younger less experienced actors and apprentices at MAT who would follow this revolutionary training system which used exercises in relaxation, concentration, imagination, and affective memory which was later divided into sense memory and emotional memory by Lee Strasberg. Evgeni Vakhtangov, who was brought into the First Studio by Sulerzhitsky, was a radical reformer of the system and used new aspects like faith, naivete justification. Michael Chekhov, the nephew of Anton Chekhov, was an actor at the MAT and the First Studio and as a teacher developed a revolutionary new technique based on Stanislavsky's principles. He invented a vocabulary that spoke more directly to the actor's thought process and imagination.

He, like Vsevolod Emilievich Meyerhold and other Russian actor/teachers such as Richard Boleslavsky, took the MAT principles and used them in their own ways. In 1923, The Moscow Art Theatre came to America and changed the course of acting in America. The visit of MAT inspired Lee Strasberg to become an actor. Stanislavsky and his staff had instructed this company of actors in the system for over 15 years. The emotions of the audience rose to match those of the actors and in the quote from the New York American was that "The Moscow Art Theatre proved for perhaps the first time in America that culture can sometimes be as exciting as a football game".

In 1924,The American Laboratory Theatre had members of the MAT teaching acting Richard Boleslavsky and Marie Ouspenskaya to Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Elia Kazan and Robert Lewis. The Group Theatre was co-founded in 1931,by Lee Strasberg, Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford and they were to emulate the Moscow Art Theatre. Clifford Odets' plays "Waiting for Lefty", "Awake and Sing" and "Golden Boy" made the Group Theatre famous.

Lee Strasberg was the acting teacher and was developing his Method, which was a continuation of principles and procedures of the Stanislavski system with his new interpretations. Internal conflicts caused the demise of the Group Theatre in 1939.

Stella Adler, a brilliant actress who had created the female roles in Odets' plays was fed up and did not approve of Lee Strasberg's interpretation of the Method. She went to Paris with Harold Clurman in 1935 and had this meeting with Stanislavski and told him she was not happy with Lee's Method and Stanislavsky coached her personally and corrected her notion of it. When she returned to America, she gave her own acting classes at the Group Theatre, which were attended by Robert Lewis, Elia Kazan and Sanford Meisner. When the Group closed she continued her classes in Erwin Piscator's Dramatic Workshop at the New School, which has been called the predecessor to the Actors Studio. So, here we are in 2000 and The New School has been reunited with The Actors Studio which Robert Lewis, Elia Kazan, and Cheryl Crawford founded in1947.

Robert Lewis and Elia Kazan taught acting to both famous and talented actors like Rod Steiger, Monty Clift, Maureen Stapleton, Julie Harris, Patricia Neal, James Whitmore, Steven Hill, Martin Balsam, Kim Hunter, Martin Ritt and others who were not so famous like Rudy Bond, Jay Barney and many others. Lee Strasberg was brought in to teach acting classes, which are called "sessions" in 1948, and in 1951 was made artistic director of the Actors Studio until his death in 1982. Lee didn't like the word "system" which started in the Group Theatre; hence "The Method" was born.

In his own words, "it was an opened-ended and fortuitous voyage". How can an actor both really feel and also be in control of what he needs to do on stage? How can the actor make his real feelings expressive on stage? These are the questions asked.

Relaxation is foremost which Michael Chekhov called the "Feeling of Ease". As you check out your areas of tension and attempt to release them, you will as you progress in this release sounds, like "Ahhhh" from the chest. The purpose of the concentration exercises is to train the actor to create and recreate any object or groups of objects, which will eventually stimulate an experience. A teacher is necessary to check areas of tension as he observes you. Concentration through imaginary objects, feeling the weight and if there is a drink in the cup, using your sense of touch, taste, sight, hearing and smell. The mirror exercise, where you create your image in this imaginary, mirror. An activity where the actor is shaving or putting makeup is added later.

Sometimes a student has difficulty opening up his senses with these exercises and doesn't respond well and then a daily activity, such as putting and taking off shoes and socks may work. If that fails the teacher may suggest a fabric like fur, silk or some woolen material and request that the actor feel the texture. When all this fails, a real object may be used. Overall sensations with sunshine and showers are designed to open up the actor. We have emotional blocks and the actor must start to get in touch with basic feelings before he attempts a private moment or an emotional memory.

For some actors it is best not to get personal and "AS IF" and imaginary exercises open them up because this is easier way for them. I have always felt that Lee's "Song and Dance" exercise had the greatest value in achieving the connection between impulse and _expression, which leads to full and intense expressiveness. All these exercises are worked on very intensely before a scene is even attempted. When used properly and in relation to the text it will add layers to a performance. Improvisation is also a wonderful tool to use so that you don't get hung up on the words. Create a similar situation without trying to achieve the same result.

When I worked at the Institute, I tried other techniques using different kinds of music and dance to open an actor up and was reprimanded for not doing Lee's work. All actors respond differently. A teacher needs to find the key or he just might be the wrong teacher. Malcolm X's quote "By any means possible". Watch the six o'clock news, go to art galleries and try to put yourself in that painting. Go to the Zoo and watch the animals dealing with their daily life and try to imagine you are that animal. Find your passion.

Stanislavsky had 61 years of diaries and journals. Lee had approximately the same time period to observe and see what worked. The chemistry and relationship between an acting student and teacher is of utmost importance. Just because a teacher has supposedly created movie stars or is well known is not as important as how does he make you feel. Some students of Stanislavsky, became teachers, and the same happened with Lee, Stella and Sandy today. Acting is fun; let it take you on the journey of lifetime. If you need more info contact me by email -
rongilbert@roguearts.com