-co-founder of the Moscow Art Theatre
-laid foundations
-the first acting "system": method acting ~ very influential on modern stage and screen
-went against the traditional system of acting: becoming the character and leaving emotions behind
System
1. research the situation created by the script
2. break down text according to character's motivation
3. mix with an actor's own experiences to create their own actions and reactions
-ideally the actor's motivations are identical to that of the character which would create a more genuine performance
-main responsibility as an actor is to be believed rather than understood
-emotional memory: prepare actors for roles that involve specific feelings by remembering something that makes them feel: fear, joy, anger
Michael Chekhov (1891-1955)
-nephew of playwright Aton Chekhov
-Stanislavsky's most brillant student
-worked at Moscow Art Tehatre, New York Group Theatre & Actors Studio,
-Oscar for Hitchcock's "Spellbound"
Psycho-physical acting technique: imagination, body and intellect= Psychological Gesture
1. The Imaginary Body and Center: every actor has one that transforms for different characters, the center is specific for where all impulse comes from
2. Composition: balance and form to prevent fake expresssion
3. Psychological Gestures: a movement that embodies the objective of the character, puts actor in a mood
4. Style (feeling): everything on stage is unreal, so a feeling of a style will help keep order
5. Feeling for Truth: truthful behavior while acting, movements and speech are true to self, historical truth, stylistic truth, true to character, true to relationships
6. to Sit, Walk, live- With a Feeling of Ease
7. Knowing/ being aware of one's body and its movement through space
8. Beauty and harmony in every action
9. Have a Beginning, Middle and End
10. Qualities: move arms with quality of sadness so that the sensation will turn into a feeling
11. all activity is psycho-physical and not mechanical
12. Train Imagination to create depth of character
13. Radiating/ receiving: invisible essence
14. Improvise to improve
15. Be open and in tune to fellow actors
16. Know which moments are most important, what deserve a line or a movement
17. Have an objective and super objective
18. Create an environment with real things: fog, water, dark
Lee Strasberg
-co-founded Group Theatre, joined Actor's Studio in NY
The "Method"
-Substitution/ Sense Memory: drawing on personal experiences and memories to produce believable emotional result
-recall physical sensations surrounding personal emotional events to reproduce on stage (rather than pure emotion)
-misconception of a single method
-combines careful consideration of psychological motives of the character and some sort of personal identification
Robert (Bobby) Lewis (1909-1997)
-co-founded Group Theatre
-"never settle for 'what' and 'why' we are doing it.. ask 'how' we are doing it… if we have found the how we mustn't forget to justify the what and why."
-head to heart
1. Relax and Energize
2. Concentrate inner and outer
3. Sense memory as a subsitition
4. Express intention in terms of a VERB
5. Improvise to train
6. Imagination muscle
Stella Adler (1905- 1992)
-co-founded Group Theatre. taught at New School for Social Research
-"living in the moment" using your partner and a belied in the imagined circumstances to create emotional results
-theater is to uplift humanity
-a successful actor is one who connecters to their deeper self and to the shared humanity
- search between the lines of the script for the important unsaid messages
-"the theater exists 99% in the imagination"
Stanford Meisner
-co-founded Group Theatre, taught at Neighborhood Playhouse
-Strasberg's pupil
- "Acting is living truthfully under imaginary circumstances"
-reality of doing
-good acting should reveal the humanity in every character and in order to do that an actor has to acquire a deep connection to himself/herself
-along with Alder strayed from Strasberg memory use, both went back to Stanislavsky for inspiration
-Two year period for layer of a complete performance; systematic approach
-based on behavior that comes out of real human response to circumstances of other people
-Accessing an actor's impulses
-Repetition Exercise:
1.phrase about each other's behavior,
2.it changes in tone, meaning and intensity;
3.the actor stops thinking about what to say an do but rather to respond more freely and spontaneously both physically and vocally
4. More imaginary circumstances are added to the exercise to become a kind of improvised scene
5. work with actual scripts
6. creating characters, questions.. what are you playing, doing.. task, objective, expectations
7. Final performance
