Overview
Lee Strasberg was a key figure in American theater, known for championing and expanding the Stanislavski method of acting, called method acting. His work shaped The Actors Studio and influenced many prominent actors through training that prioritized emotional experience and authenticity.
Lee Strasberg and Method Acting
- Strasberg served as artistic director, teacher, and actor at The Actors Studio in New York from 1948 to 1982.
- He was the primary American proponent of the Stanislavski method, focusing on actors using personal emotional experiences in roles.
- Method acting encouraged actors to prepare by drawing on their affective memory for dramatic authenticity.
- Strasberg co-founded the Group Theatre in 1931, which staged experimental plays for a decade.
- He received an Oscar nomination for his role in "The Godfather, Part II" in 1974.
- Notable actors trained under his guidance include Al Pacino and Paul Newman.
The Stanislavski System and Its Principles
- Konstantin Stanislavski aimed to formalize a "grammar of acting" to help both novice and experienced actors.
- The system recognizes voice, speech, and body training as important but emphasizes concentration, belief, and imagination as essential qualities.
- Stanislavski's approach trained actors to immerse in a character's life circumstances, making performances a continuation rather than a starting point.
- Actors worked to create "privacy in public" through sensory and emotional training, including affective memory.
- The actor's process involved deeply analyzing subtext, identifying a role's core, and setting smaller, actionable tasks for each section of the material.
- Later refinements simplified these approaches into actionable physical or psychophysical steps to better anchor preparation.
The Actors Studio
- Founded in 1947 in New York by Cheryl Crawford, Elia Kazan, and Robert Lewis, The Actors Studio offered a pressure-free environment for professional development.
- Membership in The Actors Studio is by invitation and highly selective, accepting only a few candidates from hundreds of auditions annually.
- Strasberg’s leadership solidified its reputation as a center for method acting and the Stanislavski system.
- The Actors Studio expanded to include a production company in 1962 and opened a Los Angeles workshop and briefly, a Broadway theater.
Notable Alumni and Impact
- Alumni include influential actors such as Al Pacino, Paul Newman, Ellen Burstyn, Arthur Penn, and Joanne Woodward.
- The Actors Studio has been a leading influence on American theater and film since World War II, promoting a deep, authentic approach to performance.