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Paper Abstract: Life & career of director, acting teacher & founder of Method Acting. Paper Introduction: Lee Strasberg was one of the leading acting teachers in America and was particularly associated with a certain style of acting that would dominate the American stage after World War II. Strasberg was little known to most of the world except as the guru of Method Acting until he appeared in a prominent role in the film Godfather II, but many of his students were very well known to the public at large, among them John Garfield, Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Jane Fonda, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, and Dustin Hoffman. American Method Acting actually started in Russia with Konstantin Stanislavski and the Moscow Art Theater, opened in 1898. Stanislavski wrote about his approach to acting in An Actor Prepares, published in Russia in 1926 and in the United States in 1936. Some of Stanislavski's ideas made their way to Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. [3]Ibid., 13. New York: Schirmer Books, 1991.----------------------- [1]Steve Vineberg, Method Actors (New York: Schirmer Books, 1991), 5-6. The play was to be produced in Yiddish, and it wasby the Austrian playwright Arthur Schnitzler. Stanislavskiwrote about his approach to acting in An Actor Prepares, published inRussia in 1926 and in the United States in 1936. [9]Strasberg, 83. He worked as a shipping clerk and doubled as a bookkeeper for a smallbusiness, and when he thought about his future he considered becoming ateacher of some kind. BibliographyAdams, Cindy. Lee Strasberg. He at firstjoined a conventional theater, the Clare Tree Major School of the Theatre,and there he practiced speech, voice, ballet, and other generallyrecognized requisites for the actor. But the actor must also be able to express the reality which his conscious or unconscious technique helps him to discover.[9]Toward the end of his life he considered his work and what he had and hadnot been able to accomplish. The boy rather liked doingthe play, but as a man he says he remembers nothing of it but the name ofthe character representing his older brother. This wasa German play by Hermann Sudermann, again for the Progressive DramaticClub, which had now become a better known group. The third experience he hadon the stage was different and made more of an impression on him. He placed his main emphasis on the creation of "true emotion" throughimprovisation and exercises on "affective memory": It was his concentration on emotional recall and on the actor's use of his personal circumstances rather than the "given circumstances" of the play that was to be a source of theoretical conflict with some of his colleagues in the Group Theatre and at a later date between Strasberg's "Method" and other interpretations of Stanislavsky.[6]Stella Adler worked with Stanislavsky in Paris in 1934, and when shereturned and told Strasberg about the experience, this became a turningpoint for him in terms of his relationship with his co-workers in the GroupTheatre. [1 ]Cindy Adams, Lee Strasberg (Garden City, New York: Doubleday &Company, 198 ), 382-383.----------------------- 8 In 1915, the well-known Yiddish actor Jacob Ben-Ami wasset to direct three one-act plays in Yiddish for the NeighborhoodPlayhouse, then beginning to be considered a serious American company.Again someone Strasberg's age was needed, and again he did the part withouthaving it make much of an impression on him. He noted that he had never been able to bringabout a national theater. Yet he still did not see himselfas an active participant in the theater, believing he had no special skill. Actors on Acting. Hebecame a member of the Theatre Guild and there met Harold Clurman andCheryl Crawford, and with them and others he founded the Group Theatre in1931. [8]Ibid., 622-623. Method Actors. Thepassion for theatergoing that had propelled much of the public to Broadwayin earlier decades had dissipated. His Method became the watchwordfor a generation of actors, and those actors made an indelible mark on theAmerican stage as well as on television and film by utilizing the Method.Theater directors from Strasberg himself to Elia Kazan and others used theMethod in their work as well, and one of the key reasons why the Method wasas successful as it was derived from the fact that it fit with theprevailing style of playwriting and production in the late 194 s andthrough the 195 s. [7]Ibid., 622. I could tell the difference between what was real and true, and what was only external skill. Strasberg determined to bring hisexpertise to a wider audience and wrote several books about acting.Strasberg also saw the controversy over his Method continue, with someoffering support for his approach and others chipping away at it andcriticizing elements of it or the Method as a whole.[1 ] Controversial or not, there is no doubt that Lee Strasberg changedthe face of the American theater forever. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 198 .Cole, Toby and Helen Krich Chinoy. A Dream of Passion. New York: Plume Books, 1987.Vineberg, Steve. In view of the fact that I remember so little about the plays that I was involved in, it is odd that I remember so clearly certain performances I saw.[3] Strasberg began to notice how some actors would perform brilliantlyin some parts of a play and not in others, and he began to ask why it wasthat this happened. Strasberg discovered writingsabout the theater and pursued this interest more and more. In the 196 s, the Studio was reorganized withthe departure of Elia Kazan.[8] Strasberg explains his Method as being intended to help the actorcreate the necessary reality demanded by the play: All of this training deals with the actor's process of creation. American Method Acting actually started in Russia with KonstantinStanislavski and the Moscow Art Theater, opened in 1898. When finished, though, he still feltas if something more were needed, though he did not know where to get it.He found what he needed at the Laboratory Theatre operated by RichardBoleslavsky and Maria Ouspenskaya, both from the Moscow Art Theatre andthen in New York.[5] It was at the Laboratory Theatre where Strasberg absorbed most of hisideas about acting that would lead to the development of the Method. He was not among the founders of the Studio, but he beganto train a new generation of actors there and to prepare them for theprivate, psychological dramas popular in the 195 s. The work ofdesigner Edward Gordon Craig was highly influential on the young Strasbergand opened his eyes to the possibilities of the theater: By opening my eyes to the possibilities of what theatre could and should be, Craig's work planted the motivation for my ultimately becoming a theatre professional.[4]In the 192 s, Luther Adler and Strasberg visited the Moscow Art Theater,and in 1924 Strasberg decided to become a professional actor. This was inan era still considered the golden age of acting, and among the performershe saw were Eleanora Duse, Giovanni Grasso, Laurette Taylor, Eva LeGallienne, Jeanne Eagels, and Walter Hampden: I do not know how, but even at that time I possessed a good observation and awareness of acting. [6]Toby Cole and Helen Krich Chinoy, Actors on Acting (New York: CrownPublishers, 197 ), 622. Strasberg was little knownto most of the world except as the guru of Method Acting until he appearedin a prominent role in the film Godfather II, but many of his students werevery well known to the public at large, among them John Garfield, MarlonBrando, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Jane Fonda, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman,and Dustin Hoffman. His period of investigation was also a period in whichseveral important theatrical organizations developed, such as theProvincetown Players and the Theatre Guild. Thisfiasco might have turned him away from the theater if he had formed anintention as yet to be an actor, which he had not.[2] Young Strasberg continued to perform in theater projects at the localsettlement house as a way of meeting people and because he may have beensuccumbing to the appeals of the theater. Strasberg directed the first production of the Group Theatre, PaulGreen's House of Connelly, and also undertook the training of the actorsbased on his interpretation of the Stanislavsky method as learned fromBoleslavsky as well as from the writings of Vakhtangov and Michael Chekhov. [4]Ibid., 29. He continued to attend the theater, and he remembersgoing many times to the Broadway Theater, which impressed him. Lee Strasberg was one of the leading acting teachers in America andwas particularly associated with a certain style of acting that woulddominate the American stage after World War II. His first encounter with thestage came when his brother-in-law, a makeup artist with a group called theProgressive Dramatic Club, recommended him for a part in a play because anadolescent was needed. Two of the American actors who learned this approach wereStella Adler and Lee Strasberg, and in 1931 both were founding members ofthe Group Theatre, the first ensemble troupe in America and the firsttheatrical organization to espouse the Stanislavski system, theAmericanized version of which is known as "the Method." Under Strasbergand the first Method school for professional actors, the Actors Studio, theMethod was established as the preeminent acting style for Americanactors.[1] Strasberg has written about his life, his early years in the theater,and the development of the Method. Strasberg continued inthis vein for over a decade. Strasberg rememberedlater that the play was rehearsed without props, and when he was on stageopening night, he found himself facing a lamp he was supposed to light, alamp of a type he had never seen before and had no idea how to light. He grew up on New York's Lower EastSide after the turn of the century in a world where the professionaltheater seemed to be something quite distant. The theater bug had notbitten him yet. He also noted how the theater had changed andhad become more expensive, relying too heavily perhaps on musicals. Some of Stanislavski'sideas made their way to America with teachers such as Richard Boleslavskyin the 192 s. [2]Lee Strasberg, A Dream of Passion (New York: Plume Books, 1987), 8-1 . Miss Adler told him that they had been overemphasizing theemotional memory exercises, and Strasberg tried to modify his work while atthe same time defending his version as an Americanized method.[7] Strasberg left the Group Theatre in 1937 and continued his directingcareer with The Fifth Column, The Big Knife, Peer Gynt, and other plays.He found his true niche when he returned to teaching in the late 194 s,first in private classes at the American Theatre Wing, and from 1949 at theActors Studio. New York: Crown Publishers, 197 .Strasberg, Lee. [5]Ibid., 41. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.