Demystifying the Method by Shelley Mitchell

When I was 18 one of my acting teachers at Emerson College (Jim Spruill) appeared with Al Pacino in a play at a tiny theater in Boston. THE GODFATHER had just been released so it was a real treat to see a film star like Pacino on a small stage. The program notes said that Pacino credited Lee Strasberg and the Actors Studio as a major force in his training. Within a year I dropped out of college, moved to New York City and was accepted at The Circle in the Square Theater School... I was in search of the "Method". During my first year at Circle in the Square we had a number of great teachers visit from the Actors Studio. On one occasion Estelle Parsons (Oscar winner for Bonnie and Clyde ) was struggling to explain something to us when she paused and said "Why don't you all go and study with Lee [Strasberg]... he's still alive you know!"

The next day I went downtown to the Lee Strasberg Institute on 15th Street to inquire about classes. I was told that enrollment with Strasberg was on a first come first serve basis. The secretary whispered to me that if I was first in line for registration the next morning I could get into his class. So at 7:00 AM on a freezing January morning I took my place at the head of the line, mystified that I could just walk into a class with the celebrated Lee Strasberg. For the next four years training with Strasberg took me back and forth between his private class and his sessions at The Actors Studio. His private class was composed of actors and civilians ...Strasberg operated on the premise that he could teach anybody how to act. He said that acting was an extension of being human and firmly believed that his techniques could help non-actors lead a more fulfilling life. On the other hand, the sessions at the Actors Studio were very protected and only open to professional actors and students on a professional track.

Strasberg had two very different methods of operation that seemed to contradict one another. When he critiqued actors in a scene at the Actors Studio their failure to serve the playwright could lead to a 1 hour diatribe on logic and human behavior. At the Actors Studio, which is not a school, but studio for professional working actors, Strasberg expected the actor's technique to be firmly grounded so that the focus of his critique could be on fulfilling the author's vision of the play. On the other hand, in his private class he focused on giving actors freedom of expression and total use of their instrument before focusing on the intention of the playwright. Strasberg's critiquing here was radically different than his teaching at the Studio. At the Institute, if an actor was having trouble playing a scene he would very patiently work through the problem, using improvisation and "speaking out" (a stream of consciousness ownership of the truth in the present moment). He encouraged actors to get in touch with their feelings in the present moment, regardless of what was "right" for the overall scene. Quite the opposite of what came down at the Actors Studio and, ironically, the aspect of his 'Method Acting' technique that has so sweetened the appetite of the media since the 1950s when they began linking Brando's introspective performances to 'Method Acting'.

After my first scene with Strasberg he gave me his famous "wax apple" metaphor (also given to Jane Fonda which she beautifully recounts in her autobiography). In response to my ingenuous aspiration to perfection (because I really, really, really wanted to be an actress!), he said that I was a "wax apple" which appears to be perfect but of course, isn't real. I was crushed. He went on to explain that a real apple, even if it has a few blemishes, has more value than a wax one. His Sense Memory exercises, the back-bone of the "Method", enabled me to concentrate on my inner life and break away from conventional, schematic thinking. Exercises associated with the "Method" are a means to render the actor more sensitive and responsive to life ...to become conscious of, understand and master the moment when one falls into the trap of being a "wax apple". Soon after this another one of my teachers gave me a book (still in print) called Mystic in the Theater by Eva LeGallenne, a biography of the great Italian actress Eleonora Duse. From this book I learned of Duse's immense spiritual life and her quest to bring truth to the theatrical experience.

My life revolved acting. There were a couple of hectic years where I never stepped off the island of Manhattan. In addition to all the classes I attended at Circle in the Square and with Strasberg, I appeared in over 20 off-off Broadway plays (for no $) and did a lot of TV commercials and soaps (for $). There was an intense period during this time when I was simultaneously working with Harvey Keitel on a scene for class (he was a perfect gentleman), assisting Al Pacino with Arturo Ui (thankfully, he was not), being mentored by Ellen Burstyn (who won both the Tony and Oscar that year) and modeling for Salvador Dalí (not a gentleman, really awkward and gross). I was in acting student heaven, however, because of my acting classes, my interactions with many, many fantastic actors and artists, my passionate interest in philosophy and burning questions I had regarding suffering and the human psyche, I took a sojourn from show business, moved to Italy, and for more than 15 years became enveloped in a spiritual community based on the philosophical teachings of Russian mystic G.I. Gurdjieff. It was the 70s, what can I say?

Now living in San Francisco I feel compelled to tell local young actors to watch out for a the hype and focus on learning the craft. New York is the Mecca for theater and Los Angeles is the capital of the film industry. That's the truth. I get a lot of calls and emails from young actors living all across the USA and throughout the world. I can help people master the craft, understand the calling to be an actor and get them ready to face NYC and L. A. But, unless you are an A-list er like Robin Williams or Sean Penn who consider San Francisco a great place to live in order to get away from the industry, I suggest you come here for a year or two with the intention to study and then move on!

I hope this short history of my experience with the "Method" has been useful. Lee Strasberg was equally influenced by the great Italian actress Eleanora Duse, who in turn influenced Stanislavsky. In my opinion "Method acting" has no form and many great actors are not conscious of nor much interested in the the process that fuels their work. However, natural, moment-to-moment soulful dramatic performance which is associated with 'Method Acting' has become so integrated in the film and theater world that it is no longer an option...it is the standard.

BONUS ESSAY
Learning to Act, From the Perspective of an Otherwise Rational Person
by Sarah Cooper
2008

Most people would look at my resume or the entirety of my career and be very surprised to learn about this strange acting tangent. I graduated magna cum laude with an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Maryland. I then received my Master's degree in Information Design from the Georgia Institute of Technology. I eventually found myself in a coveted position as a senior visual designer at one of the top technology companies in the world. This is the path that makes sense, this is the path that my parents are proud of and this is the path that most people know me for. But this is also the path that brought me to Shelley Mitchell.

It isn't strange that I had childhood dreams - we all have them. Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be an actress. I wanted to perform. From my first role as Pigpen in You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, to the monologue from Much Ado About Nothing that earned me a scholarship to undergraduate school, acting has always been in my heart. But for some reason, I've always ignored it.

I got a few roles in college but pushed them aside to finish my honor's thesis (which I couldn't even tell you the subject of now). I took a Meisner acting class in Washington D.C. after I graduated, but I quit after three months because graduate school seemed more important. Many years later, I got the bug again, took another class, and even got headshots and an agent and some real acting work. But again, "real life" pulled me back to the "real world".

I now know that the reason I could so easily push aside acting was because I could never ascribe any true meaning to it. See, I'm a logical person. I needed to know why acting was *important* and I needed to know why doing it was *responsible*. I was never able to do that before. Each acting teacher I had before always presented acting as this thing you do, but Shelley presented it as this thing you are. Shelley showed me a side of myself that I had been ignoring for so long. She helped me see how important acting is, and that *ignoring it* was, in fact, the truly irresponsible thing to do. It was a revelation.

In Shelley's class, acting is not about being a star. It is about exploring the human condition, looking at who we are with honesty, and facing head-on all the questions we have about what it means to be alive. Here, your soul is your inspiration. And, after time, the truth that you find within your own life and your own experiences become beautiful works of art. Now, I don't know if I'm going to see my name in lights, my face on a poster or my star or the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But now I know how much that doesn't matter. I now know the importance that acting holds for me in my life, regardless of what Hollywood has to say about it. Shelley exposed me to my own heart, and in my heart, I am an actress. And I can't ignore it anymore.