There are so many good teachers available for actors to get good training. I am biased towards Lee Strasberg’s teachings not only because I studied with him, but also because it made the greatest sense to me and it works. It always amazes me how many people choose teachers based on their actors’ resumé rather than on their teaching background. This usually comes up during an entrance interview for my classes. When I ask who they’ve worked with in the past, prospective students often tell me the name of an actor whose career consists of some TV credits, or occasional film work, or showcase theatre productions.
What makes it even more confusing is that often teachers and even working actors will announce during interviews that they studied, “at The Actors Studio”. Even more egregiously, many will say that they “studied with Lee Strasberg at The Actors Studio”. Let me be very clear about this. Nobody studied with, and learned their craft, from Lee Strasberg at The Actors Studio. It’s not that learning the art and craft of acting isn’t a lifelong study: it is. It isn’t that The Actors Studio isn’t a place for learning and growth: it is. But rather, the craft of acting has to be learned, evident, and in place before anyone even gets close to becoming a member of The Actors Studio. Without that membership, there is no opportunity to work under the eyes of the members and moderators. This is true today, and it was certainly true when Lee oversaw the sessions at “The Studio”.
Membership at “The Studio” is attained through a minimum of two auditions: a preliminary audition, which if passed leads to a final audition. (For graduates of the Actors Studio MFA program at Pace University there is only the final audition). Many members tell tales of auditioning several times before meeting the criteria that got them in. The criteria that must be met is multi-faceted, but one of the most important is that the level of work must be professional. As one of the judges for the preliminaries, I can report that far too often we comment among ourselves that applicants think they are auditioning for a school rather than “The Studio”. What then is the place of The Actors Studio, and why do so many actors say they studied with Lee there?
Because theatre in this country consists of individual productions rather than an ongoing troupe of actors mounting several productions each season, there is a need for a place where actors can continue to perfect and grow their craft while “at liberty”. The Actors Studio is this place. To this extent there is a degree of training. But it leads to an expansion of an already existing craft, not the development of a new one. It is also a place that is free from commercial concerns. There is no type casting, and outside casting directors are not allowed to sit in at our sessions to find talent for their projects. Lee Strasberg often said that if one really wanted to learn what he had to teach s/he would have to attend his private classes. This was true when his classes were held in the rehearsal rooms at Carnegie Hall, and remained true after the creation of his school, The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, in 1969.
Let’s face it. There’s a certain cachet to saying that you “trained at the Studio” rather than in Lee’s class. It implies that you are more accomplished. But this has also been true for stars who went to Lee’s classes after their careers were established but before they gained Actors Studio membership.
Two memories come to mind. One is of an actress who was already a TV star when she joined Lee’s LA classes in 1972. At first she had a bit of an ego that got in the way of hearing what he was teaching her, but soon overcame this and did very well. She went on to a stellar film career and won a best actress Oscar. During an interview, when asked where she had trained, she said, “my friend Susan Strasberg told me I should work with her father. So I enrolled at The Actors Studio and studied with him there”. Firstly, one cannot enroll at The Actors Studio! Secondly, I know where she trained with Lee. I was in class with her – at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.
The second comes from a teaching colleague of mine. A student that we shared kept coming to me to discuss the contradictions that he was hearing from our two classes. I went to my colleague to discuss this and he said, “there’s no discrepancy. We say the same things differently. That’s all. After all, who studied with Lee longer than I did? I worked with him for 20 years at The Studio”. He acknowledged that he had never actually taken a class with Lee, but insisted that the exposure to Lee at The Studio was enough.
I guess some people think it sounds better to invoke the name of The Actors Studio rather than Lee Strasberg. Membership there carries some prestige with it. Whether it is true or not, to say, “I studied at The Actors Studio” seems more prestigious to some. It says, “my craft is accomplished enough to be recognized by the judges and trustees of “The Studio” to be of the highest professional caliber”.
Because The Actors Studio never asks where or with whom you have trained, it is made up of a talented and creatively diverse membership. Although Lee Strasberg’s teachings predominate there, it is not the only point of view discussed. If any of the members conduct classes and say that they are teaching Lee’s work because that’s what they learned at The Studio, it’s not necessarily accurate. That doesn’t mean that such a teacher isn’t going to teach helpful and wonderful things. They just won’t be Lee Strasberg’s teachings. Nowadays it is more confusing than ever. We have the remaining teachers who actually studied with Lee; members of The Actors Studio; and graduates of The Actors Studio Drama School. If what you are after is really learning The Method, seek out a teacher who studied with him in his classes. Better yet, seek out someone who was taught how to teach his work by him.
And when you hear someone say, “I studied at The Actors Studio”, know it for what it is: a stretch of the truth, probably told by a wonderful actor who actually believes it.