Ed Hooks - Acting Classes

Cliff's book, Acting is Living, is a both a guide to acting and a brief autobiography. You surely have seen Cliff on screen and may not have known it. He has been for many years one of the busiest working character actors in Hollywood, appearing in a kazillion TV shows and films. He is also a very respected acting teacher. In short, he is exactly the kind of person that new actors ought to be listening to. Mr. Osmond has paid his dues and, along the way, acquired great wisdom about his craft and life. Good man, excellent book.

Twenty-five years ago, I spent the better part of two days in a West Los Angeles multiplex watching Claude Lanzmann’s astounding nine-hour holocaust documentary, Shoah. It is being re-released soon, and I plan to see it again. I recommend it to you. This film is 100 percent unique, not only in its length but because it is about the holocaust and contains zero WWII concentration camp archival footage. The spine of Shoah is a series of heart-stopping interviews that Lanzmann conducted with the few survivors of the Treblinka death camp in Poland. He even escorts one man, who survived because he was a child with a pretty singing voice, back to the camp, now a memorial park. There he is reunited with neighbors, people that lived near the camp and remained silent even when they knew what was going on. The gathering there is one of the most gripping filmed sequences you will ever see, I guarantee. Lanzmann also boldly goes undercover as a Nazi sympathizer and pays a friendly visit to an elderly former camp guard, a man who still – in 1981 – had a twinkle in his eye when reflecting on how many Jews were executed on the average day. The word “chilling” is the best description I can think of. Shoah is a highly personal work of art, the achievement of a lifetime, a testament to survival as well as man's darkest corners.

Most acting training programs in the U.S. are based on principles enunciated by Constantin Stanislavsky at the Moscow Art Theatre a hundred years ago. His idea was to develop a codified “system” that actors could use in order to achieve believable, psychologically truthful performances. He experimented with various approaches during his lifetime, but the goal was always the same, acting believably in pretend circumstances.

At that time, believable acting was a striking change from the rigid, declamatory style of acting that preceded it. Sara Bernhardt was representative of successful acting in the “old” style, and Eleanor Duse of the “new”. Stanislavsky died in 1938, before feature film became the dominant entertainment medium it is now, but his approach to acting evolved from optional to essential in the 1950s when Lee Strasberg's "method" came along.

The renowned British stage director Peter Brook observes that an actor must maintain three lines of communication simultaneously – with himself (access to emotion), with the other actor (listen, react, act) and with the audience (empathy, suspension of disbelief). Mr. Brook had the legitimate stage in mind when he wrote that in his 1968 book The Empty Space (Touchstone, 1995), but it is also true for acting in film. The challenge you face when choosing acting training is to find something with that kind of balance. University drama programs arguably come the closest and, if you happen to be high school or college age, then that is the way I would recommend you go. Anyway, a broad liberal arts education is an important asset for an actor. It is not a coincidence that the actors whose work you most admire are quite intelligent and well read.

But perhaps you are older, late 20s and up, and you want to start acting now. Perhaps you are looking for more intensive training. There are a bewildering number of options available. One program will emphasize physical work and the next will focus on emotional; this one stresses improvisation and that one strict script analysis. Some schools have their students do a lot of mask work, and some don’t. The most famous American acting teachers of the 1950s were Sanford Meisner, Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler, and many - if not most - contemporary acting coaches have adopted the theories of one of those three. Strasberg focused a lot on emotional triggers; Meisner focused a lot on listening and responding; Adler focused a lot on physical action and script analysis. All of them correctly claimed to be teaching the principles of Stanislavsky, but each put his or her own spin on it. Stanislavsky himself changed his mind over time about what should be an actor’s primary focus, so a lot depends on which of Stanislavsky’s ideas are being followed.

Even if an acting coach says he personally studied with Lee or Sandy or Stella, I suggest you not be overly impressed. Those three were giants, brilliant teachers all. And they are all dead. Teaching acting is more art than science, and you cannot franchise or bequeath genius. The fact that a person took classes from a famous teacher really does not matter. You need to audit an actual class, to see for yourself how a particular teacher interacts with the students. And remember what I am saying about how different programs have differing emphasis. Some acting classes feel more like psychotherapy than acting training, which means that teacher is likely focusing the most on the first of Peter Brook’s lines of communication. Also, as you check out acting classes, please keep in mind that acting is supposed to be fun. You will hear a lot of talk about “doing the work”, and you will meet some rather joyless coaches. Be careful because that attitude is communicable, and you do not want to catch it. Acting is fun, which is why they call them “plays”.

Financial success as an actor in the United States probably depends more on your self-confidence, sales abilities and single-minded determination than your training. The amount and kind of education you require depends on factors such as your age, “type” and whether or not you speak with an accent (you need a standard American accent). It can be easy to get swept up into tiered acting instruction that can go on for years. First, "intro" to acting, then "beginner", then whatever comes next and finally, the elite "master class". Don’t let your life become a story about acting classes – unless acting classes are enough to scratch your creative itch. Acting is one of those things that is best learned by actually doing it.