“Talent is as common as horsesh*t in a stable. The cultivation of it is extremely rare.” —Eric Morris

How many stars are discovered at the soda fountain? How many actors have waltzed into a career from modeling, singing, or stand-up comedy? Possibly too many to count! And how likely is this to happen to you?

There are many reasons to pursue training if you are considering a career as an actor, but perhaps the most basic is simple reality. Acting, like any other profession, consists of professionals and amateurs: the professional is consistent, disciplined, and effective—the amateur can be consistent, can be disciplined, and can be effective. If you were in charge who would you hire? Your odds of career success, in a business with long-shot odds to begin with, become much lower when you are not a professional. And the professional, for the most part, has undergone training.

So what is actor training? Depending on the school, actor training can involve several years of intense focus on technique, voice, movement, emotional involvement, script analysis, dance, and numerous specialty classes unique to the school you pick. It could also consist of merely a few weeks or months of classes with a private coach.

Which best prepares you for your career? It depends on whom you ask. The playwright David Mamet believes that actors should seek only the most rudimentary training in voice, physical movement, and script analysis; famously talented actors like Robert DeNiro or Diane Keaton might espouse a different path: the "Meisner Technique" or “The Method.” Choosing the type of training that is right for you can only be accomplished after picking your destination; if you intend to work in classical theatre (Shakespeare, Moliere) you would definitely need to pursue a different path than someone who wants to act in film or television, or someone who wishes to perform in musical theatre. Regardless of the school, all actor training involves physical work (called exercises)—simply reading about techniques does not an actor make.

Stanislavski and “The System”

Acting used to be a very different art form from what we know today—look at silent movies from the early 20^th Century and compare them to what you see in the multiplex now. Much of the change was due to the influence of a Russian theatre artist, Konstantin Stanislavski. Stanislavki’s style of acting (known as “The System”) involved an applied, learned, technique that consisted of investigating the textual character and making realistic acting choices based on those discoveries—something very foreign from the posing and mugging that had comprised the theatre for centuries. One of the most easily attributed techniques of the System is the “Objective” of the character—essentially the “thing” that a character wants and the reason for his/her actions in a scene or in the play. The System revolutionized the acting world, and created an entirely new set of “thinking” actors: much of today’s actor training is based on the System or a variation of Stanislavki’s teachings.

Lee Strasberg and “The Method”

Stanislavski was not the only artist toying with incorporating realism into acting, and his work was expanded and modified by teachers and actors worldwide. In the United States, the most famous of these artists was Lee Strasberg. Strasberg was a founding member of the Group Theatre, a collection of actors and theatre professionals that were exploring this new “realism” based acting. After deciding that the System did not go far enough into incorporating emotion into the technique of acting, Strasburg developed “The Method”—a technique based on exploring the personal emotions of the actor, and applying the remembered feelings to the imaginary life of the character on the page. While based on the System (and often confused with it), the Method is an entirely different technique involving vastly different teachings and exercises. The Method became synonymous with members of The Actors Studio and students of the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute: performers such as Marlon Brando, James Dean, Paul Newman, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Geraldine Paige, Kim Stanley, and Marilyn Monroe.

Sanford Meisner and the “The Meisner Technique”

Not all of Strasberg’s students appreciated or agreed with mining the actor’s emotional past and psyche in preparation for a role. The result was a split between these students, and the teachings of Lee Strasberg. Sanford Meisner, a student of the Method, went on to develop his own Technique—based on what he had learned from the Method and the System, his technique focused less on the experiences of the actor, and more on the physical actions performed while onstage or during a scene. The Meisner Technique is difficult to describe on paper, as it is an entirely experienced technique—the only way to understand it is to go through an exercise using it. The technique breaks the scene down into the moment-to-moment reaction between characters and the physical world of the set and props. Training in the Meisner technique focuses on honing the actor’s awareness to shifts and changes in the actors and set/props on stage and in the scene with him. Meisner went on to teach at the Neighborhood Playhouse, where his Technique is still taught, and is associated with past students such as Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, Gregory Peck, Joanne Woodward and many others.

Jerzy Grotowski and Experimental Theatre

 As actor training has evolved, other schools of thought not based on the System have developed, including the teachings of Polish artist Jerzy Grotowski. Grotowski’s work evolved in order to combat film and television—what he considered to be art forms that did not interact with the audience. Focusing on intense physical exploration in movement and training in vocal technique, Grotowski’s teachings removed the external use of props and set, and honed the acting experience to just the performers on a largely blank stage. His work also pushed performers to choose works that were politically or socially volatile in order to have a visceral effect on the audience.

Actor training is still evolving and changing, but most designed courses are based on one of these principles. Universities known for their acting programs (NYU, Julliard, USC, DePaul, and Northwestern) are deeply rooted in these styles of teaching, and their marketing materials can help describe which particular technique they employ. If you are considering a long-term training commitment, it is in your best interest to speak with a member of the faculty to determine which style they utilize. For those who are interested in shorter-term training options, classes are available in most schools of technique over the summer, on weekends, or during evenings. In Missouri, these options are more limited but are still available. In order to choose the class that is right for you, ask to sit in or “audit” a class—so that if a particular style does not suit you, you have not committed to an entire course.

For performers interested in musical theatre and dance, these classes might seem unnecessary—but more and more, producers, agents, and casting professionals are looking for “triple threats”: performers proficient and exemplary in all areas (including acting). A complete training program for the musical theater performer will include vocal coaching, dance and movement classes, and some form of the above actor training. Classical training (for Shakespeare and beyond) requires an even further training—involving text studies of classical works, style training in the basics of classical performance, and vocal coaching for the particular challenges in verse, meter, and rhyme.

Most professional actors continue their education beyond their University or Acting Programs—this continuous study keeps the performer’s skills in shape, preparing them for the sudden audition or their next role. Acting coaches and nighttime classes are perfect for this type of study, as are individual dance classes and voice lessons for the “triple threats” in our profession. A trained actor is confident, prepared, consistent, and skilled. The value in knowing you are trained can only lead to a stronger career.

Points to remember:

1. A trained actor is more desirable than a non-trained actor is (who would you hire?)
2. Not all training is the same (what style is being taught?)
3. The training should fit the goal (realism, classics, music, etc.)
4. Try before you buy (figure out what’s right for you)

Who to contact:

1. Universities and Conservatories
2. Private Coaches
3. Actor Training Programs
4. Working Professionals (whom did they study with?)

Recommended reading:

• An Actor Prepares
  by Constantine Stanislavski
  ISBN: 0878309837
• On Method Acting
  by Edward Dwight Easty
  ISBN: 0804105227
• Sanford Meisner on Acting
  by Sanford Meisner, Dennis Longwell
  ISBN: 0394750594
• An Acrobat of the Heart: A Physical Approach to Acting Inspired by the Work of Jerzy Grotowski
  by Stephen Wangh
  ISBN: 0375706720
• Respect for Acting
  by Uta Hagen
  ISBN: 0025473905
• A Practical Handbook for the Actor
  by (multiple authors)
  ISBN: 0394744128