ARE WE PART OF “SHOW BUSINESS”??? Having just finished The Actors Center’s “Teacher Development Workshop,” and just before that “The New Leagues Actor Presentations,” commonly referred to as a “Show Case,” that question is much on my mind. Truth to tell, that question has dogged me for some forty years. That was not why...
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OLYMPIA DUKAKIS grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Greek immigrants and she had a brother named Apollo. She lived in a rough neighborhood. The Dukakis kids got into their share of fights. At eleven years old, Olympia carried a knife for protection. The world at large became aware of Olympia...
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“The other fellow first.” That was the motto of the summer camp I went to in the fifties. I loved that camp. I recollect its motto now because there doesn’t seem to be a lot of fellow feeling in the theatre these days. Not for audiences, who are being priced out of all consideration...
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What began as a simple, clear-eyed way for dedicated actor training institutions to relate to those intermediaries who assist and connect actors to a profession, has become an over-crowded, misconstrued mess. What was meant to provide the best of our emerging actors an introduction to the range of people who need to know of...
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A few weeks ago I gathered a group of friends together to chat. For months now I’ve had virtually the same conversation with each of my friends in the theater. The conversations all revolved around Mark Rylance and the fact that we’d become intoxicated with his audaciously brilliant work. A trend or pattern began...
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This is an essay about Mark Rylance, the astounding actor of recent Broadway acclaim and numerous Tony nominations; Mark Rylance of protean, luminous virtuosic stagecraft that has inspired an entire generation of artists; Mark Rylance who has the balls to mock/elevate the inflated pageantry of awards shows with his ironic performance art poetry readings...
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Events in our society and worldwide have preoccupied my thoughts for weeks as I have tried to understand the current nature of our culture during this time of chaos, upheaval and duress of every sort. Major earthquakes, global warming, genocide, religious war, raging disease, drought, famine, a deeply challenged economy, and an unending wave...
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With this issue introducing a whole new look to The Actors Center Journal, perhaps it is an appropriate moment to step back and look at where we are, where we have been and where we would like to go. (For more on that, see Phil’s Page.) Hopefully, this new format will allow our readers...
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I am writing with no idea how it will appear in our new format. I feel tentative writing in a vacuum, or more accurately, with no idea of how to picture this will actually reach you. This is not desirable. Context is always desirable. However, I feel that, increasingly, this is how we live—without...
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