The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the

Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the ea ...

neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. It was founded on October 5, 1947, by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, and Robert Lewis, who provided training for actors who were members.

Lee Strasberg Lee Strasberg (born Israel Strassberg; November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American theatre director, actor and acting teacher. He co-founded, with theatre directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931 ...

joined later and took the helm in 1951 until his death on February 17, 1982. The Studio is best known for its work refining and teaching

method acting Method acting, informally known as The Method, is a range of training and rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, u ...

. The approach was originally developed by the Group Theatre in the 1930s based on the innovations of Konstantin Stanislavski. While at the Studio, actors work together to develop their skills in a private environment where they can take risks as performers without the pressure of commercial roles. , the studio's co-presidents are

Ellen Burstyn Ellen Burstyn (born Edna Rae Gillooly; December 7, 1932) is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complicated women in dramas, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and two Primetime Em ...

, Alec Baldwin and Al Pacino. The artistic director in New York is Beau Gravitte, and the Associate Artistic Director in New York is Estelle Parsons.

History

After an initial meeting held on October 5, 1947, at the

Labor Stage Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

, located at 106 W. 39th Street (formerly the Princess Theatre), in which goals and ground rules of the new organization were discussed, the studio officially opened for business the following day at the Union Methodist Episcopal Church, located at 229 West 48th Street, previously home to the Actors Kitchen and Lounge (maintained to assist actors and others unable to afford meals), and long a source of rental rehearsal space for local theatrical producers. Before settling in its current location in 1955, the Studio moved regularly over an eight-year period: In January 1948, it was a dance studio on East 59th Street. In April of that year, a move to the

CBS Building The CBS Building, also known as Black Rock, is the headquarters of the CBS broadcasting network at 51 West 52nd Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The 38-story, building, the only skyscraper designed by Eero Saari ...

at 1697 Broadway, near 53rd Street, established some semblance of stability; the Studio would not move again until the summer of 1952. From that point, the old

Theatre Guild The Theatre Guild is a theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 by Lawrence Langner, Philip Moeller, Helen Westley and Theresa Helburn. Langner's wife, Armina Marshall, then served as a co-director. It evolved out of the work of th ...

rehearsal rooms on the top floor of the

ANTA Theatre The August Wilson Theatre (formerly the Guild Theatre, ANTA Theatre, and Virginia Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 245 West 52nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1925, the theater was designed ...

became home, as they would remain until October 1954, when theatre renovations reduced the Studio to renting space twice a week. This it did at the Malin Studios at 1545 Broadway, room 610. This arrangement continued throughout the 1954–1955 theatrical season, even as the Studio was acquiring and renovating its current venue. In 1955, it moved to its current location in the former West 44th Street United Presbyterian Church, a

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

structure which was built for the Seventh Associate Presbyterian Church in 1858 or 1859. It was one of the last churches to be built in that style in New York City.

Graduate drama school

From September 1994 through May 2005, the Studio collaborated with

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

in the education of master's-level theatre students at the Actors Studio Drama School (ASDS). After ending its contract with The New School, the Actors Studio established The

Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University is a three-year graduate program in the theater arts. It has been located at Pace University in New York since 2006 and grants Master of Fine Arts degrees in acting, directing, and playwriting. ...

in 2006.

References

Notes Further reading ::Articles * Gerard, Jeremy (April 8, 1988
"Frank Corsaro to Head Actors Studio,"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' * Heimer, Mel (October 19, 1965)
"My New York"
''Rochester Sentinel'' p. 2 * Kleiner, Dick (December 21, 1956
"The Actors Studio: Making Stars Out of the Unknown,"
'' Sarasota Journal'' p. 26 * Pogrebin, Robin (June 20, 2000
"Pacino, Burstyn and Keitel To Lead the Actors Studio,"
''

'' * Seligsohn, Leo (January 6, 1974
"Actors Studio Needs Cash Birthday Gift,"
'' Sarasota Herald-Tribune'' p. 6-B * Smith, Liz (May 30, 1983
"Controversy Engulfs Actors Studio As Anna Strasberg Resigns,"
'' Sarasota Herald-Tribune'' p. 4-C ::Books * Frome, Shelly (2001) ''The Actors Studio: a History''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. * Garfield, David (1980)
A Player's Place: The Story of the Actors Studio
'. New York: MacMillan. * Hirsch, Foster (1984) ''A Method to their Madness: The History of the Actors Studio''. New York: WW Norton & Co Inc.

External links

*

''Inside the Actors Studio''

The Actors Studio MFA Program at Pace University

Audio collection of the Actors Studio from 1956–69
at the

Wisconsin Historical Society The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of N ...

A brief history of the Actors Studio, including Lee Strasberg on its origin and purpose.

David Garfield research files on the Actors Studio, 1947–2003 (bulk 1970–1982)
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Actors Studio, The Drama schools in the United States Actors Studio alumni Organizations based in New York City Education in Manhattan Pace University 1947 establishments in New York City Theatre in New York City

History

Graduate drama school

See also

References

External links