John Strasberg (born May 20, 1941) is the son of Lee and

Paula Strasberg Paula Strasberg (born Pearl Miller; March 8, 1909 – April 29, 1966) was an American stage actress. She became actor and teacher Lee Strasberg's second wife and mother of actors John Strasberg, John and Susan Strasberg, as well as Marilyn Monro ...

of the

Actors Studio 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 neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded ...

, and brother of actress

Susan Strasberg Susan Elizabeth Strasberg (May 22, 1938 – January 21, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actress. Imagined to be the next Hepburn-type ingenue, she was nominated for a Tony Award at age 18, playing the title role in ''The Diary ...

Background and career

John Strasberg is an American actor, director, teacher and writer, the son of

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 ...

and

and the brother of actress, writer

.{{{Citation needed, date=February 2021 John Srasberg teaching

After graduating from the

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Spec ...

in 1958, he spent a year at the University of Wisconsin before beginning to study acting with his father. His professional career began in 1960 as an Assistant Stage Manager at the

New York City Center New York City Center (previously known as the Mecca Temple, City Center of Music and Drama,. The name "City Center for Music and Drama Inc." is the organizational parent of the New York City Ballet and, until 2011, the New York City Opera. and th ...

, and shortly after, he began his acting career off-Broadway in ''Five Evenings''. He began teaching in 1964, when his father was ill. His career has remained multi-faceted throughout his life. He acted and stage managed during the three years of the existence of The Actors Studio Theater, acting in ''Marathon ’33'', and stage managing ''Dynamite Tonight'', ''Marathon ’33'', and ''Blues for Mr. Charlie'', during which he became one of the youngest Production Stage Managers on Broadway, and his father's production of ''The Three Sisters''. He taught acting at Columbia Pictures from 1966 to 1968, and acted in several television shows and films. He returned to New York to teach at his father's school

Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute (originally the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute) is an acting school founded in 1969 by actor, director, and acting teacher Lee Strasberg. The Institute is located in Union Square on East 15th Street, a ...

in 1969. In 1971 he taught a workshop at the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

. After returning to New York he acted in the Circle Repertory Company's production of

Lanford Wilson Lanford Wilson (April 13, 1937March 24, 2011) was an American playwright. His work, as described by ''The New York Times'', was "earthy, realist, greatly admired ndwidely performed."Margalit Fox, Fox, Margalit"Lanford Wilson, Pulitzer Prize-Wi ...

’s The Mound Builders. He became Executive Director of The Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in 1975. After leaving the Institute in 1977 he taught privately and produced a play Slugger directed by

Marshall W. Mason Marshall W. Mason (born February 24, 1940) is an American theater director, educator, and writer. Mason founded the Circle Repertory Company in New York City and was artistic director of the company for 18 years (1969–1987). He received an Obie ...

. In 1979 he founded John Strasberg's The Real Stage in New York City. In 1980 he began teaching and directing in Europe, primarily in France and Spain, where he directed productions of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states ...

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his almost magical power ...

among many other writers. Several of these productions won awards. Under Founder and Producing Artistic Director Sabra Jones, he was also Co-Artistic Director of The Mirror Repertory Company, where

Geraldine Page Geraldine Sue Page (November 22, 1924June 13, 1987) was an American actress. With a career which spanned four decades across film, stage, and television, Page was the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Acade ...

was the Artist-in-Residence. Strasberg directed The Mirror's productions of ''

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse (poetry), verse. A second edition fo ...

'' by

Clifford Odets Clifford Odets (July 18, 1906 – August 14, 1963) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. In the mid-1930s, he was widely seen as the potential successor to Nobel Prize-winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, as O'Neill began to withdra ...

, ''Inheritors'' by

Susan Glaspell Susan Keating Glaspell (July 1, 1876 – July 28, 1948) was an American playwright, novelist, journalist and actress. With her husband George Cram Cook, she founded the Provincetown Players, the first modern American theatre company. First known ...

, ''

Joan of Lorraine ''Joan of Lorraine'' is a 1946 play-within-a-play by Maxwell Anderson. Plot It is about a company of actors who stage a dramatization of the story of Joan of Arc, and the effect that the story has on them. As in the musical ''Man of La Mancha'', ...

'' by

Maxwell Anderson James Maxwell Anderson (December 15, 1888 – February 28, 1959) was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist, and lyricist. Background Anderson was born on December 15, 1888, in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, the second of eight children to ...

, '' Vivat! Vivat Regina!'' by

Robert Bolt Robert Oxton Bolt (15 August 1924 – 20 February 1995) was an English playwright and a two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter, known for writing the screenplays for ''Lawrence of Arabia'', ''Doctor Zhivago'', and '' A Man for All Seasons'', ...

, and ''Rain'' by John Colton. In 1985 he began living and working in Europe. In 1996 he returned to New York upon publication of his book on acting ''Accidentally On Purpose: A Memoir on Life, Acting, and the Nine Natural Laws of Creativity'', an award-winning documentary{{Citation, title=John Strasberg: Accidentally On Purpose (The Movie - Part 1), url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mp62njse20 , archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/8mp62njse20 , archive-date=December 21, 2021 , url-status=live, date=January 21, 2010, accessdate=January 24, 2016, last=Seth Friedman{{cbignore of the same name was also created. He created John Strasberg Studios, an International Center for Creative Development and Theater Research. In 2005 he created The Accidental Repertory Theater, which in 2011 produced several plays which he wrote and directed: ''Playing House'', a modern play inspired by Ibsen's ''

A Doll's House ''A Doll's House'' (Danish and nb, Et dukkehjem; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having bee ...

'', and ''Adams' Apples'', a modern play inspired by Chekhov's ''

The Cherry Orchard ''The Cherry Orchard'' (russian: Вишнёвый сад, translit=Vishnyovyi sad) is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Written in 1903, it was first published by ''Znaniye'' (Book Two, 1904), and came out as a separate edition ...

''. Strasberg is a life member of The Actors Studio.

References

{{reflist

External links

Accidental Repertory Theater
* {{IMDb name, id=2187577, name=John Strasberg {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Strasberg, John 1941 births Living people Male actors from New York City American entertainment industry businesspeople Jewish American male actors 21st-century American Jews