Acting in the Academy

Acting in the Academy There are over 150 BFA and MFA acting programs in the US today, nearly all of which claim to prepare students for theatre careers. Peter Zazzali contends that these curricula represent an ethos that is outdated and limited given today’s shrinking job market for stage actors. Acting in the Academy traces the history of actor training in universities to make the case for a move beyond standard courses in voice and speech, movement, or performance, to develop an entrepreneurial model that motivates and encourages students to create their own employment opportunities. This book answers questions such as: • How has the League of Professional Theatre Training Programs shaped actor training in the US? • How have training programs and the acting profession developed in relation to one another? • What impact have these developments had on American acting as an art form? Acting in the Academy calls for a reconceptualization of actor training in the US, and looks to newly empower students of performance with a fresh, original perspective on their professional development. Peter Zazzali is Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University of Kansas. John Houseman and members of Group I at Juilliard in the spring of 1972 reading positive reviews of the Acting Company’s inaugural season. Kevin Kline is seated behind Houseman. Photo by Raimondo Borea; Courtesy of the Juilliard School Archives. Acting in the Academy The history of professional actor training in US higher education Peter Zazzali First published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2016 Peter Zazzali The right of Peter Zazzali to be identifi ed as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Names: Zazzali, Peter. Title: Acting in the academy : the history of professional actor training in US higher education / Peter Zazzali. Description: Routledge : Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references. Identifi ers: LCCN 2015037003 | ISBN 9781138914384 (hardback) | ISBN 9781315690858 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Acting—Study and teaching (Higher)—United States—History—20th century. Classifi cation: LCC PN2078.U6 Z39 2016 | DDC 792.02/8071—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015037003 ISBN: 978-1-138-91438-4 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-69085-8 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC For Felicia This page intentionally left blank Contents List of fi gures viii Foreword by David Krasner ix Preface xiii Acknowledgements xv Introduction 1 1 The challenges facing US stage acting and actor training 8 2 Twentieth-century US acting and actor training: From Stanislavsky to the League 26 3 Putting the League in sociohistorical context 59 4 The League’s “uneasy dichotomy” with higher education: Introducing the case studies 77 5 The “new breed” of American actors and the League’s dissolution 123 6 Empowering actors: An entrepreneurial approach 159 Bibliography 189 Appendix 197 Index 203 Figures FRONTISPIECE: John Houseman and members of Group I at Juilliard in the spring of 1972 reading positive reviews of the Acting Company’s inaugural season. Kevin Kline is seated behind Houseman. ii 2.1 Margo Jones. 37 2.2 Movement class for Juilliard actors; 1984. 45 3.1 René Auberjonois in the Carnegie Mellon University Drama Department’s production of The Marriage of Figaro ; 1960/61. 60 4.1 Michel Saint-Denis with John Houseman at the Drama Division Retreat in Washington, CT; August 1968. 80 4.2 Peter Mennin in the Juilliard Theatre; c. 1980. 89 4.3 Akram Midani in his offi ce. 95 4.4 William Ball in rehearsal at the American Conservatory Theatre; c. 1971. 104 5.1 Cherry Jones in the Carnegie Mellon University Drama Department’s production of Faith, Hope, and Charity ; 1976/77. 142 5.2 Melinda Mullins in class at Juilliard with alumnus Kevin Kline; 1986. 145 6.1 PigPen Theatre Co.’s 2014 production of The Old Man and the Old Moon at the New Victory Theatre, NYC. 164 6.2 PigPen Theatre Co.’s national concert tour 2014. 166 6.3 Carnegie Mellon University Drama Department’s Playground 2010. 168 6.4 Progressive Theatre Company’s 2014 production of God Hates This Show at Joe’s Pub, NYC; Written and directed by John Casswell. 177 Foreword Peter Zazzali’s profoundly signifi cant book should be read by every acting teacher working in the academy because he asks us – indeed challenges us – to answer these important questions: Why do we teach acting in colleges and universities and what do we hope to accomplish by training students to become performers? The proliferation of acting schools in the academy (as well as the dozens of non-academic conservatories in New York and Los Angeles), as Zazzali so accurately documents, produces thousands of BA, BFA, and MFA actors annually. Each graduating aspirant confronts a highly competitive market unable to sustain viable careers for the tsunami of actors spilling out onto Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and elsewhere every year. Yet the number of academic acting schools has increased when – given the paucity of acting jobs – it ought to decrease, or at least be modifi ed. Zazzali historically traces how we arrived at this place in the academy and where we might go from here. I lived through portions of Peter Zazzali’s research. In 1970, I entered the highly selective BFA acting program at Carnegie Mellon University (the name had just changed from Carnegie Tech). The Carnegie Drama Depart- ment’s goal was clear: train actors to work in regional theatres by providing students with the tools necessary to perform in a regional theatre venue. At the time one path for an actor interested in theatre (less so fi lm or television) was to obtain the ability to play multiple roles in a regional theatre ensemble. Actors were hired with annual or multi-year contracts and required to perform in a regional theatre’s half-dozen or more shows each year. Hiring at a LORT (League of Resident Theatres) company that produced a menu of classic and modern dramas and comedies, original plays as well as Shake- speare and Chekhov, required actors to develop technical skills – versatility, fl exibility, and the capacity to play various parts – even if the roles were cast against type, age, and even ethnicity. A twenty-year-old actor might play a character twice that age, go on to play another character with an accent, a comic role one month, tragedy the next, etc. To become this all-purpose actor required, fi rst of all, rigorous body and voice training. As a result, I was taught by renowned teachers: voice by Robert Parks, speech by Edith Skinner (and her assistant Tim Monich), dance by Paul Draper, and movement (especially mime) by Jewel Walker. I also learned dialectics, fencing, x Foreword make-up, acrobatics, yoga, tai chi, and circus techniques; stage combat from B. H. Barry, commedia acting from Arnie Zazlov, more movement from Fran Bennett; Alexander Technique and a new (at the time) body-awareness technique from Moshé Feldenkrais; and the (then) highly popular Grotowski technique from Franz Marjinen, a Grotowski disciple. Completing this training were acting classes: Earle Gister for text analysis and scene study, David Hirst for Strasberg’s technique of sense and emotional memory, and Morty Lawner for the Meisner technique; and fi nally performing multiple and various characters in plays directed by John Pasquin, Israel Hicks, Larry Carra, Dick Shank, and Charlie Haid. The goal at the end of this training process was the TCG (Theatre Communications Group) auditions, where actors presented monologues before dozens of regional theatres in the hopes of being hired for a season or many seasons. TCG was the clearinghouse through which actors matched up with regional theatre artistic directors seeking to stock their acting company’s ensemble. I graduated in 1974 with what I thought was the proper arsenal needed to be a successful regional theatre stage actor. Film and television would come later, perhaps, when I had matured as a person and actor. Then the landscape changed. First, cable television increased acting opportunities through the proliferation of more shows, especially shows requiring younger actors. Young actors (even teens) on television and fi lm became the norm. Second, the regional theatre-repertory model of casting actors for a whole season had dwindled, overwhelmed by the celebrity culture of “stars” attempting to demonstrate their acting chops safely out of view from the larger (New York) market and its unforgiving critics. These “stars” would often bring with them their personal entourage of other actors who displaced the resident ensemble. Finally, it grew more convenient and less expensive for regional theatres to hire actors as one-offs jobbed in for a particular and specifi c role and released after each show closed. Casting grew simpler too, with theatres throughout the country looking to cast the actor to fi t the role with exactitude.

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