So yesterday I spent a lovely afternoon visiting my teacher, Robert Neff Williams. He was feeling good and seemed stronger than when I attended his birthday party in March. We talked about many things including his dear wife, Ruth, passing on a few months ago. I told him about an actor calling me this week who wanted to work on …
As I was waiting for the final run of “Timon of Athens” at the Public Theater (starring Richard Thomas as Timon) last night, I heard one of the actors ask Barry (Edelstein, the director) if he was tired. This was at 9:30p.m. and the cast and crew had been in technical rehearsal since noon. Barry said “No, I’m not tired. …
In the last two weeks, a number of actors have asked me to suggest a monologue for Shakespeare auditions that no one else does. I don’t think it exists. Are some monologues used more often than others? Definitely. But these plays are so famous and there are so many companies performing them that it is difficult to find something that …
I’ve been thinking about breathing for actors. Why is that something so basic and something that we all do naturally, seems to be so difficult? When I was explaining the principles of breathing for actors to my new class of private students last week, I was thinking how odd it was that I was explaining breathing. We’re alive so we …
I was thinking about new beginnings a few days ago. It’s because it’s September and September makes me think of going back to school. I always had a new notebook and pencil box for that first day. I was very excited about seeing friends that I had not seen all summer. Had they changed? Was my best friend going to …