Newsletter Dec. 2008/Jan. 2009, Statement from the Artistic Director

This statement was published in the Stella Adler Studio of Acting’s 2008-2009 Winter newsletter.

Thank you for your support and for taking the time to read this final newsletter for 2008. What a year for the United States of America and for the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. In spite of the enormous challenges we face there is a spirit of hope in the air. I am excited by the revised newsletter format that Nina Capelli has introduced with its plethora of different voices from alumni, current students, and faculty. In building our community I always look forward to the inclusion of more voices which make up the full scope of our ever-increasing circle of friends and collaborators. I count among them the many artists, thinkers and activists of this year’s Harold Clurman Festival of the Arts. I also welcome a new group of guest teachers courtesy of Mark Rylance including Tim Carroll, Peter Dawkins and Stewart Pierce. And I think of the Studio’s incredible Board of Directors, including Stephen Dembitzer, the newest member of the community.

In her remarks Betsy Parrish mentions that our mission to create an environment that nurtures theater artists who value humanity, their own and others, as their first priority, while providing art and education to the greater community, is not merely a slogan but something that we all live. I agree. For me, as Stella Adler’s grandson, and the Artistic Director of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, I am responsible to hundreds of students and faculty, but also to an idea, a tradition and an important spirit of creativity. It is my conviction that an organization in the name of Stella Adler must do more than teach her technique; it must exemplify the spirit of that technique in its behavior, through its programs and with its energy.

Practical application of the Adler Technique might help to illuminate this work. For all those interested in creating an actor training program in this Yiddish Theater/ Group Theater tradition, consider that the Stella Adler Technique is an imagination based technique. “What,” you might ask yourself, “does imagination do?” It envisions, it dreams. It reaches out fearlessly. It builds, connects, and creates community. It inspires, empowers, it speaks with a voice that illicits voice from others. It takes on many points of view, considers a plethora of perspectives. It affirms life, creates experiences, and then mines those experiences for self-expression and communication.

Hence our wonderful faculty, our bold and forthright student body, our lively alumni, the Harold Clurman Festival of the Arts and all our old and new friends. Again thank you for your friendship and support.