After 10 years at New York City's New School, the master's degree program of the Actors Studio is moving downtown, to Pace University in Lower Manhattan. That's good news for both institutions, according to Ellen Burstyn, one of the Studio's three co-presidents (with Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel), and a natural outgrowth of an already existing relationship between the two organizations. Since last fall, Inside the Actors Studio, the popular TV program on Bravo, has been taped at Pace's Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts.
High-profile theatre is no stranger to Pace. The 743-seat Schimmel Center was the home of Tony Randall's National Actors Theatre, whose productions featured such actors as Pacino, Len Cariou, and John Goodman. The center has also partnered with the Tribeca Film Festival, the River to River Festival, and the New York International Fringe Festival.
"Pace has had an undergraduate performing arts program for some time," says Burstyn. This fall it plans to add BFA programs in both acting and musical theatre. "And Pace is committed to the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan, in which we will play a part, too. Pace has the space, a wonderful auditorium, and good people."
At the New School, says Burstyn, "they wanted to make changes in the curriculum that we couldn't agree to. We want to have control over our curriculum, and so we separated — amicably. It was a 10-year contract and it had come to an end."
Andreas Manolikakis, who will head the Studio's three-year MFA program at Pace, highlights one specific difference of opinion between the Actors Studio and the New School: "We train actors, playwrights, and directors. And we feel the directors we train should be directing our student productions. The New School wanted to bring in professional directors. We did not. We had artistic differences."
This is one of the cornerstones of the Studio's program: "Actors, playwrights, and directors learn together," says Burstyn. "In fact, writers and directors take acting classes early on in their training to understand the process. They then study on their own and later come together again as seniors. At that time, the actors perform in plays written by the student playwrights. And the student directors direct these plays.
"We are the only Actors Studio MFA program in the country," she continues. "And our training is based on the techniques that we have developed at the Actors Studio," an independent, freestanding institution separate from the school. "The teachers we pick all understand the history and philosophy of the Actors Studio: Cheryl Crawford and Elia Kazan founded the Actors Studio. Our ancestors are the Group Theatre, and their ancestors were the Moscow Arts Theatre, with its direct line to Chekhov. It was a revolutionary theatre motivated by its realization that theatre up until that point was false."
The thrust of the training will be "to bring reality and deep emotional expression to whatever the plays are, including experimental and avant-garde works," Burstyn says. "The plays we work on — or that the playwriting students write — are not necessarily realistic."
The program, which is waiting for accreditation from the New York State Department of Education, is planning to open its doors to 60 students (48 actors, six writers, and six directors) this fall. Applications are now being accepted, and auditions will take place in May (pending accreditation).
"From actors we will want to see a five-minute scene that has an arc," says Burstyn. "We'd like each auditioning actor to have a scene partner, who may also be auditioning for us. If a student is coming from far away and can't prepare a scene with a partner, we'll accept a monologue as the audition piece."
An important word of advice: "We ask actors to choose a part that's close to them," says Burstyn, "a role that they might play. We don't need elaborate costumes."
"Do what you're good at," adds Keitel. "We look for that person who surprises us. It's that thing called 'talent.' "
Keitel points out that graduates of the MFA program will, ideally, become a talent pool for the Actors Studio. While every other actor wanting to join the Studio has to pass both a preliminary and final audition, graduates of the program go directly to the final audition.
According to Manolikakis, the program's move to Pace also underscores the university's role in redeveloping Lower Manhattan post-Sept. 11: "Pace recently received a $500,000 federal grant to refurbish its principal theatre. By 2009, our first graduating class will present to the public a 10-to-12-week repertory program, with approximately three shows a night — short plays, full-length plays — most of which will be original pieces written by our students, all performed by our students and directed by our students."
This repertory season will utilize a number of downtown venues, further helping to revitalize the community, he said.
