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Panel Seven |
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What exactly does "ensemble" mean? What exactly is "the method"? How together have they changed the "role" of the actor, director, writer? In this paper I will explore these questions drawing on my personal history at the Actor's Studio under Lee Strasberg. I began there as an actress, went on to become one of the few women in the Director's Unit led by Elia Kazan and ultimately followed Edward Albee as Moderator of the Playwright's Unit. I introducted actors' exercises to writers and directors; I adapted "Conservation at Midnight," the first ensemble piece of Studio work ever to be performed for a public audience; and gained as my mentor, the great writer James Baldwin. |