Wanna take acting classes?

Below is a letter that went out to local folks who might be interested in acting classes from Dusty McKeelan. Also, here's a link to a post with a bunch links to give you a better understanding about Stella Adler and what she stood for. Take a look and come on by if you're interested!

Dear Actor, Director, or Theater Person of Any Sort,

This is an invitation to a Free Open House for professional actor training in conjunction with North Carolina Stage Company. The Open House will take place in the Atrium at The Haywood Park Hotel on Tuesday, March 9th at 8:00 pm, 1 Battery Park Place, mere steps from NC Stage. If you walk up the hill on Walnut Street, cross Haywood Street and turn left, the most direct entrance is just before the curiously named Chocolate Fetish on your right. Google maps measures this walk at 324 feet.

My name is Dusty McKeelan. My wife and I have just moved to Asheville from New York City, where I was on the faculty at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Tom Oppenheim, the Artistic Director of the Studio and Stella's grandson, has asked me to create a professional actor training program here in Asheville. He is hoping that we can develop a blueprint for this type of program in an artistically vibrant community other than New York or Los Angeles. Upon my arrival, I began discussing the possibilities for this program with Charlie Flynn-McIver, the Artistic Director at NC Stage. He painted a picture of a very dedicated and talented community of actors who have full-time jobs and full-time families ... and therefore limited time or money for anything other than productions.

As I am sure you all know, the restrictions of a production's rehearsal schedule tend to prevent an actor from deepening his/her relationship to the character, the play, the cast, the crew, and therefore the art of acting. The mission of the Stella Adler Studio is based on the assumption that growth as an actor and growth as a human being are synonymous. We are hoping that this program can provide a venue for all of us to grow as actors and as human beings.

Charlie and I are not in the same situation as the vast majority of actors in the area. He runs a company, and I just moved here. We need your input in order to create a program that will actually work. I realize that this is an unusually verbose invitation, but I am deeply passionate about what actor training can give a person. I want to be sure that I pass along not only my intentions but also the root of those intentions. Artists need to be surrounded and supported by other artists on a regular basis in order to avoid complacency ... or worse, depression. I do not know what this program will look like, but I do know that it has the potential to give us all a place to call our artistic home away from home.

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to call or email me (404.966.6336, dusty@stellaadler.com). Also, please forward this information to anyone you think might be interested. Otherwise, I hope to see you all on the 9th!

Sincerely,

Dusty McKeelan

Resource material for Stella Adler Studio

Hi, everyone. If you are interested in learning more about Stella Adler and the philosophy in which I was trained, check out these links. Stella passed away in 1992 at the age of 91. Although I arrived at her studio too late to have met her, her passion and spirit are the root of my training. The two videos are brief glimpses into the inspiration that Tom Oppenheim, her grandson who gave me rights to the Stella Adler name, has asked me to carry on here in Asheville.


The Stella Adler Studio of Acting: http://www.stellaadler.com

Ms. Adler on the size of realistic performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mTfFXbJEHA&NR=1

Ms. Adler on the life of the actor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQzyARZwIFM


If you are taken aback by the boldness of some of Ms. Adler's statements, remember two things. First, those videos were shot shortly before she passed on (she taught practically until the day she died), and she was simply trying to make the point that acting is not about the actor but the character, the play, and the audience. Second, I am not Stella Adler. I am merely trained in her spirit. I believe that I can translate that spirit into a practical understanding of the craft, and that is why her grandson has entrusted me with her name. Clearly, her methods work. The list of her students goes on and on:

Marlon Brando
Robert De Niro
Warren Beatty (Honorary Chair)
Martin Sheen
Benicio Del Toro
Kevin Costner
John Ritter
Christopher Guest
Salma Hayek
Candice Bergen
Melanie Griffith
Bryce Dallas Howard
Harvey Keitel
Mathew Modine
Judd Nelson
Mark Ruffalo
Cybil Shepard
Holland Taylor
Many others: http://stellaadler.com/alumni.html

If I even could add a list of students of her students, the students of those students, and so on, it would leave out few professional actors. To give you some idea of her impact on the art of acting, check out what Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando had to say:


Robert De Niro on Ms. Adler (beginning at 5:20): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTCH-Zeppj4&feature=related

Marlon Brando on Ms. Adler (Preface to her book, The Art of Acting, compiled and edited by Howard Kissel):

"To me, Stella Adler is much more than a teacher of acting. Through her work she imparts the most valuable kind of information - how to discover the nature of our own emotional mechanics and therefore those of others. She never lent herself to vulgar exploitations, as some other well-known so-called "methods" of acting have done. As a result, her contributions to the theatrical culture have remained largely unknown, unrecognized, and unappreciated.

As far as I know, she was the only American artist who went to Paris to study with Konstantin Stanislavski, who was himself a skilled observer of human behavior and a most prominent figure in Russian theatre. She brugh back to this country a knowledge of his technique and incorporated it in her teaching. Little did she know that her teachings would impact theatrical culture worldwide. Almost all film-making anywhere in the world has been affected by American films, which has been, in turn, influenced by Stella Adler's teachings. She is loved by many and we owe her much.

I am grateful to the inestimable contributions she has made to my life and I feel privileged to have been associated with her and her family professionally and personally throughout my life.

-Marlon Brando"


And finally, if you have some time, I encourage you to watch the American Masters special on Ms. Adler. This documentary gives a detailed account of the history that culminated in today's Stella Adler Studio of Acting. It is divided into six sections so that it could be posted on Youtube:


Part 1 (w/ Mark Ruffalo as student): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k61Nkvy-QCw&feature=related

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQscEf7KBM8&feature=related

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBkexBVgdhg&feature=related

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiD2mQOtEsE&feature=related

Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBUHEIq0SB0&feature=related

Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5mFWZjBGas&feature=related


Thank you all for your interest in the program we are trying to create. I hope that we can pack the Free Open House discussion on March 9th at 8pm. And again, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me directly.

Sincerely,

Dusty McKeelan

Dusty McKeelan
404.966.6336
dusty@stellaadler.com

In a world...

NC Stage has recently started advertising on 98.1 The River. Check out the radio ad Angie and I recorded. Fun, huh?

Listen online here.

Oh crap! There are PEOPLE out there!!!

True West is opening up this week and we're really excited to get this one up and running. Scott Treadway and I are having a great time working on stage together. He's a very generous actor and a real joy to hang out with. Also in the cast are Kay Galvin, who you might have seen on any of the various stages around Asheville, and Lance Ball, an actor who has worked with our good friends at Immediate Theatre Project in their production of Copenhagen last year.

Had an invited dress rehearsal on Tuesday night with about 40 people in the audience. It went really well but it's always interesting the first time you perform a play you've been working on in front of people besides the artistic team of the theatre. Sometimes you discover things that are funny that you didn't realize were funny. You hear a laugh and think, "the hell???". Then, when you have a chance to think about it, you realize that it is funny. On the other hand, you do something during performance that consistently made the director and the sound designer laugh and then you do it in front of an audience and...nothin'. So you cut it. Oh well.

The most important aspect of the first audience is to see if the way you've crafted the show makes sense as a whole and that it's impacting an audience the way you intended, those little individual aforementioned moments aside. It allows us to gauge what the audience is noticing and responding to. It let's us punch up those elements that need punching up and get rid of the things that aren't working. So each afternoon this week we'll be gauging the response to the show from several audiences, taking notes and then rehearsing the bits that help us make the show as a whole more meaningful. By Saturday night this process should be finished and then it's official opening night and no more rehearsal during the day except for line brush ups with Scott and the other actors prior to the show.

In other news, I asked Amanda to take a little video tour of the set with Angie, who directed the production. The set was designed by Rob Bowen, whose head of the Department of Dramatic Art at UNCA and construction was headed up by Sylvia Pierce of Scenery Concepts. Enjoy!

Designers speak about True West

True West rehearsals are going well: we've started blocking the show, and had one session of fight choreography with Bill Munoz (thanks, Bill!). I'm really excited about getting this show up on its feet.

While Angie and the actors are in rehearsal, our design team is busy building sets, finding props and costumes, and designing the lights and sound. This week, I'm excited to be able to introduce the designers to you and share some of their process. Our Managing Director Amanda did some quick interviews with our designers, asking them all the same question: What has been the most exciting and/or challenging aspect of working on this production of True West? (In theatre, the most exciting and most challenging thing are often one and the same!).

Check out the interview with the designers in the video below, and check back later this week for interviews with the other designers, plus audio clips from our composer Jason Waggoner!

True West is ramping up. Prepare the vacuum cleaner!

It’s that time again! Going into rehearsals this week for our next show, True West. To kick off our rehearsal process, we held two open readings of True West, free to the public. The readings went really well, and an unanticipated benefit was the terrific discussion that ensued afterward. The folks who had listened to the script had great insights into family dynamics, Sam Shepard's oeuvre, and specific language in the play--plus, they all seem excited to come and see the fully-mounted production!

I want to thank all the actors who read: Scott Treadway, who will be playing Austin, Kay Galvin who will be playing the Mom, Lance Ball who will be playing Saul, and Peter Savage who read Saul on the Sunday reading. Peter also tweeted during the reading and took a few vids. You can see them here and here. It’s an interesting thread about the reading so I encourage you to check it out.

I wanted to share with you a couple of interesting comments and questions
that came up--hopefully these will whet your appetite for this unusual
play!

Comment: Oh, I know this family. You know how it is in families--there
are no surprises. You all know what cards the other ones have. A topic
gets brought up, and you know that your mother is going to say this, and
that will make your sister say that, then your father chimes in with
this...We're just watching this family do their dance. It may get more out
of hand than your family does, but...well, it may not!

Q: How long have you been rehearsing together?
A: We read this for the first time today.
Q: Wait, no, because this play opens in--what? On February 17?
A: That's right. We rehearse all of our plays for three weeks.
Q: How do you do that?
A: Well, it's the big advantage of working with this cast--Scott and I
have done a number of plays together, Lance and Kay have worked together,
Kay and I have worked together...it leads to an ease in the rehearsal
room, and it also means we're not really starting at square one, since we
know how the other people in the room work and think and communicate.
Plus, rehearsing this play is a full-time job. We rehearse about 30 hours
per week.

Q: This is by Sam Shepard, the actor?
A: Yes! Except he's also Sam Shepard , the playwright. He's quite well-known as a writer of dark family dramas, as well, of course, as an actor in movies and on stage.

(Side note: I worked for three days on the film Sweet Dreams which starred Jessica Lange back in 1984. She and Sam Shepard had just started dating, I think, and Shepard sat on the side of the set the entire time we were shooting. Cool! BTW, Ed Harris looked at me funny in that film! Uber cool!!)

A message about the NCSC Stage Hands

Happy New Year, y'all!

I want to kick off 2010 with a message from one of our board members, Tina Lipscomb. We're really excited about this new volunteer group, so check it out!

Introducing the NCSC Stage Hands

Do you love NC Stage and wish you could do more to support them?
Is it sometimes difficult to find ways to give to the theatre?

NC Stage Company needs your talents, your time, and your creativity as much as they need financial support. This is your chance to be part of the theatre.

Our new endeavor is called the NCSC Stage Hands. It is similar to a theatre guild but so much more fun and engaging. Being a part of the Stage Hands is as if you are part owner of the theatre, and Charlie and Angie want to share what they have created with each of you on a more personal level.

Besides attending plays, you can help in other ways. The Stage Hands will do some of the following (a few examples)
¸ Plan a special event
¸ Help to run an event
¸ Help to run concessions at the shows

Your time commitment can be as little or as much as you can give. We really want your enthusiasm and love of NC Stage to be what guides you. In addition, so many of our patrons have talents that we need.

So let those talents shine and come join us as we launch the Stage Hands. The biggest perk of being a part of this new group is the personal satisfaction of knowing that you are making a difference for your favorite theatre. The secondary perk is that you become a very special insider. This insider group will have some surprises down the road to thank them for their commitment.

If interested, please join us for a brief wine and cheese reception at the theatre.
Monday, January 25th, 5:30 pm at NC Stage Company

An RSVP is appreciated – if unable to attend but interested in being a Stage Hand please let me know as well.

Thanks!
Tina Lipscomb
tlipscomb2001 at yahoo dot com
281-1296