I haven’t written a lot about my teaching.
But I remember standing in the middle of a classroom of some 24 young actors – yes 24….too too many, but NYU needed a place to put all the aspiring performers who had transferred from other college performance “studios” and they put them all in my class! Kids who knew Shakespeare, kids who didn’t know Shakespeare, kids who had been the stars of their high school drama clubs, kids
who had won high school speech contests, some who sang, some who were terrified of even beginning to sing, et al…i had a fine witches’ brew of all levels of young theater nerds..and yet they all had one thing in common: well…two things….NYU ‘s entrance auditions had made sure they were all talented, and even more powerful, they all burned to be theater actors. Broadway was already branded bright in their hearts.
That is why they came to NYU in the first place. For †hat “New York” par†.
So here I was, having to find a way to somehow get them all on the same page, as far as theater knowledge, acting technique and understanding went…how to corral them all into a common beginning place….so here’s what I devised:
Hundreds of books have been published by some of the greatest acting teachers in history, from around the world, and there were copies of all those marvelous books at the magical garden known as The Drama Book Store which at the time was on 46th Street, and so, i made a list of 24 of my favorites, and assigned each student a different book from that list…they were to go, snuggle down on the welcoming floors of the many Drama Book Store shelves and read their assigned book, make notes, prepare a presentation of that book for the class, and get up and “sell” that book to the class…and they needed to do it ,every one of them, by the following week.
In the meantime , they would “audition” in front of the class, to show us who they were, along with one journal page (front and back) telling us the story of their lives in any form they wished to tell it…..what can I say…it was a raucous and creative and terrifying class for all…but it seems like we all, including me, adored the process of getting know each other in those ways….and the book reports that followed stimulated amazing discussions among the group, all of whom were starving for more and more theater knowledge.
But here’s the thing…I recall one particular class session thinking the thing that i still remember quite often: “This teaching thing is probably the most creative work I have ever done”…..go figure!
But it was.
The necessary spontaneity each teaching moment required made it so.
And the one large thing i learned?
The basic and most important thing it was my obligation to teach these kids?
To relax (“RELAXATION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN LIFE” became the class mantra, and many a t-shirt was printed)…to relax, dig deep into the things that scared them the most, use them in class to learn that they need not fear them, and to above all, realize even to a small degree, how beautiful, unique and powerful each of them was.
Many tears, many laughs, many more tears, lots and lots of rage, healing hugs and excellent work on various scenes from world theater plays and musicals ensued. It was , in my new teacher eyes, a magnificent class.
It didn’t hurt that they had me to go visit in the Broadway show I was doing at the time (Les Misérables)….i was sort of their living dream, so they listened to me with all pores open….but it was those kids…most of whom i keep in touch with to this day, who taught me the most….something about fear, breath, trust, danger, more trust and generosity.
I love seeing them in films now, their tv shows, their theater stuff…proud momma me.
Proud grateful me, as well.