I always knew to decide what I wanted to do in life and then go for it, and figure out a way of getting paid for it. Three years ago, I was stuck at a point in my life when I wasn’t living that out. Since the third grade when cast in “South Pacific” wearing a sailor hat, I knew I was a performer. I didn’t have the benefit of singing and dancing lessons. I just sang and danced to the radio and TV, seizing whatever opportunities presented themselves.

Then one day I gathered up my doggie Honey and drove cross-country to start a new life here in New York City. After all, it was Kathy Bates, who said, ”One day I just wanted to do it, so I did it!”

We need three things in life: (1) someone to love, (2) something to do, and (3) something to look forward to … simple. As spiritual beings having a human experience, we make choices based on these 3 phenomena. Attached to passion is vision – living intentionally with a plan. The formula is equally simple: BE – DO – HAVE.

We start out by being the things we want to be: actor, dancer, writer … or taxi driver, businessperson, parent. Then, growing out of that, doing the things we want to do. And, finally, having the things we want to have. It’s not the make-up that makes me an effective actor. It’s the passion inside me, the being-ness of an actor.

So what does success look like?

For me it is:

• Forgiving myself and others

• Finding my voice and using it, unwilling to accept mediocrity

• Living out my life passion so intentionally that those around me are impacted, changed, or moved to take action

• Letting go of results or looking right

• Being generous with those around me, always giving them the benefit of the doubt

• Choosing love, and a higher path

• Feeding myself with truth

• Committing to something bigger than myself.

Am I successful in the eyes of the world? More importantly, I am successful in my own eyes! I am possessed by a passion to tell stories by acting with courage and a vision for how to accomplish it; I am well-loved by a man who shares and contributes to my vision; and I look forward each day to how it will play out. Yesterday is gone, and we have no promise of tomorrow. All we have is the present, which is why it is called the “gift”. My intention is to be present in the gift of each moment, fully and truthfully, so that at the end of each day, I can say, “today was successful, and I can’t wait for tomorrow!”

So if you don’t have what you want, and you’re not doing what you want to be doing, take a look at what you need to be being that you’re not being. Then be it!

–Linda Eicher

When you think you’ve figured everything out in Matt’s class you soon find yourself slamming into yet another wall. What I love most about this work is self discovery, I’m constantly learning more about myself every class. Living in New York and choosing this business you sometimes need to have thick skin, the problem was I never knew when to turn it off. I found myself leaving class feeling vulnerable and it scared me! When you first start in class, you strip yourself down of all the things that helped you survive in the past causing what felt almost like an identity crises, who the hell am I without all these things I told myself I was? I’m constantly learning who I am, but nobody said it was going to be easy kid.(visualization of old chorus girl with cigarette)

Matt once told me that vulnerability never goes out of style, I’ve been trying to wear mine like this years latest trend. I was very hesitant about letting my wall down because like we’ve all learned about this work, it transfers into your daily life. How am I supposed to function in life if I feel everything!? Any day now I’m bound to explode on my barista. We now have this awesome new gift of listening (not like Long Island medium gift but still awesome) where we can pick up on human behavior and the way things come out of people. The gift of getting off yourself and onto the other guy. Warning: do not “Meis”* with your local bartender, he will not repeat “vodka soda” and YES he does “have a lot going on”.  I’m learning each day not to work for results and give up being a perfectionist,  when we strive for perfection we limit what’s possible. Enjoy the process and live in the messy place for awhile. We talk a lot about doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different outcome, and I think we can all relate to that in all aspects of life. So I invite you all reading this to join me on this adventure of switching it up and trying new things. Lets fall down together, let go of control and surrender.  I want to make mistakes, I want  to surprise myself. Hell, I’ll even order something different at Yum Yum’s next week!  But really, all pad thai jokes aside, we have this amazing family at MCS that will always  be there to catch you every time you leap. And if you hit another wall then great, we’ll go through it together.

But keep fighting and keep dreaming and trust your gut because the only thing to doubt is your doubt.

–Dustin Clodfelter

“Meis”- to read ones behavior and start repetition exercise.

You know… it’s widely thought that poetry originated from an oral tradition, predating literacy, a tool of minstrels and performers, and an aid to communicate history and values. When I read poetry in silence, I get this sort of itchy feeling: a soul-burn, I guess. It’s the equivalent of engaging in a secret affair, about which you can tell no one. I’m always left with a quiet pounding, a tormenting sense of great, unrealized consequence. For this reason, usually, when I read poetry alone, I read it out loud anyway. There’s something clearly auditory about the form, like with music: it longs to be heard. Even on the subway, you might see me mouthing under my breath as I read a verse of Sharon Olds or Anne Sexton, Ginsberg or Eliot. Hear me, they whisper. The language of the soul. It’s no wonder MCS is my sanctuary. Twice a week, at our studio, we witness this soul-language blasted, fully realized, the volume up, up, up. We get to see and hear poetry—a class full of personal monologues, a hand on a heart, a moment to breathe with another person, a repetition telling a whole life’s story by accident. People just kill me, sometimes—in the best way. Their voices, their expression. Poetry, acting, painting, dancing, and music: they all bind us by their honorable quest to uncover our human truth. And true art is rarely—if ever—about the solution, but rather about the exploration, the questions we ask. To phrase a universal question and express it to the world… what a great calling… what a great relief to the isolation we are prone to feel. Yesterday, Matt asked us what we are each grateful for. A lot, of course, not least of which: my health, my friends, my family. But here’s a big one: I am so grateful for our studio, our army of poets, rising up and fighting together the only good war there ever was. Hearing each other. I will hear you all. I will. Keep singing. (I long to be heard, myself.)

Wake up! Create! Call out! Go!

Laurie Savage

New York City 2011

October 2011

Fall is in the air! I love everything about this time of year. Since my very first day of school as a little Janelle- September has marked a transition from the lazy days of summer to a fresh burst of motivation. With that brisk autumn air at my back, I approach this clean slate of a season change with a heart wide open and a full emotional life that I look forward to putting into my work.

Mondays and Wednesdays day class have become home base for me. A place for me to check in with my more truthful self before I re-release myself back out into the wild. It is here that I have spent the last 10 months breaking through 25 years worth of judgements, ideas and expectations. I cant remember the last time I have felt the same type of clarity that I feel after a good ol’ fashioned “meis sesh”. (slang for Meisner work, a “Meisner session”) There is something refreshing about being able to speak freely and tap into those deep parts of yourself that have been long tucked away hidden under layers of guilt, shame, self- consciousness.. you name it. I am more than a different actress, I am a different woman because of this work and am so grateful to have a place to be the ‘real me’. It has inspired me to change so many things about my personal life and has given me a new found appreciation for living in the moment rather than wasting time and energy attempting to safely craft moments myself.

I owe it to myself to hit the ground running and apply all of the tools that I have gathered since I first stepped foot into the MCS studio. I have Matt and the rest of my MCS family to thank for the extra boost of confidence and motivation I feel towards acting these days. Having that support system has put everything else into perspective and has meant the world to me. So now that the summer daze has gone, school is back in session! I continue to fall more in love with this craft everyday and welcome all of the crazy, messy, and often uncomfortable surprises that are sure to be waiting patiently on that stage for me.

-Janelle Gaeta

I always have thought of myself as a performer.

My earliest memory of feeling that incredible rush when you have affected a group of people was when I was four years old. I was figure skating in my very first competition. It was time for me to balance on one foot and hold my arms out to my sides. When I did this, to my surprise the audience started to clap. That ignited my excitement so much that I wanted more clapping and to know they were still watching. So I made my first my artistic choice as a performer and showed off the other foot, even though the choreography didn’t call for it. I continued with this new found inspiration and put a special twist on my two foot spin by holding my arms above my head like a ballerina. I was on a roll, too bad that the routine was over, because I am sure I would have thrown in a few more tricks to get some more thrills and applause. I forgot to mention that this routine started with a snowplow stop gone wrong! I pushed on of my legs just a little too hard, which resulted in an accidental sliding/spinning belly flop on to the ice. However it didn’t count towards my marks, because it happened before the music started. Beginning on what could have been a downward self hating spiral, ended up being my favorite performance memories. I was young fearless and just did it. I wasn’t in my head, I wasn’t judging I was just doing, doing what I knew and getting praised for what I did. I got the gold, which isn’t really the point of the story but that says something in it of itself.

I have been working on getting myself back to that place, where I can play and have no fear or judgements. Matt’s class has lead me down a beautiful path, building my skills as an actress, and discovering myself in the process. His class reminds me why performing and acting are so important and how just getting through life just by ‘surviving’ and being ‘social’ are not enough. I find myself using the principles taught in his class bleeding into my everyday life. I have developed a keener awareness to myself and to the others around me, recognizing themes, actions, feelings and situations that come up in class from me or from other students. It makes me feel connected to total strangers even if we have nothing in common. The sense of community is built so quickly in class, something that Matt facilitates and we all act on. Even when its not you front and center you learn so much from others. Through exercises and activities you quickly relate and understand others so clearly without knowing them. You are constantly giving to others even when you are working yourself. And that is so satisfying!

I have always had dancing and skating in my life but after graduating from a college dance program, I moved to New York. Then life got the way and I lost sight of what I wanted to do as an artist. Not knowing what to do, and feeling unfulfilled I made a resolution to try acting. A very beautiful actress, pilates instructor and friend of mine did not only recommend MCS, she basically pushed me through the door.

“I can’t explain…” she said to me, “you just have to go, just do it, trust me.”

A void in my heart has been filled by Matthew Corozine, and the inspiring teachers (Ryan Tofil), and community of students at MCS. With the Meisner technique as our guide and Matt’s teaching we learn truth, trust and how to craft your acting skills through the importance of moments. Not to mention his instant comedy lessons with his quick witted remarks, and actions that can keep the atmosphere light when adjustments are needed. Coming from a place where I was used to communicating artistically through physical movement, I’m proud to say that I have learned, memorized and acted 4 different scenes from various plays. In addition I have begun to peel away at all my many complicated layers, and have started to demand more of myself by building my own confidence, that I am learning is well deserved. Matthew and his students establish a community and team of people that take you to places you never imagined you could go physically and emotionally. I couldn’t do it without them and to them I am incredibly thankful.

“Community is your journey helper.”-Unknown

–Brooke Chaffee

Brett’s Blog.

Youtube video

Greetings to All:

It has been a great August at Monday/Wednesday day class.  I have to admit each session I have left literally emotionally wrecked almost unable to speak or walk (but in a good way).  I have uncovered and unlocked more and more lost parts of myself and have learned how to hold them while connecting to the other guy.  Every lesson I try to come in with a clean slate but I bring in junk from my day to class but always I take away a profound message.  My notebook is getting filled up with Matt’s “quotable” quotes for this month — some of which are:

• God chose things of the world considered foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful
• Who here feels that they are not good enough?  (Everyone’s hand in the class went up!)  You don’t have to be perfect.  These feelings we want to see.
• Stop being right it pushes everyone away
• You are not trying to look good.  You can be rough around the edges.
• This work is about truth
• If you say you are confused you are avoiding something
• Let yourself daydream and be in the harem of your head
• Your inner lives are gifts treat them as such
• Doing is how it is you right now
• Let go of being right even if you are right
• Better be lonely in your truth
• Don’t abandon the ship (the work, emotional prep etc.) before the blade of grass comes up through the rocks

I thank Matt, his students and the humanity of his teaching which is helping me to survive my life.  What a gift.  He shows us how to learn from each other.  I remember one of the first classes I was in last year and Matt said, “Look around you, each of you all have known pain, joy and love.  Being in this life is hard.”  I thought to myself what can these people know of a life lived but I was wrong and the Personal Monologue 1’s I have seen this month have proven those words correct.  From my perspective these PM1’s in August Monday /Wednesday class (6 that were presented this month were stellar — unbelievably courageous, truthful in a word incredible).

Falling in love with the other guy and letting go and being in the unknown is scary and I find myself shaking at times but not as scary as when the plane flew low over my head while walking on Bleecker Street to get a cup of coffee on 9/11. What a home Matt has made for his actors. There is always another something coming if you are available to DO!  Matt will push you there in your own time and I have seen him do this again and again this August.  And don’t think there haven’t been laughs either.  Four hours move like lightening, one proceeds through an evolution of being human — the march of civilization, and the stages of man.  Monday/Wednesday Class is a Shakespearean comedy and tragedy with a little history all rolled into one.  Let’s see what September brings and be prepared to go on the ride!

Charlotte Volage

We can’t forget our roots and that we were all children once.

After an invigorating and even frightening class today with coach, I had the most creative evening with my good friend, Ronald. Learning Meisner (and i’m far from finished) has given me the incentive to begin creating a one woman show, yet untitled. Coaching us into writing and performing PM 1 *and 2 * is a gateway to creativity and all the excitement of knowing we don’t have to wait. Maybe it’s the beautiful summer night, maybe it’s the wine, but every time I leave class, I become more fearless. So I guess you CAN show an old dog new tricks:  honesty, listening, total abandon.

Thanks, coach!–Terria Joseph

*MCS Personal Monologue exerscises, known to us as the dreaded and delicious PM 1 and 2

Playwright John Patrick Shanley wrote in his introduction to his play, “The Big Funk:”

“Act for celebration, for search, for grieving, for worship, to express that desolate sensation of wandering through the howling wilderness.  Don’t worry about Art.  Do these things and it will be Art. … Theatre is a safe place to do the unsafe things that must be done.”

The Mathew Corozine Studio has been that “place” and home to me for over 10 years.  When I first started with Matthew, MCS had about 10 students.  I immediately found Matthew’s method of teaching Meisner to be attainable and purposeful in fully developing my craft as an actor.  To allow oneself to truly listen and respond from instinct to what one receives from another scene partner solves so many problems most actors struggle with.

I was looking for a studio where I could practice my craft but also grow artistically and do shows with.  After ten years I’ve gotten more than I ever desired.  I worked closely with Matthew as an assistant and set designer for his show, “And Miss Reardon drinks, a little.”  Soon after I was fortunate to star in two different shows the studio produced,  “The Big Funk” and “Incoming.”  All the while Matthew had been encouraging me to start teaching as MCS was continuing to grow.  I started by assisting and subbing and eventually co-teaching in some of his evening classes.  With the help and encouragement of another student, Kathy Deitch, Matthew opened a day class for actors who worked nights.  Quickly MCS moved from a small rental room at Shetler Studios, to it’s own black box theatre in the Times Square Arts Center, with over 50 students currently enrolled—from beginning actors to Broadway and film professionals, along with aspiring directors, writers and dancers…

Oscar Wilde wrote, “To influence a person is to give him one’s own soul. … He becomes an echo of some one else’s music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him.”  Matthew is constantly influencing and giving a piece of his soul to all his students.  Without his “echoes” of inspiration and support I may not have found my desire to teach the Meisner work as well.  Currently I am training a group of actors in a new Wednesday night class and will soon be expanding to Monday nights as well.   As a teacher I am able to understand the Meisner discipline even deeper.  Learning that it is not teaching someone how you want them to be, but merely guiding and coaching them to respond to the “music” that is already going on.

Wilde also wrote, “The future is what artists are,” the people who advance evolution are the ones who express the truest, utmost of their hearts.  The atmosphere at MCS is always encouraging and inspiring.  The classes are never guided by competition or pressure to be a certain way.  There are no invitations to advance classes, favoritism or a certain amount of time to prove oneself as an artist.  MCS has always been a space to allow the actor to learn and make mistakes and not be focused on what they might think they need to do or become.  This approach is what I believe has helped Matthew and now myself to enable the studio to continue to grow in a positive and successful direction.

MCS also has allowed me to work and collaborate with another student, Gina Kim to write her story into a full-length show, which was directed by Matthew and critically acclaimed and produced through FringeNYC 2010.  This year I’m writing a new play to be produced through MCS, “Leviticus in Love” based on the life of Randy Roberts Potts, the gay grandson of famous televangelist Oral Roberts.  I mention these shows because they are birthed and inspired out of the work we teach at MCS.  All the original shows and scene nights would not have been imagined or possible without the talents of all the students who study at MCS.  The family of actors, writers, directors and dreamers are all who have allowed MCS to grow into what it is today.  I believe one day MCS will be a full theatrical academy for actors—offering dance, diction, etc… everything an actor needs to fully become a well rounded, talented performer—on Broadway, film or even if just for oneself—to be the true artist a person wishes to be.  A studio driven to allow and create an environment that focuses not on the ‘fame’ aspect of being an artist but more so as a humanitarian, for “celebration, for search, for grieving, for worship…”  and truly express the “unsafe things that must be done…”

–Ryan Tofil, MCS Acting Teacher/Coach/Writer/Actor

Before Transfering and Graduating from SUNY New Paltz, I did one year in a small liberal arts college in the mid west, where I met Brenda Renes.  Brenda is a dear friend who was never afraid to be herself or my friend. MCS community meet Brenda Renes.–Matthew Corozine

… finding the truth within yourself ….

I never dreamed there would be an occasion for me to write anything for the Matthew Corozine Studio blog. I am not an actor; I don’t know the first thing about acting. But, I know Matthew Corozine. After reading the following from Caution: Doing this Exercise Correctly May Result in a Broken Heart by Nina Salza Burns, I felt compelled to share some thoughts and observations on the man in the director’s chair.

There’s nothing quite like the Meisner work we study at the Matthew Corozine Studio, to expose the awesome and terrible power of our psyche.
(Nina Salza Burns,  MCS website)

Matt and I met when we were babes of 18 and 20…at a small liberal arts college in Iowa. Although we lost touch after college, we thankfully found each other again a few years ago. After we reconnected, I read the following lines regarding Matt’s work with the Meisner Technique from the MCS website:

…The reality of doing and finding the truth within yourself.

Classes consist of exercises and scene work that teaches actors to trust their unique instincts and impulses fully, and to respond truthfully from their humanity.
(MCS website)

I was stunned with the rightness of Matt helping people be honest with themselves and find their inner truth. I told Matt that it resonated with me deeply to read this about him. It made me recall a tableau from our college days where in a group setting, I felt I wasn’t getting  enough of Matt’s attention, and I began to pout over being ignored.

…of all the incidents at college, during my four years there, why does this one stick so strongly in my memory? Because it was so real. Because you looked past my bad behavior, which… it was bad. I was being a brat. You looked past that, and saw my heart. You saw that I was feeling neglected. And…I don’t know. You just responded in such a mature way. Responded to my need to be assured of our relationship, and at the same time you held me accountable – to act “better.”
(Renes Oldenkamp, personal letter)

What else was 18/19-year-old Matt like, you ask? Was he funny and obnoxious as hell? Yes, of course he was.  It would take me a novel to develop the characters enough to share with you some of the insanely funny moments that are also my memories.….

Even as a young man, barely out of his teens, Matt was driven and he knew his worth … he had a razor quick wit that kept me laughing my fool head off … he was an amazing judge of character and human nature… (he knew better than to trust me with his confidences and to this day it still makes me laugh maniacally because he was absolutely RIGHT to do so!) … he was relationally wise beyond his years … and more than anything, he was a kind, kind soul.

Why am I sharing this with you? Hm. Good question … If you are working with Matt, I’m sure you already know this, but that man in the director’s chair is a good man. A man who has done hard emotional work himself.  A man who has been practicing “being true to himself” for a long, long time.

You are benefitting from the fruits of his labors.… results of his own emotional work. Cherish your time with him.

MCS Blog : Tessa Faye 

My brother, Ryan, was nicknamed “The Great Communicator”. Not an artist by trade (actually, a sports reporter), he would call friends and talk for hours… long after the text message became the popular way to communicate. He would go to bed with his wife at four in the morning, and wake up without complaint if I called him on my way to school four hours later. He would email someone’s mom, a woman of fifty who lived in a different time zone, if he heard she needed a kind word. He would spread the story of a special person, someone who had excelled in an extraordinary (or even ordinary) way…and spread it across the country. Ryan simply said, “Never miss the chance to communicate.”

One of Ryan’s best friends said, “I never loved any man like I loved Ryan Waldheger. No one else, ever let me. He is my brother.”

It takes a lot to spread that kind of love. For some, it takes just as much, to receive it.

Last night in class, I had this moment with a fellow actor. Michal. I have watched Michal grow for weeks… months, I guess. I have seen her make mistakes, seen her fix mistakes, seen her learn from mistakes. I have watched her grow into an actress, an actress that others can’t wait to get on stage with. I have grown protective of her. I have grown, in my own way,… to love her. Last night, as I finally got the chance to repeat with her, to tell her how much I believe in her, she responded saying, “I feel the same way about YOU”.

Well… that meant the world to me. Somehow, we have been communicating, for months, from our separate seats across the theatre. Whether it was a smile on my face as she repeated onstage or a tear on hers as she watched me struggle through a scene…we had been communicating all along. Last night, I got to put that into simple words, and it should be no surprise to me, that she responded just as simply.

If acting is “living and behaving, truthfully and fully, under imaginary circumstances”… sign me up. And if tapping into THAT, helps me to communicate with others… to tell them when I feel such friendship and loyalty towards them… then… keep me enrolled

When Matt contacted me about writing this week’s blog I have to admit that my first reaction was to cringe and think: “Oh God, no! Why is he doing this to me? Like I need this pressure?” Then, I wanted to ask if I could put it off until the following week. You know, take some time to collect my thoughts; compose something really profound and impressive. Maybe a treatise on the history of drama showing how the themes we find in O’Neill and Miller, and the like, can be traced all the way back to our primitive ancestors telling tales around campfires and painting on cave walls (footnotes, anyone?). Yeah, that would knock their socks off! I’d show them how smart I am. Oh boy, what dreck!  I’m asked to be honest and open and speak from the heart about who I am as an actor and a person and, instead, I want to put on a mask and hide behind my all too familiar walls. That’s PM2* smacking me right in the face! I mean, why do I do this, what am I afraid off? That you’ll see me? That I’ll put myself too much on the spot? Well, as an actor, as an artist, I should want to be seen. I should be fighting for the spot. So, here it is for better or worse.

I love acting. I came to it rather late in life, and haven’t been doing it for very long, but it’s become something I can’t ever see myself not wanting to do. My background is in craftwork, which, for the most part, is very different from art, performing or otherwise. Yes, the arts and crafts do compliment each other, and a work of craft can be breathtakingly beautiful, and we do speak about the “craft” of acting. But craft, at least the kind that I’m most familiar with is, first and foremost, utilitarian; it serves a “useful” purpose, one where function rules over form. Because of this, its creation can be constrained. Also, in the kind of work that I did, a mistake can waste time, money, and subject you to harsh criticism. The result was that after thirty years I felt stifled, angry, and had little desire to make anything anymore. Well, as they say, the Lord, God bless Him, does work in mysterious ways. The economy tanked and so did my company. I was shown the door, and decided that I needed to walk a much different path.

I turned toward acting because it was always in the back of my mind and I was encouraged to give it a shot. After some background work and a very bad “Intro” course that really didn’t have us do more that stretch and act like a tree, I felt I needed a real teacher. A Google search led me to Matt Corozine. Well, I didn’t know Meisner from Method from a whole in the ground, but I liked Matt’s website; it was informative and easy to negotiate. I called, I was interviewed, he invited me to come aboard, and I learned that acting was very different than I thought. It’s not about pretending, but about being truthful as to how I’m feeling in an imaginary circumstance. Not so much about playing, as about connecting with another person. Well, to someone who always tried to keep other people at arms length, that has been a struggle.

I’m now in a world where I’m not only allowed, but encouraged to be expressive. To live in and love my mess. To not worry about doing it right or looking stupid. To be open and available to another person who is equally messy and expressive. To know that I can and want to affect another, and that I can and want to be effected by them. That my point of view is valid. That I have something to say. It can be exhausting, but it has never been tiresome. I have been critiqued, but have never felt criticized. I can still feel scared when I hear Matt, or now Ryan, say “Tony, on stage,” but I do so want to be there. And, no matter where this may all eventually lead me, so far the ride and the struggle have been wonderful.

Postscript:

The other night at the end of class we were asked what we wanted to create as actors. I said that I wanted to create a person who was honest and fearless and who others would watch and think: “Yeah, that’s how I feel too. He understands.” I want to do that because I know how much I’ve been touched and urned my once safe, boring, and inspired by some of the performances I’ve seen. This whole process has tpredictable world upside down and given me this God-awful need to share.

It’s not about pretending, but about being truthful as to what I’m feeling. It’s also not so much about playing, as connecting with another person. Now to someone who has always tried to keep other people at arms length, that has been a struggle. But when I can do it, the ride, even though scary and exhausting, is usually pretty fulfilling. Where else in the course of a few minutes can I be soft and rage and yell and cry and be frustrated and supported and heartbroken and loving or laugh my ass off with another person and end up feeling great.

*PM2 is shorthand for MCS assignment Personal Monologe #2 which is an advanced assignment at MCS which is writing about that which blocks you–which is often hidden from your view at first, so the assignment itself will block you…until…

I’ve never done a blog before. Okay, that’s a lie. I tried to do one a
year ago, telling myself that I’d write ever so often so my close
friends would know what was going on in my craziness little head.
So for this attempt, I’m taking my cue off of Mr. Justin Gentry and
will write for 15 minutes, what observations or afterthoughts I have
about the Meisner technique and how powerful Matthew’s class is.
I started seeing a therapist while I was doing a show on the road a
few years back.  I didn’t really think I’d find Matthew’s class
“therapeutic”.  It came to me by surprise the first few classes. I
didn’t fight it cause I felt like I was getting a two for one deal.
Learn this acting technique and get to understand the inner workings
of me a little better.  It was also through watching others I learned
a lot about myself.  Matthew mentioned the other day in class how we
have this “chat”.  It’s your ego yakking away in your head and
protects you when you’re in the real world but also get’s in the way
of your listening whether you’re in your social-ness or in your
acting.  I love this idea that our chat, even though we can never stop
it, is something we can acknowledge and choose to tune out or put
aside.  I feel like acknowledging our chat gives us the ability to
determine how it influences us.   My chat gets in my way a lot in
class. It’s one of the things I think we all as Meisner students
struggle with at times. Some, more than others.  Matthew mentioned it
the other day; there is this amazing feeling when you’re truly present
with someone. All your attention on the other guy. Just responding to
what’s there, what’s being thrown at you and you just giving up any
idea what is “supposed” to happen and allowing yourself to go on the
ride having no clue where it will go.  It can be scary but also
exciting.  That feeling of uncomfortable-ness.  This limbo kind of
thing. Living in the Unknown, Matthew calls it.  It’s a state we find
ourselves in everyday, isn’t? Sure, we have plans & expectations in
our daily lives but if you think about it, there is so much that we
deal with that we never expected to happen.  They can be big things or
little things.  Uneventful things. Like bumping in a neighbor as you
leave your building, noticing a sign on a building you never saw
before… or big things like stopping a stranger with headphones on from
crossing the street into traffic.  I don’t know…all those little
things we don’t think twice about but we all react to and have a point
of view about. We have so much life in us, every day, maybe even every
minute.   But when we get in that space. We begin the “exercise”. We
prep for the scene. We read over our sides.  Our chat in our heads
starts to do its damage and ruin what’s true in us.  Instead of us
just “taking our seat”, strapping on your seat belt and enjoy the
ride.
I wonder if living in the moment is like the beginning of a roller
coaster?  It kind of is, isn’t? I mean, what else are you thinking
about when getting on a roller coaster. You’re not wondering what
you’re gonna eat for lunch tomorrow? You’re not thinking about what
she said or he said at work yesterday. No! You just strapped yourself
into a huge piece of machinery and are allowing it to take you up
hundreds of feet in the air, only to let it drop your ass God knows
how many miles an hour down, up, looping corkscrewing through this
maze of metal…and all you’re doing is reacting to the feeling it gives
you. The adrenaline, the wind, the sun, the lights, the shaking of the
seat.  It’s like the most present you could possibly be. There’s no
lying on that ride.  There’s no way to NOT take what you’re getting
from the “other guy”…er…I mean, roller coaster ride.  The ultimate
truth comes out. Yeah, it’s mostly screaming, swearing or
hyperventilating but it’s the truth right?
I find one of the most frustrating things about real life which is the
same in Misner technique, is when the person you’re with isn’t
“dealing” with you.   In class, I’ve scene people jump, kick, scream,
yell, throw things, stomp the ground, all because the other person was
avoiding what was true. Not expressing what was really inside them. As
if nothing the “angry” person did, could shake the other. I’ve been
guilty of both myself.  But most recently I found a relationship in my
real life that I now know why was and is so frustrating to me. Because
this person isn’t “dealing” with me. They’re not present. They things,
or even people, as if it’s exactly the way he wants it when in truth,
it very much isn’t.  I used to think this person didn’t like me or was
just distancing himself from me. But as it turns out, he’s the same
way to everyone.  So it’s not that he won’t “deal” with me, no. Anyone
would need luck to get this guy’s full attention and emotional life.
Cause I certainly couldn’t. I mean, I saw glimmers of it but to get it
all the time or at least when it really mattered? . . . Uh uh. No
chance.
I know Meisner is a technique we use as actors. But I’ve found it
helpful in identifying my own hang ups in life, outside the rehearsal
space or classroom.  Even helping me figure out where I stand with
other people or where they stand with me.  Just like Meisner allows me
to “take my filter off” or “open my Pandora’s box”, it’s allowed me to
see the world and people around me a lot clearer… To see myself
clearer.
Okay, that was longer than 15 minutes. I couldn’t help it.
Now off I go, back to the real world, reminding myself to view it with
clearer eyes.

I have studied with teachers that came out of the Group Theatre and they have taught me much. I started taking lessons because I felt that I needed to learn a little something about the work I had been doing with some success for many years. Truth to tell, my work was drying up and I was getting bored. I’m a cheap old man and I had saved enough money from the good years to declare myself retired, but I was bored and frankly annoyed by the fact that I didn’t know anybody but old farts. I craved young blood, and needed to be charmed by youthful naivete. I am very big on youthful naivete…

So’ I decided to take an acting class.

I first signed up with the famous teacher and director Robert Lewis. He had created a method that had us justifying every line of the text. He made us draw a chart and make us decide what we wanted our partner to do, using the words the playwrite gave us to influence our partner’s actions.
I loved it. I am not very good with abstractions and having a concrete task to perform, and a victim to exploit appealed to my inner control freak. I felt like a pervert every time I said a line…great fun.
But good things do not last forever, and Mr. Lewis died at the age of eighty nine. But his death came at the right time for me. For once you have learned to plot against your partner, you are left to your own devious devices…. an easy lesson for me. And after two semesters with him, I felt I had leartned enough to leave him.

But my appetite for young blood had been whetted and I felt a void…a craving if you will… so I began searching for a new acting class.

I found a “method” class. The less said about it the better. The “method” refers to  the teachings of Lee Strasberg, the guru in charge of directing many shows for the Group Theatre. To make a long story short, I didn’t take to it. I found the exercises difficult and tiresome. I am not one for creating invisible things and places…but I did like the flow of youth that swirled around me, so I hung in there until I realized that the teacher consistenly forbade me to look at my scene partners. I can’t work like that. I need to make eye contact. I need to see the effect I am having
I am a chronic watcher. Other peoples faces, bodies, dress and methods of expression fascinate me.. I cannot be forbidden to watch people . I need to make faces change…And so, goodby to Mr. Strassberg and his minions
Which brings me to Mathew Corozine.

I saw an add in “Backstage” inviting interviews, so I gave him a call
I had a vague idea about what the “Miesner” Technique was about, and was gratified that it involved eye contact. So I gave it a try. The class was very small and so was the room he had rented to start his business. I was skeptical, but then he began teaching the Meisner exerscizes. I was instantly hooked. I could not only look at and improvise with my playmates, but I was encouraged to be as madly emotional as I like…and in fact a good deal further than I like…Not to say that I found it…and still find it…easy. I had the devil of a time  reacting  without  editorializing. I found out that being clever was not an asset in his classroom.

As a teacher, Mathew is a loose cannon. He rhapsodizes, improvises, and drives us all to madness when he takes off on one of his monologues. But whatever he does it works. I am impressed with the loosening of inhibitions he facilitates in his pupils. I myself can feel in my bones the freedom of expression he has given to me.
I entered his classroom a little leery of his massive enthusiasm, and wild wild ways, but after  about ten years, I am a better, more expressive actor….and always entertained…

So, he may regard this missive as an enthusiastic endorsement…long may he prosper…and his pupils too.


MCS Blog composition experiment – Justin Gentry

Author’s Note: As a form of writing experiment/challenge to myself – I’ve decided to allot 15 minutes for the composition of this blog entry. It will be in a very “stream of consciousness” manner and the time limit will keep me from judging anything. I promise I’ll try to make it pertinent. Set timers. Go. The weather is starting to warm up. Clocks get set ahead one hour. We celebrate Passover, Easter, and other religious holidays in welcoming the new Spring season. People discuss on the Subway what they gave up for Lent. Spring …has always had that preconceived notion of “change” hasn’t it? I would guess then that this is the most potent time of the year to take a step back and evaluate “you” and where you stand. See whats working; see whats not. Possibly throw everything you own out onto the street curb and buy new things all while making life plans and goals for the rest of the upcoming year. Hey, auditioning season will be back in full swing again soon, right? Taxes are due – damn, I forgot about that. Speaking of, my lease is up and I don’t make enough money serving to find a new place – if I could only book that cruise ship job and leave the city for a bit I could pay off my loans… Sound familiar? Life is crazy. So, it is important, too, however, to evaluate where you come from and why you’re here. Why did the theatre call your name? Why does acting ignite your bones? Why New York City and not Chicago? Of course, its never been something somebody asks in the audition room – so why should we even bother contemplating something of this magnitude? What do YOU stand for? You see, I grew up doing magic tricks. I got into the drama club so that I would gain the awesome acting skills to become the next David Copperfield. True story. It wasn’t until almost 15 years later that I would realize the truth of why I became an actor. I loved being on stage, but it was never for attention. It was because I loved the impact that my performance could have on an audience. Making a coin disappear in front of someone’s eyes or transporting them to a seedy nightclub in Nazi-laden Berlin seemed to have a similar, if not identical effect. The audience member underwent a vivid moment of astonishment. Their lives are now changed even for the most fleeting of moments as all of the stuff we learn as “adults” was whisked away and we were left with nothing but our imaginations. Being able to create these innocent symbiotic events allowed me to live more facets of life than any lone person ever would in a corporate office cubicle. I live through the audience realization that there is something bigger going on here and we’re in it together. That’s my story, at least – but I believe it is important for everyone who reads this to take their own moment. Really dig deep and find your own story. Think back to that moment in your life where there was a fork in the road and you chose art. Whether it was always shooting your own home movies in your backyard when you were 12, or whether doing the spring musical in High School was an excuse to stop your ongoing piano lessons; there was a moment you dedicated your life to this. Its funny: that moment in our lives where we have to evaluate all of the “hobbies” we ever had as children and make that critical decision which we turn into “a career.” I hope that if you take the 2 minutes to reacquaint yourself with your story – walking into an audition room won’t be so harrowing an experience anymore. Wouldn’t that some great spring cleaning? We’re in it together, aren’t we?

Times up.

I cheated an extra 5 minutes in there.

Blogging. Never thought I’d be one to do it. I just don’t see myself an one who blogs. I have never been that good with words. Eloquent I am not. It’s probably why I love acting so much. Someone actually tells me what to say and I can just add my own emotional life to it. I can just be without having to come up with the right thing to say. Bloody brilliant. As a bartender, I have to listen to people talk all the time and it always amazes me how people can just babble on and on and on without saying nothing at all. Like their heads will explode if the stop talking. Is it cause they just love the sound of their own voice or are they afraid of what will happen in that dreaded awkward silence? Usually the latter. I tend to embrace the silent moments. To me, a person can say it all with just a simple look, a smile, a tear drop. Sometimes you just need to let things be without trying to figure out the moment with “right” words. It’s like when you can be completely transcended by an instrumental piece of music. By an elaborate orchestra or a lone piano. It has the power to instill a million different worlds, suggest an array of emotions without the pollution of words. If only we would just shut hell up and listen. I’m not saying we should all turn into mutes and mimes. Words are incredibly powerful and beautiful and needed but tell me, when was the last time you just looked into someones eyes and said a lifetime worth of words in one glance?

In Celebration of Me I am so afraid of people’s words.

They describe so distinctly everything: And this they call dog and that they call house, here the start and there the end. I worry about their mockery with words, they know everything, what will be, what was; no mountain is still miraculous; and their house and yard lead right up to God. I want to warn and object: Let the things be! I enjoy listening to the sound they are making. But you always touch: and they hush and stand still. That’s how you kill. -Rainer Maria Rilke

At some point in my life, living in the 90′s (bit of a joke on the many 90′s music cd commercials–have a laugh my professional start here: LIVING in the 90′s), I was surrounded by what I like to call Talented Drunks. Amazing singers actors who can belt all night in the piano bars but couldn’t wake up for the callback.

I was surrounded by two groups and at that point, I fell in between both:  The Talented Drunks and the Nervous Networkers.

The Nervous Networkers, do everything by the book, every appointment every correct event to further their career, but when they go to ACT that same energy mind set CONTROL they use to be a successful networker fails them in their art.  In their art–their work, they have to let go and allow and surrender to the moment and engage in something bigger then them, this takes tremendous COURAGE…which the Talented Drunks do every night at the mic at 2 am however they can’t make it to the meetings that the Nervous Networkers booked up way in advance.

How do we marry the two?

Technique.  Not theory.  Actual tangible exercises that cause you to take ACTION and ALLOW.  Creating a path of STRUCTURE that ALLOWS FREEDOM.  What good is the talent if you can’t show up? What good is showing up if you are not allowing your talent and in pre planned, strategized moves and treating acting like a math equation?

Build a technique that turns into a craft.  Teaches you how to show up every time and not just physically, but artistically…HOW? QUESTIONS? WHAT IS HE TALKING ABOUT? leave a comment, email me ask me, I am passionate about talent and guiding it towards success.

At some point in my life, living in the 90′s (bit of a joke on the many 90′s music cd commercials–have a laugh my professional start here: LIVING in the 90′s), I was surrounded by what I like to call Talented Drunks. Amazing singers actors who can belt all night in the piano bars but couldn’t wake up for the callback.

I was surrounded by two groups and at that point, I fell in between both:  The Talented Drunks and the Nervous Networkers.

The Nervous Networkers, do everything by the book, every appointment every correct event to further their career, but when they go to ACT that same energy mind set CONTROL they use to be a successful networker fails them in their art.  In their art–their work, they have to let go and allow and surrender to the moment and engage in something bigger then them, this takes tremendous COURAGE…which the Talented Drunks do every night at the mic at 2 am however they can’t make it to the meetings that the Nervous Networkers booked up way in advance.

How do we marry the two?

Technique.  Not theory.  Actual tangible exercises that cause you to take ACTION and ALLOW.  Creating a path of STRUCTURE that ALLOWS FREEDOM.  What good is the talent if you can’t show up? What good is showing up if you are not allowing your talent and in pre planned, strategized moves and treating acting like a math equation?

Build a technique that turns into a craft.  Teaches you how to show up every time and not just physically, but artistically…HOW? QUESTIONS? WHAT IS HE TALKING ABOUT? leave a comment, email me ask me, I am passionate about talent and guiding it towards success.

Expect the Unexpected

I used to say that I couldn’t stand when people would live their lives based off of quotes.  Because that’s what I thought about them.  I would actually think that they didn’t do anything else or try anything else or expand their minds, blah blah blah…When in actuality it makes perfect sense.  Quotes keep us going.  They are little blurbs of inspiration to pull from whenever you need them.  Turns out that I need them more often than most.  I am by no means living my life by quotes but I am surrounded by them and they keep me on edge.  Every time I am in suite 502 at 300 W 43rd street I am in a haven of talent, of beauty, of truth, and it’s dangerously safe.  I usually take “notes” and when I look back on them afterwards it is usually something crazy and amazing that Matthew has said.  Quotes.  My notebook is full of them.  They should all be published in one of those corny coffee table books.  The best one for me so far is this: “Expect the Unexpected.”  You really have no idea what is going to happen.  Really.  None.  And if you try to figure out what is going to happen and you try to MAKE something happen…OH GOD that’s the worst!!!  In this work that we are crafting we honestly must not ever force anything.  We MUST expect the unexpected because that will leave us on our toes and on the edge of the cliff which is the only safe place to be!  If we are constantly in a place of danger, and we are CHOOSING that, not just choosing to exist in that but choosing to act from that place, well then….The only thing that can happen is, well, the best, honesty.  From that place of not knowing what’s supposed to, or what’s going to happen, we can tell the truth.  And that my friends is what we as artists are SUPPOSED to do.

Spencer Oakes Dawson.

“Actor, huh? What’s that like? You guys just sit around and emote all the time?” He wasn’t someone you’d normally chat with. From the looks and smells of him, he probably lived on the street. But he had a captive audience. We were sitting at the lunch counter of one of New York City’s few Chock Full o’ Nuts restaurants and he’d sat down at the only available stool. “No, we don’t emote. We just live our lives. Normal people.” He snorted. “What’s normal about acting? The docs said I was delusional and gave me meds. Aren’t you guys about the same?” He had a point. We both were relating to imaginary circumstances as though they were real. Only difference is, actors can come back to the agreed-upon reality. The delusional crowd? Well, not so easy. He was off on a riff. “What the hell’s wrong with you people anyway? Why would you want to play at acting instead of getting real jobs?” Thought-provoking question. It bought him another piece of pie while we discussed. “Why do some people want to be fishermen? Or lawyers? Or live on the street?” That stopped him. He slurped the last of his coffee and was about to head out the door. A waved hand told him that it was paid for. “So what the hell is acting anyway?” he wanted to know. Long pause. “Acting is living and behaving, truthfully and fully, under imaginary circumstances.” He got it! His eyes looked downward as he digested the classic Meisner definition of acting. “Not much difference between us, is there?” “Nope. Not much.”

after the euporic feelings disapate, I say by month 2, (or 3 if you met in summer), to Love is a struggle.  I feel like our culture and world makes love this sweet candy cupid and arrow doily made hearts when I feel the essence of loving another person (romantically or other) is really a conflict to go thru it with someone– the messy struggle to communicate and let go of the behavior that doesn’t serve one another…..other wise it’s just networking….relationships of authenticity will demand the struggle…that’s why in our training of acting, we are acting out struggle–what writers are writing about people going thru it trying to connect.

So this year for valentine’s day, please get me a rock, a box full of ripped up valentines or something that shows the real struggle of what it is to really love. 

*disclaimer of all blogs on MCS, they are written stream of consciousness “out of the head” some spelling errors may occur.

okay, here it is blog #1….it’s like a glorified facebook status….so much going on in my head–”you can’t write a blog, you’re an acting coach not a writer…blah blah blah” the critic loves to speak.  The only way to silence the critic is to take action.  No magic pills, no mantras, just get your fingers on the keys and go.  So here it is MCS first blog..this blog is going to be a home for artists to communicate, start a discussion and chat about issues that us as creative folks go thru.  MCS slogan is GET OUTTA YOUR HEAD, so this blog is the first step in doing so.  ACTION creates CHANGE.  To be continued…

MCS Celebrates 12 years…..

2012 marks our 12th year training actors in the heart of the theatre district in NYC–to “get outta your head”.

Based in the Meisner Technique, MCS teaches “the reality of doing and finding the truth within yourself”. Great actors trust their instincts and impulses fully, and respond truthfully from their humanity. In doing so, MCS cultivates a new generation of professional artists that are currently working in Broadway, Hollywood, television, film, and live theatre regional and international.

Check out Matthew coaching on Reality-TV below from 2009.