When I moved to the city three years ago, one of the first things I did after finding a job and an apartment was google “Acting Lessons.” I clicked on the first name I saw, skimmed over his credentials, and made an appointment for a private coaching. Over the phone he told me to bring a monologue and in a threatening tone said I had better not be one of those people who makes appointments and then doesn’t show up, and if was going to be late, not to bother coming at all. I was a bit taken aback, but I just figured that was the way people spoke to each other in New York.
Well….I was 15 minutes late. I hadn’t quite figured out the subway system yet. I arrived at the studio as he was on his way out, he made some comment about how no one my age takes anything seriously, and then begrudgingly agreed to take my money for whatever time was left. He spent most of the coaching making sure I knew I didn’t really have the passion and drive to make it in this business, that if I took my monologue anywhere it would be so obvious to anyone who was anyone that I didn’t know anything, and then closed the session by suggesting we schedule another coaching. Somehow I garnered enough courage to refuse. But I was shaken to the core. I walked all the way home from Chelsea to Harlem to try and process what had just happened and calm myself down.  I went back and forth between believing him and dismissing him as a jerk. The end result was no desire to pursue acting. I labeled myself as a singer, dancer, smiler and was content with that label. Acting was just something I couldn’t do well.
A year later, after some healing, I signed up for a longer, group scene-study class at a different studio. I was fun at first – meeting new people, hearing their stories, feeling like I was in school again – until I realized that if I didn’t show up for class, the teacher could care less. If I never came prepared with a scene to work on, the teacher could care less. If I gave over my money and sat in the back of the room and took a nap, the teacher could care less.
It took a year of convincing from fellow MCSer, Allison Ball, to get me to come observe a class. Needless to say, I had trust issues. It took about three seconds in that room for those to start to go away. The very first thing Matt did was to get everyone to close their eyes and talk about where they were in the work: starting off class with an activity that showed he cared about every single person in that room; giving every person in that room value and a voice and a moment to check in. But I couldn’t even grasp how far his care went. I am continually blown away by the amount of love Matt has for all of his students. The ones he has known for five classes and the ones he has known for five years. He has an immutable energy when it comes to showing his care. Especially when most of us start out resistant to such love, wary to trust. And though he may attest, I have never seen Matt have an off-day. I have never heard him say “I’ve got a lot going on and can’t deal with you guys right now, so we are just going to watch Inside the Actor’s Studio for class today.”
And as I grow in the Meisner technique, I am starting to realize that this love, this way of being with other humans, is a symptom of the work. Learning to act with a technique that focuses entirely on selflessness and attentiveness to others turns you into a more selfless person with more attentiveness toward those around you. And while it doesn’t necessarily transform you into a perfect example of those qualities, it instills a desire and a passion to grow in that direction. It may be “just an acting class,” but I do believe that everyone who enters into that studio, leaves with more humanity, more to offer to the world. And while, as actors, we aim to do that on a stage, with a paycheck, Matt has made it possible to be artists and lovers everyday, regardless of make-up, lights, or an audience.–Ben Houghton

So Matt asked me if I would write this installment of the student blog.  I find myself sitting here at a coffee shop in Chelsea not exactly sure what I want to write about.  There are so many different experiences I could write about with regards to my time at MCS over the past four years ( I began taking class with Matt the summer of 2009 – wow has it really been that long?! )  I feel I’ve matured and grown as an actor through my training at MCS.  It has most certainly changed my life in many positive ways and given me the confidence to proclaim myself an actor that feels capable and competitive in this incredibly cut throat business.  If you’ve read past student blogs I think you get the idea that Matt has had this strong impact on many of his students by providing a type of training that a great deal of us seem to have lacked in our university or conservatory education.  Instead of trying to detail all the ways this class has had an affect on me, I want to speak to one specific aspect of Matt’s training that has resonated with me recently.  In my mind I conceptualize this idea as “breaking the rules”.

The first time I recall being confronted with this idea was a couple years into my training with Matt.  I was doing the repetition exercise with a girl who was just beginning class and that I didn’t know very well.  I was focusing, I was on her and staying in there.  She was acting crazy but I wouldn’t give up – I stuck with her and observed and repeated and reacted.  I was doing everything I should and afterward Matt was critiquing us.  I was surprised when it came to me and he was dissatisfied with aspects of my exercise.  I didn’t understand – I did exactly whet I was suppose to do.  I stuck in there – I was focused and on her the entire time – it was exhausting because she was, in fact, behaving like someone that might be compared to Jodi Fosters interpretation of Nell – and this went on for 15 minutes or so.  Matt said to me – “TOMMY! After about five minutes of this weren’t you just sick of it and annoyed that she was behaving like a f***ing crazy woman?!”  In my mind I thought, well yeah but I couldn’t express that because I was doing the exercise and that would have been wrong.  But he was right, this was the truth that was festering inside me that I suppressed in order to continue playing by the rules I had constructed in my mind for the exercise and for acting.

Now this idea has been on my mind recently because I found it to be quite applicable to a situation I had been going through this past spring.  I had been cast in a play that hadn’t been done in New York for over 50 years – we were all discovering how to tell the story through a collaborative rehearsal process.  A couple weeks into rehearsals the show had been loosely blocked and we were taking time to fine tune the scene work. The rehearsal became particularly tense when the director kept changing moments and blocking for one actor’s entrance.  We were doing it over and over again and he kept changing this bit, or that bit and the actor was getting more and more frustrated.  Finally, the actor blurted out in frustration – “I’m just trying to do it exactly as you told me to last rehearsal”.  He responded, “OK, well you need to let that go… and just play the scene.”

He had been wanting her to “break the rules” and play the real truth of the present moment the entire time.  The nit-picking and micromanaging of the entrance was him trying to get her to play the moments he had seen her skip over in the previous run, but was finding it supremely difficult or almost impossible because the scene plays slightly different each time.  Now I can say with confidence that this girl is a wonderfully adept actress and was much more successful in this rehearsal once given permission to let go of all the constructs that had been built in her head about how the scene should be done.  It seems to me that what often sets an actor apart from the rest is when the actor gains the confidence to let go of these constructs before given permission and plays those special truthful moments when they exist, even though they may not seem “right”.

This idea is sometimes harder to put to practice than it sounds and a challenge I continue to face.  We grow up as students, students who are taught and trained to do things right and achieve success by following the rules and doing what we’re told.  This makes going against these rules we feel and set for ourselves unnatural and anxiety inducing.  I still find myself sometimes leaving auditions thinking I should have done this or that, but that overbearing construct still exists in my head to behave a certain way or do exactly what I think is “right”.  When this happens, I gently try to encourage myself to have the confidence and bravery to show my full capabilities next time.  I’ve found beating myself up to be counter productive as well, but there’s enough material there for an entirely different blog.

-Tom Berklund

I started working with Matt at MCS in 2008, and after a year, stopped. I stopped because there needed to be one thing in the world I could stopper.
I came to NYC for acting, but all along, as I was telling people I was moving, I had a sneaking suspicion that I had no idea what I was in for, and it wasn’t just gonna be acting.
They say New York will chew you up and spit you out. But I don’t think that’s exactly true. A friend of mine says, “New York brings out the worst in you. But it also brings out the best in you if you can get through ‘the worst’ part.”
My worst was just ahead.
Because, I have always been the nice girl, the good girl, the girl you can trust and rely on. Man, I think I’ve always hated that about myself. I felt the rumblings of stuff down below all the time (and I don’t mean indigestion), and have always worn a society-acceptable face (on occasion I can be quite the dork, but in general, I’d worked hard to not stick out). I never was volatile, though I found myself always angry. I never was unreasonably sad, although I was in such deep grief I could hardly keep it bottled. I never burst with joy, though I wanted it desperately.
Matt began to uncork things (trying for the “full and true”, you know), and after a few months, I began leaking so badly, I was finding that I couldn’t stopper myself when I left class. To me, the streets of New York were awash in anger; everywhere I went all I heard were people fighting. Men and women became one long chain of lonely desperates. I was hypersensitive to being with people, but I also, for the first time in this introvert’s life, could hardly stand being with myself.
My PM2* ‘s self-exposure caught me by surprise. I had grown up in a good family, had (relatively) good experiences, had no reason to feel the victim. But I’ve found every family has its curses, passed down generation to generation; and now I saw a pattern I could trace through grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, my parents and now to me. I loathed myself.
I think I’d always recognized that I was somewhat embarrassed when True-Me would sneak out when I wasn’t paying attention (snort-laughing when you have gas can be pretty devastating). But I don’t think I knew that “Fear and Loathing in New York” was the perfect Heidi-title. I was deep in fear of what would happen if I was myself, and deep in loathing that I wasn’t.
I stopped Matt’s class (along with a number of other things) that I might have control on stopping something in my world. I put down all creative things in my life, covered the mirrors with black cloth, shaved my head, and began to chip away at the fear and lies that had been completely acceptable in my world (but not my art) up to now.
It’s been four years of practicing telling the truth about myself to myself (and now, to other people). I have worked hard to stop all the judgment and manipulation of my image. I actually am beginning to trust my own instincts, and give value to my whims and ideas. I don’t think I recognized this before, but creatively, I used to draw on fear or that which comes out of fear (anger, grief, disgust). Because I had some power out of that, I remember being afraid of what would become of me artistically if I pursued healthiness and truth.
I wondered when it would happen, if it would happen. It happened in January: the draw back to acting, to creatively expressing myself in a professional environment. Coming back to MCS felt like a test to see if my truth-telling held up (because Matt doesn’t let you lie) if my abandoning fear as a driver would send me into a tailspin, grasping for my mask, or if I could be fully vulnerable with strangers, with a loud Italian man yelling, “Again!” I looked around that first class back, and thought, if I can convince myself that these people love me, I will be safe to expose myself in repetition, and be able to focus on the other person, without wanting to hide. But you cannot control if others love you (and it seems criticism is the way of the American public), so that con would be just that: a con. It passed through my head that if I loved my repeating partner–looked into her face and let myself be filled with her humanity, her uniqueness, her best and worst, and loved her — my safety would come from my own love, and I could trust enough to be vulnerable.
I was blown away at what come forth from my little creative love experiment: Allison (bless her) went ballistic and gave so generously to me that first night back repeating. The believing in myself, the working out of what love does to me and the other person (it, too, can get you good and mad and sad and joyful), the trusting myself enough to risk and not judge myself with the result: this saying no to fear… this is new to me, and I am adoring Matt for supporting and encouraging me in what feels like a new art to me now. The stuff that is coming out in me is truer and fuller than it has been since I was a child.
Loud Italian Man, you may now yell, “AGAIN!!”–Heidi Duncan

*PM2 is the nickname of Personal Monologue #2 which is writing/performing a monologue of what stops you…it’s an exerscise with a blind spot; what stops you will actually stop you from finishing it..until…

“GABRIELLE! REPEAT!!”

What the hell is this guy talking about? Repeat what? Repeat what I see? What I just thought? Repeat what just popped into my head? Repeat how I really feel? This man who I just met an hour ago and just took my money (that I readily gave) is saying that I should… repeat?

Ever since joining Matthew Corozine Studio, I have come to the realization that the world we live in is full of liars. We have conditioned ourselves to survive and to do what’s needed to stay afloat. We compromise and settle. We replace the word ‘unhappy’ with ‘happy’. Dare to imagine this though; what if we lived in a world full of people who say exactly how they feel at the precise time that they feel it? The energy in people’s walk and talk would definitely shift. The moments when people smile or scream would be opposite. Bluntness would be appropriate. Fear would be celebrated. This world is impossible. It is something made up and imaginary. It is only thought of when we wish we should have said ‘this’ instead of ‘that.’ We bottle up our emotions to keep our composure and not rock the boat. This imaginary world is never actually acted upon. I find it exhilarating that I can enter this world of the impossible and unleash myself into a fearless, cathartic sense of truth without hesitation and regret. I call this world ‘acting.’

However, do not get this word confused with ‘Actress,’ because that’s a totally different story. New York City is not the place where I land my dreams. It is the place where I work hard and fight for my dreams. This glamorous world for the impossible is a war-zone I willingly enter every day. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Five years ago when I landed on this island, I was ambitious, clueless and ready for whatever would come my way.  I could dance and sing through any audition and was blessed to work for fantastic artists. Then these artists placed a script in front of me and I was asked to act. “Sure!” I said. “That’s easy. Just like singing and dancing; you just see it and do it. Totally possible.” But what I didn’t realize was that my gift of duplication and the need to please everyone around me would soon no longer work to my advantage. I about had it when my agent told me yet again, “It was because of your acting.” What about my acting?! I thought I was already a triple threat! I thought I wore the right outfit for the audition! I thought that song was perfect! How do I even begin to work on this?

Refusing to quit like always, I was recommended to Matt’s class. It was a quick meet-n-greet session and he said, “Okay, let’s start right now. Class begins in 2 minutes.” Shot out of a cannon, I was the first victim of the day, of the week, and of the MCS season. And since then, I have been beaten, broken, exhausted, wrung out, wrenched, yelled at, cried to, laughed at, torn apart, and demanded to Repeat each and every time. And by doing so, the journey towards exhilaration, freedom, revitalization, guts, glorification, love, compassion, fearlessness, craziness and other fantastic, radical feelings were finally felt to the truest and purest forms. All these feelings in one moment were now possible and able to be expressed without risk. What a freedom! What sense of relief! What an incredulous feeling now realized right in my own soul: to be able to just be. To actually be impossible.

MCS has been my therapy for life. It has been my right of passage to be MY OWN version of what I need life to be. It is the gym for my heart. MCS helped me find the way to express truly and fully in my own circumstances and then utilize those experiences into the imaginary world. MCS will not have it any other way. And discovering that moment in class has changed me for life. And I still am discovering all the facets of that. But, I now go in that audition room ready to conquer the impossible.

I actually can be impossible. REPEAT!!

“Gabrielle Ruiz

Dear MCS Blog,

When Matthew asked me to write this week’s blog I immediately thought to myself, “Well who the hell am I?” I haven’t starred in a Broadway show. I haven’t been in any prominent roles in film, TV, commercials, or hell, even theater! The reason why I felt this way is not just because of my own self-consciousness but because there are many people in this studio (MCS) that are on Broadway or on National Tours and great models of what it is to be an actor. And a big part of me felt unworthy yet lucky to even be a part of this studio and honored to even write this.

Who am I? Well my name is Devon Conrad and I’m the youngest of a twelve D’s that grew up upstate New York. I had extensive training on violin, viola, piano, and loved working on music but in my heart I knew I wanted to be an actor. I didn’t know what it meant really, I just knew I wanted to be one. I moved to New York City to pursue this dream and hit many road bumps along the way until I went the New York Film Academy and was introduced to the basics of the Meisner technique. I bought all the books on Meisner I could find and knew I needed to find myself a good Meisner studio. I asked one of my teachers who gave me a list of people to look into and when I saw Matthew’s website and got just a hint of the brilliance of his teaching and his use of the Meisner technique.  I immediately knew it was the right choice for me. I signed up for an interview, full of shit and trying to put my best face forward and I knew Matthew could see through it. Yet he was patient with me –more patient than I would have been, and he took me into his studio.

The first week in my studio changed my life. The energy and focus of the room was something I have rarely seen ever matched. We were given assignments that I tried to bullshit my way around until I saw the people in my class taking these projects on with truth and courage. I wrote a personal monologue that wasn’t bad, but I didn’t have it memorized and I got in my head about what and how much I wanted to share. I went up first and was rather terrible. And then I saw everyone go after me, hitting home run after home run. These people blew me away and I went home terrified and ashamed realizing how safe I had been living my life.

Since then it has been an emotional rollercoaster of what am I doing? Who am I? And what do I have to say? Not only that but I’ve worked on some amazing scene with some amazing actors, but I’ve developed great memorization techniques that allow me to work moment to moment, and developed the self-confidence to bring myself to my work and my acting. I’ve truly learned what acting is and realized that it is probably one of the bravest things I’ve done.

How would you define acting? Well when you stop to think about it becomes much harder to answer. What makes good acting versus bad? When you’re pursuing this thing called acting, how can you commit to it when you can’t even commit to a solid definition?

Sanford Meisner defined acting as, “…living and behaving truthfully and fully under imaginary circumstances.” When you really take the time to listen to what that means it becomes something deeper. Living and behaving. Truthfully. And fully. Under imaginary circumstances. Most people who want to be an actor have some desire to be seen and heard but if you aren’t satisfied with or don’t know all of yourself than how can you fully be yourself in imaginary circumstances? And do you ever get to a point where you can honestly say you truly know yourself? Well that’s what MCS has taught me. How to fully be myself in made up situations that have truths; maintaining my point of view and my truth even when I don’t want. In real life you can’t fully act or be yourself in most situations. We learn to handle everything. We hang desperately onto control thinking we have it when we don’t. MCS helps break free of that. MCS helps you to fully be able to participate with your scene partner and helps you to build and strengthen the muscles you don’t use or can’t use in everyday life. And the brilliance of this technique is that it is ongoing. You can always go deeper, you can always push harder or learn different notes in you that you may have never known you had.

I have had many doubts about decisions I’ve made in my life but never have I once doubted the fact that Matthew Corozine Studio is one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life. I have never felt more challenged and never felt more complete in my life. Or as Tom Cruise might say, Matthew Corozine Studio completes me. The work I’ve seen done is amazing and often as good as award-winning performances and better. This studio is the perfect treat for anyone who is looking for more and to be challenged in their acting to learn everything they have to offer. I truly feel blessed and honored to be a part of this it.–

Devon Conrad

 I am a dancer.  At the age of 3 I began a magical journey that started with my first pair of tiny tap shoes, and continued along many different paths and experiences to eventually lead me here to NYC.  For almost 27 years I have been conditioning my body to live as a dancer.  I have taught my muscles to have the technique so engrained that they move on instinct to reach the perfect position without thought, opinion, or hesitation.  I have learned how to point my feet, stretch my limbs, express emotion through movement, and tackle any style that is thrown my way.  I have been taught the art of performance – how to stand perfectly still and command an audience, or to say a thousand words by simply turning your head.
I love dance.  It is what I know.  It is how I breathe. There is an amazing thing that happens when your body responds naturally to the beat and tone of a piece of music.  You are free to express your soul.  It is a feeling that I can only compare to flying.  Complete happiness in its purest form…the feeling you used to experience as a child when reaching the highest arc on a swing, when you watch a beautiful sunset, hold the hand of the one you love…complete immersion.
I moved to Los Angeles directly out of high school to receive my training and become one of Janet Jackson’s backup dancers (naturally)…well, that was my first dose of the reality of showbiz…you don’t always get what you want or what you think you deserve or believe you are right for.  After 6 years of fantastic training, heartbreaks, victories, and disappointments, I had the incredible luck to be hired for the show Wicked.  I still don’t know what made Wayne and the creative team take a chance on me, but that chance has shaped my career.
After a year in the LA Company, I moved to NYC to join the Broadway cast and immediately realized how deep in shit I was.  What was this singing and acting business? I mean sure I had auditioned for theater a couple times in LA…but THIS??? With these powerhouses??  What was I thinking?  Musical theater?  And so the search for reinvention began, and led me to Mr. Matthew Corozine.
In the two years I have been at MCS I have not only learned how to use my voice, I have learned what my voice is.  I have learned to listen to it, ignore it, and be inspired by how powerful my point of view really is.  It has given me confidence to walk in a room with my head held high – for no other reason than simply because I know I have something to offer that no one else does.  And I wouldn’t have that without this work.  Without Matt’s encouragement and his visceral sense of who you really are.
This man will fight for you.  He will laugh with you.  And he will teach you how to connect the words on a page with the range of emotions and experiences that already live inside of you.  I like to compare it to dancing…the principles I already know are applied almost exactly.  They are just being shaped in a new way.  And it’s thrilling.  Kind of like flying.
I’m still a dancer.  But because of this work and this class I know that it’s just the beginning…

–Lindsay Janisse

So why did you decide to be an actor?  This would definitely go into FAQ folder of my life. I hear it from everyone; casting directors, friends, to the crazy lady on the train. Everyone has their reasons, whether it be fortune, fun or fame but my answer is ready set: It’s one of the few professions where you can’t lie.

Audiences are smart. They know a great performance when they see one. Even if they won’t always be able to describe it, they can tell you that an actor has “talent”, that X factor, or oooh… well, she has a certain je ne sais quoi. An unspeakable presence. It is commonly believed that this indefinable quality is somehow out of our reach and that it can’t be taught. But ironically, everyone has “it”.  It just needs to be set free. That is what Matthew Corozine does.

When we watch acting, great acting, we are moved by that actors humanity, their Presence in what they are doing. Unfortunately, during my many years of training, that had eluded me. I could break down a script, give you a binder full of homework, switch dialects at the drop of a hat, and really embody the animal essence of the peacock. But I was so busy ticking boxes that, while all the externals were there, the very soul of the performance was skipped: me. I was so busy getting it right that I completely left out my perspective! And believe me, there is nothing more frustrating than when you’ve actioned an entire script and then try to play those actions how you think others think it should be played, as opposed to letting it organically come from your truth. It makes it feel like work. Hard, difficult, stressful guess-work.  But when you add your own perspective and a sense of play- woosh! All of a sudden you are in Flow. And that ease of being fully who you are, even under imaginary circumstances… That is “it”.

Matt helped guide me back to myself, to my sense of truth. I frequently call MCS my church and my crack den because when you are in class there is no doubt that something sacred is happening but it is also addictive as hell.  Once you’ve had a taste you can’t live without it. You drop your judgments, all the stories you tell yourself that hold you back and you get to soar! You watch other people drop their masks and true humanity be revealed in all its crazy glory. In that moment a wonderful opening happens, a healing that makes all art so necessary. In those moments you understand the importance of stories, of play. Because the stories told on that stage are the stories you needed to hear. We learn from each other. Matt says play wildly. And we do. Matt says fight. And we do. It is an emotional fight club. Class frequently has me crying and laughing at the same time. Being in this class means being supported. We are fiercely committed to each others freedom, on stage, on screen, in life.  I have had many teachers but never one who will so absolutely fight for you (and with you) for your truth.

People often jokingly ask, especially when they are first starting out at MCS, if Matt is psychic because of his uncanny ability to know you better than you know yourself. At times it can seem this way, but what Matt is is a connoisseur of human behavior. He revels and enjoys seeing the truth in people, and loves you for it, even the ugly bits. And as you start to love those bits too, your scenes start to fly and colour themselves in the ways that a 15 page character bio never could. Your history, your flavor, your truth colours each word and those words become unquestionably your own. Real. Alive.  You are living truthfully and fully under imaginary circumstances. Free. And even after you’ve had to tell the ex-love of your life that you sold his baby to Thai politicians, or just tortured your rapist (don’t worry we do comedic scenes too) and are a puddle of tears and rage on the floor, he’ll smile at you, eyes a-twinkle “Enjoy that?” and we’ll all laugh. Knowing full well we did.

–Laura Vogels, MCS Actor

A funny family story we MacPhee’s like to reminisce upon is when my little sister, Colleen, was really young. My aunt came back from getting a haircut, walks in the kitchen and my sister said “do you have a boyfriend?” and my aunt replied “No.” Then Colleen responded with “It’s your hair.” I want you to imagine hair sounding as if she was from Boston, no “R” sound, which in fact makes no sense since we are from NJ – but she sounded that way and I like to think it makes the story funnier.

When Colleen hears this story as a young adult she is so embarrassed about her rude comment, but it was her truth. She felt my aunt’s haircut was appalling and felt the need to express her truth and clue her in to a possible solution to finding a boyfriend.

When we were young, we were free. This thought always stirs a lot of emotions in me and to be honest – mostly sad ones. I get upset that the world can have such an affect on us that we forget what it is to be free, to play, to speak our truth.

But then it reminds me – this is why I love acting. This is why I come to MCS twice a week. We have to re-train ourselves (and it ain’t easy) to be free and emotionally available. After a year of this training, it has changed my life as a person and an actor.

I have always been a highly impulsive and emotional person. But somewhere along the line of going to school for theatre, taking a lot of criticism and rejection, and trying my best – but not always booking that job; I had to shut off my emotions. It hurt too much to feel EVERYTHING. I have now begun to realize that is the exact recipe for a complex, conflicted, relatable actor. I have a place to put my “insane” and “over emotional” and sensitive self! (Now if only I can stop judging it!)

I guess what I am trying to say is: Accept oneself. Live out Loud. Speak your truth. Play. Be Free. And allow room for you F&*^#@! up self! (Can I curse on the MCS blog?)

Don’t ask for permission to be you. No one really wants to watch someone “have it all together” on stage, which is what I have been trying to do all my life. I still try to do it, so don’t be fooled by my inspirational blog entry – I am writing this as much for myself as for anyone reading.

Matt’s class has changed my life. It has caused me to get off of myself, on stage and off, LISTEN to others, and not work for results. If we aren’t living in the present in life and on stage – then what are we doing? Matt always says “Guys, what if this is as good as it gets?” and when he asks that question my body shutters. UM, HELLO I HAVE DREAMS OF BROADWAY, FEATURE FILMS, AND A LIFELONG CAREER OF FINANCIALLY SUPPORTING MYSELF THROUGH CREATIVE ENDEAVORS!!! But that wouldn’t be living in the moment, huh? I have goals and that is fine. But I am also learning to appreciate the NOW, the learning and the process. Because, guess what? It never ends. The pain, the happiness, the rejection, the struggle all makes your work more rich than it could ever be. Strike that – it makes your LIFE richer than it could ever be.

So you can catch me fighting and struggling, for myself and my classmates every Tuesday/Thursday. Maybe Monday and Wednesday visiting the class where I started my training – and Matt. The all-knowing, Meisner Guru who can call me on my shit with all the love and passion any one person can give.

Be free. Play. Speak your truth. Live out loud. Love when it hurts and breaks your heart, then: do it again. Struggle and enjoy this ride.

Time to give selflessly – with no expectations of results and channel that bold young girl who lived and played wildly. Find that defiant, confident, inner Peter Pan. Our uninhibited, truthful young selves are in there – let’s allow them to come out more often than not!
–Megan MacPhee

It has been a year and a half.

Seems such a short time in the grand game of life.  But in this short time that I have been at MCS, I have never lived more full and true.

When I was a little Jacquie, I had such an imagination!  I was never afraid to indulge myself in the world of the unknown.  I played.  I dreamed.  I planned.  Eager to openly connect with people, and places, and pets, and toys, and stories and things.  I even dared to believe the Wizard of Oz was my real life adventure.  But somewhere in my many adventures the tornado hit and I lost little me.  Real life got in the way.

Then I learned about Matthew (well twenty…something…years later I learned about Matthew)…

I had been hearing about this mystical, magical Matt who changed people.  Just set them free.  Was he the Wizard of Oz?  After all, the Wizard was only a real man of no magical power, but had the ability to remind people of who they really are.  That can be scary!  For more years than I have been at MCS, I was resistant to come in contact with it.  Matt’s class was like the forbidden apple to me.  I knew I wanted it.  Yet, I kept telling myself I couldn’t have it.  Or shouldn’t do it.  Or even doubted that I needed it.  Because “I was fine.”  Was I happy?  Sometimes.  Was I successful by my own standards?  No.  So what was I really hiding or protecting from?  Myself.  Failures.  Judgements.  What we cannot control.  How unsatisfying I’d learn to realize.

One night, I finally met Matt in person (this is how it probably went)…

ME – “OMG!!  Aaaaahhhh!!  It’s you!!  I have heard so much about you!!  My friends love your class!  I have been telling myself for years that I should take it.  But is scares me.  What if I do it wrong.  Or I’m not good.  Is it the right thing for me.  I think that’s why I need to take your class though.  Maybe this is fate!  If I believed in fate.  Anyways, it is so nice to officially meet you!”
MATT – “Come to the studio and meet with me this week.”

In our accidental meeting over casual drinks in Midtown with different companions, Matt heard my “buzzed” words (“look good,” “be right.” – He could hear the sirens going off to come take me away to MCS!)  So, off I went!

The whole Meisner thing was brand new to me.  I had studied every technique it seems, even the less practiced ones like Commedia mask work.  But naturally, the one technique that asked me to be the most present was the one I conveniently dodged.  I was introduced to this work in my first MCS classes taught by the amazing Ryan.  Right away, he profoundly told me to stop thinking with my head, to not rationalize, and to take behavior on trust.  This was just the beginning.

Soon after, in my first class with Matt, he said to me, “I don’t want you to go to the grave with your song still inside you.  I want you to sing out.  Really sing, and live out loud.”  How did they know?  Hadn’t I always done that?  Why did I stop?  What was in my way?

Step by step, I come closer to answering those questions.  Or stride by stride, I at least come closer to accepting the unknown.  And that I may never have answers.  I feel like I am breaking down walls.  Opening doors and windows.  Taking things apart.  And putting pieces back together.  Letting the yellow bricks fall where they may.  And enjoying the satisfaction in the joys and disappointments combined, in new and old adventures along the way.

And what a way!  It’s like we are boxing.  And Matt is in our corner, ever coaching us.  Our class is our team.  We fight for each other.  We fight with each other.  We fight together.  In a supportive environment.  In a fully connected community of artists.  And individuals!  Each and every one has inspired and empowered me.  To be better.  To be unreasonable.  To honor our truth.  And honor our work as actors.  As MCS breaths in us each day.

Though Matt may not even know it, he is the Wizard of Oz.  Selflessly giving away his own gifts to us, by getting off himself and onto the other guy.  To be present with us, while asking of us the same in return.  Yet, ”it is a choice everyday,” he says.  And we are so lucky, proud and glad that he makes it.  And in turn, MCS does set us free.  And it has been the absolute best choice I have ever made in my professional and personal life!

And like Glinda too, Matt reminds us that we have had it in us all along.  In our own backyard.  Our potential.  The choice can be as easy as the click of the heals of the ruby slippers…You just have to do it!

–Jacquie Militano

“Acting is not about being someone different. It’s finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.” – Meryl Streep

I have been “acting” all my life. I started young, in second grade, playing a goat in The Wackadoo Zoo. A musical that features mixed-up, but happy animals who make the wrong sounds. I was a goat who barked. I was bit by the acting bug (the applause wasn’t too bad either). There would be 13 more years of roles in after school programs, (including a stint as Macbeth in 8th grade) church, community theatre and high school productions that would allow me to become someone different. When I went to college, I attended East Carolina University, a state supported school in my home state, North Carolina. I went there for a few reasons.. It was affordable for my family, the people seemed nice, and.. it was one of only a couple schools I even got into. What I didn’t know, until a quarter way through my freshman year, was there was this 2 year program called Meisner that EVERYONE wanted to be in. Ok- well then so did I! Hundreds of students would apply and interview and only 14 would would make the cut for the 2 yr. program. Honestly, I didn’t even know at that point who or what Meisner was. I got in. Unknowingly, the next 2 years would change the course of my life and would stay with me forever. I learned that everything I thought I knew about acting was bullshit and that the many bad habits I had formed, would have to go. It was the hardest class but I was in love with it. The technique, the work, the idea that what I was learning I could always use in a play, musical, or audition. Still, there was something missing. I still thought of acting as becoming someone different. I compared myself to other classmates (compare leads to despair), wished I was better looking, pushed myself to “transform”. I moved to New York after graduation and tried to find a Meisner based acting teacher that I could train with and who would keep me “sharp”. I couldn’t find anyone who was even comparable to my fantastic Meisner professor at ECU, Don Biehn. BUT THEN I FOUND Matthew Corozine! Throughout my time studying with Matthew, I understand exactly what the Meryl Streep quote above says.. “Acting is not about being someone different. It’s finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.” Let me explain. I had the skeleton. The technique was there. But what I was leaving out was me. Me in the deepest sense. The me that sometimes I didn’t even know or recognize. But I knew I had found a good teacher because Matt could recognize “me” better than I could at times. He sees people. He knows humanity. You can NOT be a teacher of this work and not be able to. The most important thing I have learned from Matt is to be open, to be myself inside of every scene, every monologue, every line, every word. At the end of the day, we are all human. Humanity is something we all share and we are built to be empathetic to each other. We can not live “truthfully” in our day to day lives because society just won’t allow it… But in our acting, it is more than allowed. It is a must! This is what I have always been searching for since The Wackadoo Zoo through high school and college.. To immerse myself so deeply that i am freed, in a sense. I just didn’t realize (until I studied with Matt) that that feeling is inside myself. The trick is to allow yourself to come through, to free those things that in life we all have to keep at bay while keeping your attention on your partner and allowing them to take you on a journey. Matthew Corozine freed that in me. His ability to bring out the humanity and truth in an actor, and building that muscle to allow the humanity to come through is his legacy, I believe. He fights for you. He fights for your talent and will not let you get away with shortchanging yourself. Yes, it is hard to dig deep and allow your guts to be seen by all, but it is what separates “acting” from ACTING. It is worth it. It’s what I’ve needed. In my opinion, it’s what every actor needs. I have certain plans for my future, so I recently came back to MCS to get a dose of what I have been missing in my work. With Matthew Corozine as my guide, I feel able to tackle all of the uncertainty and difficulty on my path to incredible transformitive acting.

-Jim Bray

In my PM1, PM1.5, and PM2*(PM is the MCS Shortcut for “personal monologue”), I give detailed shout outs to Matt and MCS because this class has reminded me what it feels like to play and be a kid again. I’ve rediscovered my passion and I’m DOING, with no expectations.
Here’s an excerpt from my PM2: ….”In your attempts to protect me from the unknown, you have caused me much suffering and self-sabotage…Brain YOU’RE FIRED! You are relieved of your duties as HEAD OF SECURITY”.
I dedicate this to all past, present, and future MCS out there.

MCS
-I’m here to hone my craft, learning to own my past
And all sides I embody, stop trying to save everybody
Don’t Behave, use the stage to Be Brave
Unleash the beast, from your emotional cage
Do not try to fix, deal with what exists
Take risks, and repeat the “MCS greatest hits”
Bitter is better than nothing, so stop frontin’
You came to me, but I don’t like you touchin’
I put up a wall, so you won’t see me at all
I couldn’t stand tall, afraid I might fall
Forgot how to play and be a child
when your imagination ran free and wild
Being result driven, leaves no room for livin’
You’re so hard to be with, you keep your truth hidden
That’s so bad for your art, your brain is too smart
Puts noise in your head, to keep you from your heart
Got the world in your hands, while you scan through
Be open and available, find Campbell
Your point of view on everything, it does matter
No matter what they say, don’t let your dream shatter
If you plan it, to be the way you ran it, don’t make it mechanic
Leave your prep at the door, and take nothing for granted
No more second guessing, the provocative question
Put your attention on the other guy, and take what you’re gettin’
What does it do to you inside, ego aside
You might feel like you wanna hide, just go on the ride
Circle Cross, you have alot going on
We make eye contact, did I stare too long?
You’re not the best Judge, of yourself so budge
Take this little nudge, and just fall in love-

Many people know me from the “Lyricist Lounge” a Hip Hop showcase venue I hosted in NYC, which became a lyrical sketch show I produced on MTV for 2 seasons called “The Lyricist Lounge Show”.
So I imagined one day, that  I was wearing my MCS T-Shirt at a Hip Hop event, and I was approached by some fellow MCS (pronounced Emcees) who were curious about the design and logo. In the Hip Hop community, MC means “Microphone Checka”, “Master of Ceremony”, “Mic Controlla” and as the lyrical giant and Hip Hop pioneer “Rakim” said, …”MC means Move the Crowd”. So when these MCS (Emcees) saw the shirt with the letters MCS and the words “Get Outta Your Head”, they automatically wanted to attend because they thought this was a meeting place where MCS (Emcees) would go to have lyrical battles. I told them that this is a gym where we work out to build muscle memory and the battles we have are not with other MCS (Emcees). We battle our own egos, when they try to creep in and stop us from living and behaving truthfully and fully. Every class is a battle at MCS and I welcome the challenge with nerves each time. I trust Matt and I feel blessed to be a member of this congregation of “Matthew’s Cult Students”.
We all love Matt because we know Matthew Cares Sincerely.

-Michael Angel Viera

So if the best way out is always through, and I do believe Mr. Frost was on to something, then I hope every actor has a coach who has the passion Matt has. To love them and their art enough to support them and never let them off the hook and teach from their individual potential the way Matt does. To be ready and willing and present to go through it with them the way Matt has with me.

Truth.

That’s what MCS is built upon.  More importantly, being truthful is what Matt teaches all of his kiddies.  Or shall I say, RE-teaches us??  He coaches us to tell the truth to others and to be truthful about and for ourselves.

I remember sitting in on my first MCS class shaking in my boots watching all these honest people.  They made screaming at each other to kiss off or just kissing each other look so alive, like all that mattered was that moment they were living in and acting truthful about it.  I never thought I could do it.  Honestly?  At the break my head told me to leave, but my heart felt home.  And home is exactly what MCS has become for me.  And it’s because of Matt.  He is one of the first people to really fight for the artist in me.  And let me tell you, facing your truth can be scary, but Matt never makes you go through it alone.  I am STILL scared every class, but knowing I have such a beautiful person going through it with me week after week makes me fight for myself.  (Yes Matt, I am going to start fighting for myself, it’s on the blog now. I am holding myself accountable.)

It wasn’t until I did my Personal Monologue #2 about what stops me that I really let what MCS meant to me in my heart really hit me.  At the end of my monologue Matt had some people from class come up and but their hands on me for support.  Then Matt said, “Allison, these people represent a family.”  I have realized a family does not have to be genetic, especially an artistic one.  And let me tell you, MCS is my rock, a family I got to choose and am blessed with having.  I know every Tuesday and Thursday night I can have three hours of connection with honest, truthful, fully present people and feel fulfilled.  Matt is my lifesaver.  He inspires a light in my soul for living life that I will not give up on.  The way he fights week after week for his students is just astounding to me.  He has this magical power to look at someone, see who they are, their heart, what scares them, and coach them into their potential.  He knows people and fighting for them is his truth.  His coaching is life changing.

Through MCS I have started to become the person, actor, and artist I have always dreamt of being.  I know I can go after my dreams with the support of a family.  A family that is talented, that I believe in, and that inspires me to be a better person.  Being in New York and aspiring to be a working actor can be scary.  But, with a place like MCS to grow up in, love in, create in, and be fully present in week after week, really, a person cannot ask for more.  I could not ask for more.  This is the type of environment people only wish they were in to make their dreams come true.

It is not easy.  You will be challenged everyday to tell the truth.  But that is what life is about.  And there is nothing more inspiring than to be in a room full of such love and support as Matt creates at MCS.  If you want to be an actor, Get here!  If you want to be a giving human being and learn to love people, get here!  If you want to get out of your head, get here!  Matt is worth it.  And the family you gain and the love you will feel from fellow artists will not do anything but make you feel fulfilled.  Matt has changed my life.  And I can’t imagine myself without his guidance and my MCS family.

-Allison Ball

Being in Matt’s class for 3 years now has changed my life. The way I think is different and certainly the way I act is different. He has such a way about him. I’ve never met anyone else like him. He just knows people. He knows his students so well. What makes us tick. He always says he will teach you from your potential. Even if you don’t see it he does. Matt will guide you in his unique intense passionate hilarious way.

Every Tuesday and Thursday I look forward to seeing what my peers have in store for me. The repetition exercise is a powerful thing. You can’t believe the amazing things that come out of people during it. I sit in my seat like I’m at a show. I’m in awe of how this little exercise can evoke such emotion and behavior. I get to watch people be completely raw and vulnerable (or struggle to). The trust that is built in this room is incredible. We are there 100% for one another.

This class will always hold a special place in my heart. It has taught me so much more then how to live and behave truthfully and fully under imaginary circumstances. The bonds made with complete strangers are amazing. We come into class from our crazy lives and days as individuals, but as soon as class begins we are connected as one unit. Ready to go through it with each other. The respect and love we have for Matt is through the roof. Not too many teachers are lucky enough to have that.

I’m so lucky to have a place like this in my life. I’m so grateful that I have Matt on my side. He believes in me and pushes me towards being my best. He is our fearless leader. If you wanna meet some amazing people, get coached by an incredible human being and learn a thing or two about how to get outta your head and just be free and true then come and sign up for this class now!!!

I’ve always been a relatively self-aware person. Since I was 12, I remember putting a lot of thought into the kind of person I wanted to be. Unfortunately, this often lead to disappointment when I wasn’t that person; making mistakes lead to beating myself up relentlessly which lead to spiraling thoughts that ultimately kept me from being the person I wanted to be. Of course, without knowing it, this bled into my acting life too. As an actor, I would try to completely reinvent myself. I would write 15 page bios on the person and not ever once think about how my character was like me. Not to say this was a horrible approach, I still felt a connection when I acted and it worked for me for years. Until it stopped working.
When I started at MCS, the noise in my head was so loud I could hardly hear over it. I had been in New York for 6 months, hadn’t auditioned let alone booked any acting jobs which was what I came here to do. I felt like I was failing. I found Matt through a career seminar I had taken, he was the first acting teacher I met with in New York and like some mystical sign from the universe, I knew I had to take his class. He asked me why I was interested and I remember telling him, “I need to remember why I want to act.” He let me ramble on as I tried not to sound like a crazy person who’s reason for living was acting and when I was done he told me to think about it and give him a call.
From day one, I knew I was where I needed to be. Matt would be talking to another actor and I’d think, “this applies to me, too. Interesting.” Then he would address the whole class and I would think, “hmm… I wonder how he knows I needed to hear that.” Slowly, I began to realize that all the little things I did and thought that made me feel crazy, depressed, anxious, etc. weren’t specific to me. Suddenly I was in a room full of like-minded people and the comfort in knowing I wasn’t the only person walking around feeling the way I felt made it easier. With class, I was learning how to focus, to put my attention on the other person (thus, off myself for once) and acting became so much easier. Life became easier. It’s a muscle you have to build and work on continuously, but the work has been so worth it. I remembered not only why I wanted to act, but that it is my purpose, my reason for living. And that doesn’t make a crazy person. More importantly, we learn that accepting those parts of us we hate, the things that are difficult to deal with are the things that make us great actors.
One day right before the last break we took, Matt asked us to each say something about starting over. What area in my life did I want to start over? I thought, “that’s what I’ve been trying to do my whole life. I keep trying to start over and pretend that the person I was or the things I’ve done (good and bad) don’t shape who I am today.” So I told Matt and the class that I didn’t really believe in starting over. I can only move forward knowing what I know and trying not to forget it. Because that little 12 year old girl is still in there somewhere, telling me to be my best. With Matthew’s help, I know a little better how to be that actor, that person.–Courtney Case

To Sir, With Love

Acting is: Living and behaving truthfully and fully under imaginary circumstances. Sanford Meisner, the great acting teacher, coined that one. Simple enough. To become a great actor, just do that. Great! What a relief. Acting is so easy!…..
Quick question-how the HECK do you accomplish that when you can’t even live and behave truthfully and fully in everyday life?!?! I mean was I the only jerk in New York City walking around with secrets? Living a lie. Praying to the Gods that people would just accept that I was who they saw on the surface: America’s self proclaimed “good time girl”, never seen in public without a smile on my face and a drink in my hand to prove that life was just a bowl of radioactive cherries? On the outside, I was a never ending party. (of 1). On the inside I was a complete mess. And what an actress I was- nobody was the wiser. I was so safe- until I walked into MCS. After 2 weeks of repetition flavored with my over exaggerated enthusiasm and forced cheerfulness, Matthew Corozine told me to lean on a chair and breathe and said “you’re more than just fun”. After a few moments, the lie I had been living came crashing down around me. I collapsed in a puddle of my own tears right there on the floor. And for the first time I was free!! Not only did I start telling the truth but I realized that nobody bought my lies in the first place and I became much more attractive to people when I simply told the truth.
I just spent the past week in class at MCS, 7 years after first walking through the door. Upon my return it was confirmed to me that MCS is and always will be my home.  I can tell you it was like not one day had passed. I was grateful to see some familiar faces and relieved that the new faces that fill the studio share the love and respect I have for Matthew and the work. So how could I possibly thank Matthew and every actor I have learned from at MCS for truly making a woman out of me? Before I break out into a belty rendition of “To Sir, With Love” I will share my plans.
I am now opening my own acting studio in Toronto, Canada. I am teaching classes rooted in the Meisner technique and I pledge to pass on the lessons and wisdom I have gained through my study at MCS.
I never learned how to properly relax my forehead on camera at MCS, or how to melt like an ice cream cone or even how to cry on cue.
I learned the importance of discipline, integrity, commitment to my work and myself. I learned how to look bad and live. I learned how to actively listen and the importance of truthful behavior. I learned to be fully expressive in every moment and not to die with my secrets. I also learned that I was worth fighting for. I had a coach that would have fought to the death for me. Matthew never gave up on me- and our road certainly wasn’t always smooth- but past every bump he never let go of my hand.
The most important lesson learned and what I aim to impart on my students is to just take risks and tell the truth. Out loud. Not just the good. I said, take risks! Have the courage to stand up and say the things you don’t want people to know. Those are the exactly the things that will move people and affect lives. Isn’t that what great art is all about?–Robyn Kay with Robyn Kay Studio

Robyn Kay and Ryan Link created MCS’ PM#3–a song that reflects your life.  We use Robyn’s lyrics to her amazing pm #3 often, check her recording of the beautiful YOU CAN CALL ME PRETTY.

“Who is this Matthew Corozine?” As more and more of my acting acquaintances kept mentioning the name with regard, I finally set up an appointment and joined the Monday/Wednesday class shortly thereafter.

I was not prepared for what was in store.

Michelangelo is said to have responded to the question of how he created his masterpiece, “It is easy. You just chip away the stone that doesn’t look like David.”  If there is truly an environment where the modern artist can chisel away at himself to find the true beauty that lies within, it is MCS.

After joining that Monday/Wednesday class in early 2011, I started the arduous task of chipping, chiseling, polishing… getting stuck, stopping.  Starting over again, more polishing, more chipping, even more chiseling. Trying to examine what lies underneath the outer shell I wear as a human being to deal with the day-to-day world.

In my time at MCS, I have witnessed some extraordinary masterpieces come to fruition.  From a raw and vulnerable personal monologue, to a cold reading of song lyrics that stops your heart, to a thoroughly explored and hilarious comedic scene. There are no boundaries for the emotional environment here. As actors, I feel we have the responsibility to represent the range of humanness – and this is happening on a daily basis in our sweet little fifth floor space.  (Bring a jacket – Matt likes the air conditioning.)

But honestly, I do feel that I am starting to step outside of my own marble block.  Just last week I wrapped up an assignment in class, the “Personal Monologue 2” or “PM2,” which questions what “blocks you” as an artist.  It took some exploration, but I finally determined what was holding me back and I hit it on the head as hard as possible with my figurative hammer. For me, this was a challenge in finding my voice and in letting it be heard. To that end, Matt offered an additional challenge, to bring in an original song and sing it for the class after the second run of my PM2.  Without hesitation, I responded that I’d have a song.  But I realized as I left class that day that I had never really allowed myself to ever finish writing a song.  Maybe this was all related?  But the song spilled out of me like David stepping out of marble.  And two days later I wrapped my PM2 and sang the song with my soprano ukulele.

This week as we all question what we are “thankful for,” I realize that I am overwhelmingly thankful for Matt and the creative, nurturing environment he has created in MCS.  This is truly an outstanding community of artists, where we all chip, polish, chisel… but it’s a never-ending body of work. Thank goodness.

How do you begin to describe the magic of what happens in this studio. I try to explain what MCS is like and I can’t even begin to do it justice…you have to experience it, if its for you its for you. If you want a community that supports you to grow into your full potential then MCS is that place.

I have been thinking lately about what my purpose in life is and what my gifts are that I have to share. My yoga teacher says that we won’t really be content or find true happiness, one of the main goals in yoga, unless we are doing what we are meant to do in the world, fulfilling our lifes purpose, doing what we are called to do. I have so many passions and interest in my life, I get overwhelmed trying to pursue them and fulfill them. I ask myself if I am distracting myself with keeping myself so busy from actually doing what I am called to do. Are all these passions my true calling or am I doing things that I think I should be doing.

One of my fellow classmates was talking about how she has always known that she wanted to be an actor. I never imagined myself as an actor or ever wanting to act, I was a dancer and a gymnast since I was 3. I think the true essence of who we are is in us all along, if we can remember the wonder and curiosity that we felt when we were little kids and the love for life and expression that we felt before we were inundated with outside expectations, following a path of what we think we should be doing in our life. I always thought I would graduate high school, go to college, get a 9-5 job, get married at 28 and have a lovely house with 2 cars, 2 kids, a dog and white picket fence. Where did this idea come from?!!! This isn’t the way that any of my family members live! Somewhere down the line I saw something on TV that planted this ideal in my head that wasn’t actually an ideal that resonated with me, it was an expectation or a “should” that I thought exemplafied success. These shoulds are everywhere, I feel like I am stripping away these damn shoulds to get back the true essence of me. I have always wanted to fly. Like fly down a hill with an umbrella as a kid, fly fighter jets, and dreaming of being an astronaut, I wanted to do pretty much anything that gave me the feeling of freedom. Gymnastics, dancing, hang gliding, aerial dance and performing all fit well into my search for freedom through flying. Performing dance and physical movement gave the audience a glimmer of that freedom. I know that the connections I create with the audience and my fellow performers is not because I can do movement precisely or hit the choreography on the beat. A dancer doesn’t only make forms, shapes and lines, a dancer that actually moves the audience dances from their heart and soul. The inner landscape of freedom is what the audience feels. I know one day my body won’t take the demand of what I do to it physically, I have already seen glimpses of that through injuries. Feeling helpless and stuck, not being able to move around and express myself is like a death sentence for a dancer. During my last injury, which was of course frustrating, to put it mildly, I had my classes at MCS. I was given a new type of canvas to pour my heart on to. The work that we do with Matt in class allowed me to channel my energy, allowing my soul to fly when my body couldn’t follow. I have found a new way to fly, through the honest connection with the students in the studio.

Matthew has build a community, not just a studio, he has created a space for each of us to explore our true essence and to live it, act it, be it. We all feel it, as a result of Matts commitment to us and to our art we are committed to giving the space to each other, a safe space to fly, crash and burn sometimes, but the community is there to catch us and throw us back up in the air. Matt never ceases to amaze me in how well he sees each and everyone of us and how he he sees exactly the next step we need to make to stepping into our own brilliance. He recently summed it brilliantly, “I meet you where you are and teach you from your potential.” I never imagined being an actor, I am a flyer seeking freedom and I want to keep flying, Matts class makes me fly in ways I have only explored in this studio. I don’t know where this will take me, but I am surrendering to my coach, because I know he sees where I can go and he will push me there even when I am kicking and screaming or hiding.

It’s Hard Being This Right 

It is Difficult to be Frequently Correct

I just love being right. And, let’s be honest, I usually am. I correct grammatical mistakes. When the cashier at Duane Reade asks for the next person “on line,” I die a little inside. One cannot be ON a line. Unless there is a line drawn somewhere ON which you are standing. I’m great at arguing. Sometimes I think I SHOULD have become a lawyer because I can talk and rationalize my way out of any fight, while at the same time making the other person feel guilty for arguing with me.

So the first time Matt told me, “Miss D. You can be right and alone, or you can give it up and connect to other people,” I thought, “WRONG.” I connect to people. I listen. I respond truthfully, both in life and in acting. But you know what, I was wrong. Let it be known, that I, Miss D, was wrong on this the twenty-second of October, 2012.

I forgot, or rather didn’t want to remember, that there is another part of Matt’s technique that is just as important – living FULLY.  Matt has asked me, on more than one occasion, “What would happen if you just gave it up?” My defiant streak wanted to deny everything, stick my tongue out at him and say something nasty like, “I gave it up to your mom last night.”

So I guess you could say the question took a while to FULLY sink in

Then Matt asked, “Well what does control give you?” I made a list:

Victory – look good, be right, AND win at the same time

Independence – get things done without having to worry about others inevitably doing it WRONG

Power – comma, I’ve got the. It’s getting kind of hectic… someone needs to be in charge.

Control can be very seductive, and I am easily seduced. But being in Matt’s class has taught me that letting go of control is just more fun. Enjoy the struggle, forget what you think should happen (JUDGEMENTS!), want to happen (CONTROL!), and just “fall in love with the other guy.”  Isn’t connection what we’re all searching for? Isn’t it great that we can do it everyday in our art even when we fail to connect in life?

You’d think, but even now, when I’m completely aware of the liberation of living fully in the moment, I don’t do it all the time. Learning usually comes easy to me, but I struggle every single day to just “give it up” and connect to others. But if I’ve learned one thing in my two years at MCS, it’s that anything that’s a struggle is probably worth it.

Do you believe in fate? Two years ago my acting career was going nowhere. It was bad audition after bad audition for months on end. My day job wasn’t going that well either.  Needless to say I was feeling pretty low. I found myself needing prints of my headshot, and when I went to pick them up the company gave me a flyer for a seminar on the Meisner technique for the following week. I put it aside thinking ‘maybe’. A week later I had a terrible audition, and the next day I randomly came across the flyer again. The Meisner seminar was that night. I took it as a sign. About 5 minutes into the session I knew I wanted Matt to be my coach. The way he spoke about his struggle as an artist struck a chord with me. Thus Matt and the Meisner technique entered my life.

Even after nearly two years at MCS I’m still struck by many of Matt’s words. Just last week Matt said to us, “I’m teaching you from your potential, not from where you are right now.” Wow. To be seen for your potential rather than the cover you present to the world. How many people in your life are able to see you that way? It seems like from the first repetition he is able to sense your truth and spirit. As I reflected on his words I realized this is probably the most inspiring aspect of Matt’s class – his ability to connect with each of us and see the artist some of us have buried inside.

This unique ability to see past the clutter we hide behind can be a little unnerving at first, but it doesn’t take long to get hooked on being seen so clearly. Allowing yourself to be seen opens you to seeing the truth in the world around you. It becomes a hunger, and soon the vision of your potential is not just a dream, but something you can truly believe in and aspire to. It is incredibly freeing. I was a chronic truth-dodger until my training at MCS and now I can’t live without it, in my art and in my life.

I believe it was fate that brought me to the Meisner work and Matt’s class. Going to that seminar was a crossroads on my journey as an artist.  I needed a technique and forum that would allow me to unlock my potential through truth and trust. MCS is a community of artists relentless in their pursuit of that truth.

Anytime you study with a new acting teacher it is a vulnerable endeavor. Acting is a very tender psychological and emotional craft. It requires a level of faith and trust between student and teacher that cannot be achieved with any amount of doubt or misgivings. The student must surrender to the teacher. The teacher must earn this incredible act of trust everyday in the classroom.

I should know. I’m a teacher myself. A Meisner teacher, in fact.

I’ve been teaching Meisner for a while now. One of the lessons I try to impart to every student is to keep growing, keep challenging yourself, and keep studying. Living things are either growing or dying—and we must make the choice everyday to keep growing and pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones.

This summer I decided to take my own advice and take class with Matthew. I’d heard about him from actors and friends that I respected. As someone who earns their living teaching the Meisner technique, I was understandably nervous about this undertaking. It meant allowing myself to be open to another teacher. After years of asserting my own authoritative understanding of acting and this particular approach to acting I would have to humble myself and allow myself to be influenced. This is a difficult mental and emotional task to take on, and it is a task that would require a lot of humility and vulnerability on my part.

Matthew understood this idea implicitly and immediately made me feel safe, respected, and in good hands. From the first class I audited I knew that Matthew was a great teacher. His understanding of acting and the Meisner technique and his methods for imparting his knowledge to his students is simple, pure, and true. He has reconfirmed my own beliefs and internal principles, and opened my eyes to new methods and approaches to teaching it.

It has been a wonderful experience. Working with Matthew has reinvigorated my own acting, directing, and teaching. So many acting teachers rely on creating a mythos about their own understanding of acting—an aura of infallibility and omnipotent ability. Working with Matthew meant giving up any shred of that for me, and it has been wonderful to humble myself again and be a student once more. A student must face their weaknesses and blocks and doing so only makes you stronger. I am undoubtedly a better teacher now for having studied with Matthew.

If I had to get to the heart of what makes Matthew a great teacher it is a combination of three things: truth, courage, and love. His principles are sound. What I have always loved about the Meisner technique is that when its principles are understood and applied correctly, it is so obviously and irrefutably true. Matthew has a refreshingly simple and profound approach to the Meisner technique, and it is rooted in truth.

The Meisner technique trains actors to be fluid, adaptable, instinctual, and fearless. But often Meisner teachers have a rigidity in their teaching that is stifling. For the sake of instilling discipline, they create an atmosphere of fear and inflexibility. But Matthew approaches teaching with the same freedom that Meisner trains actors to approach acting: with preparation and discipline to be sure, but also with fluidity, instinctual adaptation, and fearlessness. Matthew’s classes are great fun to be in, because you never know what will happen next. He teaches with absolute abandon and because his principles are never compromised he freely uses anything and everything in the moment to teach students and push them farther. Walking onstage in Matthew’s class, you never know whether you’re about to do something tragic, something infuriating, or hysterically ridiculous, but you do know that, whatever happens, Matthew will do anything and everything to help you grow.

Matthew loves teaching. He loves actors and acting. He loves his students. But man, oh man, does he LOVE teaching. In the same way that he demands great things of his students, he demands a great deal of himself as a teacher. If he makes a mistake or misjudges something in a class, he is the first to correct it. He is never tired or dismissive. He wants the best out of you, and you’d better believe he is determined to get it. This incredible love makes his class an incredibly supportive place to learn and grow. It is an infectious and persuasive atmosphere to be in.

My own act of humility and trust in taking Matthew’s class was been well rewarded—he has more than earned and repaid it.

I’ve always tried to teach my own students to act with great faith, courage, discipline, and humility. More than anything else, my time with Matthew has taught me to approach teaching with very same principles. I am eternally grateful.

This week in class, as Matthew and I were engaged in repetition, one of the things he said to me was “You really trust me.” And I repeated. And the exercise moved on.

In the immortal words of the Beastie Boys’ MCA, who we lost this year:  “I’ve been comin’ to where I am / From the get go / Find that I can groove with the beat when I let go…”

It could just be the coffee kicking in, but I do have this feeling like everything’s coming together right now.

Last week I got to go on a great 4-day yoga and creativity retreat with One Healing Arts Company  in the wild woods of western New Jersey.  We did 2 practices a day, clearing our minds and muscles of clutter, plus writing and art and performance projects.  Very therapeutic.

At the end of each practice we would take a silent moment of thanks for those who teach us. And those who help us get through, both known and unknown.  And to ourselves for coming to the mat.

And my mind’s Namaste would often go to my teacher Matthew Corozine for, at the risk of sounding too precious… well, fuck it, saving my acting career.  And my life.  I realize it’s all part of the bigger picture but one must give credit where credit is due.

I had no idea what I was in for when I sent Matt the fee for a month of classes, sight unseen, on Christmas Day 2006.  I was just trusting an instinct, and I was frustrated.  I wanted something more in the new year, was unsatisfied with my lack of technique and totally worn out from a rollercoaster first 5 years in NYC.

Something struck me about this man’s passion for the work, for getting out of your head, for expressing the necessary things.  Not for getting a job, but for appreciating our short time on Earth and saying the things we needed to say.

Matt drove me all kinds of crazy those first couple of years.  He would pause dramatically after I’d completed a scene or a cold reading or a Meisner repetition exercise.  He’d squint and nod, point at me and say things like:  “You know, you could be a leader.”  And let it sink in.  It’s like he knew exactly what was missing, what I wasn’t letting shine through, what I was blocked from fully expressing.  Or he knew that I knew it, and wasn’t telling myself the truth.

I ran away from class for a while, but came back this spring because I had unfinished business.  I wrote my Personal Monologue #2 on the terrifying subject of “what holds me back?”.  I delivered it and stood at the edge of the stage, broken but so very alive, looking down at an open-casket funeral for my former self.

Damn it, the truth is painful, but it hurts so good. Now I have this vocabulary of emotional notes.  I’ve figured out where things live in me, and what revs my artist motor. I started to get work again as an actor, and feel like I’m doing what I came here to do.

That’s been the theme of the last few months especially.  It’s all coming back around to now, to finding new-old ways to get out that stuff that keeps churning in the pit of your soul.  I recently started singing with this band of incredible musicians, doing Southern rock, soul and reggae covers – the stuff that made me love music in the first place.

I never got a real musical theater education, whatever that is, but I’ve found a pretty sweet niche as an actor/musician.  I love it all and I still want more.  For now, I feel the satisfaction of a good performance as often as I want to.  And it makes me love living in New York all over again.

This fall I will have the honor of “originating” a role Off-(Off?-)Broadway at the Beckett Theater on 42nd Street: Cowboy Jesus in SON OF A GUN .  And then, if I have my druthers, I’ll head out on tour in the spring with the musical Once.  Just putting it out to the universe.

I hope I’m never completely satisfied, and I hope I never stop learning.  But every once in a while it’s essential to look around and be grateful for the life you have.  And those who teach you how to make the most of it.

- Ryan Link

It’s summer time and I am on a hiatus after a full year of Matt’s classes: no scene rehearsals for a while, no repetition exercises, and no personal monologues until August. In spite of vacation, Matt’s work and the Meisner technique brilliantly live on in my life.

It’s astounding how when I step back, the repetition exercises and “living truthfully and fully” inspire me to do my best, whether I am on stage or off.

The definition of acting is a revelation: “Acting is living and behaving truthfully and fully under imaginary circumstances.” Simple yet profound. Who doesn’t aspire to live truthfully and fully, but doing so requires courage, and commitment to myself and to others. My favorite Meisner quote is “the truth of ourselves is the root of our acting.” In Matt’s class, and in life, it feels uncomfortable when I am less than truthful.

This wasn’t always so…

I was cast in my first play in fifth grade. “The Way Out Cinderella” was a quasi-fairy tale, and in it I played the fairy godmother, a delicious character part for an 11-year-old. To prepare for the role, I whitened my hair with baby powder, wore an oversized, white dress from my mother’s closet, and carried a magic wand made from tin foil. As I danced around the stage reciting my incantations, all the while casting my spells on the prince, I also cast a spell on myself. From that moment, I knew I wanted to be an actress, but somehow it took me more than 20 years to return back to my girlhood dreams and my truth.

Do you remember in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy’s house landed in Oz and it went from black and white to vibrant color? Living and behaving truthfully and fully has the same effect: it lights up my life wherever I am, and whatever I do.

Of course, I am not perfect (surprise!) because fabrications still creep in periodically. The other day I pretended to cook dinner, but really ordered part of the meal from a take-out place, transferred the food into a beautiful bowl, and presented it as my own creation. Wouldn’t it have been easier to tell the truth? Sure, and I will. I will apologize for starting this false reputation I have as a gourmet cook. I can’t lie anymore. It feels weird and fake.

Also, it’s revealing how Meisner work has made me a better listener during all my conversations. I often hear myself repeating Matt’s direction, “Be open and available, turn your attention on another person and take what you are getting.”

Yet, I sometimes stand back and say, “Wait, all this is difficult. I am asking myself to change, grow, and commit to truth?” But, eventually I am reminded of one of my favorite Matt quotes: “Trust the unknown… to be a great actor you want to allow what’s going on in you to come out.”

–Wendy Charles

AN OPEN DOOR – A true story

One night I was awakened by Mickey, my golden retriever crying and panting, afraid of the thunder and lightening outside.  He always panicked when there was a storm.  Mickey kept running back and forth between my bedroom and the top of the staircase.  I finally got up and went to the top of the stairs.  I saw that the front door of the house had blown open!  I ran down, shut it tight and patted him, “Good boy, now be quiet and go to sleep.”  He whimpered for a bit and crawled off downstairs.  He settled down even though the storm continued, and I thought, “Wow, in his old age, he’s not so scared anymore!”

When the sun rose, I found him on the floor with his nose pressed against the basement door sniffing at something on the other side.  Some creature had sneaked into the house through the open door that night.  I got my broom ready to shoo it out of the house.  With Mickey by my side, I opened the door.  There in front of us stood a wet German shepherd, cold and shaking.  I screamed and jumped back in fear.  Mickey charged at the dog.  They ran around the basement growling and biting at each other.  I thought they were going to kill each other until I realized they were playing!  I finally was able to get hold of the dog and read the tag on the collar.  I called the owners who were so relieved that someone had found their dog.  I told them, “Your dog found us!”

Molly, the German shepherd was scared of storms too!  The door to Molly’s house had blown open that night as well and Molly bolted out the door!  In her fear, Molly ran with abandonment into the storm.  She was so terrified that she ran five miles through the thunder and lightning and pelting rain!  And by some twist of fate she found our open door.  Call it serendipity or luck – just what Molly needed at just the right time.

This is a true story.  I am in awe of that night.  Molly had run INTO what she feared the most and in her running had found our open door – a safe place to tremble with another kindred spirit.  And Mickey had quieted so quickly that night because on the other side of the basement door was a creature even more scared than he.  Nose to nose with the door between them Mickey and Molly got through the violent storm.  They became friends.

Matthew Corozine Studio is my OPEN DOOR.  This is where I go through the storm in the middle of the night.  I am grateful to have found a safe place to tremble with kindred spirits, and a place to discover and play at this business of being an actor.  I came into acting later in life.  After a career as a writer and in marketing, I finally decided to pursue my childhood dream.  I studied acting for a few years with some wonderful teachers at HB studios and got some acting work.  I was pretty content with what I had accomplished so far, but I had only allowed myself to go as far as I felt safe.  I knew I had to take a leap into what scared me the most if I wanted to go further.

I found MCS one day when I was coming off the stage from a show at Roy Arias studios.  I passed by the MCS door just as a class was getting out.  As the door opened, this rush of energy came at me.  The energy was so strong it was almost visible.  I wanted that energy.  I wanted more…there it was at that very moment through that open door at MCS.  Call it serendipity, fate, or luck – just what I needed at just the right time.

I am a mother of five boys and I often send them other people’s quotes so they won’t think its actually me telling them what to do or feel.  I can’t help myself.  I’m just a mother who loves her kids.  I share with you a quote that came into my email today that I forwarded to them.

“Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.”  – Joseph Campbell

With gratitude to Matthew, Diane Dreher

To my Monday/Wednesday classmates :

I share with you a quote that I have saved for almost 20 years.  Nelson Mandela used it in his inauguration speech in 1994.  It rings true to me today after studying with you all for the last five months. (Yes, I sent this to my kids many times!)

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure

It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you NOT to be?

You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure about you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is withing us.

In is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

-Maryanne Williamson

My first day in an acting class, the teacher told us to act like light bulbs.  Had I been four and in nursery school and not a 14 year-old who had begged her parents for both tuition and the freedom to go into Manhattan alone on the subway, it might have been okay.  The teacher caught me staring, fish-eyed, then pointed at me and shouted,  “GOOD!”  Everyone turned in their sockets to see which light had come on.  I looked like a crash dummy solving a crossword puzzle, but it was good.  The suspicion that acting classes were fake and random took root in me right then, to grow for many years.  A couple of terms later, I believed I was beyond repair.

Screw this, I thought.  I’m going to college and majoring in finance.  Get a real job.

Not knowing when to quit, though, I took a few college acting classes.  My teacher was the late Susan Spector, with whom I remained friends until her passing.  She’d studied with and written about Uta Hagen, and she took me through exercises in which I was always doing something, and for a reason.  I began to drop some kooky habits, mainly because I was so busy. Susan was encouraged enough that she asked me to play Joan of Arc, the lead role in “The Lark,” the following fall semester.  For my part, I knew that unless my own St. Michael came and walked me through that role, I would be the one going down in flames.  I went to the Yellow Pages and looked under “Dramatic Instruction – Emergencies.”

I found Ernest McClintock of the 127^th Street Repertory, and we met for an interview.  This was a black man who’d done the classics.  I needed him, badly.  So, without a hello, I said:  “Listen.  I have the lead role in a play.  I can’t act.  I have eight weeks.  Help me.”  Ernie roared with laughter and over the summer, gave me enough tools to get by and get over.  The play went fine, people said I was good, but what shocked me was that, once or twice, freed by the externals Ernie had given me and grounded in the reasons for doing Susan had taught me, I actually felt something onstage.  Not more than here and there, but there it was.

I hunted down that high for the next several years.  I knew that time alone was not a teacher – I was present when two actors from a hit TV show cackled about the acting skills of one of their long-running, beloved costars.  So I filled my time with effort.  I drank from imaginary coffee cups, fell backward into the arms of other actors who also couldn’t act, sang lines of Shakespeare to “keep them fresh,” and imagined my dog dying in order to coax out tears (turns out a little mineral oil would’ve done the trick).  I read the first few chapters of Chekhov’s “To the Actor” more times than I’d attempted the Bible.  No cigar.

Screw this, I thought.  I’m going to law school.  Get a real job.

Little did I know, Harvard Law School had a full-time Ham – umm, Drama Society.  And it was dead-serious.  I auditioned for everything.  I directed.  I acted.  I sang.  I produced.  It was in the course of producing and set-designing for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” that I saw something that changed my attitude about acting forever.  I got a hold of a copy of a 1968 film of the play starring a fairly weak actress struggling through a leading role.  It was Helen Mirren.  That’s when I realized:  it’s not either you have it or you don’t.  Acting can be learned!  People are going somewhere and learning this!  My third-year paper was due, and I had a job at a law firm lined up, but believe me, I did not forget that.

In 2000, an actress I’d cast in a staged reading for a TV network (I’m proud to say the network stole – I mean, “ran with” with the idea) urged me to come to Matt’s class.  By that time, I had given up on acting, and just wanted to direct.  I didn’t know from Meisner, but what amazed me from the first class was how clear everything was.  We did this repetition exercise, and I thought, “I have been here one hour and I am using a kind of text and feeling real emotions.  WTH??”  And Matt spoke English!  There were no riddles and rhymes designed to confound and impress.   The work was not easy, but it was fun and the goals were defined.  As the months went by, everyone improved.  Everyone.  Having met actors since then who’ve studied Meisner elsewhere and gotten little out of it, I know for sure that the technique is only as strong as its teacher.  So Matt, thank you.  You had no idea how much I wanted to be like you!

But then again, he must have known, as he eventually let me substitute teach, and I taught on my own as well.  Now, 12 years later, Matt has extended me the opportunity to teach a new class on Saturdays at MCS.  To say that I am excited would be trite.  I cannot wait to discover the things new students will teach me about this technique.  Its foundation is solid, and its refinements, as surprising as the actor.  I know from experience that anyone with the will and the right instruction can learn this acting thing.  I am honored to be back.

Like they say:  those who can’t leave it alone – teach.

See you in class.

LIAR LIAR PANTS ON PM2*

I remember the very first lie I ever told. I was at a family gathering during the Barcelona Summer Olympics when my mother had specifically asked me not to eat any more h’orderves before dinner, which to this day I find to be a nearly impossible task. This demand was particularly challenging that night considering there was a bowl of Peperidge Farm original cheddar goldfish sitting right in front of me. When I thought no one was looking I took a small and by small I mean large handful. Apparently I was not discrete enough and Grandpa Jack challenged me with, “Nicole, Did you just eat the crackers?” First of all, they are not crackers, they are peperidge farm original cheddar goldfish I thought to myself but answered with a simple “no” as I continued to destroy the evidence.

One of the first times I was in class at MCS, Matt asked me, “When are you going to start telling the truth?” In all seriousness, I found it to be an odd question because I considered myself to be a pretty honest person. I carried that question with me the next day when I found myself faking a sports injury at the gym in an attempt to justify getting off the treadmill after approximately thirty seconds. Later that afternoon I found myself lying to my therapist primarily because I wanted to be her most mentally accomplished patient. I knew she would be impressed when I told her how I had applied all of the tactics we’d discussed in my last session and she was. I kept going to to class and Matt would continue to ask me when I was going to start telling the truth. “If you can’t tell the truth in life,” he said, “then you certainly can’t tell the truth in your art.”

One night about three weeks into class I was at a bar and a man came up to me and asked “Do I know you from somewhere?” “I don’t think so,” I replied followed by an awkward “hahaha.” “No, I do….I saw your profile on OKCUPID!” Now despite the fact that I have a lengthy history with online dating to the point where I wrote a musical about it, the words, “That’s impossible, I’ve never online dated in my life,” just poured out. I took my Pinot Grigio and ran. Later in the evening I heard Matt’s question echo in my brain. “Nikki, when are you going to start telling the truth?” I turned around, marched up to the bar and found the man who had allegedly spotted me on OKCUPID. “Excuse me,” I hesitated, “Earlier this evening, when you asked if you knew me from somewhere, and I told you I had never Internet dated, I was lying. I am in fact on OkCupid, we did correspond, I am actually on several different dating sites, recently wrote a musical about Internet dating and I wanted to come clean.” He looked horrified, laughed awkwardly and walked away.

About seven months into my studies at MCS I was faced with the challenge of writing my PM2, which is a Personal Monologue about what holds me back. I wrote the piece on my inability to trust myself because of the fact that I know I am capable of lying. This lying of course reached much deeper than faked sports injuries and Peperidge farm goldfish but included issues related to learning the defense mechanism of lying as a child to protect an alcoholic parent. How do you begin to trust someone who you feel has zero credibility? Someone who has never taken ownership of themselves leaving them to feel like a fraud in every aspect of their life? Someone, whose lies are deeply masked with honesty, but at the end of the day, are not truthful.

There is something to be said for taking ownership of your truths and luckily it becomes an addiction. “Do what’s true,” Matt always says. I have learned that the truth is ten times more interesting than withholding or embellishing out of fear that your actual truth will not be interesting enough. One of my biggest take-aways from MCS studios is the differentiation between honesty and truth. Honesty can have elements of being truthful, but it skirts the issue. Truth is raw. Truth is ownership of what is and truth sets you free. If you can’t tell you own truth, how can you tell someone else’s? Even when I think my truth isn’t good enough, at least it is mine.

I have since fired my therapist who I’ve lied to and by fired I mean I actually timidly told her that I was leaving town for a bit to do a show because I was afraid the truth would hurt her feelings. Work in progress!

*PM2 is the nickname of Personal Monologue #2 which is writing/performing a monologue of what stops you…it’s an exerxcise with a blind spot; what stops you will actually stop you from finishing it..until…

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 13 years…..

2013 marks our 13th 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 and Teaching on MTV’s Emmy Award winning: MADE-DREAM BIGGER June 2012

And check out Matthew coaching on Reality-TV below from 2009.