Currently playing the title role in SCAPIN at YCP TheaterWorks, MCS’ Jacob Mirer will next appear in RICHARD III at Shakespear In Delaware Park, running June 21st – July 15th.  Jacob will be playing the role of Clarence in this outdoor production in Buffalo, NY.

Congrats on your busy summer, Jacob! So proud of you!

For information on RICHARD III, visit Shakespeare In Delaware Park.

We are so proud of MCS student, Patrick Elliott, who will be appearing at Merry-Go-Round Playhouse this summer in their production of ALTAR BOYZ!  Patrick will play “Mark”, a role he’s played in the DC premiere of the show and at Westchester Broadway Theatre (directed by Stafford Arima).  This production is part of the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival and will run June 6-30th on the Main Stage at the Auburn Public Theatre.

So proud of the work you’ve been doing in class, Patrick, and happy you are a part of the MCS family!

For more info, visit ALTAR BOYZ.

Designed for those new to the Meisner technique, new to MCS, or even new to acting – our brand new “Introduction to Meisner” class begins Saturday, May 5th.  Taught by Jill Richburg, students will learn the basics of repetition and practice the pillars of the Meisner work.  This class meets once a week, on Saturdays from 11:00am-2:00pm.  

A great way to dive into the work and see what MCS is all about!

Sign up for one month – 4 consecutive classes

Read Jill’s recent blog post – Faculty Blog by Jill Richburg

MCS is beyond proud to announce that our very own Tom Berklund has been cast in the much-anticipated national tour of Larry Kramer’s THE NORMAL HEART, opening at Arena Stage in June.  George C. Wolfe directs.

Tom will be playing Craig Donner/Grady in a cast that includes members of the 2011 Tony Award-winning production.

Of MCS, Tom says, “My work with Matt over the past few years has given me the skills and confidence to truly consider myself an actor with something unique and personal to offer.  The curriculum at MCS and Matt’s intuitive skills as a teacher have guided me toward more spontaneous, uninhibited and honest work.  This transformation has led to an exciting new appetite for the world of acting.  This is definitely a class I’d recommend to anybody who aspires to deliver honest and powerful work in their career as an actor.”

We support you in all of your endeavors, Tom, and are so pleased to list you among our students currently working on inspirational projects so vital to our theatre community!

For more info, view the recent Playbill release.

Gabrielle Ruiz, currently training in Ryan Tofil’s Monday/Wednesday class, will be one of the stars of A CHORUS LINE at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, opening June 15th!  Gabrielle will be reprising the role of Diana Morales, a role she played in the 1st National Tour of A  CHORUS LINE in 2008.

Joining Gabrielle at PCLO, is new MCS student, Emily Rice!  A CHORUS LINE runs June 15th-24th – see PCLO for details.

Congratulations & break legs!

Matthew will be the coach on an episode of  MTV’s Emmy Award winning docu-series, MADE. Matthew coaches, guides, challenges, and inspires a 21-year-old aspiring actress. The one-hour episode airs  spring 2012 on MTV.

Congratulations to Margaret, who will spend this summer performing at Arizona Broadway Theatre!  Margaret has been studying in Ryan Tofil’s Monday/Wednesday night class.  She will be playing the role of Jan in GREASE, running June 8th – July 15th. For more info, check out Arizona Broadway Theatre.

We’re proud of you, Margaret, and look forward to having you back at MCS when you return!

Its been a busy few months for MCS’ Tony Sallemi!  Tony has been filming “The Things I Want to Tell You” and opened his latest theater project this past weekend.  THE RYAN CASE 1873 plays on Saturdays at 2pm for a limited run, and was recently rewarded with a Drama Desk Nomination for “Unique Theatrical Experience”!

Visit Live-in Theater for details on how to see Tony in this buzzed-about piece!

MCS student David Gazzo will be appearing in U.S. DRAG, a dark comedy running May 18th – June 2nd in Rahway, New Jersey.  David is a valued member of our studio’s writing group, MCS INK., has performed in numerous readings at MCS, and recently assisted Matthew on his direction of MISS K!M at the 45th Street Theatre.

Good luck on your run, David!  We are so proud of you!

Please visit http://alliancerep.org/ for details/ticket info.

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.