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Actors Studio

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Actors Studio

The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights located on West 44th Street in Hell's Kitchen in New York City.

The studio is best known for its work refining and teaching method acting. It was founded in 1947 by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, and Robert Lewis, and later directed by Lee Strasberg, all former members of the Group Theatre, an early pioneer of the acting techniques of Constantin Stanislavsky that would become known as method acting.

Notable actors and playwrights who have shared their work at the studio include Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando (who joined the studio in its first year), Lorraine Hansberry and James Baldwin.

While at the Studio, actors work together to develop their skills in a private environment where they can take risks as performers without the pressure of commercial roles.

As of July 2024, the studio's co-presidents are Ellen Burstyn, Alec Baldwin and Al Pacino. The co-artistic directors in New York are Martha Gehman and Javier Molina, and the associate artistic director in New York is Estelle Parsons. The co-artistic directors in Los Angeles are Katherine Cortez and Salome Jens.

After an initial meeting held on October 5, 1947, at the Labor Stage, located at 106 W. 39th Street (formerly the Princess Theatre), in which goals and ground rules of the new organization were discussed, the studio officially opened for business the following day.

Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, and Robert Lewis, who founded the studio together, had all been members of the Group Theatre, an early adopter of method acting in the 1930s. Based on acting techniques first taught by Constantin Stanislavsky at the Moscow Art Theatre, Method acting or the “Method” was further refined at the Actor's Studio, including by Lee Strasberg, who had closely studied Stanislavski's theories at the Group Theater and who became director of the studio from 1952 until his death on February 17, 1982.

Around 700 actors auditioned in the studio's first year, with 50 actors selected to become its first group of members, including Marlon Brando. Once actors pass the studio's audition process they become life-members who can attend sessions where members present work to each other. Some non-members are also invited to observe sessions, and on rare occasions non-members such as Marilyn Monroe have been invited to present.

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