The theater is a spiritual and social x-ray of its time.
-Stella Adler


What is 'Method' Acting?

Method Acting originated around 1900 with techniques pioneered by Russian actor/director Constantine Stanislavsky. It became part of the American vocabulary with the politically charged performances of the Group Theater in the 1930s and at the Actors Studio in the 1950s, both under the direction of Lee Strasberg.

Mainstream media caught on to Method Acting during the 1950s with the films of Elia Kazan and the revolutionary acting styles of Marlon Brando, Shelley Winters, Paul Newman, Eva Maria Saint, James Dean and of course, Marilyn Monroe.

In the 1960s and 70s it became associated with the work of Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Steve McQueen, Sally Field, Faye Dunaway, Jane Fonda and Ellen Burstyn. It is now attached to the work of Daniel Day Lewis, Sean Penn, Charleze Theron, Nicole Kidman, Kate Winslett, Johnny Depp and Juilet Binoche, to name just a few.

During the 1960s and 70s over 200 Academy award winners and nominees were members of the Actors Studio under the direction of Lee Strasberg.

Other names connected with Method Acting are Sanford Meisner, Harold Clurman and the incredible Stella Adler, all of whom were inspired by Stanislavsky's personal search for truth and the mystery as to why truth is central to great acting.

Method Acting is an excellent way to learn about dramatic acting, however I do not believe there is a paint-by-numbers approach to becoming a great performing artist. It's like rapping... you need talent, the blues, luck and time.

Techniques and insights from Uta Hagen, Sanford Meisner, Stella Adler, Eleanora Duse and Peter Brook are also a big part of my class.

For more details on my personal story please read 'Demystifying the Method'. SM


Who is Shelley Mitchell and who are Her students?

Shelley Mitchell teaches in Los Angeles and San Francisco at newly renamed business The Duse Studio of Dramatic Art (formerly The Actors Center of San Francisc)o. She also teaches master classes in New York, Dublin, Amsterdam, Berlin and Rome.

"She's the real deal!" SEAN PENN

"You can learn more in one of Shelley's classes about improving yourself as an actor than you can in a year with ACT or Berkeley classes. There is a level of honesty and trust in her class which literally takes your breath away. Combine this with Shelley's extremely accomplished, astute and always constructive skill as an acting teacher and you get, in my opinion, the best acting class in the Bay Area." (click here for more student quotes)

"...if you are eager to develop your skills as an actor Shelley Mitchell's class is a must!" -RITA MORENO, Oscar, Emmy & Tony award winner

Her approach to acting training is inspired by the power of truth, the power of the present moment and the power of the human spirit.   She encourages young actors to formulate a clear vision of what they want to say as and help them get a grip on the art of acting.

"There is more difference between an actor and a non-actor than there is between a man and a woman." SHELLEY MITCHELL

"...I don't think of film and theater as very different. Acting is acting - it's all interconnected and all coming from life in some way and going back to it." SEAN PENN

Listen to Dustin Hoffman or Jane Fonda describe Method Acting on NPR by clicking on their names.

Click here to read about
13 Ways Shelley Mitchell's Acting Classes Improved My Public Speaking Skillz
by Adam Smith, Founder, Xobni, featured speaker MIT Startup Bootcamp

 

acting classes vs classes in dramatic art

the training:

Each 3 hour class is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on individual development of concentration, relaxation and emotional response to imaginary situations. The technique used to facilitate this is called the Sense Memory Exercise. These exercises are the basic building blocks for an actor as well as being a practical tool for use in performance. The second part of the class focuses on scene work with a partner and script.

The 8 week course is designed to introduce basic techniques. Those who wish may continue with the class on a monthly basis. Check the Schedule page for details.

Exercises and Scenes
Please prepare the exercise below if you have already enrolled in the class.

Sense Memory- The first exercise:


Sense memory is re-living sensations that were experienced through the five senses. Strasberg stressed the term re-living, not just remembering, explaining that the difference lies between knowing something and truly recreating it. That difference, between mental activity - remembering- and reliving the experience, Strasberg explained, was not made up by Stanislavski or his modern interpreters but is substantiated by psychology. Please prepare the following exercise for your first class.

Breakfast Drink: please prepare for the first class

Remember, you are not doing this exercise in order to learn to stage physical actions or mime! The things you do in practicing this exercise you may never do when playing a role. The purpose of this exercise is to experience and fix in memory the reliving of all the sensory aspects of the breakfast drink. Choose what you habitually drink in the morning (e.g. a cold fruit juice or a hot drink like tea or coffee). Take the cup or glass in both hands and concentrate on your five senses- one at a time. Feel the texture, weight and balance of the container and the heat, steam or cold. Smell the aroma. See the color, size , shape, groves and nicks of the container and the liquid. Hear the shloshing of the liquid, preferably several times.

While you are concentrating on the taste, also be aware of the touch of the container against your lips and tongue, the temperature of the liquid, the texture of the liquid and container and all other sensory aspects. This whole procedure should be done slowly watery investigation and exploration of all sensations. Now set the container down, turn away and repeat the entire procedure without the breakfast drink.

If you find that you are not able to recreate some of the sensations experienced with the actual cup or glass in your hand, go back to the physical object itself and explore it again. Concentrate on weak sensory aspects as you work with the container (for example, if you cannot relive the odor, return to the drink and focus on the odor in particular). By thus alternating between the actual drink and imaginarily re-experiencing the drink, weak sensory aspects may be strengthened and the experience relived. The exercise is now ready to bring into class, without the real object. Subsequent exercises will be prescribed at the end of each session. The observation procedure outlined above is highly suggested for all the Sense Memory exercises that will follow.
(quoted from Strasberg's Method by Laurie Hull)

How to prepare for your first scene:

In acting, you are the instrument; body, mind and spirit. The second half of the class is focused on relationships with other actors and the audience. The goal is to consciously remove barriers to make us more sensitive to our own intuitive powers. Barriers or 'blocks' as they are commonly called by many actors, inhibit communication and emotional expression. Freedom from convention lets a number of things happen... namely authentic & spontaneous behavior that the audience will buy into. It also allows insights and impulses from deep within our sub-conscious to come forth and answer questions we didn't even know we had!

In order to prepare for this part of the course it is essential that you choose a five minute scene between two characters or a monologue that personally means a great deal to you. The scene can come from a play, film or novel but the most important point is that the message and circumstances of the scene are based on things you already know a great deal about from your own life experience. You must love the message in the scene. Also, you should be physically believable as the character (i.e. no young women playing Hamlet, no young men playing St. Joan etc...).

You will need to choose someone in the class to act the other character for you, and get together for one or two rehearsals before you bring the scene into class. You don't have to memorize the scene. In fact, if you are new to acting and don't know how to rehearse just bring the scene in and we will have the first rehearsal together in class. Experienced actors are expected to memorize. The purpose of this part of the course is to train the actor's mind to look at the raw emotional material that comes up while interacting with other people ... and to make creative choices that best illuminate the scene.


In the last few years students from the following nations have attended ACSF:
Germany, Iceland, France, Ecuador, Native American, Sweden, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Malaysia, Taiwan, Philippines, Mexico, Spain, Liberia, Brazil, Israel, New Zealand, Mexico, England, Russia, Croatia, Norway, Romania, Korea, Japan, Italy, Ireland, Finland, India, Hungary, Holland, Argentina, Turkey, Holland and China.

After ACSF:
We have a growing circle of students who've gone to NYC and LA. Almost all of our students have gotten into the graduate or trade schools of their choice, including the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, the Actors Studio Master's program, UCLA, NYU, Circle in the Square and the Neighborhood Playhouse. Almost all of the students who are first time actors have been cast in local(San Francisco) independent films after less than a year of working at ACSF. Others have gone to Europe with a focus in both theater and film.

Learn:
• How to focus your attention
• Script Analysis
• The evolution of 70s films into Indie films
• How to understand the impact of Stanislavsy and the Actors Studio around the world.
• Audition Preperation



who's been coached by Shelley Mitchell...

MARIA MATTEOLI
TOM WAITS
MIN LEE
KAREN LELAND
JASON FOSTER
DAVID NOLES
ZACK BUELL -BLUE MAN
REX ISHIBASHI
GOETZ WEBER
DORKA KEEHN
WILL CSAKLOS
Eamonn Walker
Josh Pence
Gil Birmingham
Simon Rouse
Luca Costa
Corinne Blum
Jason Foster
Elise Crombez
Serhan Aslan
Audrey Tommassini
Vidya Sundruam
John Gilligan
Alena von Stroheim

GEORG KOENIGER
MARK STUVER

 

Rita Moreno & Shelley Mitchell photo by Paul Felder

© 2013 Duse Studio of Dramatic Art