An Applause Original THE ART OF ACTING by Stella Adler Compiled and edited by Howard Kissel Copyright © 2000 by Applause Books Afterword copyright © 2000 by Howard Kissel All rights reserved. Printed in Canada Jacket and frontispiece photos courtesy of Irene Gilbert, Archival Collection, Stella Adler Academy and Theatre—Los Angeles No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publishers, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast. 9781617746192 Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data Library of Congress Card Number: 00- 108803 British Library Cataloging-in- Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Applause Theatre & Cinema Books 19 West 21st Street, Suite 201 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 575-9265 Fax: (212) 575-9270 Email: [email protected] Internet: www.applausepub.com Applause books are available through your local bookstore, or you may order at www.applausepub.com or call Music Dispatch at 800-637-2852. Sales & Distribution: North America: Hal Leonard Corp. 7777 West Bluemound Road P.O. Box 13819 Milwaukee, WI 53213 Phone: (414) 774-3630 Fax: (414) 774-3259 Email: [email protected] Internet: www.halleonard.com Table of Contents Class One Class Two Class Three Class Four Class Five Class Six Class Seven Class Eight Class Nine Class Ten Class Eleven Class Twelve Class Thirteen Class Fourteen Class Fifteen Class Sixteen Class Seventeen Class Eighteen Class Nineteen Class Twenty Class Twenty-One Class Twenty-Two PREFACE To me Stella Adler is much more than a teacher of acting. Through her work she imparts the most valuable kind of information — how to discover the nature of our own emotional mechanics and therefore those of others. She never lent herself to vulgar exploitations, as some other well- known so-called “methods” of acting have done. As a result, her contributions to the theatrical culture have remained largely unknown, unrecognized, and unappreciated. As far as I know, she was the only American artist who went to Paris to study with Konstantin Stanislavski, who was himself a skilled observer of human behavior and a most prominent figure in Russian theatre. She brought back to this country a knowledge of his