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“The trail may be cold, but the stories are hot!”

By ivi blog Guest Contributor Dr. Rob Moore

In Part 3 of this series, we spoke of the star-to-be’s decision to attend or not attend a traditional college. We pointed out that many of today’s brightest screen personalities chose alternative or unconventional ways of fueling their starships.

In this installment, we will discuss what those less traditional routes might be.

First, we have acting schools that, although not as plentiful as traditional colleges, may offer more focused opportunities for the aspiring actor or actress.

For instance, Marilyn Monroe, Andy Garcia, Anne Bancroft, Marlon Brando and a host of other successful actors and actresses attended Actors Studio.

Lauren Bacall and Kirk Douglas attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

The New York Film Academy, with campuses in New York and Los Angeles,  provides lectures from such artists  as John Voight,  Dennis Hopper, and Ben Stiller.

The National Theater Institute offers a fourteen week acting immersion experience that has graduated such notables as Jennifer Garner.

And, there are many others from which to choose.

Second, there are thousands of individuals with impressive thespian credentials offering instruction in the various aspects of acting, voice and other performance disciplines.

A cautionary note: It is very easy to waste time and money with unworthy programs or lessons.  In some cases, the ethics of schools or individual instructors may be questionable, as financial pressures force many to accept individuals who are in need of a good life coach to direct them to fields other than acting.

An excellent example of a show business institution with high ethical standards is the San Francisco Ballet. On one occasion with which this author is familiar, an ambitious parent brought a very large boned, overweight young lady to the Ballet. It was clear to everyone, egalitarian sentiment aside —except the parent — that, in the best of all outcomes, her daughter was not going to appear as a serious ballerina in her lifetime. The School, in as kindly a way as possible, turned the paying customer away. When the parent began speaking of a law suit to force the School to take her daughter, the Ballet clearly stated that it would have been unethical to take tuition from this family, despite the dreams of the parent.

The point to be gleaned here is that there are plenty of schools and individual instructors who would have taken this family’s money.

The standing advice to a person wishing to enter a school or hire a teacher for any of the performing arts is to check references. Most of the time such checking will give the aspirant a view of  the priorities of the offering party. The other method is to employ an honest life coach to screen schools or individual teachers. (Jennifer Garner, after checking references, took instruction from David Chandler, one of the finest stage combat instructors in the world. The result can be seen in most of Garner’s work, the most notable thus far being her leading role in the TV series Alias.)

Third, theater groups can give budding actors and actresses opportunities to test the waters of the profession. Occasionally, these groups will be populated  by such people as Tom Hanks or Golden Globe actress Olympia Dukakis. (Olympia majored in physical therapy in college, a skill that helped her earn a living while struggling to find ways of  supporting herself  as an actress.)

Fourth, as an additional resource, there is the literature of theater. For example, Method Acting, as taught by Lee Strasberg, is explained fully in several outstanding books available in most public libraries.

In all of this, the wise aspiring actor or actress should focus not on fame and fortune, attractive as that might be, but on acting as art. If a school, instructor or other venue does not assist the performer to maintain such a focus, the recommendation of most competent coaches would be to remove such an influence from the aspirant’s environment.

The very greatest actors and actresses consider themselves, rightly so, artists first and foremost. For these individuals, it is the beauty of fine acting that is important. They wish to be involved with venues that push them to ever higher levels of excellence. If a situation offers no opportunity for growth in their art, they refuse to participate.

To better explain this point, we sometimes hear of a particular actor or actress leaving the cast of a popular weekly television series because he or she “just couldn’t do the same things over and over again anymore.” Often, they are audience “favorites.” One might be tempted to say to oneself, “Gee, if I had that part, I would never quit!”  Where the true artist is involved, playing the same character for years can be a torture.  Who are these people for whom new challenge is everything?  Their names are legendary. Sir Lawrence Olivier, Vanessa Redgrave, Helen Hayes, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sir John Gielgud, Jack Nicholson and many others.

In closing, since we were just referencing Jack Nicholson, allow me to share a humorous story involving this great star.

One day Nicholson was in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream store ordering a  quart of  chocolate chip.  Standing next to him at the counter was a woman who was attempting to control her excitement at recognizing the star.  She ordered a double scoop of strawberry on a cone, and quickly left.  Nicholson, having received and paid for his ice cream,  left the store and  stood beside the same woman  awaiting a light change before crossing the street. The woman once again became very  nervous. Nicholson addressing the lady said, “I’m sorry to share this with you, Madam, but you have an ice cream cone with two strawberry scoops in your purse.”

Next time, we will look at the relationship between skills and stage/screen employability, and make some suggestions regarding this aspect of Hollywood and New York preparedness.