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Volume 6
Issue 2 Jill Place, Publisher
jill@actingintuitive.com
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$100 BRANDact offer
EXTENDED UNTIL FEBRUARY 15th!
A
Conversation with Larry Silverberg, Part
One
Hi [[FirstName]]
I'M
SOOOO EXCITED! This week, I'm bringing you
my amazing conversation with Larry Silverberg, author of
The Sanford Meisner Approach
workbooks. Here he is with O'Mara Leary in a recent off
Broadway production of Athol Fugard's People Are Living
Here.
Back in
December, Larry was kind enough to e-mail me and thank me
for my kind words about his books. He also told me he
appreciated my insight and how much I care about being of
service. He suggested we connect.
So I picked up the phone and found a
passionate, humble actor's advocate on the other line. I was
particularly struck by his fearless journey and deep spirituality. So
I suggested an interview. The result is
below.
We had such a good time that we talked our way into
a two-parter. Next week,
you'll get part two. I hope you'll be as
inspired reading our conversation as I was writing it!
I'm
also extending my
$100 BRANDact
offer until February 15th for the ABSOLUTE LAST
TIME! For more information apout this dynamic career-making process, see below.
Oh, and do me . . . and
yourself . . . a favor. Go here to read some great things actors have to say
about Act Intuitive.
[NOTE:
Some words in this e Zine have been disguised to
avoid triggering sp^m filters.]
Grab
BRANDact Branding for Actors
for only $100 until February
15th
Once actors name and claim their talent,
their careers soar. Actors who have taken my
BRANDact workshops have gone on to star in
award-winning Indies, BBC miniseries and TV
episodics.
I stopped doing workshops early last
year. And for a long
time offered my individual branding package for the workshop
price . . . $100. But I
just can't do that anymore! Because branding
can be an intense and lengthy personal process. And it may take a
few hours on the phone or in person
for us to arrive at a branding
statement. In the workshop, it took a whole day.
So,
unfortunately, I MUST raise the cost for this
career-making process to $197 beginning February16th.
But right now you can get it for $100 FOR A LIMITED
TIME ONLY! THIS IS ABSOLUTELY THE LAST TIME
I CAN OFFER BRANDact FOR THIS
LOW,
LOW PRICE.
You don't have to
begin right away. As long as you call me
at 323-225-9850 or e-mail me at
jill@actingintuitive.com and pay the $100 fee by February
15th. Once I get payment by credit card or check, I'll
e-mail you the complete version of 7 Steps to BRANDact
You to get the process started.
You can finish it whenever you want . . . there's no time
limit. So call or e-mail me today! Or
go here to find out more.
Or if you'd
like to do the home branding course instead, you can get
the entire BRANDact do-it-yourself acting success system for
$39. Go here to get it now at the pre-internet price.
Also, check out
the other things I do . . .
intuitive sessions and individual acting coaching.
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A Conversation with Larry
Silverberg
Part
One
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Jill:
When did you know that you wanted to be an actor?
Larry:
My whole
life has been a total surprise to me. And I couldn't
have predicted any of it really. One of my best friends always
wanted to be a doctor; I was amazed at kids like that who
seem have their whole lives mapped out. All I knew was what I
was passionate about.
I was very fat
as a kid. So when I had to read a poem before what seemed like
a thousand people for a school program, I was paralyzed. I
opened my mouth, stuck in the microphone and bit down. The
teacher had to pry my mouth off that mike. And I never got to
do the poem. Fortunately, I lost the weight in High School.
And with it much of my early fear of audiences.
I originally
wanted to be a filmmaker. But a girl I knew in college talked
me into taking an acting class in college. That was it. It was
a coming-home experience.
I had just won
a competition called Warner Brothers Young Filmmakers of the
Year. Eight people were chosen from all over the country and I
was one of them. At the same time, I had applied for an
internship at a little summer stock theatre in New York. I
turned down Warner Brothers. And went to sweep up and take
class at this little theatre.
Jill: You sound
like a person who has always known what they wanted to do.
Larry: I think the
greatest gifts in life come from other people. When you talk
about the spiritual aspect of acting as an art form and as a
craft . . . it is deeply connected to our spiritual selves and
our humanity. And in terms of the Meisner work, it's about
becoming deeply available to another human being.
The gift in
our work as actors is to become available to what others
around us are giving us. When we become available to that, we
go beyond the limitations of our ego and control mechanisms.
And that's a very spiritual place to live . . . when our
hearts and our souls become open to another human being and
the gifts that they bring us. That's what acting is about.
Being so
self-conscious growing up fat, acting was the first experience
of having my attention off of myself. It was so freeing in a
very natural way. When you're fat, you're always in your head.
Jill:
Why did you finally settle on Meisner as a teacher?
Larry:
When I got out of college, I knew that I wanted to be a
professional actor. And that my training wasn't enough. I
asked one of my teachers, "what do I do" and he said, "get to
Sandy Meisner". Again one of those little miracles; god put
this person there to guide me in the right direction. So I
went right to the Neighborhood Playhouse, interviewed and got
in.
Jill:
Describe your experience training with Sandy.
Larry:
After I got to the Playhouse, I realized who this person was.
Because of all the incredible actors Sandy had trained, it was
like we were sitting with god. It's very easy for a young
person to want to turn a teacher into god. But Sandy would
have none of it. It was a great lesson in terms of my own
teaching. He wasn't our father or best friend. He was our
teacher . . . available and supporting us and wanting the best
for us.
It was very
nerve-wracking, though, to be with him because he was so
incredibly direct and honest. But I never found him to be mean
or brutal. All those Group Theatre people were amazing. At 70
and 80 years old, their passion was irrepressible. To be in
their field of energy was such an inspiration.
Sandy was just
brilliant. He always seemed to know me better than I knew
myself. Since I was so young, he probably did. The way he
taught was exactly how he wanted us to learn.
Jill: What
happened after you left the Playhouse?
Larry: When I graduated from the
Playhouse, I immediately got a job off Broadway. And, when I
wasn't acting, I found this extraordinary teacher named
Suzanne Shepherd who was with Sandy for many years. She did
very advanced interpretation work with scripts. A lot of the
stuff I teach comes from my work with her. She took Sandy's
work to another level in terms of text.
That's the
part of the work that actors don't often address. That
specific technique with text is very hard grueling work that
most actors don't want to do. But to me it's most important
for making acting choices.
Jill: When did
you decide to switch your focus to teaching?
Larry: I have
never really switched focus. There are two things that I've
discovered about my life. One, I operate on passion. And two,
I thrive on things that are making the biggest difference out
in the world.
I never
thought I would teach acting. But I was in a show in Florida.
And this group of people who were forming a theatre company
came to me after the show one night and said, "whatever it is
you're doing, we want to learn it. Would you teach us?" The
idea of sharing what Sandy had given to me was very exciting.
Again, one of those little miracles.
I started to
train them and it was just like when I went to that first
acting class; it was like coming home. I knew I was in the
right place.
When I was in
Florida, I also met my wife. And eventually we moved to
Seattle and opened a theatre company and acting school.
Jill: What
advice can you give actors about choosing a coach?
Larry: That's
a great question. The most important thing is to sit down with
the person and ask lots of questions and see if you feel a
connection. Trust your own experience of this person. And if
they're an available human being who is caring and generous
and willing to take the time to answer your questions
thoroughly. Because if you can't trust this person fully then
you can't work with them. If you're going to learn, you have
to be willing to go places that you don't know you're going
and be willing to be supported and challenged and trust that
the coach's feedback is useful. Watch their classes and talk
to other students they train too.
There are a lot of teachers who are teaching
to satisfy some sick ego need and are manipulative and mean.
That is very dangerous and crippling and will destroy a
student's spirit. That's why it's so important to have a clear
sense of who this person is. So if a teacher wants to cruelly
break you down, you'd better run as fast as you can. These
people are dangerous and will hurt you.
In Part Two,
Larry talks about how the famous Meisner workbooks came about,
his inspiring teen classes and his greatest passions.
Don't miss it!
For
more information about Larry Silverberg, visit www.actorscraft.com
Next Issue: A Conversation
with Larry Silverberg, Part
Two
And, by
the way, DON'T LEAVE JUST
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