We arrive with the understanding that...
"Truth entertains the heart.
Spontaneity entertains the spirit.
Ideas entertain the mind."
-Mac McCarty
When I was a child I was fascinated with the work of performing artists. In time, my fascination became focused on the work of the actor today and throughout history.
In the late 19th century, Stanislavski deepened our understanding of that work. In the early 20th century, artists from the Group Theatre picked up and refined these principles outlined by Stanislavski. In my view, this culminated in the work and teachings of Sanford Meisner.
As I was coming up in the New York theatre scene, I was taken under the wing of the heirs to the Group Theatre - a group of artists called the Circle Repertory Company, founded in 1969 by Tanya Berezin, Marshall W. Mason, Rob Thirkield and Lanford Wilson.
During that time, the great American playwright, Lanford Wilson, and the great Meisner Technique teacher, William Esper, became my two artistic mentors. Through this lineage there is a direct line back to the work Stanislavski did with Anton Chekhov.
One time, an artist coming up after me said, “The dream of the work at Circle Rep made me want to be an actor.”
With this group of artists who have gathered together for the Lanford Wilson Project, the goal is to revitalize ensemble work based on Meisner principles and great writing.
About which, Lanford and Bill, Tanya and Marshall, taught me to dream . . .
