Classes For Actors

The Scene Study/Masters Class

June-July 2009 – John Cassavetes
Wednesdays, 7:00 to 11:00 PM, June 10, 17, 24, July 1, 8, 15
$290 for the six-week session

It’s a Scene Study class – with a difference. Everyone in class works on scenes from the same author. The plays (or screenplays) are chosen for their complexity, challenge, depth, and for containing the great roles that actors dream of playing.

Another difference is that scenes are usually double-cast. In my classes, the goal of watching another pair of actors in the same scene is not competition – rather it is confidence. At the root is my deeply held philosophy that each actor can bring something unique to each role. Seeing others bring the same role to life, with completely different choices, gives you confidence that you can trust your own ideas and follow your own instincts. It also helps you give up the notion of “doing it right.” There is no “right and wrong” to creativity. In addition, being able to watch each other work on difficult material that you yourself are grappling with intimately, affords invaluable inspiration. And finally, mixing and matching ensures that each participant can work every week even if their scene partner has to miss a class.

I call it the Scene Study/Masters Class because of the confidence and freedom an actor achieves when he or she "masters one of the masters." It is both an intense script analysis class, and an entrance into each individual’s deepest struggles with the craft. Each session has brought breakthroughs to the participants' acting skills. This is partly the result of working on challenging material that takes you to the very limits of your abilities - but also the effect of the intimate exposure to the roots of our humanity, that is given to us by the great writers. What makes a writer great is the extent to which he or she taps into the most primal human emotions, mysteries and insights. When actors work honestly on these texts, they are brought into contact with their own most primal resources. Although many of the writers selected for these classes are known as “classics,” I promise that this work will strengthen and prepare you for modern movie and television scripts.

I’m calling the June-July session the John Cassavetes session – but with a twist. We’ll use two screenplays – “Minnie and Moskowitz,” which he wrote and directed, and “Rosemary’s Baby,” which Cassavetes did not write (he performed in it as an actor). But it’s surprisingly hard to find the scripts that were written by him – even though Cassavetes is widely considered the one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, and even “the father of independent film,” his screenplays are not posted on the Internet or published in book form. So I just decided to combine “Minnie and Moskowitz,” a treasure even though not well known, with “Rosemary’s Baby,” which is very well known but much more subtle and complex than many people realize.

“Rosemary’s Baby” is easily downloaded from www.script-o-rama.com. To obtain “Minnie and Moskowitz” you need to order it from Hollywood Book & Poster – by calling them at 323 465-8764 (they have a website www.hollywoodbookandposter.com but they don’t take orders from the website). Hollywood Book and Poster does have one other script written by Cassavetes – his masterpiece “A Woman Under the Influence” which you might want to read (or watch) although there aren’t enough two-person scenes in it to make it my choice for this class.

It doesn’t matter whether or not you have seen the films “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Minnie and Moskowitz” – if you haven’t, please do not rent/watch them until after the workshop is over. But it’s fine to watch other Cassavetes films, especially “A Woman Under the Influence.”

Both “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Minnie and Moskowitz” are challenging and beautiful. Stunning insights into human nature. Deep, intense, dramatic – with humor too. This could be the best Masters Class yet…

Everyone who takes the Class should obtain and read both “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Minnie and Moskowitz” ahead of time. Please prepare a monologue from either one for the first class meeting. You are welcome to string shorter speeches together to create a monologue. You are also welcome, as always, to choose a monologue of any age or gender. (And you can choose a monologue from “A Woman Under the Influence” if you want to.) At the first class meeting I’ll assign two-person scenes.

The Scene Study/Masters Class is open to actors by invitation, after a personal interview. It is also open to directors who have taken Acting for Directors with me. (Directors who take the class work as actors. For scene work I usually partner directors with other directors, and directors may sometimes be assigned exercises instead of scenes.)

Any actor or director enrolled in the Actor-Director Lab may attend a concurrent Scene Study/Masters Class at half price.

The location is Two Lights Acting Studio, 3402 Motor Avenue, between Palms and National Blvds, corner Woodbine, entrance in the back.

The Class will be limited in size, so please let me know as soon as possible if you would like to join this session.

Previous Masters Class Selections

Nov-Dec 2001............Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett
March-April 2002........Macbeth, by William Shakespeare
Oct-Nov 2003............Suicide in B Flat, by Sam Shepard
Jan-Feb 2004............Much Ado about Nothing, by William Shakespeare
April-May 2004..........Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams
Sep-Oct 2004............The Seagull, and Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov
March-April 2005.......Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare
July-August 2005.......The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams
Oct-Dec 2005............Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
March-May 2006........Long Day’s Journey into Night and Mourning Becomes
...................................Electra, by Eugene O’Neill
Nov-Dec 2006............Betrayal and The Caretaker, by Harold Pinter
June-July 2007...........Billy Wilder, part 1
Oct-Dec 2007.............Billy Wilder, part 2
Jan-Feb 2008.............Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett
March-April 2008........John Patrick Shanley
June-July 2008...........Romeo and Juliet & Antony and Cleopatra by Wm Shakespeare
July-Sept 2008...........Woody Allen
Oct-Dec 2008.............Night of the Iguana and Orpheus Descending by Tennessee William
Feb-Mar 2009............Sam Shepard: Fool for Love, True West, Suicide in B Flat
June-July 2009...........Minnie and Moskowitz, Rosemary’s Baby

Contact Judith to arrange an interview,
at 310 392-2444 or info@judithweston.com.

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