"They're gonna put me in the movies
They're gonna make a big star out of me
They're gonna put me in the movies
And all I got a do is
Act naturally"
When the threshold is crossed and the actor steps on the stage, the blood pressure rises, heart rate increases, sweat glands all activate to a higher level. The simplest activities will feel like a surreal distortion of awareness, muddling the sounds, shaking vision, numbing the touch, confusing smells and even the neutral taste in the mouth.
There is nothing "normal" about performing.
Mickey Rourke, Ellen Burstyn, Al Pacino, Jessica Lang, Sean Penn studied, learned and use The Sensory Work. Melissa Leo, Christopher Walken, Harvey Kietel, Angelina Jolie as well as others such as Adam Sandler and Alec Baldwin use exercises and etudes designed by Stanislavski’s Moscow Art Theater in the mid 1800’s and further developed by Lee Strasberg. Brando, Dean, Clift and Marilyn Monroe all studied and used Sense Memory with Lee Strasberg in the Group Theater and later, The Actor’s Studio.
Stanislavski’s greatest discovery was the nexus, the relationship between taste, touch, sight, smell, sound leading the actor to the active retrieval of the inner emotional life at will. Lee Strasberg would say in his private classes, "The emotions are hung on the strings of the five senses."
The technical actors do not have this problem of “the truth”. When on stage or film, the technical actor “pretends” to see the car, taste blood, touch a hot pot or hear a song. They imitate, indicate or fake these activities assuming that acting on the stage looks the same as real life and, therefore, an audience will not recognize the real tears from those dry alligator tears manufactured for the stage. They make no effort to create a true reality on the stage or on film with little interest in actually “feeling” anything. This allows them to act by rote, like a coo coo clock, repeating over and over again in a memorized dance, devoid of real life. Technical acting is a way to look like you’re playing the piano. The Method is a way to actually play the piano.
"Sense Memory is the basic foundation upon which Stanislavski built his system. To eliminate it from acting or teaching is to attempt to build a skyscraper on air, without steel, concrete, or earth to support it," states William Easty in his book On Method Acting.
From July 10th - 18th, Gary and his assistants will train actors in improvisations, sense memory and exercises passed from the Moscow Art Theater to the Actor's Studio.
This ten day work shop will be held in and around Montauk on the east end of Long Island one mile from the ocean, lakes, vistas, bike trails and one of the most famous fishing docks in the world.
At the completion of the work shop, starting actors will have a strong foundation, ready to begin the second phase of scene-work. They will have new understanding of the acting process that will last for the rest of their lives
The professional and working actors will be game ready, tuned, sharp and ahead of their peers winning each audition and new part with a renewed sense of power and desire.