ACTING: Scene Study
Fall 2012 MPAET-UE-1051.001/MPAET-GE.2251.110
Tuesday-Thursday 1:55 PM - 3:25 PM
239T
Catherine Russell 917 439 3690 postarvis@aol.com
Office Hours by appointment
Course Requirements:
1. Attendance: You are required to attend class regularly and on time. If you are unable to
come to class because of illness or a severe emergency, please call me IN ADVANCE of the
class. If I do not hear from you BEFORE the class, I will consider the absence unexcused. Two
or more unexcused absences or excessive lateness will justify an F in the course. Please wear
comfortable clothing to class, as we will be lying on the floor as part of the warm up.
2. Rehearsal: During the semester, you will be assigned various partners and you will be
required to rehearse with them between class sessions. You are required to rehearse, and
failure to contact your partner(s) or to show up for scheduled rehearsals will result in your being
replaced and receiving an F for the assignment.
3. Textbooks:
How to Stop Acting by Harold Guskin
The Great Acting Teachers and Their Methods by Richard Brestoff
Advice to the Players by Robert Lewis
Sanford Meisner on Acting by Sanford Meisner and Dennis Longwell
The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov
You will also be required to read scripts of the plays you are assigned to work on.
4. Papers: You must write five short (three-four page) papers during the semester. Three of
the papers will be critiques of plays you see this semester. You must see and evaluate one NYU
production and the other two must be either Off-Broadway or Broadway productions. While you
should feel free to discuss various aspects of the productions, the critiques should focus on the
acting in each production. You may discuss the entire cast or evaluate one particular
performance that you either loved or hated. The fourth paper will be a description of the audition
you go on (see below) and the final paper/project will be a practical analysis/application of one
of the various acting methods discussed in Brestoff’s book.
5. Audition: You are required to attend one audition this semester for any NYU production, a
directing class scene, a film school project, or any other film or play. If you are cast in something
and decide to do it (remember, you can always say no), please let me know; I will try to come to
see it.
***Papers due: September 20, October 4, October 30, November 20
Final Paper/project due December 4
SYLLABUS
Tues. 9/4
Introduction to Course
Thurs. 9/6
Cold Reading
Tues. 9/11
Monologues
Read Brestoff pages iv-xiv, 1-15
Thurs. 9/13
Monologues continued
Tues. 9/18
Read Brestoff pages 16-58 (Stanislavski)\
Monologues continued
Thurs. 9/20
Scene work
Paper # 1 Due
Tues. 9/25
Read Brestoff pages 59-76 (Vakhtangov, Meyerhold and Chekhov)
Scene work
Thurs. 9/27
Read Brestoff pages 77-92 (The Group Theater)
Scene work
Tues. 10/2
Read Advice to the Players pages 1-74
Scene work
Thurs. 10/4
Scene work
Paper #2 Due
Tues. 10/9
Read Advice to the Players pages 75-174
Scene work
Thurs. 10/11
Read Brestoff pages 93-116 (Strasberg)
Scene work
Tues. 10/16
NO CLASS
Thurs. 10/18
Read Brestoff pages 117--127 (Adler)
Scene work
Tues. 10/23
Scene work
All four Chekhov plays read
Thurs. 10/25
Read Brestoff pages 128-138 (Meisner)
Scene work
Tues. 10/30
Scene work
Paper #3 Due
Thurs. 11/1
Scene work
Tues. 116
Read Sanford Meisner on Acting pages xii-56
Scene work
Thurs. 11/8
Scene work
Tues. 11/13
Read Sanford Meisner on Acting pages 57-135
Scene work
Thurs. 11/15
Scene work
Read Sanford Meisner on Acting pages 136-250
Tues. 11/20
Read Brestoff pages 139-168 (Spolin, Brecht, Grotowski, Suzuki)
Scene work
Paper #4 due
Thurs. 11/22
NO CLASS
Tues.11/27
Read Guskin pages xiii-35
Scene work
Thurs. 11/29
Read Guskin pages 36-95
Scene work
Tues. 12/4
Scene work
Read Guskin pages 95-178
Thurs. 12/6
Scene work
FINAL PAPER/PROJECT due
Tues. 12/11
Scene work
Thurs. 12/13
Scene work
***My cell and e-mail are listed above. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have a
question or a problem.