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Stella Adler on America's Master Playwrights: Eugene O'Neill, Thornton Wilder, Clifford Odets, William Saroyan, Tennessee Williams, William Inge, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee
“Don’t use your conscious past. Use your creative imagination to create a past that belongs to your character. I don’t want you to be stuck with your own life. It’s too little.”
“You must get beneath the words before you can say them. The text must be in you. It is your job to fill, not to empty the words. They can only be used if they come out of what you need to say.” —Stella Adler
From one the most celebrated and influential acting teachers of her time, of all time, whose generations of students include Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn, Eva Marie Saint, Diana Ross, Robert De Niro, Warren Beatty, Annette Benning, Peter Bogdanovich, Mark Ruffalo—the long-awaited companion volume to her book on the master European playwrights Ibsen, Strindberg, and Chekhov (“Evidence,” wrote John Guare, “that Stella Adler is hands down the greatest acting teacher America has produced . . . Nobody with a serious interest in the theater can afford to be without this book”).
She was a force of nature, an unforgettable personality. Once, when she walked into a crowded room and her presence caused a hush to fall over it, a little girl asked, “Mommy, is that God?”
Adler saw script interpretation as the actor’s profession (“The most important thing you can teach actors is to understand plays”). Her classes of script analysis became legendary; brilliant revelations of the playwrights, the characters, the social class and the time of the play as opposed to one’s own. Adler explored how to find the ideas and experience them; how to search for the soul, for what is unsaid; all of this as a way of building craft as distinct from talent.
Her new book, brilliantly edited by Barry Paris, brings together her most important lectures on America’s plays and playwrights, the giants of the twentieth century, men she knew, loved, and worked with. Adler considers, among them, Eugene O’Neill, Mourning Becomes Electra ; his first play, Beyond the Horizon ; and his last, Long Day’s Journey into Night (“O’Neill is a mystical playwright . . . his speech is vernacular, down-to-earth . . . it conveys the idea that there is nothing real outside, but that’s where I want to be—somewhere out in the fog. The answers are hard to get in a fog”) . . .
She writes about Tennessee Williams and The Glass Menagerie , A Streetcar Named Desire , Summer and Smoke, and The Lady of Larkspur Lotion (“Williams captivates us because of the romantic way in which he escapes the filth and frustration . . . The greatness in Williams is that [the characters] have a right to run away. What do they run away from? From the monster of commercialism and competition, from things that kill the melody and beauty of life”) . . . about Clifford Odets (“Clifford, if you don’t become a genius,” Adler once said to him, “I’ll never forgive you”); and about his plays Waiting for Lefty and Golden Boy (on Lorna Moon and Joe “You can’t put a whore together with a Napoleonic man and think they’re going to make it. They might make it under certain conditions—but not from the point of view of love. This is not a love story. It’s a hate story”) . . . about William Inge and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and Come Back, Little Sheba ; about Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (“[The salesman’s sons] are Biff and Happy . . . They’re not George and Jacob. Their names are shortcuts. It’s the American Way—a way of saying, ‘We’ll leave out tradition’ . . . That tells you something you’ll see throughout the entire they are cut off from custom”) about Miller’s After the Fall ; and Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story and The Death of Bessie Smith .
Illuminating, revelatory, Stella Adler at her electrifying best.
“You must get beneath the words before you can say them. The text must be in you. It is your job to fill, not to empty the words. They can only be used if they come out of what you need to say.” —Stella Adler
From one the most celebrated and influential acting teachers of her time, of all time, whose generations of students include Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn, Eva Marie Saint, Diana Ross, Robert De Niro, Warren Beatty, Annette Benning, Peter Bogdanovich, Mark Ruffalo—the long-awaited companion volume to her book on the master European playwrights Ibsen, Strindberg, and Chekhov (“Evidence,” wrote John Guare, “that Stella Adler is hands down the greatest acting teacher America has produced . . . Nobody with a serious interest in the theater can afford to be without this book”).
She was a force of nature, an unforgettable personality. Once, when she walked into a crowded room and her presence caused a hush to fall over it, a little girl asked, “Mommy, is that God?”
Adler saw script interpretation as the actor’s profession (“The most important thing you can teach actors is to understand plays”). Her classes of script analysis became legendary; brilliant revelations of the playwrights, the characters, the social class and the time of the play as opposed to one’s own. Adler explored how to find the ideas and experience them; how to search for the soul, for what is unsaid; all of this as a way of building craft as distinct from talent.
Her new book, brilliantly edited by Barry Paris, brings together her most important lectures on America’s plays and playwrights, the giants of the twentieth century, men she knew, loved, and worked with. Adler considers, among them, Eugene O’Neill, Mourning Becomes Electra ; his first play, Beyond the Horizon ; and his last, Long Day’s Journey into Night (“O’Neill is a mystical playwright . . . his speech is vernacular, down-to-earth . . . it conveys the idea that there is nothing real outside, but that’s where I want to be—somewhere out in the fog. The answers are hard to get in a fog”) . . .
She writes about Tennessee Williams and The Glass Menagerie , A Streetcar Named Desire , Summer and Smoke, and The Lady of Larkspur Lotion (“Williams captivates us because of the romantic way in which he escapes the filth and frustration . . . The greatness in Williams is that [the characters] have a right to run away. What do they run away from? From the monster of commercialism and competition, from things that kill the melody and beauty of life”) . . . about Clifford Odets (“Clifford, if you don’t become a genius,” Adler once said to him, “I’ll never forgive you”); and about his plays Waiting for Lefty and Golden Boy (on Lorna Moon and Joe “You can’t put a whore together with a Napoleonic man and think they’re going to make it. They might make it under certain conditions—but not from the point of view of love. This is not a love story. It’s a hate story”) . . . about William Inge and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and Come Back, Little Sheba ; about Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (“[The salesman’s sons] are Biff and Happy . . . They’re not George and Jacob. Their names are shortcuts. It’s the American Way—a way of saying, ‘We’ll leave out tradition’ . . . That tells you something you’ll see throughout the entire they are cut off from custom”) about Miller’s After the Fall ; and Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story and The Death of Bessie Smith .
Illuminating, revelatory, Stella Adler at her electrifying best.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
46 people are currently reading
324 people want to read
About the author
Stella Adler
11 books60 followersStella Adler was an American actress and celebrated acting teacher.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 30, 2012
Stella Adler, a grand dame of the American theater, a legendary acting teacher, a mentor of Marlon Brando, wife of Harold Clurman, delivered a series of lectures to students in the 1970s and 1980s in California that were recently published by Knopf.
Although Adler died in 1992, these lectures, edited by Barry Paris, are vivid, funny, blunt, acerbic, often brilliant -- and timely.
The crux of the book is Adler's dissection of about a dozen plays --scene-by-scene. It sounds tedious. But it's riveting. (Her students ranged from DeNiro, Beatty and Brando to Judy Garland and Elaine Stritch.
To Adler, the three greatest American playwrights were O'Neill, Thornton Wilder and Tennessee Williams, who was a close friend. (Adler brought Brando to meet Williams in Provincetown where he was casting Stanley Kowalski). Surprisinlyu, she does not seem especially fond of Arthur Miller. But she adores William Inge and Edward Albee. Her insisghts are invaluable.
She pretty much loathed citics. (Of Frank Rich, the former drama critic of The New York Times, she said, "please don't take him seriously"). And she excoriated trendy plywrights. "When a playwright like Harold Pinter or Samuel Beckett wants to keep so many secrets, I, as an actress say, `Go to hell Mr. Beckett with your secrets! Don't tell me to unravel my mind to find out what you want to keep secret."
Adler, a popular stage actress, in the 1930s and 1940s, admits she could have had a bigger career on stsge. She turned down the lead in "Come Back, Little Sheba," which made Shirley Booth a star. Adler said it was a mistake, but she was tired of playing drab women. She turned down other major roles. (Clearly, teaching and writing stirred her). For awhile she had a Hollywood career, often playing gun molls. Paramount studio insisted she change her name to Stella Ardler, because the name Adler was too Jewish-sounding. Her brother, Luther Adler, the actor said, `Why didn't they just change it to 'Beverly Wilshire'?
Although Adler died in 1992, these lectures, edited by Barry Paris, are vivid, funny, blunt, acerbic, often brilliant -- and timely.
The crux of the book is Adler's dissection of about a dozen plays --scene-by-scene. It sounds tedious. But it's riveting. (Her students ranged from DeNiro, Beatty and Brando to Judy Garland and Elaine Stritch.
To Adler, the three greatest American playwrights were O'Neill, Thornton Wilder and Tennessee Williams, who was a close friend. (Adler brought Brando to meet Williams in Provincetown where he was casting Stanley Kowalski). Surprisinlyu, she does not seem especially fond of Arthur Miller. But she adores William Inge and Edward Albee. Her insisghts are invaluable.
She pretty much loathed citics. (Of Frank Rich, the former drama critic of The New York Times, she said, "please don't take him seriously"). And she excoriated trendy plywrights. "When a playwright like Harold Pinter or Samuel Beckett wants to keep so many secrets, I, as an actress say, `Go to hell Mr. Beckett with your secrets! Don't tell me to unravel my mind to find out what you want to keep secret."
Adler, a popular stage actress, in the 1930s and 1940s, admits she could have had a bigger career on stsge. She turned down the lead in "Come Back, Little Sheba," which made Shirley Booth a star. Adler said it was a mistake, but she was tired of playing drab women. She turned down other major roles. (Clearly, teaching and writing stirred her). For awhile she had a Hollywood career, often playing gun molls. Paramount studio insisted she change her name to Stella Ardler, because the name Adler was too Jewish-sounding. Her brother, Luther Adler, the actor said, `Why didn't they just change it to 'Beverly Wilshire'?
November 23, 2013
If you are a writer, reader, playgoer, theater lover or actor, you will love this book. I read also
Stella Adler on Strindberg, Ibsen and Chekhov which is a history lesson on not just the playwrights themselves but the background of the times that encompassed their works. This book does the same thing and is directly transcribed from her lectures to her classes at her studio. Since these are contemporary playwrights, there is political as well as historical material here to consider when reading, watching, or acting in these plays. The only time the book drags a bit is when she is giving feedback to actors who have done one of the scenes from the play which is not often and can be skipped if not interested in that aspect. The footnotes the editor includes are helpful as background and added information. For anyone who loves theater or would like to write for the theater, these books are invaluable.
Stella Adler on Strindberg, Ibsen and Chekhov which is a history lesson on not just the playwrights themselves but the background of the times that encompassed their works. This book does the same thing and is directly transcribed from her lectures to her classes at her studio. Since these are contemporary playwrights, there is political as well as historical material here to consider when reading, watching, or acting in these plays. The only time the book drags a bit is when she is giving feedback to actors who have done one of the scenes from the play which is not often and can be skipped if not interested in that aspect. The footnotes the editor includes are helpful as background and added information. For anyone who loves theater or would like to write for the theater, these books are invaluable.
January 11, 2016
Quite educational. Reminded me of a book I'd have to read in English class, but this time I tried to pay attention (haha). I do recommend it if you ever want to know how to interpret the popular American plays...I definitely learned a lot.
February 5, 2022
This collection of edited transcripts from Stella Adler's acting classes isn't quite up to the standard set in the earlier volume on Ibsen, Strindberg and Chekhov, but it does provide additional insight into Ms. Adler's personality. A good companion to the earlier book.
April 23, 2020
Just exactly the kind of analyses I would want some very smart but not overly academic insider to lean in and share with me during intermission. Loved it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews