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Toward Mastery: An Acting Class With Nikos Psacharopoulos
What makes for great acting? Nikos Psacharopoulos answers the question here, as he leads his students "toward mastery" on a journey not for the faint of heart. In a dynamic series of classes at Yale and NYU, running the gamut from beginners' anguish to advanced actors' triumph, Nikos tests his charges' talent, intellect, and courage. Again and Again he shows why he was a great teacher, a pioneering artistic director at Williamstown, and an inspiration to hundreds of major careers in the American theater. With wit and anger, persuasion and bottomless energy, Nikos instills in his students the conviction that the aesthetic qualities behind great acting are as teachable as the most basic technical tools. Backed up by moving and perceptive comments from some of his closest associates, he proves that one can definitely aim for great acting...and, in some cases, achieve it. With commentaries Gregory Boyd, Steve Lawson, Lynne Meadow, Bonnie Monte, Tom Moore, Austin Pendleton, David Schweizer, and Joanne Woodward.
- GenresTheatre
195 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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June 29, 2025
What’s marvelous in any Shaw play is that no matter what position, no matter what points of view a character takes ~~ politically, emotionally, morally ~~ every position is, on its own, interesting and alive and exciting. A really perfect production of a George Bernard Shaw play would consist of 12 people who are exactly like Shaw. Ideally, when you direct Shaw, you should think of having many little George Bernard Shaws all over the stage, all fighting and loving and dealing with each other! Because basically, Shaw is a man arguing with himself. Because he’s so educated and so brilliant, all these different aspects of his nature come out in the point of view of each one of the characters. Therefore, all the characters have a use for each other. Nobody in Shaw ever has no use for the other person they are on stage with.
Toward Mastery: An Acting Class With Nikos Psacharopoulos ~~~ Nikos Psacharopoulos
Toward Mastery: An Acting Class With Nikos Psacharopoulos is one of the greatest theatrical texts on the arts of acting and directing ever written.
Nikos Psacharopoulos was a Greek-born director best known for his long-term association with the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Born in Athens, Greece on January 18, 1928 Psacharopoulos claimed to have started his own theater troupe at the age of 15 in Nazi-occupied Greece. In 1947 he came to the United States to study at Oberlin College, where he directed several productions by the Oberlin Mummers. Then it was on to the Yale School of Drama, from which he received an MFA in directing in 1954.
In 1955 the fledgling Williamstown Summer Theatre invited the 27-year-old Psacharopoulos to be an Associate Director. He accepted, returning the next year as the Artistic and Executive Director ~~ and establishing a benevolent dictatorship that would last for 44 years. He instituted a rigorous schedule of 10 ~~ 12 shows per season, generally with 2 ~~ 3 weeks rehearsal time for each show.
In the 1950s the Williamstown Summer Theatre performed mainly modern classics, for example, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Our Town. Widespread critical acclaim came in the early 1960s with a series of renowned Anton Chekhov cycles. The later 1960s involved ambitious fare for summer theater, with epics like Iphigeneia at Aulis and Peer Gynt.
Lee Grant & Blythe Danner, The Seagull
Throughout his tenure at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the irrepressible Nikos (as everyone called him) personally directed at least two shows per season. He was also involved in numerous outside projects. He taught acting steadily at Yale and Circle-in-the-Square. In the 1950s his revival of the Play of Daniel was first performed at The Cloisters and subsequently toured North America and Europe.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Psacharopoulos directed several operas for the New York City Opera, Broadway shows ~~ most notably, Langston Hughes' Tambourines to Glory, and Androcles and the Lion for the American Shakespeare Festival.
It is unfortunate Nikos Psacharopoulos is not better known today.
Tom Brennan & Nikos Psacharopoulos
I've said many times that in Chekhov getting there is all the fun.
Toward Mastery: An Acting Class With Nikos Psacharopoulos ~~ Nikos Psacharopoulos
Psacharopoulos' immigrant background, erudition, inherent trust of playwrights' texts, propensity for nurturing and challenging actors, and an emphasis on moment~~to~~moment work, epitomized his strengths as a director. It is these strengths that come so clearly in this book.
Toward Mastery: An Acting Class With Nikos Psacharopoulos was published in 1998 after Nikos Psacharopoulos death from cancer. It is comprised of transcripts from critical discussions conducted in acting classes led by Psacharopoulos. This book also contains feedback given by the Psacharopoulos while assisting actors' work on Chekhov. Using the director's words and the description of his work by artists who worked with him.
Throughout his professional career, Psacharopoulos dedicated himself to training actors and developing acting techniques that were appropriate for handling the challenges of all styles of texts and characters.
Psacharopoulos demanded that his actors respect the work that was occurring in the rehearsal room. Psacharopoulos established a classroom and rehearsal environment for actors that emphasized complete focus built upon respect and professionalism. No one was allowed to come late or leave early and, above all, no one was permitted to disturb scene work that was in progress. At Yale, Psacharopoulos conducted two-hour class sessions and followed the same format, every year with every class, without variation. Even with first-year acting classes, Psacharopoulos' teaching methods were accelerated and more advanced than typical beginning classes. He avoided using classes, or rehearsals, as acting homework sessions that delve into textual study, as many acting teachers tend to do. He functioned with the belief that his actors came to him on the first day already well versed with an acting vocabulary. He assumed that, even as beginners, his actors were adept at developing a character's back-story, working with the process of identifying objectives and obstacles, and utilizing sensory and emotional memory, imagination, observation, as well as other tools of the developing actor.
Nikos Psacharopoulos, Leland Starnes & Suzanne Pleshette, Two for the Seesaw
For Psacharopoulos as teacher or director, it was not only that his actors must apprehend these new concepts and incorporate them, but the old ways of perceiving and responding to character development must be chipped away and challenged.
For Psacharopoulos, the theoretical process of acting and discovering character began with communication, and this process was not an isolated technique falling on the responsibility of a single actor, but rather a shared experience between players and used as a tool that enabled revelation of character. For Psacharopoulos, it ultimately did not matter what preparation of character an actor brought into a rehearsal environment. The acting process could only begin in the moment of communication between characters in a scene. This heightened, unified communication between characters resulted in a connection that forced actors to purposefully express something explicit.
So how to I sum this up? According to Psacharopoulos, the artist must always be secured to the elements provided by the playwright's text. The text must be communicated on stage in the moment only as it is grounded at the character's center. Yup, trust the text. Highly recommended.
Toward Mastery: An Acting Class With Nikos Psacharopoulos ~~~ Nikos Psacharopoulos
Toward Mastery: An Acting Class With Nikos Psacharopoulos is one of the greatest theatrical texts on the arts of acting and directing ever written.
Nikos Psacharopoulos was a Greek-born director best known for his long-term association with the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Born in Athens, Greece on January 18, 1928 Psacharopoulos claimed to have started his own theater troupe at the age of 15 in Nazi-occupied Greece. In 1947 he came to the United States to study at Oberlin College, where he directed several productions by the Oberlin Mummers. Then it was on to the Yale School of Drama, from which he received an MFA in directing in 1954.
In 1955 the fledgling Williamstown Summer Theatre invited the 27-year-old Psacharopoulos to be an Associate Director. He accepted, returning the next year as the Artistic and Executive Director ~~ and establishing a benevolent dictatorship that would last for 44 years. He instituted a rigorous schedule of 10 ~~ 12 shows per season, generally with 2 ~~ 3 weeks rehearsal time for each show.
In the 1950s the Williamstown Summer Theatre performed mainly modern classics, for example, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Our Town. Widespread critical acclaim came in the early 1960s with a series of renowned Anton Chekhov cycles. The later 1960s involved ambitious fare for summer theater, with epics like Iphigeneia at Aulis and Peer Gynt.
Lee Grant & Blythe Danner, The Seagull
Throughout his tenure at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the irrepressible Nikos (as everyone called him) personally directed at least two shows per season. He was also involved in numerous outside projects. He taught acting steadily at Yale and Circle-in-the-Square. In the 1950s his revival of the Play of Daniel was first performed at The Cloisters and subsequently toured North America and Europe.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Psacharopoulos directed several operas for the New York City Opera, Broadway shows ~~ most notably, Langston Hughes' Tambourines to Glory, and Androcles and the Lion for the American Shakespeare Festival.
It is unfortunate Nikos Psacharopoulos is not better known today.
Tom Brennan & Nikos Psacharopoulos
I've said many times that in Chekhov getting there is all the fun.
Toward Mastery: An Acting Class With Nikos Psacharopoulos ~~ Nikos Psacharopoulos
Psacharopoulos' immigrant background, erudition, inherent trust of playwrights' texts, propensity for nurturing and challenging actors, and an emphasis on moment~~to~~moment work, epitomized his strengths as a director. It is these strengths that come so clearly in this book.
Toward Mastery: An Acting Class With Nikos Psacharopoulos was published in 1998 after Nikos Psacharopoulos death from cancer. It is comprised of transcripts from critical discussions conducted in acting classes led by Psacharopoulos. This book also contains feedback given by the Psacharopoulos while assisting actors' work on Chekhov. Using the director's words and the description of his work by artists who worked with him.
Throughout his professional career, Psacharopoulos dedicated himself to training actors and developing acting techniques that were appropriate for handling the challenges of all styles of texts and characters.
Psacharopoulos demanded that his actors respect the work that was occurring in the rehearsal room. Psacharopoulos established a classroom and rehearsal environment for actors that emphasized complete focus built upon respect and professionalism. No one was allowed to come late or leave early and, above all, no one was permitted to disturb scene work that was in progress. At Yale, Psacharopoulos conducted two-hour class sessions and followed the same format, every year with every class, without variation. Even with first-year acting classes, Psacharopoulos' teaching methods were accelerated and more advanced than typical beginning classes. He avoided using classes, or rehearsals, as acting homework sessions that delve into textual study, as many acting teachers tend to do. He functioned with the belief that his actors came to him on the first day already well versed with an acting vocabulary. He assumed that, even as beginners, his actors were adept at developing a character's back-story, working with the process of identifying objectives and obstacles, and utilizing sensory and emotional memory, imagination, observation, as well as other tools of the developing actor.
Nikos Psacharopoulos, Leland Starnes & Suzanne Pleshette, Two for the Seesaw
For Psacharopoulos as teacher or director, it was not only that his actors must apprehend these new concepts and incorporate them, but the old ways of perceiving and responding to character development must be chipped away and challenged.
For Psacharopoulos, the theoretical process of acting and discovering character began with communication, and this process was not an isolated technique falling on the responsibility of a single actor, but rather a shared experience between players and used as a tool that enabled revelation of character. For Psacharopoulos, it ultimately did not matter what preparation of character an actor brought into a rehearsal environment. The acting process could only begin in the moment of communication between characters in a scene. This heightened, unified communication between characters resulted in a connection that forced actors to purposefully express something explicit.
So how to I sum this up? According to Psacharopoulos, the artist must always be secured to the elements provided by the playwright's text. The text must be communicated on stage in the moment only as it is grounded at the character's center. Yup, trust the text. Highly recommended.
September 3, 2012
I hope you love this book. It's Nikos at his best -- irreverent, witty, caustic, brilliant, idiosyncratic, using words in a completely unique way, bypassing the brain and going straight to the soul. He demands, exhorts & challenges the actor to leave behind "good" acting, "functional" acting, "serviceable" acting -- and take the leap towards GREAT acting. And he shows you how.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews