Acting is performing a play, as simply as possible, for the benefit of an audience. The Method gurus were failed or second-rate actors or directors who’d found shelter and glory in the backwash of the real thing—like today’s energy therapists, who didn’t care to go to medical school. The gurus certainly thought they were bringing wisdom and artistic health to their students (I studied with some of them and knew them all). But a survey of their charges’ careers would not support their belief.
