Acting
Voice / Diction
Text Analysis
Movement
Improvization
Acting in Production
Art Discussion
Visual Expression
Performance Class

Monthly topics for the Monthly Progressive Method Acting Training - Intermediate level
	March 2013 - How as What in acting Subjects: Acting Voice Text Analysis Movement Improvization Acting in Production Art Discussion Overview: Acting: The student develops acting skills through a series of exercises based on the principles of stage reality. Actors acquire a technique that allows them to access their emotional life and express it through natural and truthful behavior.
	April 2013 - What as Where and Why in acting Subjects: Acting Voice Text Analysis Movement Improvization Acting in Production Art Discussion Overview: Text Analysis teaches students to read and analyze dramatic text. Students determine the use of professional terminology such as obstacles, given circumstances, units, beats, and attitude in their research.
	May 2013 - Memorization as - Why am I memorizing, not How am I memorizing Subjects: Acting Voice Text Analysis Movement Improvization Acting in Production Art Discussion Overview: Voice is a course strongly focused on the development of professional understanding of the use of voice and sound. Students learn a complex of exercises to warm up their vocal apparatus.
	June 2013 - Where as a moment in time in acting Subjects: Acting Voice Text Analysis Movement Improvization Acting in Production Art Discussion Overview: The course in Movement works to refine the actor's physical apparatus. The classes assist the performer in removing unnecessary physical habits. The objective is to enable the actor to have a fully articulated and expressive physical instrument - a body that is free, responsive and animated.
	July 2013 - Why as How the character look at the World Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Acting in Production History of Drama, Discussion Overview: Art Discussion is designed to introduce the student to the variety of shapes, forms,shadows, and colors used in visual arts. Students develop the skill of playing with images and expressing emotions through colors, shapes, and textures. This course aims at the expansion of the designer's and craftsman's imagination and creativity.
	August 2013 - Conflict as Freedom in acting Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Acting in Production History of Drama, Discussion Overview: Technical Production is designed to introduce students to the technical part of the staging process. Students work with supervisors to construct and assemble sets for upcoming theatre productions.
	September 2013 - Freedom as Action in acting Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Acting in Production History of Drama, Discussion Overview: Acting opens a new, more practical aspect of performance work where students work in teams to experience professional ethic relation-ships. At this advanced level actors analyze, design, rehearse, advertise, and produce a one-act play with only two characters in it. During the four month process of guidance, improvisation, and scene study work, students complete to the perfection a small theatre performance. Finishing Acting, they are able to create their own one-act theatre production. Shows are open for the public.
	October 2013 - Action as Vulnerability in actor's work Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Acting in Production History of Drama, Discussion Overview: Writing: Continues all the aspects of Text Analysis. Text Analysis/ Writing teaches students to read and analyze dramatic text. Students determine the use of professional terminology such as obstacles, given circumstances, units, beats, and attitude in their research.
	November 2013 - Vulnerability as Awareness in the moment and space Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Acting in Production History of Drama, Discussion Overview: Diction: This work forces the student to concentrate on consonant and vowel sounds and to develop the means for working with difficult prose and poetry. Along with this, the actor will work on phrasing, inflection, and rhythm.
	January 2014 - Awareness as internal Focus in acting Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Acting in Production History of Drama, Discussion Overview: Improvization: Students learn to develop concentration skills, movement awareness, and how to minimize the effort on stage. Gesture and commu-nication, the origin of the gestures and qualities of the gestures lead the students to the actor's physical cha-racteristics and to discover existing physical characterizations in the text.
	February 2014 - Focus as Curiosity in detail in acting Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Acting in Production History of Drama, Discussion Overview: Stage Acting introduces student actors to the shapes, forms, shade, and color used in design techniques. Students learn to draw, sketch, portray, and play with space forms. The course aims to continue the training started with Visual Expression and to provoke the actor's imagination and originality.
	March 2014 - Emotional detail as an arc or a frame Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Acting in Production History of Drama, Discussion Overview: Acting Production is designed as an introduction in sound, lighting, stage management and all assistant positions in a theatre production team. Students work with supervisors to construct and assemble sets for upcoming theatre productions.
	April 2014 - Curiosity as an Awakening in actor's emotional being Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization/On-camera acting Acting in Production History of Fine Arts, Discussion Overview: History of Fine Art/Discussion: The course is designed to introduce students to the history of architecture and stage design in ancient European theatre. History of drama and Stage Design is also designed to introduce students to the European drama between the Roman Empire and the beginning of the 19th century.
	May 2014 - Awakening as character's Will Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization/On-camera acting Acting in Production History of Fine Arts, Discussion Overview: Main stage production course. Students take part in a full-length classical or contemporary play. Students are introduced to advertising, public relations, front theatre management, box-office service, rules, and regulations in the professional theatre stage space. A part of this course is also analyzing the audience, critical examination of a professional theatre performance, and the preparation for a final thesis-paper about the characters they play.
	June 2014 - Will as Motion and psychological relic for the character Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization/On-camera acting Acting in Production History of Fine Arts, Discussion Overview: Text Analysis: Students further develop their skills to define drama elements such as Conflict; The Organization of Action as a Plot; Crisis as Dramatic Action; and Super Objective.
	July 2014 - Motion as moving Emptiness in acting Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization/On-camera acting Acting in Production History of Fine Arts, Discussion Overview: Voice: The course continues the work from Voice/Diction, students concentrate on consonant and vowel sounds while working with difficult prose and poetry.
	August 2014 - Emptiness as Silence in Memorization in acting Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement On-camera acting Acting in Production History of Fine Arts, Discussion Overview: Movement: The course provides training in several popular dances.A complex of classical ballet exercises builds the actor's body alignment and creates self-awareness, self-discipline, and grace.
	September 2014 - Silence as Moving Void in acting Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement On-camera acting Acting in Production History of Fine Arts, Discussion Overview: Acting In Production: The course covers relationship, scene work, justification, physical and voice obstacles and character interpretation. It includes the preparation for videotaped monologues, reviewed by the student and the teacher in order to assess the work. Students develop a professional portfolio. The studio provides lectures and seminars held by industry professionals, agents, casting directors etc.
	October 2014 - Void as emotional Pressure Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement On-camera acting Acting in Production History of Fine Arts, Discussion Overview: Acting in Production is designed to introduce Students to make-up, costume, and hair design as well as to all assistant positions in a theatre production team. Students work with supervisors to construct and assemble a set for the upcoming second year theatre production.
	November 2014 - Emotional pressure as Crave in acting Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement On-camera acting Technical Production History of Fine Arts Overview: Discussion is designed to introduce student actors to the latest practical and theoretical ideas and researches in dramatic literature and performance. This course observes contemporary dramatic forms of art since the beginning of the 20th century. The course introduces students to the history of architecture and stage design in Medieval and Renaissance European theatre.
	January 2015 - Crave as psychological Chaos in acting Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression/Character Design Overview: History of Fine Arts is a historical overview of modern and post-modern art and their most famous and important representatives.
	February 2015 - Psychological chaos as an Impulse in acting Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression/Character Design Overview: Acting: Students continue to explore their emotions using paint, and space forms, they learn more about composition and balance. Students in Stage acting are also involved in design and construction work for the second year productions.
	March 2015 - Character impulse as an actor's emotional blindness in action Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression/Character Design Overview: Acting - the student develops acting skills through a series of exercises based on the principles of stage reality. Actors acquire a technique that allows them to access their emotional life and express it through natural and truthful behavior.
	April 2015 - Emotional blindness as physical Serenity in action Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression/Character Design Overview: Text Analysis teaches students to read and analyze dramatic text. Students determine the use of professional terminology such as obstacles, given circumstances, units, beats, and attitude in their research.
	May 2015 - Physical Serenity as crises in action Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression/Character Design Overview: Voice is a course strongly focused on the development of professional understanding of the use of voice and sound. Students learn a complex of exercises to warm up their vocal apparatus.
	June 2015 - Crises as silent Aggression in acting Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression/Character Design Overview: The course of Movement works to refine the actor's physical apparatus. The classes assist the performer in removing unnecessary physical habits. The objective is to enable the actor to have a fully articulated and expressive physical instrument - a body that is free, responsive and animated.
	July 2015 - Silent Aggression as imaginary Conflict in action Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression/Character Design Overview: Visual Expression is designed to introduce the student to the variety of shapes, forms,shadows, and colors used in visual arts. Students develop the skill of playing with images and expressing emotions through colors, shapes, and textures. This course aims at the expansion of the designer's imagination and creativity.
	August 2015 - Imaginary conflict as dynamic Associations Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression/Character Design Overview: Technical Production is designed to introduce students to the technical part of the staging process. Students work with supervisors to construct and assemble sets for upcoming theatre productions.
	September 2015 - Neutral as Impossibility in acting Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression Overview: Acting opens a new, more practical aspect of performance work where students work in teams to experience professional ethic relation-ships. At this advanced level actors analyze, design, rehearse, advertise, and produce a one-act play with only two characters in it. During the four month process of guidance, improvisation, and scene study work, students complete to the perfection a small theatre performance. Finishing Acting, they are able to create their own one-act theatre production. Shows are open for the public.
	October 2015 - Impossibility as dynamic solution in acting Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression Overview: Text Analysis/Writing continues all the aspects of Text Analysis. Text Analysis/ Writing teaches students to read and analyze dramatic text. Students determine the use of professional terminology such as obstacles, given circumstances, units, beats, and attitude in their research.
	November 2015 - The emotional Cycle in acting Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression Overview: The work in Voice forces the student to concentrate on consonant and vowel sounds and to develop the means for working with difficult prose and poetry. Along with this, the actor will work on phrasing, inflection, and rhythm.
	January 2016 - Partial emotional Saturation - free emotions Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression Overview: Improvization helps students to learn and develop concentration skills, movement awareness, and how to minimize the effort on stage. Gesture and communication, the origin of the gestures and qualities of the gestures lead the students to the actor's physical cha-racteristics and to discover existing physical characterizations in the text.
	February 2016 - Full emotional Saturation - precise emotions Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression Overview: Stage Acting introduces student actors to the shapes, forms, shade, and color used in method techniques. Students learn to draw, sketch, portray, and play with space forms. The course aims to continue the training started with Acting and to provoke the actor's imagination and originality. Students in Acting are also involved in construction work for thetheatre productions.
	March 2016 - Dipping in the emotional pool Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression Overview: Technical Production is designed as an introduction in sound, lighting, stage management and all assistant positions in a theatre production team. Students work with supervisors to construct and assemble sets for upcoming theatre productions.
	April 2016 - Maintaining emotional Saturation - mirror surfaces Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression Overview: The course in Art Disussion is designed to introduce students to the history of architecture and stage design in ancient European theatre. History of drama and Stage Design is also designed to introduce students to the European drama between the Roman Empire and the beginning of the 19th century.
	May 2016 - Removing surplis emotion Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression Overview: Acting - main stage production course. Students take part in a full-length classical or contemporary play. Students are introduced to advertising, public relations, front theatre management, box-office service, rules, and regulations in the professional theatre stage space. A part of this course is also analyzing the audience, critical examination of a professional theatre performance, and the preparation for a final thesis-paper about the characters they play.
	June 2016 - The end of the emotional cycle in actor's action Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression Overview: Writing: Students further develop their skills to define drama elements such as Conflict; The Organization of Action as a Plot; Crisis as Dramatic Action; and Super Objective.
	July 2016 - Emotional preparation - sami-matt, cool matt, dry matt emotional state Subjects: Acting Voice/Diction Text Analysis/Writing Movement Improvization Technical Production Visual Expression Overview: The course Voice/Diction - students concentrate on consonant and vowel sounds while working with difficult prose and poetry. Along with this, the student actor continues the work on phrasing, inflection, and rhythm.

About Jerzy Grotowski

Statement of Principles - Jerzy Grotowski
I
The rhythm of life in modern civilization is characterized by pace, tension, a feeling of doom, the wish to hide our personal motives and the assumption of a variety of roles and masks in life (different ones with our family, at work, amongst friends or in community life, etc.-). We like to be "scientific", by which we mean discursive and cerebral, since this attitude is dictated by the course of civilization. But we also want to pay tribute to our biological selves, to what we might call physiological pleasures. We do not want to be restricted in this sphere. Therefore we play a double game of intellect and instinct, thought and emotion; we try to divide ourselves artificially into body and soul. When we try to liberate ourselves from it all we start to shout and stamp, we convulse to the rhythm of music. In our search for liberation we reach biological chaos. We suffer most from a lack of totality, throwing ourselves away, squandering ourselves.
Theatre - through the actor's technique, his art in which the living organism strives for higher motives - provides an opportunity for what could be called integration, the discarding of masks, the revealing of the real substance: a totality of physical and mental reactions. This opportunity must be treated in a disciplined manner, with a full awareness of the responsibilities it involves. Here we can see the theatre's therapeutic function for people in our present day civilization. It is true that the actor accomplishes this act, but he can only do so through an encounter with the spectator - intimately, visibly, not hiding behind a cameraman, wardrobe mistress, stage designer or make-up girl - in direct confrontation with him, and somehow " instead of" him. The actor's act - discarding half measures, revealing, opening up, emerging from himself as opposed to closing up - is an invitation to the spectator. This act could be compared to an act of the most deeply rooted, genuine love between two human beings - this is just a comparison since we can only refer to this "emergence from oneself" through analogy. This act, paradoxical and borderline, we call a total act. In our opinion it epitomizes the actor's deepest calling.
II
Why do we sacrifice so much energy to our art? Not in order to teach others but to learn with them what our existence, our organism, our personal and unrepeatable experience have to give us; to learn to break down the barriers which surround us and to free ourselves from the breaks which hold us back, from the lies about ourselves which we manufacture daily for ourselves and for others; to destroy the limitations caused by our ignorance and lack of courage; in short, to fill the emptiness in us: to fulfill ourselves. Art is neither a state of the soul (in the sense of some extraordinary, unpredictable moment of inspiration) nor a state of man (in the sense of a profession or social function). Art is a ripening, an evolution, an uplifting which enables us to emerge from darkness into a blaze of light.
We fight then to discover, to experience the truth about ourselves; to tear away the masks behind which we hide daily. We see theatre - especially in its palpable, carnal aspect - as a place of provocation, a challenge the actor sets himself and also, indirectly, other people. Theatre only has a meaning if it allows us to transcend our stereotyped vision, our conventional feelings and customs, our standards of judgment - not just for the sake of doing so, but so that we may experience what is real and, having already given up all daily escapes and pretenses, in a state of complete defenselessness unveil, give, discover ourselves. In this way - through shock, through the shudder which causes us to drop our dally masks and mannerisms - we are able, without hiding anything, to entrust ourselves to something we cannot name but in which live Eros and Charitas.
III
Art cannot be bound by the laws of common morality or any catechism. The actor, at least in part, is creator, model and creation rolled into one- He must not be shameless as that leads to exhibitionism. He must have courage, but not merely the courage to exhibit himself - a passive courage, we might say: the courage of the defenseless, the courage to reveal himself. Neither that which touches the interior sphere, nor the profound stripping bare of the self should be regarded as evil so long as in the process of preparation or in the completed work they produce an act of creation. If they do not come easily and if they are not signs of outburst but of mastership, then they are creative: they reveal and purify us while we transcend ourselves. Indeed, they improve us then.
For these reasons every aspect of an actor's work dealing with intimate matters should be protected from incidental remarks, indiscretions, nonchalance, idle comments and jokes. The personal realm - both spiritual and physical - must not be "swamped" by triviality, the sordidness of life and lack of tact towards oneself and others; at least not in the place of work or anywhere connected with it. This postulate sounds like an abstract moral order. It is not. It involves the very essence of the actor's calling. This calling is realized through carnality. The actor must not Illustrate but accomplish an "act of the soul" by means of his own organism. Thus he is faced with two extreme alternatives: he can either sell, dishonour, his real "incarnate" self, making himself an object of artistic prostitution; or he can give himself, sanctify his real "incarnate" self.
IV
An actor can only be guided and inspired by someone who is whole-hearted in his creative activity. The producer, while guiding and inspiring the actor, must at the same time allow himself to be guided and inspired by him- it is a question of freedom, partnership, and this does not imply a lack of discipline but a respect for the autonomy of others. Respect for the actor's autonomy does not mean lawlessness, lack of demands, never ending discussions and the replacement of action by continuous streams of words. On the contrary, respect for autonomy means enormous demands, the expectation of a maximum creative effort and the most personal revelation. Understood thus, solicitude for the actor's freedom can only be born from the plenitude of the guide and not from his lack of plenitude. Such a lack implies imposition, dictatorship, superficial dressage.
V
An act of creation has nothing to do with either external comfort or conventional human civility; that is to say working conditions in which everybody is happy. It demands a maximum of silence and a minimum of words. In this kind of creativity we discuss through proposals, actions and living organisms, not through explanations. When we finally find ourselves on the track of something difficult and often almost intangible, we have no right to lose it through frivolity and carelessness. Therefore, even during breaks after which we will be continuing with the creative process, we are obliged to observe certain natural reticences in our behaviour and even in our private affairs. This applies just as much to our own work as to the work of our partners. We must not interrupt and disorganize the work because we are hurrying to our own affairs; we must not peep, comment or make jokes about it privately. In any case, private Ideas of fun have no place in the actors calling. In our approach to creative tasks, even if the theme is a game, we must be in a state of readiness - one might even say " solemnity". Our working terminology which serves as a stimulus must not be dissociated from the work and used in a private context. Work terminology should be associated only with that which it serves.
A creative act of this quality is performed in a group, and therefore within certain limits we should restrain our creative egoism. An actor has no right to mold his partner so as to provide greater possibilities for his own performance. Nor has he the right to correct his partner unless authorized by the work leader. Intimate or drastic elements in the work of others are untouchable and should not be commented upon even in their absence. Private conflicts, quarrels, sentiments, animosities are unavoidable in any human group. It is our duty towards creation to keep them in check in so far as they might deform and wreck the work process. We are obliged to open ourselves up even towards an enemy.
VI
It has been mentioned several times already but we can never stress and explain too often the fact that we must never exploit privately anything connected with the creative act: i. e. location, costume, props, an element from the acting score a melodic theme or lines from the text. This rule applies to the smallest detail and there can be no exceptions. We did not make this rule simply to pay tribute to a special artistic devotion. We are not interested in grandeur and noble words, but our awareness and experience tell us that lack of strict adherence to such rules causes the actors score to become deprived of its psychic motives and "radiance."
VII
Order and harmony in the work of each actor are essential conditions without which a creative act cannot take place. Here we demand consistency. We demand it from the actors who come to the theatre consciously to try themselves out in something extreme, a sort of challenge seeking a total response from every one of us. They come to test themselves in something very definite that reaches beyond the meaning of "theatre" and is more like an act of living and way of existence. This outline probably sounds rather vague. If we try to explain it theoretically, we might say that the theatre and acting are for us a kind of vehicle allowing us to emerge from ourselves, to fulfill ourselves. We could go into this at great length. However, anyone who stays here longer than just the trial period is perfectly aware that what we are talking about can be grasped less through grandiose words than through details, demands and the rigours of work in all its elements. The individual who disturbs the basic elements, who does not for example respect his own and the others acting score, destroying its structure by shamming or automatic reproduction, is the very one who shakes this undeniable higher motive of our common activity. Seemingly small details form the background against which fundamental questions are decided, as for example the duty to note down elements discovered in the course of the work. We must not rely on our memory unless we feel the spontaneity of our work is being threatened, and even then we must keep a partial record. This is just as basic a rule as is strict punctuality, the thorough memorizing of the text, etc. Any form of shamming in one's work is completely inadmissible. However it does sometimes happen that an actor has to go through a scene, just outline it, in order to check its organization and the elements of his partners' actions. But even then he must follow the actions carefully, measuring himself against them, in order to comprehend their motives. This is the difference between outlining and shamming.
An actor must always be ready to join the creative act at the exact moment determined by the group. In this respect his health, physical condition and all his private affairs cease to be just his own concern. A creative act of such quality flourishes only if nourished by the living organism. Therefore we are obliged to take daily care of our bodies so we are always ready for our tasks. We must not go short of sleep for the sake of private enjoyment and then come to work tired or with a hangover. We must not come unable to concentrate. The rule here is not just one's compulsory presence in the place of work, but physical readiness to create.
VIII
Creativity, especially where acting is concerned, is boundless sincerity, yet disciplined: i.e. articulated through signs. The creator should not therefore find his material a barrier in this respect. And as the actor's material is his own body, it should be trained to obey, to be pliable, to respond passively to psychic impulses as if it did not exist during the moment of creation - by which we mean it does not offer any resistance. Spontaneity and discipline are the basic aspects of an actor's work and they require a methodical key.
Before a man decides to do something he must first work out a point of orientation and then act accordingly and in a coherent manner. This point of orientation should be quite evident to him, the result of natural convictions, prior observations and experiences in life. The basic foundations of this method constitute for our troupe this point of orientation. Our institute is geared to examining the consequences of this point of orientation. Therefore nobody who comes and stays here can claim a lack of knowledge of the troupe's methodical program. Anyone who comes and works here and then wants to keep his distance (as regards creative consciousness) shows the wrong kind of care for his own individuality. The etymological meaning of " individuality" is " indivisibility" which means complete existence in something: individuality is the very opposite of half-heartedness. We maintain, therefore, that those who come and stay here discover in our method something deeply related to them, prepared by their lives and experiences. Since they accept this consciously, we presume that each of the participants feels obliged to train creatively and try to form his own variation inseparable from himself, his own reorientation open to risks and search. For what we here call "the method" is the very opposite of any sort of prescription.
IX
The main point then is that an actor should not try to acquire any kind of recipe or build up a "box of tricks." This is no place for collecting all sorts of means of expression. The force of gravity in our work pushes the actor towards an interior ripening which expresses itself through a willingness to break through barriers, to search for a "summit", for totality.
The actor's first duty is to grasp the fact that nobody here wants to give him anything; instead they plan to take a lot from him, to take away that to which he is usually very attached: his resistance, reticence, his inclination to hide behind masks, his half-heartedness, the obstacles his body places in the way of his creative act, his habits and even his usual "good manners".
X
Before an actor is able to achieve a total act he has to fulfill a number of requirements, some of which are so subtle, so intangible, as to be practically undefinable through words. They only become plain through practical application. It is easier, however, to define conditions under which a total act cannot be achieved and which of the actor's actions make it impossible. This act cannot exist if the actor is more concerned with charm, personal success, applause and salary than with creation as understood in its highest form. It cannot exist if the actor conditions it according to the size of his part, his place in the performance, the day or kind of audience. There can be no total act if the actor, even away from the theatre, dissipates his creative impulse and, as we said before, sullies it, blocks it, particularly through incidental engagements of a doubtful nature or by the premeditated use of the creative act as a means to further own career.

Q: I am currently studying Grotowski and his "Poor Theatre" acting >techniques. I was wondering if you could e-mail me any >information on his influences - most importantly Vakhtangov and >how he influenced Grotowski. > > >Thank you very much > > >R H

A: My experience with Grotowski's techniques were experiential, not academic. I can tell you what our rehearsals and performances were like. I can tell you what it felt like to visit and perform in Poland in 1969. I can also relate what it was like to work with the Performance Group, another Grotowski influenced group in NYC.
So to better address your question I called the director of Pillory Theatre, Dr. Jacques Burdick. His opinion is that Grotowski would certainly have known about Vakhtangov who was active in the early 1900's. In his personal discussions and correspondence with Grotowski, Dr. Burdick said that Vakhtangov's name never came up.
When I asked Dr. Burdick about any similarities between Grotowski and Vakhtangov he recalled a moment in a performance of the Habimah Theatre he saw on tour in NYC in the early 1960's. This group was formed in Russia and produced a performance of "The Dybbuk" by S. Ansky in 1922. Vakhtangov directed the original production. In 1928 the Habimah Theatre company moved to Palestine and continued to perform the same production. In the performance of "The Dybbuk" Dr. Burdick attended (of the same company, grown older) there was a section in the performance when the old rabbi is exorcising the foreign spirit from the young girl where the dramatic / physiological impact had the same qualities as he experienced with Grotowski's productions.
This is a tenuous thread, but it feels true to me. I experienced that there is a focus on the physicality and wisdom / knowingness of the body in Grotowski's work. His impact, going beyond words and concepts, is felt by the audience as physical sensation. Jeff Spolan describes this in his interview on the web site as, in one case, hearing the vibration of the performer's song in the base of his spine. This dramatic / physiological impact that Jeff experienced was quite real. He noted: "This is not an accident, nor is it a 'trick'."
An email from Robert Ellermann (who trained with Lee Strasberg, Bobby Lewis, among others, and was artistic director of the Cactus Theatre in Chicago, and taught with Bobby Lewis in Los Angeles) points out a more tangible connection:
>>The information you seek about Vakhtangov's influence on Grotowski is based on the fact that when Grotowski went to the old USSR to study at GITIS his main teacher was the great Vakhtangov disciple Yuri Zavadsky. Zavadsky was with Vakhtangov from 1916 or so until 1922. Look into Zavadsky and GITIS for your answers. Robert Ellermann<<
Indeed, in his book Grotowski and His Laboratory, Zbigniew Osinski writes:
"Grotowski was enrolled in the G.I.T.I.S [State Institute of Theater Arts in Moscow] directing program from August 23, 1955, until June 15, 1956. Under the supervision of Yuri Zavadsky, he directed The Mother by Jerzy Szaniawski at the theater Institute. He was Zavadsky's assistant in the production of Zialpotov by L.G. Zotin, which opened on April 27, 1956 at the Mossoviet Theater. His professors left him free to accomplish his routine apprenticeship. He met Zavadsky ten years later in the hall of Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt, where, during the season of Théâtre des Nations, the Mossoviet Theater of Moscow performed Gogol under Zavadsky's direction. The old man looked at Grotowski, took his glasses off, recognized him and opened his arms to him. (24) He also directed productions at the Mossoviet and Moscow Art Theater, and he studied the techniques of Stanislavsky, Vakhtangov, Meyerhold, and Tairov"
More information about Vakhtangov's work and techniques and their relation to Grotowski's work :
On a web page from Actors Studio, Lee Strasberg is quoted as saying, "If you examine the work of the Stanislavski System as made use of by Stanislavski, you see one result. If you examine it in the work of one of his great pupils, Vakhtangov—who influenced our thinking and activity—you will see a completely different result. Vakhtangov's work was skillfully done, his use of the Method even more brilliant and more imaginative that Stanislavski’s, and yet Vakhtangov achieved totally different results."
Strasberg also says, "Vakhtangov says, 'If you had to do such and such a thing, as Othello does, what would have to happen to you, what would motivate you to do that?' In other words he places the aesthetic intention first and then uses the technique as a way of carrying out the aesthetic intention. When that is not done, often even in Stanislavski’s productions, the work makes the reality descend to the level of the actor, rather than helping the actor to ascend to the level of the character."
All of this does not sound like 'grotesque' Commedia, which would seem to more closely related to Meyerhold's work.
Britannica.com has Vakhtangov 'bridging the gap' between Stanislavsky and Meyerhold, "Yevgeny Vakhtangov tried to bridge the gap between Realism and the avant-garde"... by use of his '"outer technique"' ... "While preserving a deep respect for the actor's art--something he learned from Stanislavsky--he brought bold gesture and vivid colour to his productions"
This, to me, seems to make sense, given the reputation of Strasberg and Actor's Studio.
Grotowski, in an article written in 1965 and published in his book of the same name published in 1968, "Towards a Poor Theatre" mentions Vakhtangov as one of his influences. "I have studied all the major training methods of Europe and beyond. Most important for my purposes are: Dullin's rhythm exercises, Delsarte's investigations of extroversive and introversive reactions, Stanislavski's work on 'physical actions', Meyerholds's bio-mechanical training, Vakhtangov's synthesis."
The link between Grotowski and Stanislavsky is defined more fully defined by Grotowski in Towards a Poor Theatre. Lee Strasberg (Actor's Studio, NYC) makes reference to this: "A contemporary [to B. Brecht] Polish director, Jerzy Grotowski, made the most thorough effort to rediscover the elements of the actor's art. Although he credited Stanislavsky with having posed the most important questions, he was not satisfied either with Stanislavsky, who let natural impulses dominate, or with Brecht, who was too much concerned, Grotowski felt, with the construction of the role. To Grotowski, the actor is a man who works in public with his body, offering it publicly. The work with the actor's instrument consists of physical, plastic, and vocal training to guide him toward the right kind of concentration, to commit himself totally, and to achieve a state of "trance." The actors concentrate on the search for "signs," which express through sound and movement those impulses that waiver on the borderline between dream and reality. By means of such signs, the actor's own psychoanalytical language of sounds and gestures is constructed, in the same way as a great poet creates his own language."
My take is that Grotowski departed from Stanislavsky in a direction not indicated by Vakhtangov, nor Meyerhold and Brecht.
In a biographical sketch of Hanna Rovina, an original member of the Habimah Theatre the following glimpse of Vakhtangov's directorial effectiveness emerges: "Under Vakhtangov's direction, Rovina reached one of her artistic peaks, playing the part of Leah in An-ski's "The Dybbuk" (then entitled "Between Two Worlds"). The atmosphere at rehearsals is recalled by Chaim Nachman Bialik, who had translated the play into Hebrew. "Habimah's acting overwhelmed everyone who came within its orbit...perhaps it was the ecstasy stemming from some spring of invisible fire..."
Is there a relationship between this 'ecstasy' of Vakhtangov's direction and the 'state of "trance"' described by Strasberg in Grotowski's actors? If so, it may be a key to understanding of the effects felt by Dr. Burdick at the Habimah performance in NYC in the early 1960's that felt the same to him as Grotowski's performances in Edinburgh in 1967-68.
"Trance comes up in Grotowsi's "Towards a Poor Theatre" article as well. "The actor makes a total gift of himself. This is a technique of 'trance' and of the integration of all the actor's psychic and bodily powers which emerge from the intimate layers of his being and his instinct, springing forth in a sort of 'trans-lumination'."
These ecstasy / trance states could also be just different, independent means to a similar end. Grotowski had an interest in 'Hinduism and yoga' in his early life which preceded his interest in directing. See which presents Margaret Croyden's reporting of Grotowski's memorial service in NYC on January 14, 1999. Read Grotowski's taped remarks that were played at the opening of that service.
They go, in part, "When I was young I asked myself what would be a possible job that would enable me to look for the other one and myself, to look for a dimension of life that would be rooted in what is normal, organic, even sensual, but that would go beyond all this, that would have a sort of axis, another higher dimension that would surpass us. At that time, I wanted to study either Hinduism, to work on the different techniques of yoga, or medicine, to become a psychiatrist, or dramatic art to become a director."
In relating Grotowski's early history Jennifer Kumiega writes in The Theatre of Grotowski: "According to the Polish writer Kazimierz Braun, ill health again interrupted Grotowski's studies, and it was in order to recuperate that he made his first journey to Central Asia, spending two months raveling there in 1956, This was his first direct contact with the East, but it was evidence of a fascination that had been engendered during his childhood. He had at that time become acquainted with esoteric literature, and during his higher education in Cracow he made contact with those working in the area of Eastern philosophy, and participated in organized meetings and discussion groups. It was an interest that he also brought to bear in later years, in ways both manifest and implicit. Subsequent visits to the East were to culminate in 1970 in a six-week solitary odyssey through India and Kurdistan which had a profound and transformative effect on him and his work."
Like Stanislavsky, Grotowski investigated the mechanics and internal dynamics of performance. Starting from a base including Stanislavsky, Meyerhold, Brecht, Vakhtangov, Dullin and Delsarte, my judgment is that Grotowski went his own way, as much influenced by the inner states and knowledge made available through his exposure to 'Hinduism and Yoga', as by the theatrical culture preceding him. Grotowski's work is related to Vakhtangov in some similarity of results obtained in performance, and thanks to Robert Ellermann, we have one clear link, the work Grotowski did with Vakhtangov's student Yuri Zavadsky in the USSR at GITIS in 1955-1956.
Owen Daly, revised May 5, 2005