Method Man
By Daily Bruin Staff
Nov. 27, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 Pictures from The Group at Strasberg Christopher
Grove (left) and David Kagen star in
"Names" as Clifford Odets and Harold Clurman, respectively. It is
the first of three plays in the Centennial Celebration.
By Jinjue Pak
Daily Bruin Contributor
In one of the most famous scenes in film history, Marlon Brando
in “On the Waterfront” delivers the line, “I
coulda been a contender.” Brando was a Method actor.
Dustin Hoffman gave Oscar-winning performances in “Kramer
vs. Kramer” and “Rain Man.” He was nominated for
a total of seven Academy Awards. Hoffman is a Method actor.
Al Pacino played the mafia boss Michael Corleone in the
Godfather trilogy. Pacino is a Method actor.
In his acting, directing and teaching career, Lee Strasberg
spread The Method to numerous successful actors through his theater
project The Group and through the famed Actors Studio. Strasberg,
now deceased, is the subject of a season-long tribute on the
occasion of what would have been his 100th birthday. The Centennial
Celebration, as the tribute is aptly named, includes three plays,
two workshops and film screenings, and is being presented by The
Group at Strasberg.
The innovative approach called The Method, inspired by Russian
teacher Konstanin Stanislavski, involves using personal experiences
to make emotions appear real. The original The Group, founded in
1931 and relying on this theory, was a revolutionary company,
according to director Adam Davidson.
“They wanted to change the way acting was performed. The
Group was about finding out a method of delivering true emotions on
stage. They really transformed American theater. Prior to The
Group, much of the plays were imported from Europe. Seeing the
Depression, seeing families living in cardboard houses, made them
want plays on the working class,” Davidson said.
 Pictures from The Group at Strasberg
Barry Cutler (left) plays Lee Strasberg
alongside Shaun Duke (Elia Kazan) in
“Names,” showing at the Marilyn Monroe Theatre.
Following the initial The Group’s demise, Lee Strasberg
became the artistic director at the Actors Studio in 1948, where he
taught a number of famous actors including Marilyn Monroe, James
Dean, and his co-stars in “The Godfather: Part II,” Al
Pacino and Robert DeNiro. Younger actors who have studied his
Method include Claire Daines and Drew Barrymore.
“Its root is very simple. The Method is finding truth
under imaginary circumstances. Now it’s almost taken for
granted. For hundreds of years there was debate over great acting,
and how it should be done. Stanislavski was the forefather of it
all. What my father was able to do was extend it and make it
practicable,” said David Lee Strasberg, Lee Strasberg’s
son and the founder of The Group at Strasberg.
This new theater company, named in tribute to the elder
Strasberg, is an in-house production company that was established
by producer David Lee Strasberg.
“Our mission is to encourage new artistic voices. We train
actors. It was my father’s work and his method,” said
Strasberg.
Strasberg keeps his father’s spirit and inspiration alive
through The Group at Strasberg by presenting and debuting new
works.
 Pictures from The Group at Strasberg Robert
Mobley calmly smokes a cigarette as John Garfield in the
new play “Names.”
“Names,” by Mark Kemble, the first of three plays in
the Centennial Celebration, includes Lee Strasberg as a character.
The play takes place the day before the infamous naming of names by
Elia Kazan to Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities
Committee.
The other two plays are “The Have-Little” written by
Migdalia Cruz under the direction of Diane Rodriguez and “The
Summer Winds” by Frank Pugliese. All three plays celebrate
the Strasberg idea of new voices and their individual talents.
“We’re choosing many styles. The next play is about
a journey of the heart. They all have different feels, with truth
to service the foundation of every style,” said
Strasberg.
Along with the plays, two workshops are scheduled for the month
of February. The first workshop will focus on “Jose
Gregorio” by Patricia Cardoso. The workshops are open to the
public and free, inviting feedback from the audience. The second
workshop’s theme will be announced in the future.
On Dec. 5th, the Centennial Celebration will honor the acting
career of the late Strasberg by screening his Academy
Award-nominated performance as Hyman Roth in “The Godfather:
Part II” at The Egyptian. A Q&A session led by wife Anna
Strasberg and other guests will follow the screening.
Other activities on the agenda for The Group at Strasberg
include the debut of a film-series called First Person Cinemas. A
feature film will be screened every other month, and a director or
star actor will lead a “Talk Back” session with the
audience following the screening.
Aleim Johnson, film curator and literary manager, has been
working with The Group at Strasberg for a year, and is organizing
the films and speakers.
“The purpose is to give the audience a glimpse into the
different components that make the process of cinema, from acting
and directing to writing,” stated Johnson.
The films will vary from foreign, to studio, to seminal
independent films. The screenings are again free and open to the
public.
The events arranged for this season by The Group at Strasberg
are all inspired by the beliefs and teachings of Lee Strasberg. The
Group at Strasberg gives a special 100th anniversary tribute to the
legendary figure who has marked the history and evolution of acting
and theater.
“My father was never interested in imitating work that has
been done before. We focus on new talent, the unique new talent
each person brings, and what is written by people of today,
grappling with issues of today,” said Strasberg.
