“This is not a course in ‘drama’. It is a course in opening up the vastness in you as a human being... ”

— –STELLA ADLER FROM STELLA ADLER ON IBSEN, STRINDBERG, AND CHEKHOV

LETTER FROM THE
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

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The Stella Adler Studio of Acting, founded in 1949, grows directly out of the spirit of its founder and the entire tradition from which she came, namely, the Group Theater of Harold Clurman and the Yiddish Theater of Jacob Adler. The conviction and driving passion of this tradition is that the purpose of theater is to activate, educate, and edify humanity. The ethos of this tradition - our animating motivation - is summarized with the insight that growth as an actor and growth as a human being are synonymous.

Today the energy of this tradition is reflected in a vast array of programs. The Stella Adler Studio of Acting is a world class actor train program/theater company, wrapped inside of a cultural center with a passion for social justice. Our footprint in the cultural life of New York City covers a diverse and unique community. We train NYU students, professional actors, inner city youth, middle school students in the South Bronx and inmates on Rikers Island.

In Los Angeles at the Art of Acting Studio, we not only train professional actors in conservatory programs and incarcerated youth in community programs, but we also have an award winning theater company that focuses on presenting new plays.

This annual report will give you a snapshot of the studio's impact from September 2016 through August 2017.

Tom Oppenheim

Artistic Director

BY THE NUMBERS

CONSERVATORY TRAINING PROGRAM

Conservatory training programs are the nucleus of the studio’s work. Here is a snapshot of students served in 1 year...

“More than anything, I learned not to be afraid. I learned to not be afraid of being ‘bad,’ or falling on my face, because if I was afraid, I was blocking myself off from growing. That release made me push myself to do things that I never would have imagined I’d be capable of.”

— Unknown

SCHOLARSHIPS

Did you Know?

The Stella Adler Studio of Acting, like most schools, has a gap between the cost of tuition and the cost of the conservatory programs? Tuition pays for the cost of each program including space, teacher salaries and utilities. Special units, like studying with Andrew Wade, go above and beyond the cost of tuition and therefore need support from people who know the value of this experience. Fundraising helps us fill the gap.
Scholarships attract students who demonstrate need, talent and merit. An assistantship program is also offered to help upperclassmen defray the cost of tuition.

“Each day I worked in the assistantship program I was no longer meandering, wasting my youth, or creativity. I was given a principle to live by, ‘growth as an artist and growth as a human being are synonymous.’ I honestly do not feel that I could have gotten to where I am now without this program.”

OUTREACH DIVISION

The Stella Adler Outreach Division empowers students through the rigorous study of craft. This division serves severely underserved populations with free theater and acting programs.

OUTREACH AIMS:

1.) To serve people who live at or below the national poverty level

2.) To disrupt the school to prison pipeline. Here is a snapshot of students served in one year.

3.) To empower participants through the rigorous study of craft.

** THESE ARE FREE PROGRAMS **

Did you Know?

The Outreach Division is funded by gifts from private donors, foundations, government and special events like the annual gala. Donors in the last year include the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation.

IMPACT

In the last year the studio welcomed 11,500 audience members. The studio’s social media campaigns reached an additional:

CULTURAL CENTER

The Harold Clurman Art Series provides world-class cultural events to the broader community that emphasize accessibility, namely, free or low-cost tickets. Here is a snapshot of select participating artists from the last year.

Peter Brook
Lawrence-Minh Bui Davis
Alexander Chee
Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni
David Deblinger
Jami Floyd
Manuel Gonzalez
Leon Gurvitch
Yusef Komunyakaa
Michael Milligan
Carine Montbertrand
Elizabeth Mozer
Idra Novey
The Open Program of the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards
Liza Jessie Peterson

New York City’s public radio station WNYC was a media partner on the 2016-2017 season.

“The Stella Adler Studio puts such an emphasis on the artist in the world, and how an actor must draw inspiration from the world, and from the people and potential experiences around all of us. This has helped me be a more thoughtful, present person, as well as a more thoughtful and present actor.”

Betsy Parrish
Celebrated her 68th year of teaching at the studio

Tom Oppenheim
Celebrated his 20th year as Artistic Director

Danyon Davis
Became co-head of the movement department along with Joan Evans

Ron Burrus
The world’s greatest exponent of Stella Adler’s unique approach to the art and craft of acting, continues to teach as the Stella Adler studio in New York and at the Art of Acting studio in Los Angeles.

WORLD CLASS FACULTY

The studio would like to thank its faculty, who, through their commitment to artistic excellence and sharing their knowledge and passion, are the lifeblood of the studio’s programs and mission. Here are some milestones from the past year:

Of the full-time faculty, nearly 70% have been with the studio for more than a decade.

92% have been with the studio for 5 years or more.

The studio attributes this kind of talent retention to a deeply ingrained sense of company culture, community and most of all to share values of excellence and artistry.

The studio has 100% staff giving, in other words, administrators also make charitable donations to the cause.

Production Department Extraordinaire

37 Shows Designed

93 Engaged Designers

Designed and built each show with an average budget of $3,555 (materials and persoonnel)
The production department emphasizes using recycled, reused, repurposed and found objects.

Did you Know?
Providing a living wage and benefits helps the studio attract and keep the best faculty in the nation. The studio offers one of the most competitive wages of comparable independent training institutions.

“I can truthfully say it was only the Group that gave me again what I experienced in my youth—a vision beyond personal success. A conception of the actor’s art as an expression of the highest human principals, the highest human aspirations.”

— STELLA ADLER FROM HER INTRODUCTION TO JACOB ADLER - A LIFE ON THE STAGE: A MEMOIR

STORIES AT STELLA

Andrea Abello: The Shakespeare Project

Peter Brook, the most acclaimed theater director of the 20th Century and author of The Empty Space, has written about his early theatrical productions. Peter is known not only for his epic plays, but also for bringing each of his works to audiences who are not familiar with "traditional" theater. He and his company of actors performed for elementary school students to see if the work could hold their attention or for native people in remote areas to see if the play could transmit its message across cultural lines. So when Peter visited the studio’s program at Rikers Island Correctional Facility in October 2016 it was nothing short of extraordinary. Our Rikers community was the audience for a historically important visit.

Simply getting to Rikers is a trial. We brought a large group on to the island: Peter, his long time collaborator Marie-Helene Etienne, his company of six actors and two musicians. Like all journeys to Rikers it was complicated and fraught. Visitors go through many checkpoints on the way in. Our guests were interested but intimidated, extremely excited but also scared. After going through many levels of security and control, our team set up a small room and nearly thirty female inmates joined as audience. We were joined by many Department of Correction staff members including Deputy Commissioner Jim Walsh.

“The event began with words from Peter and then he asked his company to perform an excerpt from their play “Battlefield”. This particular excerpt focused on the character Yudhishthira asking how he could lead a people who had committed mass atrocities. There were themes of crime, guilt, punishment, judgement, fate, death, destiny - all of which had special resonance for our students. The quality of listening and interactivity between Peter’s very nimble, present actors and the women - a completely uninitiated theater audience - was amazing. After that Peter inspired and guided a group conversation. Our students were invited to perform and Peter invited his actors to improvise with them. Finally Peter asked Joanne to show the work that the women are rehearsing for a show on November 16. As our women performed, Peter joined in from his seat, following the movement and mirroring it with gusto.

When it was over Peter and Marie-Helene were deeply moved. Their reaction bordered on tears. ‘We had a real communication’ they said. ‘They’re so human.’ The actors also all said, ‘they were such a great audience. I wish we could perform the whole play for them. I wish all our audiences would listen like that.’

The next night Nina, Joanne and I saw Battlefield at the Harvey Theater at BAM. We spoke to the actors after. They were still deeply affected by what they experienced at Rikers. One of them told us that for the first time ever they got together as a cast and dedicated their performance to the women at Rikers. They all spoke about how the text tasted different to them after performing it at Rikers.

The encounters with two sharply different audiences in extremely different settings put a focus on who we serve as actors and what theater is ultimately about: serving our audience.”

— Tom Oppenheim, Artistic Director

Peter Brook: The Rikers Project

Peter Brook, the most acclaimed theater director of the 20th Century and author of The Empty Space, has written about his early theatrical productions. Peter is known not only for his epic plays, but also for bringing each of his works to audiences who are not familiar with "traditional" theater. He and his company of actors performed for elementary school students to see if the work could hold their attention or for native people in remote areas to see if the play could transmit its message across cultural lines. So when Peter visited the studio’s program at Rikers Island Correctional Facility in October 2016 it was nothing short of extraordinary. Our Rikers community was the audience for a historically important visit.

Simply getting to Rikers is a trial. We brought a large group on to the island: Peter, his long time collaborator Marie-Helene Etienne, his company of six actors and two musicians. Like all journeys to Rikers it was complicated and fraught. Visitors go through many checkpoints on the way in. Our guests were interested but intimidated, extremely excited but also scared. After going through many levels of security and control, our team set up a small room and nearly thirty female inmates joined as audience. We were joined by many Department of Correction staff members including Deputy Commissioner Jim Walsh.

The Leader Project

In 2017 the Outside/In program became a force for positive change. Outside/In is the Outreach Division’s free re-entry program. It focuses on serving recently incarcerated people and those who have recently graduated from addiction recovery programs. Meeting bi-monthly, the Outside/In ensemble, along with a cadre of experienced actors who volunteer their time, create new short works for the theater. The ensemble identifies a pressing social issue and then collaborates to create scenes and monologues that respond directly to a societal need.

In 2017, the Outside/In program accelerated for a number of reasons: 1) the studio recognized a free re-entry program as a necessary positive stepping stone to a productive life, 2) as a result, we increased the number of meetings and rehearsals per month, and 3) we created strict criteria for student participation.

“I’ve seen my students, who have come from some of the most adverse situations, not only succeed in this program, but thrive beyond their wildest dreams. I am so honored to have been able to be a part of their journey.” — Suzy PetchEam, Associate Director of Outreach

LETTER FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

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