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The New Actors Workshop

Coordinates: 40°44′58″N 73°59′40″W / 40.74950°N 73.99454°W / 40.74950; -73.99454
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The New Actors Workshop
Location
Map
United States
Information
TypePrivate
Established1988
FoundersGeorge Morrison
Mike Nichols
Paul Sills
Websitehttp://www.newactorsworkshop.com

The New Actors Workshop was a two-year acting conservatory in New York City founded by Master Teachers Mike Nichols, George Morrison and Paul Sills in 1988. The school offered a unique, dual-track curriculum combining Stanislavski-based technique with Viola Spolin Theater Games. The workshop stopped accepting students in 2010.

The founders

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Sills, Morrison, and Nichols enjoyed a long association dating back to the 1950s at the University of Chicago. Their experience convinced them that there was a unique value for the actor in the double challenge of performance improvisation and Stanislavski-based training, and they founded The Workshop specifically to offer this powerful experience to a new generation of actors.

Performances

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There were different types of performances throughout the year in which students participated.

Friday Night Improv

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Students of the workshop played Spolin theatre games for an audience. These shows were free and open to the public.

Scene Nights

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At the end of their first year, students performed for family and friends in a New Actors Workshop Scene Night.

Story Theatre

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At the end of their second year, students went into a rehearsal period with a guest director. This production was most often a Story Theater show, a genre invented by Paul Sills in the 1960s. Guest directors included Paul Sills, Gene Hackman, Diane Paulus, Shira Piven, David Turner, Lester Thomas Shane, K Tanzer, Carol Sills

Notable alumni

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References

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40°44′58″N 73°59′40″W / 40.74950°N 73.99454°W / 40.74950; -73.99454