NURTURING THE ARTISTIC SPIRIT

GATEWAY ACTING SCHOOL 

 written by Christopher Lentz

Several times a year, the lobby of Gateway Playhouse is filled with nervous smiles, and excited energy.  No, it isn’t the first night of a show.  It’s the start of a Gateway Acting School session, and it’s just as important as an opening night.  Many of the youngest, and cutest, participants in this proud and successful program have never set foot on a stage, nor do they know stage left from stage right.  They come to the Acting School to have fun and to learn more about performing.  What they don’t know is how much they’ll learn about themselves at the same time.

Since Gateway Playhouse began, training has been an integral part of the property and its history.   Robin Allan, who, amongst other things, runs the current version of the school, tells of a time when many of the performers on property were here to learn.  “There was a school right at the beginning.  My mother taught class, my aunt and uncle.  Most of the actors at that time…were apprentices who were training.   They took classes in the morning, did tech work in the afternoon, and performed at night, and that was early Gateway.  So I guess it is sort of living in the grass here.”  It not only lives in the grass here, but in the buildings, stages, and energy of the terrain. 

Currently yearly classes are held on the Gateway grounds, teaching children ranging in age from 6 to 18 years old acting skills and life lessons.  It’s this emphasis on actual training that sets Gateway Acting School apart from other schools in the area.  At Gateway, the point of the class isn’t to put on a show at the end of the session.  Rather, the Acting School focuses on giving students a set of skills which they can apply in any situation. Preparing actors with the ability to jump into any situation and give their all is more important to Ms. Allan than a one time performance.  “[Acting is] a skill.  It’s a skill that’s tough to define, because it is not entirely physical.  Through dramatic study, you train the heart and the mind and the body to all work together, it becomes sort of effortless and can be applied to any genre of performing.  Whether it be a straight play, a sit-com, a children’s theater show or a musical, you can be a fairy princess, or a kid whose parents are getting divorced…you can be anything because you have learned to pull the truth of the circumstances from within.” She stresses that training is important for everyone interested in performing, even those who posses a remarkable gift. “There are kids who seem born to entertain, but those kids still need skill training.  They know how to do one thing, and if they train, they’ll know how to do anything.”

The kids in the school are gaining valuable experience in the ways of acting, but also in the humanity it takes to create believable characters and enact real life situations on stage in order to reach an audience.  “Even if you don’t do this in your life, dramatic study does add to what you give to the world as a person, because it adds to you an insight and awareness that you can apply in life situations. It’s nice to see kids growing up being able to give in that way,” comments Ms. Allan. 

              Helping students achieve the best that they as individuals can, isn’t always easy.  Ms. Allan relies on an excellent staff filled with industry professionals, and familiar faces, recognizing that the students need an outward eye that has seen more than just the shores of Long Island.  “We need good teachers of drama, and good directors, and I consider this school to have several of them.  One of my earliest students, who started when she was 12, is now a casting director in New York. She is able to give wonderful direction and guidance to actors who audition for her.  Because of her training, and because she is sort of a born teacher I feel privileged to have her teaching in the school now.  She’s a product of what we’re all about, a great example.”

And how is the training going these days?  Recent success stories include students who have landed major roles on Television shows, national commercials, and more.  But to Ms. Allan, monetary gain isn’t the point of the school, and it’s not the greatest measure of success.  Though she responds with a shining grin at the mention of  their many achievements, she also cautions that in today’s world “a lot of the focus of acting is geared towards how many millions of dollars you can make doing a film.  And if you’ve got a TV show- that means you’re a good actor, and there isn’t a lot of focus on the art of it.  When kids take acting classes, they realize that it is an art form; it is unfortunate that most public schools do not have programs that are geared in this way. The focus is normally on the productions, staging and superficial emphasis.  Drama programs are not formulated as the music programs are or fine arts, and that’s a shame.”

              Ms Allan knows how valuable the program at Gateway is- for that reason and is also grateful to have such a beautiful property and a business that already has a fifty plus year history, to give the school its backbone. The heartbeat comes from her and you can see it when she speaks of the hours she spends teaching and coaching, which she says, aside from moments with her family, are her most favorite hours spent in a day. “Not only the work is rewarding, but it’s great to see the creative spirit emerge. It does enhance a person, they learn how to communicate better, they learn how to listen better, they have more of an ease with social interactions, they pay attention to what their behavior is and in doing so, realize their responsibility in the world, as a human being.”  They may not know it, but this is the goal with each child that walks into the lobby on their first day of Acting School.  Not just to make them into better performers, but into better citizens as well.  With their nervous smiles, and excited energy in toe, these little ones walk into class for the first time, and start down a well traveled road at Gateway, towards a more open and committed future on stage and in life.  

student homework (the fun kind)

Students, please read the following quote from one of the world's most prominent and influential theatrical masters.  It's something I  have shared from time to time in class and I find it most profound in it's simpleness.... what do you think? Any interesting responses, will be posted here,  if it's okay with you.

Initials only will be posted with your words. Let  me know....... (Robin) robin@gatewayplayhouse.com

Only when a man's love of art is the oil that is poured on the flames of his enthusiastic devotion to it, can he hope to overcome all the obstacles he may encounter and reach the goal of pure art, free from all conventions and achieved by the creative forces every man has to develop in himself. Indeed, it is only when love of art has overcome personal ambition, vanity and pride that the actor can attain the fullest possible flexibility of his will and a free correlation of a deep understanding of the basic principals-the germ-of his part and its through-action. Only when the actor has fully grasped the meaning of the harmony of stage life, can he present- in action purged of "self"- the truth of the passions in the given circumstances."
---------------------------------"On the art of the stage", Konstantin Stanislavsky

RESPONSES  ON THE ABOVE QUOTE FROM OUR STUDENTS

I thought it was definitely very interesting and fits greatly with what everyone teaches us at Gateway. I think it means that a person's love and devotion of acting have to come together to overcome what a person goes through when pursuing acting. Also, that your love of it has to win over everything such as ego or vanity for you to be able to reach that point that you can bring truth to a moment on stage. RH

I love the very first part of this quote because it seems like it is generally saying that you could have the best acting skills in the world but without a genuine love, care and desire for the art those skills mean nothing.  An actor must love acting just because its a pure and honest art form not because of the glory that could come from it.  An actor must let go of ego and pride and purely enjoy his or her art form because if they rely on their audiences response, they can get nowhere because they are not doing it for the sake of loving the art but only for the sake of being recognized for it.  When an actor is able to do all of this then his or her emotions will come out truthfully and beautifully at that.  Stanislavsky has a way of taking simple concepts and putting them into beautiful transformed life lessons that help guide an actor, including myself, toward a pure art and not just a hobby.  SG

I felt Stanislavski is saying that art is received in its purest form only once the artist has received love as the true motivation for their reality. Art is first achieved on a personal level of devotion and perseverance on the path to honest expression. This is conveyed through the simplicity of passion for your art and given existence. I loved the way he spoke of the "flexibility of will" attained through the true understanding of intention. It is true that your best performance is given only after your reality is separated from your personal advancement and committed to through the truth of the existing circumstances. "The harmony of stage life" is the perception of the separate incentives for expression. Part of the beauty of this quote is that it is so open for individual interpretation. I've looked at it a few times and there's so much to think about... if I read it again in five minutes, I would have a totally different response.   SKI 

The quote really speaks to us about how you just can't get on a stage and perform because you want fame, money, or glory. You have to be on the stage because you really love it. Acting is not true till a person has overcome the pride of the lime-light. So, if you disregard the "perks" of acting, you can experience real acting.     BQ 

I personally believe that Stanislavsky knows nothing of acting, he just blindly creates aphorisms suggesting his own mental superiority.  This particular quotation was most likely taken after the smoking of far too many Boleslavsky's, because everyone knows that most successful actors don't love acting at all, business is business.   CK

LAST YEAR'S SHOWCASE  STUDENTS 2006

SHOWCASE WAS JUNE 29TH AT THE MANHATTAN ENSEMBLE THEATER

A J Lebenns  Malika Moro-Cohen