| In The Spotlight: Paloma Rabinov |
A big congratulations to Paloma Rabinov, a student of mine who was just admitted to the Drama Program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. At the age of seventeen, Paloma has already long dedicated herself to the hard work and discipline needed to become an exemplary performer. Her father Paul arranged for private coaching with me prior to her audition . . . read more . . .
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| Contact Us | |
TECHNIQUE AND SCENE STUDY CLASS
MONDAYS 7:00 PM
THE WORKING STAGE THEATER
1516 NORTH GARDNER STREET
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA 90046
Email us or visit our site at matthewarkin.com |
MELISSA KITE:
NEW ASSOCIATE INSTRUCTOR | |
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Greetings!
Entering a new year inspired me toward a more philosophical article for this month's newsletter, and as I prepared the other pieces to go with it, I was struck by the synchronicity between what I had chosen to write about, and the contributions of both Steve and Paloma, profiled here. I continue to be amazed by, and grateful for, the gifts that craft and discipline bring to our lives.
In furtherance of craft and discipline, we have added relaxation and sensory work to the class, as well as practical on-camera audition exercises, to augment the scene work and Hagen exercises that have been our main focus up to now. To this end, I am very excited that Melissa Kite has joined the class as Associate Instructor. Read about her and what she brings to the class below.
For those inspired to check out the work we're doing, audits are welcome, so drop in on a Monday evening, or to your friends and tell them to get in touch.
Here's wishing you a wonderful year, and may hard work bring many rewards to you all.
Sincerely,
Matthew Arkin
Matthew Arkin's Technique and Scene Study Class
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AN ACTOR'S CREDO: Why what we do matters
Ah, the holidays. The end of one year, the beginning of another. A time of joy and inspiration for many of us, of family pressure and craziness for others. A time of looking back and evaluating, of looking forward and committing to new goals and ideals. A time when our emotional pot can get stirred. This year, many of us are facing financial uncertainty unprecedented in our lifetimes, both for ourselves and the nation as a whole. This can lead to a lot of questioning and soul searching, particularly for those of us who have chosen to follow a career in the arts, a career known for financial instability even during the best of times. Sometimes the voices in our heads can get very loud. We might look at our wallets and ask, "What am I doing with my life?" We might look at our work and ask, "Does any of this really matter?" So now that the holidays are over, and we are getting back to day-to-day business, I'd like to share some of the thoughts that percolated through my eggnog-and-shopping-crowd addled brain throughout the season.
For me, at times of stress, general questions about goals and ideals in life become more focused into questions about the value and purpose of what we as actors do with our careers. After all, we're really just storytellers, purveyors of entertainment and diversion. There are serious problems in the world. What are we, artists, doing about these problems? We're not curing cancer, or housing the homeless, or feeding the hungry.
Or are we? . . . read more . . .
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HT AND DISCIPLIN
When I ask my friend, artist Steve Burtch, how he would characterize his career, what he feels he is poised to do at this point, he says "take over the world." We both laugh, and he goes on. "No, seriously, things are going very well. I'm about to debut my most exciting work to date." Sitting with Steve in his living room, he tells me "I basically stole my artist's statement from David Lynch, who it appears lifted it from Eva Zeisel," the Hungarian ceramicist who passed away December 30, 2011 at the age of 105. When asked how to make something beautiful, Eva replied simply, "You just have to get out of the way." But what about all the studying, all the training, that artists do, be they actors or painters? If all we have to do is get out of the way . . . read more . . .
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MELISSA KITE: NEW ASSOCIATE INSTRUCTOR
I am very excited to have Melissa bring her experience in body and sensory work to the class, born in her years with The Houston Ballet and sharpened as a Lifetime Member of The Actor's Studio. Since she joined us in late October, each class has begun with a period of relaxation and sensory exercises. This work has been met with enthusiasm, and its effects are carrying over into more focused and organic expression in the scene work and Hagen exercises. Learn more about Melissa at her website.
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