Stella Adler

• Born in 1901 in NYC
• 18 years old - travelled around the world in the Yiddish theater and performing Vaudeville
• Comical and extravagant shows, very energetic
• 1931 - met Harold Clurman, second husband, and joined his "Group Theater"
• Believed in theater that interacts with the soul
• Important topics through theater
• Left in 1937
• Constantin Stanislavsky
• Method acting
• Studied with him
• Brought his ideas to America
• 1949 - started Stella Adler Studio of Acting with Joanne Linville (Now in NYC and LA)
• Combination of Yiddish Theater, Broadway, Hollywood, and Stanislavsky
• Serious theater
• "The theater exists 99% on the imagination"
• Actor must care abut emotion in script
• Look for implied messages
• "Act with your soul. That's why you all want to be actors, because your souls are not used up by life."
• More to it than memorizing lines

1. Development of independent actors
1. Acting is reliant on your soul
2. How you develop as a person influences how well you can develop as a character
3. INDEPENDENT actors - directors don't make decisions
1. "Your talent is your choice"
2. The power of the imagination
1. A play is a living experience - always changing
2. Use imagination to access full motivation of character 
1. More than just what is conveyed in the script (immediate past)
3. The importance of action
1. Doing, not feeling
2. Interact with others through action
1. All the audience can see
3. Convey emotion THROUGH action
4. Script interpretation
1. Script does not belong to author
1. Does not have a fixed meaning
2. Should be used as a rough basis
2. "living" script
1. Different interpretations are possible
1. Different messages, same script
3. "The play is not in the words, it's in you"
4. Understand there is more to a play than just the written script
1. World of the play
5. The cultivation of rich humanity
1. All an actor has is his brain and body
1. Call upon brain and body of character
2. Connect with the entire world to enrich your own brain and body
1. Allows you to make better connections with your character

Sources:

www.stellaadler.com/about/core-beliefs/

www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/stella-adler-about-stella-adler/526

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/stella_adler