Interested in breaking into television or film? Do you have a strong desire to perform on stage? Let Urban Agenda help you find an agent to represent you and set-up those all important first auditions.

Not only do you need an agent, you need a licensed agent. Ideally, your agent should understand the “type” of roles you are looking for. Working in television is different from performing in a theater and acting in a psychological thriller is a far cry from romantic comedies.

Rather than sift through page after page of franchised agencies, Urban Agenda has researched some of the most respected talent and acting agencies in New York City.  Depending on where you are in your career, some agencies may suit you better than others. For those just starting out, a smaller agency may offer more guidance and individual attention. In contrast, a larger agency may have more influential industry connections, which means that your headshot and audition tape will land on the right desk. Two good agency-   workshops in New York City are “One on One” and “Actors Access.” Actors pay to attend but each offers the chance to audition for a number of agencies and casting directors all at once. Think of it as one, big networking event.

Bon courage!

Abrams Artists Agency 275 Seventh Avenue,
26th Floor www.abramsartists.com

For young people, Abrams’ Youth Division is one of the most well-connected in the industry and frequently showcases top young talent on the Disney channel and hit-TV shows like “The New Normal” and “Modern Family.”

APA 45 West 45th Street,
Fourth Floor www.apa-agency.com

APA is unusual in believing there should be no delineation between film, television and theatre. Many APA actors and actresses move readily between these genres, which is ideal for “cross-over” performers.

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) 162 Fifth Avenue, Sixth Floor www.caa.com

Headquartered in Los Angeles but with offices in New York, CAA has numerous entertainment industry clients. Created by a group of talent agents from the William Morris Agency, CAA’s current clientele includes Harry Connick, Jr., Alanis Morissette, and
Mariah Carey.

The Gersh Agency (TGA) 41 Madison Avenue www.gershagency.com

This talent and literary agency was established in 1949 by Phil Gersh and maintains seven full-service departments across the film, literary, and comedic genres. The comedy division represents well-known performers like Kevin Nealon, Joel McHale, and Patton Oswalt.

ICM Talent 825 Eighth Avenue www.icmtalent.com

ICM’s television department is one of the best represented in the entertainment industry with well-known actors and executive producers on “Breaking Bad,” “House,” “Sex and the City,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Friends,” and more.

IMG Worldwide 767 Fifth Avenue www.IMGWorld.com

A prominent figure in the global fashion, sports, and media business, IMG represents everyone from fashion models to actors to professional athletes. Their television division is the largest independent producer of televised sports in the world.

by Taylor Smith

For the full text of this story, please subscribe to Urban Agenda Magazine.

“All the world’s a stage…” — William Shakespeare: As You Like It

There’s never been a more exciting time to visit the Great White Way, where shows—both dramas and musicals—are keeping up a steady beat. Theater is alive and well, whether downtown, midtown or uptown at Lincoln Center, with performances sizzling on Broadway, Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway. From long runs like Jersey Boys, Once, and The Book of Mormon to new openings and short runs like Lucky Man, Kinky Boots, and Motown, the lights of Broadway have never shone brighter.

Recently, media luminaries have provided Hollywood glamour, with the likes of Tom Hanks in the late Nora Ephron’s new Lucky Man. Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain treads the boards in The Heiress, along with Dan Stevens of Downton Abbey fame (Lady Mary’s sudden loss being our happy gain). “Harry Potter’s” Daniel Radcliffe danced his way to acclaim in How to Succeed. And now, grab seats for The Divine Miss M’s return after 30 years for a very limited run in I’ll Eat You Last. The Book of Mormon will set you back a pretty penny, but it’s more than worth it and will keep you chuckling for long afterwards. Who could resist Matthew Broderick and Kelli O’Hara in Nice Work if You Can Get It? And that other stalwart of the Broadway scene, Nathan Lane, is back, center stage, in The Nance.

While picking a show from choices so varied and tasty might be a cinch, picking a place with good food to match is way harder. Here are a few pre-theater options that, in their own more intimate settings, deliver star quality.

East of Broadway on 44th Street is the Stanford White-designed building that houses THE LAMB’S CLUB in what is now the chic Chatwal Hotel. Just a hop, skip and jump from Grand Central Terminal and en route to the heart of the Theater District, The Lambs Club was originally established in 1905 as the first professional theater club. It’s walls are adorned with photos of past illustrious members, including to name but a few, Fred Astaire, Spencer Tracy, Charlie Chaplin, Oscar Hammerstein, and Irving Berlin—a veritable “Who’s Who” of American theater and film. The sleek Deco polish and big fireplace of the dining room prepare you for the well-crafted food to come, delivered by a staff that handles you with care and expertly guides you through a pre-theater menu, giving you ample time to dine at a relaxed pace yet still get to the show.

No Stranger to show business, chef Geoffrey Zakarian has been an “Iron Chef,” a judge on the Food Network’s “Chopped,” and has authored several cookbooks. Veteran of starred kitchens in both the U.S. and Paris he and his chefs, Eric Haugen and Jon Oh, offer a $49 theater prix-fixe as well as full a la carte. The menu marries classical roots with contemporary market flavors, and you can eat light so you won’t fall asleep during Act II and miss the grand denouement. Wine selections for each dish are available by the glass, making it easier to navigate the list and thus save you time.

The presence of Daniel Boulud on the world’s stage expanded some time ago into the Theater District at DB BISTRO MODERNE. The setting is cool modern Parisian—this is certainly a new take on the more traditional Paris bistro of aged patina, lusty food, and cheap house wine. Here the décor is simple and the food sits straighter in its chair. The hyper knife skills of a Boulud production are evident. One block east of Times Square, DB Bistro Moderne embraces both traditional French and contemporary American cuisine. Enjoy a tarte flambee as you peruse the menu; perhaps the famous DB burger, a meaty construction stuffed with truffle, short rib and foie gras—decadent, delicious and served with frites in a handsome silver tumbler. This could be the “eleven o’clock number” that sends you off on a high. Let the staff help you through the $45 prix-fixe or a la carte selections. Either way, let them know you’re going to the theater and they’ll be sure to get you there on time.

by Paul Grimes

For the full text of this story, please subscribe to Urban Agenda Magazine.

Beach communities throughout New England and the Eastern Seaboard come alive during the summer months. Fishing villages and sleepy New England towns turn into world-class destinations filled with social and sporting events, fine dining, and more. Here are five of the best-known summer destinations within a short driving distance from the New York City-area. Urban Agenda’s introductory guide includes transportation, food, lodging, events, and activities in places like Nantucket and Atlantic City. All of these destinations maintain comprehensive Chamber of Commerce websites, so be sure to check for the most updated bus, boat, plane and train schedules.

THE BERKSHIRES, MASS.

Main Event:

The 2013 Berkshire Arts Festival will take place on July 4, 5, 6 and July 12, 13, and 14 at the Butternut Ski Area in Great Barrington. The juried art event features over 200 artists, live demonstrations, music, and good food. This event will appeal to the whole family.

Activities:

Dining, wine, and the arts are fulltime activities in the Berkshires.

For music and theater lovers, there is the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Shakespeare & Co. of Lenox, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, and more.

Take a tour of the many vineyards and wineries like Les Trois Emme Vineyard in New Marlborough, Mass. and Furnace Brook Winery at Hilltop Orchards in Richmond, Mass. Tucked between the historic Hudson Valley in upstate N.Y. and the Berkshire Mountains, the Hudson Berkshire Beverage Trail is a fun way to sample the many wines, beers, spirits, and ciders offered throughout the area.

Lodging & Dining:

The Berkshires are a great place to relax and revive oneself. Places like Canyon Ranch and Cranwell Resort, Spa, and Golf Club in Lenox, feature a plethora of wellness and pampering opportunities. Comfortable Inns and vacation rentals are also available. For those  seeking to get in touch with nature, the Berkshires are home to many campgrounds and campsites where you can pitch a tent or park an RV.

The upscale restaurants in the Berkshires attract internationally known chefs and culinary fans. Almost all of the food fits into the “farm-to-table” category and includes local wines.

Looking for something quick and casual? Barrington Coffee Roasting is one of the best-known coffee places in the region. Try their artisanal “Berkshire Blend,” the next time you are in the town of Lee.  Berkshire Mountain Bakery located in Housatonic, Mass. bakes naturally leavened sourdough bread, while the Elm Street Market in Stockbridge is really an old-fashioned lunch counter with its own deli and butcher shop. Here, you can pick-up fresh produce, sandwiches, beer, and wine to-go.

Transportation:

The Berkshires represent a mountain range and a sizeable region located in Western Mass., bordering Vermont and New York. The area includes a slew of quaint towns such as Great Barrington, North Adams, Pittsfield, Sheffield, Stockbridge, and Williamstown.

The best way to access the Berkshires is by car or by plane. From the New Jersey and New York areas, the drive is between three and four hours. Those in Southeastern Connecticut can get to the Berkshires in less than three hours depending on traffic.

By air, the closest airport is in Albany, N.Y., an hour’s drive from the Berkshires. Logan Airport in Boston is a two-and-a-half hour commute, while New York City’s JFK and NJ’s Newark airports are about three-and-a-half hours away.

MARTHA’S VINEYARD, MASS.

Main Event:

Martha’s Vineyard Restaurant Week is the kick-off to the island’s summer social season. The week-long celebration offers the island’s best food, wine, and handcrafted beers. This year’s Restaurant Week will take place June 16 through June 20.

Activities:

Martha’s Vineyard boasts a sizeable year-round community, so there is an abundance of activities no matter when you go. That being said, the most popular time to visit is from the end of June through the end of August when temperatures reach into the high 80s. The Vineyard is home to six towns, each with its own personality and flavor. The landscape is also varied with vistas that range from the red clay cliffs of Aquinnah to meadows and scenic beaches.

By Taylor Smith

For the full text of this story, please subscribe to Urban Agenda Magazine.

Manhattan has its theater district, its garment district and its meat packing district. For contemporary art, there’s Chelsea.

The neighborhood bordered by Tenth and 11th avenues and between 18th and 28th streets became an international hub for art in the 1990s, when Soho rents forced galleries uptown. Converted industrial buildings were turned into large open spaces, and today, with more than 300 galleries, surrounded by water views, an elevated park and culinary adventures. Chelsea is considered the art capital of the world. In fact, with the addition of the High Line, the elevated park that runs from 30th Street to Gansevoort, rents have climbed so high, some galleries are moving back to Soho.

Those that can afford to stay are thriving, especially on Thursday nights when the glitterati come to gallery openings. Saturdays are a quieter time to visit, and offer a chance to focus on the art.

My urban agenda started at Penn Station. From there I walked west on 30th Street to get to the High Line just past Tenth Avenue. Thanks to Friends of the High Line, High Line Art presents seasonal installations on the elevated park, but with a full day worth of galleries to explore, I took just enough time to see the El Anatsui installation between 21st and 22nd streets—more on that later.

THE HIGH LINE is a nice way to get to some of the galleries—you can glance down each street to see the banners hanging from the brick buildings, then check details on your smartphone. On a sunny day the High Line can be so crowded, walking at ground level will get you there faster.

I descended at 26th Street, then walked up to 27th. First stop, Tenth Avenue and 27th Street, PAUL KASMIN GALLERY: James Nares Road Paint will be on view May 8-June 15. Nares, who works in painting, sculpture, drawing, film, and video, here explores the form, direction, rhythm, and repetition of objects in motion. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is screening his video Street through May 27, and in the Road Paint series, Nares records the nuances of kinetics.

Across 27th Street, I stopped in at the PAUL KASMIN STORE. A line by Shelter Serra includes toy guns in cases and metalicized baseball caps, as well as Homemade Birkin Bags in white, gold and black. You can actually buy these works of art—in fact, unlike museums, everything in the galleries is for sale.

I was hoping to hold out, food-wise, for the Chelsea Market, but OVEST PIZZOTECA, 513 West 27th Street, with its divine smoky wood aroma, is impossible to resist. A cross between a pizzeria and an enoteca, Ovest also offers pastas and panini and its own brand of Tuscan olive oil.

The building at 547 WEST 27th Street is like a department store of galleries—one-stop shopping, like a museum with no admission charge. And there are well-appointed restrooms on every floor, just like in the department stores of yore. Enter the building and there’s a big steel gray desk covered with flyers for all the galleries in the building (the flyers are also posted in the glass panes of the front window). The building has an upscale ambience in spite of the worn stair treads and chipped paint floorboards from its former industrial use.

SUNDARAM TAGORE GALLERY, on the first floor, is devoted to the exchange of ideas between Western and non-Western cultures. Its mission is posted on the wall: “We focus on developing…spiritual, social and aesthetic dialogues. In a world where communication is instant and cultures are colliding and melding as never before, our goal is to provide venues for art that transcend boundaries of all sorts.”

When I visited, there was an exhibition of six cutting-edge Thai artists. Phaptawan Suwannakudt’s “Cast-off Series” lined a wall with book-size pieces of handmade paper covered with Thai writing overlaid with images of traditional Thai architecture, goddesses, animals and artifacts. Through May 11 there will be an exhibit of works by Golnaz Fathi, a young Iranian artist whose references to Iranian culture are juxtaposed with white areas of canvas that signify silence.

By Ilene Dube

For the full text of this story, please subscribe to Urban Agenda Magazine.

Designed to enhance the magical illusion of stage and screen, theaters of the past boasted plush red velvet and gilded carvings. Radio City Music Hall comes to mind. Part of the mystique was the slow reveal: no exterior windows reduced the impact of the splendor to come when the doors were thrown wide. Nor was there any desire to keep you there once the show was over. If these five new theaters are anything to go by, a paradigm shift has occurred, in purpose as well as in design.

Inspired and executed by renowned architects, these are as bright and transparent on the outside as they are welcoming on the inside. Indeed, with the predominant use of glass, these theaters light up the New York scene. Each encourages visitors to savor the theater-going experience with spaces for eating, drinking and gathering. And each is the conception of a non-profit organization made possible by philanthropic supporters as well as loans and grants and inclusionary zoning from the City of New York. The nature of these non-profits should not go unremarked since they too have come a long way from the days of cap-in-hand charity. Entrepreneurial in spirit, they create their own revenue streams by renting out their facilities and they see it as their role to develop an audience through smart programming, low ticket prices and community outreach. Clearly, a winning combination.

BARYSHNIKOV ARTS CENTER (BAC) AND THE DIMENNA CENTER FOR CLASSICAL MUSIC

BAC opened in 2005 at 450 West 37th Street and is a pioneer in breaking new ground on the far-West Side. The six-story building fronted entirely by an elegant glass façade in a striped motif is in a strategic spot. New towering apartment buildings surround it. Nearby, Hudson Yards are ready to be developed and the northern end of the High Line is only a few blocks to the south. The area between Ninth and Tenth Avenues is booming with construction and teaming with old vitality.

World-famous dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov envisioned a place where creative projects in dance, music and theatre are fostered and performed, and artists-in-residence can research their ideas. A fall and spring season of events is presented in the Howard Gilman Performance Space and the Jerome Robins Theatre. BAC’s facilities on the upper floors include flexible spaces with great views of the Hudson and southwest Manhattan.

The DiMenna Center joined BAC as the building’s co-owner in 2008 to create a permanent home for the Orchestra of St. Luke’s (OSL). It provides rehearsal and recording space for its musicians as well as others who need modern facilities. Hugh Hardy and Geoff Lynch of H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture redesigned 20,000 square feet which opened in 2011 to reveal a new second and third floor with seven beautiful, high tech spaces. The largest space, Mary Flager Cary Hall, is finished in wood paneling and acoustically-calibrated wall coverings to accommodate a full symphony orchestra and chorus. All the spaces, even the smallest practice rooms, are designed to eliminate outside noises from the Lincoln Tunnel. OSL musicians perform free for the public and for community education events while the DiMenna Center is often used by other groups for a wide variety of performances. The light-filled lobby with a bright red staircase brings the public to the Charles Grossman Cafe on the second floor, and third floor Lounge, both of which offer views of the changing cityscape through the glass facade.

PERSHING SQUARE SIGNATURE CENTER FOR THE SIGNATURE THEATRE COMPANY

Since the fall of 2011 when Signature opened its multipurpose new Center at 480 West 42nd Street, the bright lights and excitement of Broadway have been closer to the far-West Side, now filled with high rise apartment buildings. The two blocks of 42nd Street beyond Eighth Avenue, rather dim and uninviting in comparison to Times Square, now draw pedestrians to the sparkling two story canopy of the innovative Signature Center.

The building is designed by Frank Gehry who formed a relationship with Signature when it had plans to build at the new World Trade Center site. However, that was not to be and Gehry stayed to design a very different building created as part of the MIMA mixed-used development. The new concept now attracts visitors and theater-goers for outstanding productions in a unique environment. The innovative approach starts at the glassed-in ground-level entry space and ticket office, a contrast to the more usual prison-window for ticket purchases. The walls are graced with large sketches of the playwrights connected with Signature since it began in 1991.

The sketches continue on the second floor, reached by a graceful but practical wide staircase of architectural plywood that is a hallmark of Gehry design. Two surprises await at the top of the stairs. One is the band of wide windows with sills to lean on that stretch across the entire front of the building overlooking the always active scene on 42nd Street. The other is the open landscape of the lobby. Open noon to midnight, its informal café and full bar, bookstore, tables and colorful chairs (also Gehry designed) signal that this is a place for conversation and interaction.

Signature’s three theaters, each created for a different theater experience, are reached through the lobby. The energy of people in the midst of diverse activity, either a play or special program, is palpable. Casual visitors stopping by for a sandwich at noon or for a late drink in the evening can learn of Signature’s $25 ticket policy and its playwrights-in-residence on the three panel Interactive Media Wall.

By Ingrid W. Reed

For the full text of this story, please subscribe to Urban Agenda Magazine.

Access to designer home furnishings used to be a Trade Only affair, with high-end showrooms closed to the public and open only to those in the design trades. No more. Although most showrooms still prefer to work with professionals rather than consumers, an increasing number will work directly with members of the public, or offer design services that facilitate their projects. Since the choices are staggering, however, the services that only a design professional can provide might turn out to be a boon. Whether you are working with a designer or going it alone, chances are you’ll find what you’re looking for at the Architects & Designers Building or the New York Design Center. And if these don’t sate your appetite for innovative ideas, there’s Public Day at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, which celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year.

Architects & Designers Building of New York (A&D)

Known simply as the A&D Building, the Architects & Designers Building on East 58th Street, near Lexington Avenue, boasts 35 of the best luxury showrooms in town with 12 floors and 200,000 square feet devoted to everything you could possibly need for office and home: appliances, kitchen and bath, tile and stone.

With the motto “Walk Right In,” the building is open to both the general public and the design trades. Pick up a directory at the door so as to better focus on what you are looking for. This isn’t IKEA. Get lost here and you might never be seen again.

Some of the showrooms, like Holly Hunt on the second floor, will want you to work with a designer, others will work directly with you. Inside Holly Hunt, a trio of tiny bronze tables offers a flavor of what you’ll discover: lots of fun items such as a small stool/table (pictured below) with what looks like a five-buttoned, upholstered pillow on top until you see that the cushion is imbedded in a clear Lucite-style polymer. Holly Hunt bursts with ideas to spur your own invention. www.hollyhunt.com.

Brown Jordan, which has a large space filled with high-end outdoor metal and mesh furnishings that might well be brought indoors, will also want you to have a designer and is a good place to snag discounted floor models. www.brownjordan.com.

For bath or kitchen fixtures, Davis & Warshow serves up elegance in rows of gleaming white porcelain. Who knew shopping for plumbing could be so enthralling. Here are bathing options fit for the Queen of the Nile. www.daviswarshow.com.

Step into the Exquisite Surfaces showroom and you’re in Tuscany. Owner Alexis Nataf specializes in antique materials as well as new materials that have been aged and distressed to convey an antique look. Here you will find stone, terra cotta, wood, and tile: rustic wide plank flooring and Tuscan tile among a range of “freeze-thaw” indoor/outdoor flooring. www.xsurfaces.com.

Whether you’re looking for high-tech, French Country-inspired, or clever mixes of both, Bilotta Kitchens will have you drooling. Here you will find the carefully thought-out and beautifully detailed kitchens of Bilotta’s senior designer Rita Luisa Garcés, among others. www.bilotta.com.

The A&D Building has resources for the entire home with mid-range to high-end appliances and fixtures, cabinets and counter tops, tiling and flooring, bathtubs and sinks, as well as bedding and bath linens, window treatments, decorative accents, and furniture for the living room, kitchen and home office. In addition to those mentioned above, you’ll find brands that include Poggenpohl, B&B Italia, SieMatic, Poliform, Sub Zero/Wolf, GE Monogram, Miele, SieMatic, Artistic Tile, Paris Ceramics, and more.

By Linda Arntzenius // Image by molo design

For the full text of this story, please subscribe to Urban Agenda Magazine.

Manhattan never looked so good as when Audrey Hepburn in a long black Givenchy evening gown strolled languidly, paper bag in hand, along Fifth Avenue. From the moment you hear the lush melody of “Moon River,” and take in the early morning Manhattan streets you are hooked. Ms. Hepburn steps from a yellow taxi cab, walks to the window of Tiffany & Co., opens her paper bag and takes a bite of croissant. She sips her coffee from a paper cup and casually strolls on her way. Who is she? Where has she come from? And what will become of her?

Breakfast at Tiffany’s brought Truman Capote’s Miss Holiday Golightly to the screen. Holly lives on her looks, and, it has to be said, her sex. She takes money from men—for dining and dancing, cab fare, a trip to the powder room, even for an hour’s conversation—and outwits them when they try to collect on the favor. She lives in a brownstone apartment on the Upper East Side with a no-name cat. She goes to sleep when all New York is waking up and, when she’s hit with “the mean reds,” she goes to Tiffany’s. “Calms me down right away,” she says. Nothing bad can every happen to you at Tiffany’s.

Audrey went against type to play Capote’s unlikely heroine in 1961. And yet, she brought a whole new dimension to the role: the huge sunglasses, the pearls, the diamond tiara. The image of Hepburn as Holly, slim and elegant with hair piled high and sporting a long, long cigarette holder is one of the 20th century’s most iconic. Is it possible to imagine any other Holly?

It’s a shock to learn that Capote’s choice was not Audrey but Marilyn. Monroe and Tony Curtis, rather than Hepburn and the wholesome George Peppard, were the leads in Capote’s vision. Breakfast at Tiffany’s would have been a different film altogether. Don’t get me wrong, who doesn’t love Marilyn. But fortunately for cinematic history, Lee Strasberg advised Monroe that playing a prostitute would not be good for her image. Monroe turned it down and went on to do The Misfits instead.

Following her brown-bag breakfast in front of Tiffany & Co., Holly reaches her apartment building where she fends off last night’s date, who’s been waiting for her, and meets a new tenant. Paul is a young writer, played by Peppard. He learns about Holly’s eye-opening lifestyle as they chat and she dresses for her weekly visit to Sing Sing to see Sally Tomato, a mobster whose lawyer pays her $100 a week for passing on “the weather report.”

Is she a holy innocent or a streetwise dame no better than she should be? As one character in the film asks: Is she or isn’t she, a phony? Can she really be so naïve or does she simply choose to be?

As readers of Capote’s story begin to understand, everything that Holly knows has come to her from experience. It’s an odd mix of fantasy and hard-boiled fact, but it’s all hers. Holly is a young woman in search of herself, an eccentric mix of naïve waif and café society girl.

By Linda Arntzenius

For the full text of this story, please subscribe to Urban Agenda Magazine.

Acting is not pretending. No one would say that Al Pacino is pretending to be Michael Corleone in the Godfather trilogy. Al Pacino is Michael Corleone. It would be unthinkable to pierce the veneer of Corleone and come to an inner truth that is Pacino. On film, Pacino and Corleone are one and the same: mentally, emotionally, and physically. Lee Strasberg is credited with developing The Method, a set of training techniques whereby actors come to embody their characters, no pretending or dissembling involved.

An autodidact given to tyrannical tendencies, Strasberg launched and bolstered the careers of Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dustin Hoffman, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, and myriad others. If you can recall the gangster, Hyman Roth, from The Godfather Part II, then you already know his face. Strasberg is an acclaimed and controversial figure in the history of American acting.

Strasberg’s brand of method acting got actors to tap into the dark recesses of their psyches to harness affective memories and past experiences, in order to use them to produce authentic emotions onstage or onscreen. “If you’re nervous or angry about something in real life, don’t cut off those impulses, but bring them right on the stage with you,” he told his students. “Actors are first of all human beings, and actors are usually the first ones to forget that.”

It was psychoanalysis in the service of art. But instead of being laid out on the couch, actors were revealing their innermost secrets in public. One exercise to get students into the right mindset was the “private moment.” An actor would recall a mundane personal experience and recreate it onstage. It could involve smelling an aroma, brushing one’s hair, or taking a shower. This theatrical etude is inspired by Russian actor and theater director Konstantin Stanislavski, who said an actor “must learn to be private in public.” The intention was to unblock repressed personal concerns. For Strasberg, the private moment is “God’s business, and even God doesn’t know unless he has Freud at his side.”

There was no faking it with Strasberg. His eye was always seeking out the authentic and real in a business that embodies the polar opposite of those qualities. Continually accessing unfiltered expression and sustaining it is a Sisyphean task, additionally complicated by the fact that not everyone was granted an audience with Strasberg, much less entry into his coveted classes.

THE ACTORS STUDIO

As a young man living on New York’s Lower East Side in the 1920s, Strasberg had dropped out of high school and was working in a wig factory. Meanwhile, he was becoming increasingly active in the area’s emerging drama scene. He preferred the pathos of Russian actors performing out of the Moscow Art Theater (MAT) to the over-acted glitz of some other contemporary productions. Indeed, when two MAT members, Maria Ouspenskaya and Richard Boleslavsky opened their own school and theatrical company, Strasberg quickly enrolled to study with them. The duo espoused the methodology pioneered by Stanislavski, and it was there that Strasberg gained first-hand exposure to method acting and met his future collaborators.

Cut to 1931. Strasberg and his friends Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford throw open the doors of the Group Theater. Eschewing the decadence of the Jazz Age and commercial cinema, they wanted naturalistic, visceral acting. It was a place of experimentation. They weren’t interested in producing divas or pop celebrities. They were devoted to finding new ways of harnessing a more authentic experience. Strasberg, Clurman, and Crawford assembled a team of like-minded compatriots, among them, Elia Kazan, Stella Adler, and Robert Lewis.

By Dilshanie Perera

For the full text of this story, please subscribe to Urban Agenda Magazine.

Jonathan Adler is an internationally recognized designer, best known for his fashionable products for the home and as the author of four books on the “Happy Chic” philosophy. His growing empire encompasses over 20 stores, a thriving e-commerce site, and a wholesale business with over 1,000 locations.  The signature Adler aesthetic is influenced by Mid-century modern style, art, and pop culture. His products are whimsical, elegant, and fun to own.

UA: Your big break came in 1994 with an order from Barneys New York, then the orders poured in. How has your aesthetic evolved
since then?

JA:  Today, as then, I want everything I make to add style, craft, and joy to your life.  My aesthetic may evolve as I expand into other categories but it always keeps the same spirit of irreverent luxury.

UA: What is the difference between designing a piece of pottery and other products?

JA: Everything I make starts in the pottery studio—it’s where I work out all my ideas.  When I design I am problem solving, not just creating a beautiful object.  Whatever I make has to work, so there is always a set of welcome restrictions when designing.

UA: What advice would you give a passionate artist who also aspires to be financially successful?

JA: My entire career has been an improbable adventure.  When I started, I was the most scatterbrained, impractical, carefree craftsperson ever to walk the face of the earth and somehow I managed to make it.  If I did it, you can too.

UA:What designers from the past have you been most inspired by?

JA: My holy trinity is Bonnie Cashin, David Hicks, and Alexander Girard.

For the full text of this story, please subscribe to Urban Agenda Magazine.