3/27/08
Hello!
I’m hard at work on the Second Edition of “Directing Actors.” It’s been twelve years since it originally came out, and I have ideas for updating it that I’m excited about and hope I can make work. It will probably be published toward the end of 2008.
Classes are full – and exciting. I definitely look forward each day to teaching more than I look forward to sitting down to the computer to write! We’ve had to cut back on traveling this year so I can get DA2 finished, but I will be teaching in Cape Town South Africa (a new continent for me!) in April, hoping to meet up there with my niece who is traveling around the world this year. I’ll also teach one workshop in New York in May – I’m afraid it’s already filled, but we’ll try to get back to New York again possibly in September.
Thank you for your support. I hope this is a wonderful year for each and every one of you.
Take care,
Judith
2/1/07
Hello!
Congratulations are in order for a number of my former students. “Babel,” directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, won a Golden Globe for Best Drama, and was nominated for SAG Best Ensemble Award. “Babel” has been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, and Alejandro himself for the Best Director Oscar. Nominated for an Oscar for Adapted Screenplay is Mark Fergus, as co-writer of “Children of Men.”
And several former students had films showing at 2007 Sundance Film Festival – “Protagonist” (Jessica Yu, Documentary Competition); “The Good Life” (Steve Berra, Dramatic Competition); “Khadak” (Jessica Woodworth, World Cinema Dramatic Competition), "Sophie" (Birgitte Stærmose, International Short Films, Dramatic).
Coming in 2007 for the Two Lights Studio. A full slate of classes in Los Angeles, plus trips to Amsterdam, Berlin, New York, New Zealand, Australia, and maybe South Africa. Plans afoot for a new class for directors who have already studied with me – a special workshop called Directing Kids, co-taught by me and Elaine Hall Katz. Elaine is a top Hollywood teacher and on-set consultant for child actors, and a woman I can’t praise highly enough personally.
I also want to mention the website of Judith Claire, a career counselor who has helped me immeasurably, especially when I was starting up my business. http://www.judithclairecounseling.com
I hope the new year has started well for each and every one of you.
Take care,
Judith
12/8/06
Hello!
Gosh, the last time I wrote one of these was a year ago, so I guess I better send that one to the Archives…
It is the Holiday Season. And time for a reminder that my two books – DIRECTING ACTORS and THE FILM DIRECTOR’S INTUITION – make excellent Holiday gifts. They have beautiful covers and lots of goodies inside.
A recent DIRECTING ACTORS review on Amazon.com declares, “Don't miss this book if you work in film or video, whether you are a director, actor, teacher, editor, DP, AD, or even a gaffer.” So it sounds like it could handle a big chunk of your Holiday gift list!
Then there’s FILM DIRECTOR’S INTUITION, of which MovieMaker Mag said, "Sun Tzu may have the market covered on war, but when it comes to the art of directing actors, Judith Weston reigns supreme. Seven years after the publication of her seminal DIRECTING ACTORS, she's at it again with THE FILM DIRECTOR’S INTUITION. Rather than retread any of what she's covered before, this book offers a whole new insight into the role the director - this time turning the topic inward.”
An Amazon.com reviewer has said, “If DIRECTING ACTORS is like a nice, hot, bubble bath; then THE FILM DIRECTOR'S INTUITION is like a luxurious jacuzzi you want to stay in all day and all night, soaking each molecule of your being into each of its pages.”
Meanwhile, classes, workshops and travels have been great this year – I’m so lucky and grateful for the terrific people I’ve been able to work with – you know who you are. Thank you all for your beautiful work and generous referrals.
John and I wish you all hope and peace, love, bounty and creativity at this special season, and all through the New Year.
Love, Judith
12/10/05
Hello,
Here is a new photo of me, with my new short hair. This has been a good and happy year for me personally, the year of recovery from my cancer treatment in 2004. I was very lucky that it was caught early. I was able to teach all through my treatment, and at the same time give a deeper attention than I ever have to my physical, emotional, and spiritual life. I feel renewed, transformed even, with an unclouded prognosis, and full energy and purpose.
Besides a somewhat reduced but satisfyingly busy teaching load at my studio in Los Angeles, I was able to start traveling again – teaching in New York in May, and Dublin and Amsterdam in September. In 2006 John and I will spend more time out of the country, with workshops in New Zealand, Australia, Dublin, Amsterdam and Cornwall. And in the fall of 2006 I’ll teach again in New York, although the dates for that are not set. I have streamlined my Los Angeles teaching schedule so that no workshops are longer than six weeks, but don’t worry – I’ll still be spending plenty of time in LA! My tentative teaching schedule through the end of 2006 is posted (tentatively!) on the Workshop Schedule page.
Among the many blessings I’ve been counting this year is how much I love my work! So thank you – you make it possible.
John and I wish you all hope and peace, love, bounty and creativity at this special season, and all through the New Year.
Love, Judith
3/1/05
Dear People,
This is a big month for me - my twentieth anniversary of teaching. On March 4, 1985 I taught my first acting class, and I always felt the date (as in, "March forth!") was auspicious. This March 4th, I'll be celebrating with members of that very first class - yes, we are still in touch with each other.
Also this month, on March 18th, a theater production of MRS. CAGE, by Nancy Barr, opens at our studio. MRS. CAGE has a history for me. The first production of this amazing play took place at my first studio on Lincoln Blvd in Santa Monica, back in September 1990. I played the title role and was a co-producer. Playwright Nancy Barr directed and designed the production, and also co-produced. The show was a success, and ran for eight months. I am once again performing in this 2005 production of the play - it's my first time back on stage since the first MRS. CAGE production in 1990. Go to judithweston.com/productions.shtml for further information and the link to make a reservation. Please come!
March is also my birthday month, but I'm not going to tell you what anniversary that is! Classes are going well, and so is my health.
My heartfelt thanks to all of you who have made the last twenty years such a happy, creative and loving experience.
Love, Judith
12/8/04
Dear People,
It's coming up on the end of the year, and 2004 has been an intense one for me. To those of you who have been in my classes this year, I want to extend my deepest thanks and affection.
My second book, "The Film Director's Intuition," which came out a year ago, is doing very well - you can check out its excellent reviews on Amazon.com, or here. And "Directing Actors" continues to be a bestseller. Both books are really meant not just for directors, but for writers, actors and anyone who wants to live creatively. Readers have told me that "Directing Actors" is especially helpful for actors, and "The Film Director's Intuition" especially helpful for writers. (And, they make great Christmas gifts…!)
December brings the Sundance Film Festival announcements, and there are several films by directors who have studied with me. "Between," directed by David Ocanas, has been selected for the dramatic competition at Sundance - and includes in its cast two actors from my classes, Johanna Watts and John Burton, Jr. Among the shorts selected to screen at Sundance are "Elephant Palm Tree" directed by Kara Miller, and "Tongue Bully" directed by Annie Bradley. Congratulations!
To all my students and readers, take care, be well, and keep fighting the good fight.
Love, Judith
9/10/04
Hello!
Just wanted to brag a little about four directors who have each done a number of classes and consultations with me, and whose work is being presented at the Toronto Film Festival:
Vicky Jensen and Bebo Bergeron, co-directors of "Shark Tale"
Gary Yates, director of "Seven Times Lucky"
Mark Wexler, director of documentary "Tell Them Who You Are"
I have worked with each of them on each of these projects, so I happen to be able to tell you that these films are really good! I'm proud as punch, and hope they all have a wonderful time!
And I hope that everything is going wonderfully for each and every one of you.
Judith
3/9/04
This will be brief, as I am supposed to be packing for my flight this evening to New Zealand and Australia! I'll be teaching three workshops, one each in Auckland, Wellington, and Sydney. John will come with me, so we'll have a few days of vacation in between each workshop. It's the first trip to NZ/OZ for either of us, so we're very excited.
Other excitement has been the screenings we've been having at the Studio. We started in January, showing features, as well as shorts that have directors or actors (or both!) from our Studio. We call it The Two Lights Cinema Randomly Scheduled, More-or-Less Ongoing Festival of Shorts and Features. For details on the programming, go to Two Lights Cinema. We've had high quality films and full houses for every screening, it's been quite glorious. Any of you who have taken classes with me and would like to show one of your films, contact John at Info@judithweston.com
12/15/03
Thanks for all your support at the three booksignings (in New York, Amsterdam, and Los Angeles) for "The Film Director's Intuition" - each was well-attended, warm, and lively. I saw many beloved old friends.
The recently announced Independent Spirit Award nominations include four for "Shattered Glass," a wonderful movie, whose writer-director Billy Ray has been kind enough to say, publicly, a number of times and in a number of places, that my first book "Directing Actors" was instrumental to his success! I am very proud that he says that.
And very proud of all my students and readers. A number of former students have films showing at the 2004 Sundance Festival - including "In the Realms of the Unreal" (Jessica Yu, Documentary Competition); "Seven Times Lucky" (Gary B. Yates, World Cinema), "A Woman Reported..." (Chris J. Russo, Shorts Program), and "The Vest" (based on a story by Stephanie Hubbard, Shorts Program). In addition, one of my strongest supporters of "Directing Actors," George Toles, is a screenwriter of "The Saddest Music in the World," directed by Guy Maddin, and presented as a Sundance Premier.
The recent LA International Short Film Festival had quite a few films by students of mine: Shawn Chou, Nancy Deren, Vicky Jenson, Amanda Mears, Tony Milch, Kara Miller, Jennifer Pulver, Rae Shaw, Barbara Shock. And the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films featured films by Hanelle Culpepper, Vicky Jenson, and Charlie McNamara.
More news of my students' accomplishments appears on the KUDOS link to the Actor-Director Lab page.
There is a new page on the website - Two Lights Cinema - which, among other news, includes my very idiosyncratic list of Great Movies (with abundant apologies to the many great movies that I'm sure have been somehow left off the list). I've also added a Reading List to the Books page. My classes, workshops, and consultations continue on a regular basis - do contact me if I can be of help to you.
My very warmest wishes for a loving, joyful and reflective holiday season,
Judith
September 1, 2003
Halleluiah! My second book is now available in bookstores! (If your bookstore doesn't have it yet, be sure to pester them to order it...) And on the Internet - www.mwp.com and Amazon.com. Actually, in the 24 hours after I sent out a mass email about the book, it went shooting up to the 700's in sales rank on Amazon! And then they ran out! Now it's back on pre-order. Or available immediately from mwp.com. Don't forget, on Amazon, you can post a review after you've read it...
The Film Director's Intuition
Script Analysis and Rehearsal Techniques
by Judith Weston
Script Analysis and Rehearsal Techniques
by Judith Weston
There will be three major events to launch the book - at bookstores in New York and Los Angeles, and at the Maurits Binger Film Institute in Amsterdam. At both the New York and the Los Angeles events there will be special guests who will join me to answer questions and discuss issues of interest to film directors, screenwriters, and actors. Please do come to the book event nearest you! I would love to see you there. For the detailed info, click on BOOK.
My first book, "Directing Actors," is still a best-seller in the field of filmmaking and acting books. When I accepted my publisher's invitation to write a second book, I made myself a promise that I would try my best to enter new territory and take myself and readers deeper into the challenges and ambiguities of the relationships among directors, actors, and characters. I wanted the second book to be more detailed and complex, and yet go more radically to the simple roots of these issues. You'll have to tell me whether I've succeeded - but I'm very excited about "The Film Director's Intuition." I've put everything I have into it, with my highest hopes to be of service to both new readers and returning readers. And I'm very eager to find out what you think of it!
The second book, both the writing and now the publicizing, has taken a lot of my energy. I've kept up a full schedule of classes, workshops, and consulting in Los Angeles. And kept doing classroom productions as well - the next Production, "Flower Murderer," opens September 28 - original work, very exciting - click on Productions for the details.
I've unfortunately had to curtail some of my traveling. I'll be teaching in New York in September and Amsterdam in October - but invitations to teach this fall in San Francisco, Toronto, Winnipeg, New Zealand, and Rockport had to be regretfully deferred. The New Zealand/Australia trip will almost certainly happen in the spring, and I hope the others can be scheduled somehow as well.
Thanks and warmest good wishes,
Judith
7/1/03
Sorry for the long time between letters, but I can break my silence with good news! My second book - which I have been working on for a couple of years, but really had to bear down on, in the last six months, to the exclusion of many other aspects of my life - is finally, really, and truly finished. It is at press and copies should be available in August.
We are planning three Book Launch events - one in New York (September 9), one in Los Angeles (September 18), and one in Amsterdam (TBA October). Please check the Book page for further details. At each Book Launch event there will be some kind of panel with interesting and lively guests, plus me, signing books - and partying! Please come!
In the meanwhile, you can place an advance order for the book through www.mwp.com or www.Amazon.com. Or - call your favorite bookstore and demand that they order and keep on hand plenty of copies!
Okay - title of the book - "The Film Director's Intuition: Script Analysis and Rehearsal Techniques." Like my first book, "Directing Actors," it's for actors and writers, too.
As soon as I finished the book (actually a couple of days before the Index was completed), I promptly took a tumble off a front porch and dislocated my right elbow. I had to cancel two trips - to Toronto and to Rockport - that I was looking forward to. I'm very sorry I had to disappoint people - it's the only time I've ever cancelled workshops (except for June 1994, when my mother was dying). It was a wake-up call, though, that I need to cut back my travel schedule, which has been grueling.
Even cutting back my traveling and putting my physical recovery first, there's been plenty to do here at my Los Angeles studio. We've embarked on a new round of One-Acts (see Productions). We've also begun putting energy into developing original material. There will be original material in this program, and also in some work we hope to present later in the year.
I've also been working again with two local non-profit orgs, MI-STAR and The Firehouse Theater, to rehearse and present a recital of scenes and songs from "Grease" with a group of mentally challenged adults. Six years ago I had worked with the same population, to present our amazing (and heart-rending) half-hour "West Side Stars." Working with these people is a joyful, life-altering experience. A major aspect of the excitement is the opportunity for the disabled participants to work together with non-disabled actors from my studio - who are generously donating their time and their love, to work with me on this project. (By the way, The Firehouse Theater can accept fully tax-deductible contributions that would go to defray the expenses of our very minimal budget.)
Another development since my last letter is that I've been teaching workshops at the Dreamworks animation studios in Glendale and Redwood City, working with the directors, supervisors, storyboard artists, and animators. This is very exciting and creatively satisfying offshoot of my work with live-action directors.
My regular teaching schedule continues: weekly scene study classes, Acting for Directors, Script Analysis, and the upcoming sessions of the Actor-Director Laboratory. And I continue to consult privately with directors preparing for their projects, at whatever stage - preparing for pitches, meetings, and re-writes, as well as for working with actors in rehearsal and on the set.
Please stay in touch, take care of yourselves, do whatever you feel is right to achieve tolerance, freedom, and peace among peoples of the world.
12/12/02
I'm checking in today with some lovely news - the Independent Spirit Award nominations announced yesterday include the work of four students of mine! And at least five others (that I know of) will have their work presented at Sundance 2003!
First, the Spirit nominations:
"Dahmer" received three nominations, including the John Cassavetes Award for best feature made for under $500,000, plus two acting nominations. Writer-director David Jacobson consulted with me in preparation for "Dahmer" and has taken Acting for Directors and the Actor-Director Lab.
"Tully" received four nominations, including best feature, best screenplay, plus two acting nominations. Writer-director Hilary Birmingham consulted with me in preparation for "Tully" and has taken Acting for Directors and the Script Analysis workshop. "Tully" is currently playing in Boston, Dallas, Houston, Ft. Worth, Irvine, San Francisco, Berkeley, Detroit, and opens in Ohio on December 25th. (Check out www.tullythemovie.com for the 2003 schedule.)
"ivans xtc." received four nominations. Morgan Vukovic' who studies acting with me, played the second female lead, and was on the producing team.
"Real Women Have Curves" received one nomination for best debut performance. (It also won multiple awards at Sundance last year.) Director Patricia Cardoza consulted with me in preparation for shooting.
And at Sundance … The Sundance Film Festival Shorts Program will include "Family Tree." Writer-director Vicky Jenson has taken a number of classes with me, and workshopped "Family Tree" last summer in the Actor-Director Lab. "Family Tree" features Dave Clark and Ethan Phillips, who Vicky met at the Actor-Director Lab, in lead roles.
"Robert Capa: In Love and War" will be in Documentary Competition; director Anne Makepeace has taken Acting for Directors, and consulted with me on several projects. The Sundance Shorts Program will also include "Earthquake" by James Brett, who has taken classes with me.
Congratulations!! And to everyone reading this who votes in the Spirit Awards or who is going to Sundance this year - please see these films!!
Most importantly, have a safe and happy Holiday Season. And pray and work for peace on our troubled planet.
9/1/02
"Film School taught me how to look at the world. It showed me that life exists and that people talk, laugh, worry, suffer, steal in this life, that all this can be photographed, and that from these photographs a story can be told. I didn't know that before. The one and only grudge I bear the school is that no one told me - I still don't know why because the lecturers must have known - that the only thing that I and nobody else can call my own, is my own life and my own point of view. It took me many, many years to arrive at that conclusion."
-Krzysztof Keislowski
The two best books I've read this year are "Cassavetes on Cassavetes" by Ray Carney, and "Keislowski on Keislowski," edited by Danusia Stok. The work of these two film giants always raises my consciousness, and always makes me painfully aware of the times that I muffle my own truth out of fear that it won't be understood or accepted by others. The commitment to following one's own heart and speaking in one's own voice is a radical one. I know that I am not strong enough to do it without help.
The filmmaking community is so dependent on collaboration, and I've been thinking a lot about partnership, and how to have alliances driven by generosity and respect for each other's work, rather than by opportunism and envy. Cassavetes had his partnerships with Gena Rowlands and the other actors of his ensemble (Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara, Seymour Cassel, Lynn Carlin, etc.); Keislowski had his writing partner Krzysztof Piesiewicz, of whom he once said, "Piesiewicz doesn't know how to write. But he can talk. He can talk and not only can he talk but he can think. We spend hours on end talking about our friends, our wives, our children, our skis, our cars. But we keep going back to what would be useful to the story we are inventing."
I wish I could say that I have always had self-knowledge and strength enough to avoid time-wasting and even damaging alliances. But I can say that right now I'm on a lucky streak, working with exceptional people, first among whom is my husband, John Hoskins. Then, the directors and actors that are working and studying with me at our studio - in weekly Scene Study Classes, in Acting for Directors and Script Analysis Workshops, in the Actor-Director Lab, and - since March - in Classroom Productions we have been mounting. The move itself (16 months ago) to the new studio has been such a boost to energy and creativity.
I'm getting ready for another European trip in October. First, to Amsterdam for two more workshops at the Maurits Binger Film Institute, where I have been a regular instructor since 1997. Then to Milan - this will be my first invitation to teach in Italy, so I'm very pleased and excited. The last stop is the Fourth International Student Film Festival in Belgrade - I can't tell you how honored I feel to have received this invitation from the students of Belgrade.
In the process of setting up the Workshop Schedule for upcoming out-of-town trips, including (besides Europe) San Francisco, Seattle, Winnipeg, Toronto and New York City, we also went ahead and scheduled Los Angeles Acting for Directors and Script Analysis workshops for the first half of 2003.
So check out the pages - including my earlier letters, all archived below - and stay in touch. Let us know if you have any questions. And, as always, thank you from my heart for your kind referrals.
4/28/02
Today I am attending rehearsals and production meeting for Round Two of our Two Lights Classroom Productions. This is a dream come true for me. I have always felt that training for actors and directors should ideally be accompanied by performance opportunities in an environment of high standards and total support. We are growing in skills, confidence, community, and self-knowledge.
The day after tomorrow I'm off to New York, for five days teaching workshops for directors and actors - next month, San Francisco and then, Rockport, Maine. Earlier this winter I taught a lovely group in Winnepeg, Canada. And I just got back from Austin, Texas - a wonderful workshop organized by Ron Hayden at his 2 Chairs Studio. As much as I love staying put, in my own home and studio in Los Angeles, I feel very blessed by the opportunities I have to meet and work with people from creative communities all over the world.
3/18/02
The five words that some of us find the most dangerous in the language have been spoken: "Let's put on a show." This is production week - work-day and tech on Wednesday the 20th, dress on Thursday and Friday afternoons, then, on Friday evening the 22nd, the first performance in a four-week run of a program of one-acts, "In the Public Domain." There are complete details on the Productions page - and in fact the notes on the Productions page reflect pretty much all my immediate thoughts and concerns over the last month. It's been a kind of escapism for me, to immerse myself in these difficult, brilliant works by the greatest of the classic European writers - Chekhov, Strindberg and Shaw. A wholesome escape, one of my co-directors calls it.
I've been meditating on the phrase in the John Cassavetes quote I posted here below - about "confidence in your innermost thoughts." When so many in the world are consumed with poverty, with grief, with fear for their safety, health and nourishment and that of their children, I often feel guilty that I have the luxury to even concern myself with "confidence in my innermost thoughts." And yet I can't deny that it is my deepest personal priority.
As a collaborative performing artist - a director, teacher, actor - a central way that I get to think my "innermost thoughts" is through script analysis, rehearsal and performance of the work of exceptional writers. In these last three weeks that we have been preparing these one-acts, I have been privileged to relive themes I feel deeply connected to: with August Strindberg (The Stronger) the layers and depths of betrayal; with George Bernard Shaw (How He Lied to Her Husband) the quirks and inconsistencies of spousal devotion; with Anton Chekhov (The Bear) the limitlessness of sexual self-deception and foolhardiness. And through these texts I learn again that I am not the first person to have experienced these things. That someone else knows what it's like!
The other privilege has been the people I've collaborated with. In the mere three weeks of rehearsal, the actors and co-directors and I have hit every high and every low. I have taken the risk of expressing my innermost thoughts with them (which is the only way I know how to direct). They have taken the risk of trusting me, of trusting the texts, of pushing through resistances, of bouncing back from the occasional moments of anxiety and disappointment. They have taken the greater risk of bouncing back from success - which can be the most dangerous artistic experience of all. I can't say enough about how thrilling it's been to watch the talent and dedication of my students take them far beyond anything I could ever teach them. We have learned and grown together.
Although we've kept it simple, we've needed technical and logistical support. And students and friends of the studio have been inspiring and moving beyond words in their desire to be involved. We haven't opened yet, and maybe these precious days of anticipation, community and unlimited potential will prove to be the most delicious. Whether the production fulfills its promise is now up to the final collaborator - the audience.
2/1/02
I've been reading a wonderful book - "Cassavetes on Cassavetes" by Ray Carney, and I highly recommend it. It includes this statement by Cassavetes that I'd like to share with you:
"You have to fight every day to stop censoring yourself. And you never have anyone else to blame when you do. What happens to artists is that it's not that somebody's standing in their way, it's that their own selves are standing in their way. There is a compromise made if you work on a commercial film and the compromise really isn't how or what you do, the techniques you use, or even the content, but really the compromise is beginning to feel a lack of confidence in your innermost thoughts. And if you don't put these innermost thoughts on the screen then you are looking down on not only your audience but the people you work with, and that's what makes so many people working out there unhappy. They say, 'Well, I'll make a lot of money and then I'll come back and do this later on,' and the truth of the matter is, of course, that they never do. These innermost thoughts become less and less a part of you and once you lose them then you don't have anything else. So many people have so much to say and there are so many really worthwhile things to say that it seems impossible that we could cut ourselves off from this whole avenue of enormous excitement."
12/31/01
The New Year
Thank you, friends, students, webtravellers, for bringing bounty to my life, for being a big part of what was good in this last year - a year we'll never forget. We have much to do in this next year - sacrifices to live up to, healing to give and receive, joy to find in our daily permission to live, love, and create.
"Enjoying the joys of others and suffering with them - these are the best guides for man." Albert Einstein
12/15/01
It's a remarkable holiday season. The giving of thanks, the hope for peace, and the expression of love and goodwill mean more than ever. I wish for us all some moments of reflection, acceptance, insight - and pleasure in being alive.
The Actor-Director Laboratory has generated at least four film projects (that I know of) scheduled to go into production in early 2002, either principally or entirely cast from actors that the directors met in my classes. Two shorts, "Love/Hate" (writer/director Gary Abramson), "Plain View, Arizona" (story/director Dorka Hegedus), and two feature-length, "Tyranny" (writer/director John Beck), and "Fat Tuesday" (story/director Louis Nader).
This is terribly exciting. And the next Actor-Director Lab starts soon - a Tuesday session starting January 8, and the Thursday session starting January 10. People who continue in this workshop reap benefits that go beyond a one-shot injection of insight and excitement. The mandate of the Lab is to build and keep your "chops" - and keep exploring ways to build and deepen relationships - by working out weekly on a different scene with different actors (or directors).
We did something new in my weekly weekly Classes for Actors this fall. I asked everybody to read "Waiting for Godot," by Samuel Beckett, and then broke it down into manageable-length "scenes" for people to prepare for class. We ended up spending six weeks, and got through most of it - it was addictive! Each scene was double-cast so we could mix and match, and being able to watch each other proved an invaluable aid in penetrating this difficult but immensely rewarding material. I started out with a simple wish to have my students make a connection to a play that is very close to me, but a strange thing happened. It turned out that the relationships, themes and language of this play provided an ideal arena for focusing on individual acting problems, and for opening everyone up to new levels of freedom and commitment in their work. I almost wanted to call the experiment a "Beckett Acting Clinic." Or maybe it should be called the "Masters Acting Clinic" because of the confidence an actor achieves when he or she "masters one of the masters."
We're going back to exercises, cold-reading, and "regular" scenes when we get back to class on January 9 after holiday vacation. But I'm noodling around ways to try this approach again, with other classic texts - maybe Pinter's "The Dumb Waiter," Strindberg's "Miss Julie," Ionesco's "Rhinoceros," Shakespeare's "Macbeth."
The next Acting for Directors in Los Angeles (January 25-27) still has spaces - so please tell your friends - or take it again yourself! (Many people have done this and told me it is a great creative shot in the arm, as well as a solidifier of the basic concepts.) The upcoming New York City Workshops in January are almost full, so let me know soon if you are interested.
Script Analysis - the art of finding the choice that opens up a character's world for you - remains an obsession for me. The next Script Analysis Workshop is scheduled now for April 12-15, and will include a fascinating full-length script from a Hollywood studio film that is not yet released.
Please take care. And write or call me if there is anything I can do for you.
11/01/01
Welcome!
This website is a work-in-progress. The main thing is I wanted you to be able to get information about my classes and workshops any time you need it. So if you have any confusions, questions, or any suggestions about how to make things clearer - please let us know!
I love the idea of this "Letter." I always feel so close to people who have taken my courses, and I love the idea that I can stay in touch with you, even in this rather formal way, and let you know what I've been up to, and my latest plans and schemes.
Every catching-up of news starts with September 11. My many friends and students in New York are apparently safe, but I am close to so many people who lost someone, either in New York or on one of the airplanes. My heart goes out to all who were lost or are suffering.
On the day itself I was in New York. I had been teaching Acting for Directors the previous weekend to a really amazingly wonderful group. The workshop ended Monday evening - a total high - and I was due to fly home Tuesday morning. I was on my way to Newark Airport when the attacks occurred - we saw them from the shuttle van.
At the airport nothing seemed real. I sort of wandered back and forth from the windows, where we had a completely clear view of it all, to a television, where watchers stood in total silence, to the phone banks, where I marveled that every single phone I happened to pick up happened not to work, to the hallway, where I stood quietly trying to figure out what the man on the loud speaker could possibly have really said that sounded so much like "The airport is now closed."
The strongest of all my jumbled feelings was aloneness. But as we know from the many stories of courage and compassion that have come out of New York, there were guardian angels. While I was standing in a daze on the roadway after we were evacuated, a nice woman started a conversation with me. She was looking for her husband, who was supposed to fly to Philadelphia that morning. When I mentioned that I was trying to reach my cousin and his wife who live in northern New Jersey, she said she had a car and insisted she would drive me there. We hooked up, sought out information, found water, determined that her husband was already home and safe, cried together, prayed together, and finally parted, almost reluctantly, when she dropped me off at my cousin's. There I was well taken care of, and able to reach by email friends and students in New York. Of course I am only lucky. I have never taken our freedoms and comforts for granted, but now more than ever I am constantly grateful for the blessings of friends, family, home, and work that I love.
A few days after I finally got home to LA, I flew to Europe on a previously planned trip. The first stop was Utrecht, Holland, for three days at the Netherlands Film Festival, at the invitation of actress Renée Soutendijk ("Spetters," "The Fourth Man"), who was the guest of honor at the festival this year. Renée and I had become friends working together in workshops during previous visits of mine to Amsterdam. It was Renée's idea that a festival honoring her should be an occasion of appreciation, growth and renewal for the actors of Holland. Among other things, she organized acting workshops - one for experienced Dutch actors, and one for new, young actors - to be taught by her and me. I had a lovely time. The actors were talented, committed, eager for renewal, and completely open to new techniques - sheer pleasure to work with. And of course, for a "typical celebrity-mad American" (me, sort of), it was a kick to have in my class actors whose faces I later saw plastered all over billboards and trams in Amsterdam - some of the top actors in Holland.
Next stop was Helsinki, Finland, but for visiting instead of workshops. I was there during the Helsinki Film Festival, and got to attend an evening of shorts made by Film School students. Two of the films selected were made by students who had taken courses with me during my previous trips to Finland - and their work was terrific!
Then back to Amsterdam, to teach two workshops at the Maurits Binger Film Institute - one for writers and directors, and another for directors and actors. They were very successful, and I felt, throughout my trip, warmly welcomed and taken care of by the Europeans. Well, I am always treated very well when I travel, of course, but there was a special feeling this time, a delicacy, a specific kindness. It felt almost like, as an American, I was being treated like someone who had suffered a personal loss. The U.S. air strikes on Afghanistan began two days before my return.
I got home in time to see my publisher, Michael Wiese, on his yearly trip to Los Angeles. (He and his wife and daughter live in Cornwall, yes, Cornwall, at the very tip, and we visited them there a year ago - one of our favorite vacations ever.) And I got to hear him pester me about deadlines for my second book - in person instead of by email. "Directing Actors" continues to sell well and get good response.
Other news -
A New Studio - very close to the old studio, almost across the street really, but much grander - with a high ceiling! We moved on May 1st. I am indebted, I owe very special thanks to Deena Mullins, who gave invaluable advice and support on the lighting, and even loaned us equipment; to Susan Emshwiller, who arranged the donation of flats, flooring, and lots of miscellaneous stuff; to Wendy Phillips; and to all my acting students, who tirelessly packed, carried, and moved (or told me to throw out) everything, who painted flats and closets, who (dangerously) installed acoustical material, who built, who hauled, who cleaned, who sewed drapes, who arranged props, who catalogued scripts, who donated costumes, piano and punching bag… Thank you, one and all.
The Actor-Director Laboratory. A new course that the old studio was too small to accommodate. The inaugural six-week course was this summer, and a very gratifying success. It will continue, in six-week sessions - currently, during November-December (two sessions, actually - one on Tuesdays and one on Thursdays), then the next set of sessions scheduled for January-February. And March-April, etc., if all goes well.
The possibility of Productions. Two Lights Studio Theater has been certified as an Equity Waiver theater.
In January, I'll be going back to New York, to teach Acting for Directors, and also a one-day Actor-Director Lab. I hope to conduct New York Workshops more frequently from now on.
Also in January I will start teaching at the American Film Institute, classes in "Directing Performance," for both the first-year and second-year fellows.
But perhaps my favorite news is that my husband, John Hoskins, is now working with me on the business side of things. This is a step we'd contemplated for a long time, and finally felt ready to take in July. In addition to running the office and the studio, John will have more time for acting and music. I'm very happy about the arrangement - it seems to give me new energy and freedom - and something that feels like a whole new marriage!
Otherwise, things continue as usual - Acting for Directors, weekly Classes for Actors in Scene Study and Technique, Consultation for Directors in pre-production, Script Analysis and Rehearsal Techniques, etc. Feel free to check it all out. And to let me know your news too.
Finally, let me take a minute to thank you all for your kind referrals. I couldn't keep my doors open without them.
Love,
Judith
Info@judithweston.com or judyweston@aol.com
310 392-2444