New York’s famed Neighborhood Playhouse will host a virtual Open House on Thursday, July 8 at 5:30pm EST for interested applicants. Attendees can join Playhouse faculty and alumni for an evening of informational, hands-on activities where they’ll discuss their two year Certificate Acting Program as well as their six week Summer Acting Intensive. “Orange is the New Black” recent alumna Christina Toth will share her experiences from her time at The Playhouse. The internationally renowned acting school will open its doors again on September 13 to students for in-person classes.
“We’re so excited to offer this intimate, behind-the-scenes glimpse into all The Neighborhood Playhouse has to offer students and since it is a virtual Open House, we welcome interested applicants from around the world to tune in,” said Pamela Moller Kareman, Executive Director. “We have been training some of the best award-winning actors for decades, and we are eager to meet the next class of brilliant artists.”
The Neighborhood Playhouse’s acclaimed alumni include Allison Janey, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Dylan McDermott, Joanne Woodward, Griffin Dunne, Mackenzie Davis, Robert Duvall, Ian Duff, Connie Britton, Carol Channing, Tony Randall, Martin Henderson, Sherie Rene Scott, Mary Steenburgen, David Mamet, Steve McQueen, Jeff Goldblum, Brian Geraghty, Steven Rogers, Aria Shahghasemi, Christina Toth, Christopher Meloni, Chris Noth, Christopher Lloyd, Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Grey and Gregory Peck, and many more.
The 90-minute virtual Open House will feature an introduction to The Playhouse by the Executive Director and members of The Playhouse faculty who will also give a brief overview of the school. Members of the faculty will teach sample classes and guests will get to participate in a unique series of free, hands-on sessions, including Meisner Technique Acting and Acting on Camera. The evening will conclude with staff, faculty, and working alumni speaking about their experience and why they chose to study at The Neighborhood Playhouse.
“For many many years, The Neighborhood Playouse has proved to be a very fine training ground for actors. I am so glad that I was able to benefit from what The Playhouse has to offer. It proved to be a springboard into the reality of what was to come and the real world,” said Academy Award Winner Robert Duvall.
Reservations are required and space is limited for the virtual Open House at The Neighborhood Playhouse on Thursday, July 8 at 5:30pm. EST. For more information and to reserve a spot, please go www.neighborhoodplayhouse.org.
The Neighborhood Playhouse, a major force in American theatre and theatre education since its inception, was founded in 1915 at the forefront of the American theatre renaissance. Created by philanthropists Alice and Irene Lewisohn, the original Playhouse was located in the famous Henry Street Settlement House. One of the first Off-Broadway theatres, the Playhouse was committed to community and devoted to renewing the roots of drama, mounting works both classic and modern. From the theatre grew a desire to focus on training and, in 1928, The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre opened its doors. The Lewisohns entrusted the direction of the school to Rita Wallach Morgenthau, a long time board member and advisor to their theatre. The first class, comprised of only nine students, had the privilege of being taught by theatre luminaries Agnes DeMille, Louis Horst, Laura Elliott, and Martha Graham. Martha Graham was one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance and is widely considered one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. She began working at The Neighborhood Playhouse in 1921 and joined the faculty upon the school’s inception.
In 1935, Sanford Meisner, one of the founding members of The Group Theatre (along with Stella Adler, Bobby Lewis, Harold Clurman, and Lee Strasberg), joined the faculty of The Neighborhood Playhouse. Over the years, he developed and refined what is now known as the Meisner Technique, a step-by-step procedure of self-investigation for the actor now globally recognized and among the foremost of modern acting techniques. Sanford Meisner retired in 1990 and served as Director Emeritus of the Acting Department until his death in 1997. Today his legacy lives on in the continuation of his training, being taught to incoming students each year in The Neighborhood Playhouse’s Two Year Program.
On October 18, 2018, The New York City Council honored The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre and Sanford Meisner with a Proclamation in recognition of The Neighborhood Playhouse’s 90 years of outstanding work and the profound contributions of Sanford Meisner. The Neighborhood Playhouse remains the only conservatory where the faculty was trained to teach acting by Sanford Meisner himself. The Cambridge Guide to Theatre (Cambridge University Press) described The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre “as the most respected acting school in the country and first among all professional training programs.”
