Bernice Loren (1920 – May 4, 2010) was a well known American actress, director, teacher and mentor to many actors, best known for an inspirational combined performance technique, "emanating from a place of unity,"

Biography

Her initial theatre training was with

Erwin Piscator Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator (17 December 1893 – 30 March 1966) was a German theatre director and Theatrical producer, producer. Along with Bertolt Brecht, he was the foremost exponent of epic theatre, a form that emphasizes the socio- ...

and included studies with

Lee Strasberg Lee Strasberg (born Israel Strassberg; November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American acting coach and actor. He co-founded, with theatre directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed ...

, Reiken Ben-Ari,

Valerie Bettis Valerie Elizabeth Bettis (December 1919 – September 26, 1982) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. She found success in musical theatre, ballet and as a solo dancer. Biography Valerie Bettis was born in 1919 on either December 19 o ...

, Marian Rich, and many others. Throughout her professional career she has continued to study, experiment, and do research for her work. From a throughout background in Stanislavski’s approach she went on to investigate various acting methods and styles, performing under and observing foreign specialists at work, among them Ono’é Baiko VII, George Devine, Yuri Zavadasky, Dimitros Rondiris, Jacques Charon. To modern dance instruction she added ballet, period manners and movement (William Burdick), Mensendieck,

Yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

(Acharya and

Hatha Hatha yoga (; Sanskrit हठयोग, IAST: ''haṭhayoga'') is a branch of yoga that uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ ''haṭha'' literally means "force", alluding to ...

), and

tai chi is a Chinese martial art. Initially developed for combat and self-defense, for most practitioners it has evolved into a sport and form of exercise. As an exercise, tai chi is performed as gentle, low-impact movement in which practitioners ...

. Voice and speech training was extended to include dialect studies (Milenko Rado) and singing (Margaret McCulloch). Miss Loren has played over forty roles Off-Broadway and in stock and resident theatres. She has directed over twenty-five plays Off-Broadway, in stock, and in community theatres. She has taught acting, voice and speech, and movement in resident theatre companies, City College, and community theatres. As co-founder-director-manager with Marilyn Lief of a summer stock theatre in

East Jordan, Michigan East Jordan is a city in Charlevoix County, Michigan, Charlevoix County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,239 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is at the end of the south arm of Lake Charlevoix at the mo ...

she was involved in every aspect of theatre work, onstage and backstage, in addition to teaching apprentices. As the director of the Professional Workshop of stage 73 she helped to formulate its experimental program, selected Workshop personnel by auditioning a large body of actors and interviewing numerous directors, and also directed along-run children’s play. She is the author of a text on voice and speech, Effective Speaking, and has written plays, stories, articles, and poems.

Students of Bernice Loren

* Pauline Hahn *

Dirk Weiler Dirk Weiler is a Germans, German actor and singer. Biography Dirk Weiler is a German-born actor/singer. He showed an interest in the performing arts from a very early age on. He participated in school and community theatre productions. Dirk ...

* G. Beaudin

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Loren, Bernice American stage actresses American theatre directors American women theatre directors American acting coaches 2010 deaths 1920 births 21st-century American women