The Michael Howard Studios is an acting studio for the

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

located in at 152 West 25th Street in Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City; the studio was founded in 1953 by actor/director

Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posi ...

History

A protégé of both

Sanford Meisner Sanford Meisner (August 31, 1905 – February 2, 1997) was an American actor and acting teacher who developed an approach to acting instruction that is now known as the Meisner technique. While Meisner was exposed to method acting at the Group ...

at the Neighborhood Playhouse and Lee Strasberg at the

Actors Studio The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded ...

, Howard established his Studio in 1953 grounded in the work of

Konstantin Stanislavski Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski ( Alekseyev; russian: Константин Сергеевич Станиславский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin sʲɪrˈgʲejɪvʲɪtɕ stənʲɪˈslafskʲɪj; 7 August 1938) was a seminal Russian Soviet Fe ...

. Over the years, the studio incorporated many schools of thought and techniques from around the world. The Studio attributes its existence to the Group Theatre. In 1931, Harold Clurman,

Cheryl Crawford Cheryl Crawford (September 24, 1902 – October 7, 1986) was an American theatre producer and director. Biography Born in Akron, Ohio, Crawford majored in drama at Smith College. Following graduation in 1925, she moved to New York City and ...

, and Strasberg founded the Group Theatre in New York, beginning a watershed period in American Theater. The Group Theatre brought together

Elia Kazan Elia Kazan (; born Elias Kazantzoglou ( el, Ηλίας Καζαντζόγλου); September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one o ...

, Stella Adler,

Frances Farmer Frances Elena Farmer (September 19, 1913August 1, 1970) was an American actress and television hostess. She appeared in over a dozen feature films over the course of her career, though she garnered notoriety for sensationalized accounts of her l ...

, Clifford Odets, Irwin Shaw, and John Garfield (among many others). Their creative commune introduced America to the revolutionary teachings of Stanislavski, and it set in motion new schools of thought that would dominate acting for the rest of the century. The Group Theatre closed its doors in 1941, and its visionary members set out in new directions. In 1942, Howard joined the Neighborhood Playhouse as a scholarship student under Sanford Meisner. Howard vigorously pursued his studies and absorbed everything Meisner had to impart. Howard then served in World War II as a parachutist, and upon returning, joined Equity in 1947. Strasberg invited Howard to study with him, and soon he was asked to become a member of the Actors Studio. Howard began a long career of hundreds of roles on stage and screen, including Odets' '' The Country Girl'' on Broadway and the film '' The Men'' with Marlon Brando. Acting led to directing and, in 1952, to teaching, when

Sidney Lumet Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. He was nominated five times for the Academy Award: four for Best Director for ''12 Angry Men'' (1957), ''Dog Day Afternoon'' (1975), ''Network'' (1976), ...

asked Howard to replace him at the

High School of Performing Arts The High School of Performing Arts (informally known as "PA") was a public alternative high school established in 1947 and located at 120 West 46th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, from 1948 to 1984. In 1961, the school was m ...

. The next year, in 1953, a group of actors asked Howard to lead their sessions, and Michael Howard Studios was born. Over the next five decades, Howard's teachings expanded to the Yale School of Drama, the Juilliard School, the American Conservatory Theatre, and Boston University while continuing his master classes at the Michael Howard Studios. The studio is now in its 55th year in continuous operation making it the longest running private acting studio in New York. In honor of the 55th anniversary of the studio, the studio received an official proclamation from Mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...

, declaring May 4, 2009, Michael Howard Studios Day "in honor of the studio's contribution to New York's rich theatrical history".

References

''An Actor's Guide''
by Glenn Alterman, Allworth Press, 2002 *WOR News Talk Radio – Community Concerns 11.17.08 *Taped Lecture @ Michael Howard Studios 07.08 *The New Generation of Acting Teachers, Eva Mekler, January 2008 *Acting Teachers of America, Ron Rand, January 15, 2007

External links

* *
Finding aid to the Michael Howard papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
{{authority control Drama schools in the United States 1953 establishments in New York City Educational institutions established in 1953 Arts organizations established in 1953 Performing arts education in New York City