USD Magazine Spring 2008

them,” he says. “And I think their performance has a dif- ferent sense of ownership because they’re playing things that they’ve created.” At the end of the scene, Epstein asks several actors about their motivation: “How do you want him to feel? Where are we in the scene, and what’s happened the moment before?” All the actors, taking a seat on the floor, offer suggestions and ask questions in an effort to breathe life into characters created 400 years ago. Epstein listens, interjects, nods. “It’s D — it’s all of the

work was probably the biggest influence on my work,” recalls Krohn, who played with Easton in a number of Broadway pro- ductions. “He doesn’t buy in to the idea that if I’m playing Romeo I need to decide what my objective is,” he says, laughing. “Richard would say Shakespeare has put it all there for you. You get back to Hamlet’s speech.” Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trip- pingly on the tongue: but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw

Melissa Friedman ’96 — who along with fellow graduate Jim Wallert ’98 founded a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway com- pany called the Epic Theatre Ensemble — expressed grati- tude for the mentorship she received from renowned actor Richard Easton. “Richard would pull us aside and give us notes on how to capture an audi- ence’s attention and focus the story correctly.” This founda- tion led her to become a mentor to students in New York City public schools by running arts education pro- grams. Using primarily classi- cal plays, she and other actors

the dark Studio Theatre, where they’ve been spending about 25 hours a week out- side of class. They are in rehearsal for their student production of Pericles to be performed at The Old Globe. “Let’s start from the begin- ning of the scene and see what’s changed since yester- day,” chirps their director, Sabin Epstein, after chatting amiably with his actors. He slips into one corner of the theater and observes, taking only mental notes. What he’s teaching them is the process of rehearsing a play from the moment they

above,” he approves. “Let’s see what happens with that.” After an hour, he runs the scene once more. This time the actors play with such focus that one of their col- leagues is brought to tears. “Thanks,” says Epstein. “This is progress.” G r a d u a t e s t u d e n t A n t h o n y v o n H a l l e ( l e f t ) p a u s e s f o r a p e n s i v e mome n t a f t e r r u n n i n g t h r o u g h s ome l i n e s .

in the company help students explore critical social ques- tions and then create and per- form their own original play. “I can hear his voice even now,” says Friedman. “Richard would say, ‘The moon is always out there.’ When you’re talking about the moon in Shake- speare, it’s always out in front of the audience. He retrained us so that our eyes could be seen and the audience could see right into our souls. “He was never a teacher in the pedagogical, didactic sense, but being around him as an actor and watching him

the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, the whirlwind of pas- sion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. … (Hamlet, III.ii.1-8 ) I t’s Saturday — one of those memorable autumn days where the warm air is tinged with the crisp scent of fallen leaves. As hoards of people crowd the University of San Diego campus for a football game, a handful of M.F.A. students head in the opposite direction toward

first read the title on the page to the moment the

show opens. “We spend a lot of time not only analyzing the text but determining how to break the code to discover the author’s intent in what the character is doing at that moment,” he explains. The goal is to create intelligent actors capable of adding flesh to words and bringing fresh ideas into the rehearsal room. “It’s much more fun to engage the actors in a discus- sion of what they’re doing rather than my being a pup- peteer and just manipulating

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