Spotlight On…
Michael Howard, Founder of Michael Howard Studios
Michael Howard has been on Broadway and in hundreds of regional productions. But his ultimate focus is making sure Michael Howard Studios gives his theatre students the training they need to suceed in the theatre world.
Q: How did you get started in your theatre career?
A: The beginning for me was when I was 16 years old when I attended the “New Theater School” which was an off-shoot of the Group Theater. Out of that school, I got my first Off-Broadway job in a play called Zero Hour with fellow Group Theater actors. That was the beginning, and from there I joined the Neighborhood Playhouse and studied with Sanford Meisner, which led to studying with Lee Strassberg. I joined Actors’ Equity in 1947 after I returned from the 2nd World War as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne division.
Q: Describe someone or something in the theatre community that has influenced you.
A: I am so fortunate that I’ve had so many people who have been very important to me and my career. Sanford Meisner had an enormous impact on me, and then I studied with Lee Strasberg. Both of them were hugely important, but there are so many others who people may not know. In terms of craft, it was Sandy and Strasberg.
Q: How did Michael Howard Studios start?
A: I got a job teaching for the first time at the High School of the Performing Arts teaching the seniors in the afternoon. Sidney Lumet suggested me and I started teaching there for 4 or 5 years. During that period, some of the graduates including Michael Kahn and Dom Deluise came to me and asked me to start a class with them. So I said, “Well, okay!” The first location was in my home in Brooklyn, and then I rented a space on 67th Street. From there we moved locations several times, finally finding the current home on 25th Street in 1985.
Q: What is your favorite part about teaching at Michael Howard Studios?
A: There are many things about teaching that I love. In me is an absolute, sharp pleasure when I see change in the actor; when I see development. Seeing the growth, seeing the change. Part of that is recognizing over a long period that each actor is different. The young men and women I taught in the 50’s are very different than the actors of the 90’s. And the actors of the 90’s are different from the actors today. These actors today are much better actors than “we” were back then. Actors are more sophisticated now than they were 40 years ago. Because of this, I must continue to change and adapt my teaching. I am a much better teacher than when I was 40 years ago. Happily for me, I don’t have a specific curriculum. I never know what I’m going to teach the next week, which makes my job more difficult, but also very exciting.
Q: What are some of the advantages of studying in New York City?
A: To be that close to some of the best theater and some of the worst theater in the world. To be able to see the difference. You can see some terrible theater on Broadway, and some great theater in a little hole in the wall. New York has an enormous number of art museums, galleries and concert venues. It is very important to take advantage of it, to go to the museums and know art. It is essential to the actor’s method and craft to see it, and to utilize it.
Q: What are some of the special programs you offer within your studio?
A: Because this studio is for the individual actor, each actor can take advantage of the studio in different ways.
For our more established actors, perhaps studying with me or another scene study teacher is appropriate. For others, perhaps auditioning for the Summer or Two Year Conservatory is the right step. There are also specific workshops for specific needs, such as Shakespeare with Patsy Rodenburg, On-Camera Technique with Gabrielle Berberich and Lucid Body Technique with Fay Simpson.
Another aspect of the studio is a program called “The Friday Night Series” in which actors in the studio can workshop material for their peers in our black box theatre. Over the years, it has enabled our actors to put up wonderful work that may not have a home otherwise.
Q: Anything in particular potential students should prepare for or expect when preparing to take class at your studio?
A: Prepare yourself to be surprised. Prepare yourself to not have answers. Prepare yourself to risk. Prepare yourself to learn the pleasure of putting yourself in creative danger.
Q: What makes your studio different from other studio programs out there?
A: One of the major decisions of creating this studio was to create this place FOR THE ACTOR. This is for the actor, by the actor. The teachers here are performers themselves. We concentrate on enabling the individual actor to develop their own method. Each student is trying to find “that way” of work that gets them out of their head, gets them to use their body more. Everybody is different, and everybody needs different types of work.
The studio has also adapted over the years, based on what is happening in the theatrical community. These days, actors must be well versed in all mediums, so we offer extensive on-camera classes, audition skills, and business seminars in addition to traditional craft work.
Q: You were recently honored by Mayor Michael Bloomberg as the longest running private acting studio in New York City. And now May 4, 2009 will forever be “Michael Howard Studios Day.” What do you think has attributed to the success of your studio over the years?
A: My interest was always in the students, and in their growth. I took it and continue to take it very seriously. Making this a place for actors, where the students feel responsible for this place. This is their place, not my place. It made a big difference, and continues to make a difference today.
Q: After all of your accomplishments as an actor, director and teacher in the theatre community, what else can we expect from Michael Howard in the future?
A: I plan on continuing teaching, and beyond that we will just have to wait and see. I feel confident in where the studio is headed. I partnered with Gabrielle Berberich in 2005. I chose to partner with her because I believe she has the wherewithal and passion to take the studio to new heights and continue facilitating its excellence.
Michael Howard has been active in the theatre since 1940, the year of his first professional acting job, and joined Actors’ Equity in 1947. Teaching has been a major part of his life since 1953, the beginning of the Michael Howard Studios.
An actor, director and teacher, Mr. Howard taught and directed at the Juilliard School, Drama Division for seven years, served as an Adjunct Professor at the Yale School of Drama, and as a Visiting Associate Professor at Boston University. He also taught in the inaugural season of the American Conservatory Theatre with William Ball, serving as a teacher-director. While at A.C.T. he directed the company in George Bernard Shaw’s Misalliance for public television.
As an actor, Michael has performed on Broadway in Clifford Odets’ The Country Girl, among others, and in literally hundreds of roles in summer and winter stock, repertory companies, regional theatres, television and film. His last film was John Patrick Shanley’s Five Corners.
As a director he was a pioneer in the Off-Broadway movement. His credits include the American premiere of Leonid Andreyev’s The Waltz of the Dogs, Time of Storm by Sheldon Starks, and Lofton Mitchell’s Land Beyond the River, the first modern play by an African-American writer that dealt with the emerging civil rights movement. On Broadway, he directed The Troublemakers by George Belak and the Theatre Guild’s The Third Best Sport by Eleanor Perry, with Celeste Holm. Michael was the founding artistic director of Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre Company, where he directed the landmark production of John Dryden and Henry Purcell’s opera Masque King Arthur, as well as 15 other productions in the three years he was in Atlanta.
Among America’s most important theatrical figures with whom Michael has worked as an actor, director and teacher are: Uta Hagen, Celeste Holm, Estelle Winwood, Sidney Lumet, Michael Kahn, William Ball, Jean Erdman, Joseph Chaikin, Michael Douglas, Charlton Heston, Jason Robards, Jacquie Brooks and Terry Schreiber. More recently he has worked with actors Keith David, Boyd Gaines, Kyra Sedgwick, Judy Kuhn, Kelsey Grammer, Alfre Woodard, Joe Pantoliano and William Hurt.
During the past many years his major effort has been the development, growth and success of the Michael Howard Studios, and his teaching therein. Michael’s pleasure and excitement in teaching is unabated.
