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The New Actors Workshop was a two-year acting conservatory in New York City founded by Master Teachers Mike Nichols, George Morrison and Paul Sills in 1988. The school offered a unique, dual-track curriculum combining Stanislavski-based technique with Viola Spolin Theater Games. The workshop stopped accepting students in 2010.

The founders

Sills, Morrison, and Nichols enjoyed a long association dating back to the 1950s at the University of Chicago. Their experience convinced them that there was a unique value for the actor in the double challenge of performance improvisation and Stanislavski-based training, and they founded The Workshop specifically to offer this powerful experience to a new generation of actors.

Performances

There were different types of performances throughout the year in which students participated.

Friday Night Improv

Students of the workshop played Spolin theatre games for an audience. These shows were free and open to the public.

Scene Nights

At the end of their first year, students performed for family and friends in a New Actors Workshop Scene Night.

Story Theatre

At the end of their second year, students went into a rehearsal period with a guest director. This production was most often a Story Theater show, a genre invented by Paul Sills in the 1960s. Guest directors included Paul Sills, Gene Hackman, Diane Paulus, Shira Piven, David Turner, Lester Thomas Shane, K Tanzer, Carol Sills

Notable alumni

• Diane Paulus, director Hair (musical)
• Ricki Noel Lander, actress
• Kim D'Armond, actress

References

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