TEACHING STATEMENT:
“I use the techniques I absorbed while studying at LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) and, later, with Uta Hagen. They are techniques I use in my own acting and they have evolved into a very personal and immediate way of teaching. Students are encouraged to draw on themselves, to take risks, to always remain in the moment, to listen, take their attention off themselves and put it on their partner, and to find their objectives and the shape of the scene in a supportive atmosphere closer to rehearsal than to performance, always respecting and honoring the text.”
BIO:
Laura Esterman has appeared in countless plays on and off Broadway, and won the Obie, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics’ Awards for her performance in Marvin’s Room. Plays include I’m Revolting at the Atlantic, Good for Otto and Mike Leigh’s 2,000 Years at the New Group, Card and Gift at Clubbed Thumb, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at BAM, and Macbeth at the Public, among many others. Her Broadway work includes The Suicide, Metamorphosis, and The Show-off, and she has played leading roles in regional theaters across the country as well. Film includes The Doors, Awakenings, Ironweed, and the indie film Can Hitler Happen Here?, for which she was named Best Actress at the Brooklyn and Chelsea Film Festivals. Recent TV includes The Blacklist and HBO’s I Know This Much is True with Mark Ruffalo.