Michael Beckett

Michael Beckett earned his credentials not in the halls of academia but in the streets of Brooklyn and New York City, where he has lived all his life. The rough-and-tumble neighborhoods of his childhood nurtured in him a talent for keen observation of human motivation and behavior. Each time he moved into a new neighborhood, there was the opportunity to hone his skills in responding creatively to whatever "theatre of the streets" he was required to act within.Michael began his study of acting at the age of 17, he says, because "I wanted to play around and get an allowance." It was under the tutelage of the legendary Herbert Berghof at New York's HB Studio that he began to understand acting as a noble art form. And it was with the support of his mentor and friend William Hickey that he was invited to begin teaching classes there at the age of 24. He also worked with actors/singers at the Singers Forum, and has taught classes in "The Actors Craft" and "Directing the Actor" at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Kanbar Institute of Film and TV.Michael's teaching approach is to guide each student in discovering and developing his or her instrument according to their unique individual talents and understanding. He focuses not just on technique, but on moving into the deeper and more mysterious realm that lies at the core of art itself. Once a week he conducts an advanced invitational class where, in addition to their ongoing scene study and monologue work, students can bring original creative projects for development and critique. It is from transcripts of this advanced invitational class that this book has been created.