Stellar!

Today I received the just released book by Stella Adler on America's Master playwrights, edited by Barry Paris. Although I'm terribly busy I couldn't resist the temptation to start reading. The charm of the book: These are transcripts of Adler's lectures. When you read it you actually hear that theater legend talk. She addresses young actors. She tells them: " Your job is not to act. Your job is to interpret… Once the playwright has written the play and the play is here, he's done his job. It's closed… It is an extremely difficult literary form, that little play–so few pages. That's a difficult form and one that's not understood. He has done his job; then you come along. You say, what's my job? You don't know your job. You don't even know the name of your job… You can't just take the words. You have to take the soul… Understand your profession: interpretation means that I'm going to find the play and the playwright in me… Your profession is to interpret." O, how I wish Stella Adler could lecture today's directors of our German "Regie-Theater"!