INTERVIEW WITH CHERRY JONES - NEW SCHOOL FOR DRAMA - 9/16/13

I have been invited to teach in Melbourne, Australia from July 29th to August 17th.
I will be teaching Acting Technique, Scene Study and Solo Show Performance.
I'm eager to work with the Australian actors who I am told are very hard workers
and have great passion.  Yipee.
This gift comes to me from Howard Fine who I taught with in L.A. for many years.
He now has two studios in Australia; Sidney and Melbourne.

In the Fall I resume teaching at The New School for Drama: Solo Show and Talking About the Work which is my interview series.  Last year I interviewed David Hyde Pierce, Christine Lahti and Jeremy Irons.  I am looking forward to more!  Cherry Jones is scheduled to be my first guest!

Karen Ludwig: Interview with Jeremy Irons at The New School for Drama

Jeremy Irons on Love, Directors, and Antiques

When Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons auditioned for theater school in the 1960s, he wasn’t the shoo-in many would now suspect, given his subsequent accolades. “I just told the admissions panel, ‘Well, I think I might quite like the life of being an actor.’ That’s apparently not what they wanted to hear.” Of the four English schools he applied to, only the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School took the bite. Last Tuesday, New School for Drama students and faculty had a rare opportunity to hear such stories not often told, as Irons peppered anecdotes like this throughout his Q and A session with faculty member and actress Karen Ludwig.

In front of a tightly packed audience at the Drama Theatre, Irons and Ludwig’s hour-long conversation covered quite a range. From love scenes with Meryl Streep (an experience both actors share: Irons’ A French Lieutenant’s Woman and Ludwig’s Manhattan) speculations on his true calling (“I always thought I’d end up an antique dealer”), and the makings of a good director (“He’s like a great chef; ingredients have to simmer”), the actor’s responses drew in many laughs and, more than once, applause. When asked why he initially pursued acting as a career, Irons said that he “loved the smell, the theatre house, and the idea that everyone involved was working their own life.”

With notable awards such as a “Best Actor” Oscar for Reversal of Fortune, two Golden Globes, and an Emmy, Irons’ work transcends both film and theater. He is commended for his virtuosity in portraying some of literature’s more difficult roles, such as Humbert Humbert from Lolita.

The Jeremy Irons Interview at the New School for Drama