Practical Aesthetics

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Practical Aesthetics history

Mamet was origionally taught by Meisner, dropped out after first year. Mamet disagreed with classes leaving students confused, he believed that acting was a craft - a learnable skill, and also disliked the American actors tendency to focus on themselves and not the story.

He then set up The Atlantic theatre company (1983 ) with Macy. They trained a core group of NYU students - the outgrowth of one classroom assignment was " A practical handbook for the actor" - a must read for all drama students. Eventually the core gorup became the ATC ensemble, and Mamet's teaching was taught to future generations.