Penny Templeton
Encyclopedia
Penny Templeton is an American acting instructor
based in New York City. Her primary focus is teaching an eclectic approach to the craft based on the great master teachers (Stanislavsky, The Method/Lee Strasberg
, Sanford Meisner
) that supports modern actors coping with today's fast-paced acting industry.
and Wynn Handman
. Highlights of her career include starring in Joyce Carol Oates
' I Stand Before You Naked at the American Palace Theater http://www.lortel.org/lla_archive/index.cfm?search_by=show&id=1195, and as Paul Sorvino's wife in All the King's Men
.
In 1990 Templeton began privately coaching actors and in 1994 opened the Penny Templeton Studio http://www.pennytempletonstudio.com. She has offered her expertise in national magazines, served as a finalist judge for the Cable Ace Awards, Daytime Emmy Awards, and the New York Film Festival
. In addition, she taught "Acting for the Camera" for the Masters Program at Columbia University
. Among Templeton's directorial credits are the one-man shows, "The F Train" and "The Idiots Guide to Life", and the off Broadway play, "The Rise of Dorothy Hale." She is featured in the books Acting Teachers of America by Ronald Rand http://www.allworth.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=978-1-58115-463-3&Show=ExtInfo, and Promoting Your Acting Career by Glen Alterman http://books.google.com/books?id=Fscg42tyxUMC&dq=promoting+your+acting+career&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=iMZ4S_TvI4G1tgebxqi1Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CB0Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=&f=false. In 2011 Templeton published her acting book, Acting Lions: Unleash Your Craft in Today's Lightning Fast World of Film, Television and Theatre. (http://www.actinglions.com) Currently, Templeton is completing a DVD illustrating exercises and techniques that are described in her book, "Acting Lions."
, improvisation
, sensory and substitutions to teach the craft of acting and to deepen the actor's organic instrument. According to Templeton, this kind of work not only develops the actor's camera technique, but also reinforces basic theatre training. Templeton believes that when truth is projected onto the screen and magnified a hundred times for the actor to watch, he can very quickly make adjustments.http://www.backstage.com/bso/esearch/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003961108
Acting instructor
An Acting Instructor is a person, usually well educated in theatrical arts, who teaches, or 'instructs', aspiring performers on various acting methods. One example is the French mime artist Jacques Lecoq, whose methodology has inspired several theatre practitioners including Stephen Berkoff....
based in New York City. Her primary focus is teaching an eclectic approach to the craft based on the great master teachers (Stanislavsky, The Method/Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective"...
, Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner , also known as Sandy, was an American actor and acting teacher who developed a form of Method acting that is now known as the Meisner technique....
) that supports modern actors coping with today's fast-paced acting industry.
Career
Penny Templeton is a fourth generation theatre actress. She began studying and performing under such teachers as Paul SorvinoPaul Sorvino
Paul Anthony Sorvino is an American actor. He often portrays authority figures on both sides of the law, and is possibly best known for his roles as Paulie Cicero, a portrayal of Paul Vario in the film Goodfellas and Sgt. Phil Cerreta on the police procedural and legal drama television series Law...
and Wynn Handman
Wynn Handman
Wynn Handman, is the Artistic Director of The American Place Theatre, which he co-founded with Sidney Lanier and Michael Tolan in 1963. His role in the theatre has been to seek out, encourage, train, and present new and exciting writing and acting talent and to develop and produce new plays by...
. Highlights of her career include starring in Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction...
' I Stand Before You Naked at the American Palace Theater http://www.lortel.org/lla_archive/index.cfm?search_by=show&id=1195, and as Paul Sorvino's wife in All the King's Men
All the King's Men
All the King's Men is a novel by Robert Penn Warren first published in 1946. Its title is drawn from the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. In 1947 Warren won the Pulitzer Prize for All the King's Men....
.
In 1990 Templeton began privately coaching actors and in 1994 opened the Penny Templeton Studio http://www.pennytempletonstudio.com. She has offered her expertise in national magazines, served as a finalist judge for the Cable Ace Awards, Daytime Emmy Awards, and the New York Film Festival
New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...
. In addition, she taught "Acting for the Camera" for the Masters Program at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. Among Templeton's directorial credits are the one-man shows, "The F Train" and "The Idiots Guide to Life", and the off Broadway play, "The Rise of Dorothy Hale." She is featured in the books Acting Teachers of America by Ronald Rand http://www.allworth.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=978-1-58115-463-3&Show=ExtInfo, and Promoting Your Acting Career by Glen Alterman http://books.google.com/books?id=Fscg42tyxUMC&dq=promoting+your+acting+career&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=iMZ4S_TvI4G1tgebxqi1Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CB0Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=&f=false. In 2011 Templeton published her acting book, Acting Lions: Unleash Your Craft in Today's Lightning Fast World of Film, Television and Theatre. (http://www.actinglions.com) Currently, Templeton is completing a DVD illustrating exercises and techniques that are described in her book, "Acting Lions."
Templeton's Acting Techniques
Templeton's acting theory believes that it is essential to use tools like a video cameraVideo camera
A video camera is a camera used for electronic motion picture acquisition, initially developed by the television industry but now common in other applications as well. The earliest video cameras were those of John Logie Baird, based on the electromechanical Nipkow disk and used by the BBC in...
, improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
, sensory and substitutions to teach the craft of acting and to deepen the actor's organic instrument. According to Templeton, this kind of work not only develops the actor's camera technique, but also reinforces basic theatre training. Templeton believes that when truth is projected onto the screen and magnified a hundred times for the actor to watch, he can very quickly make adjustments.http://www.backstage.com/bso/esearch/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003961108
Quotes
- "The ball of energy that needs to reach the last person in the last row of the theatre must be pulled in, with a bonfire of emotion on the inside and a relaxed external for the camera."
- "The safest place for the actor to explore, experiment and yes, "fail" is in the classroom."
- "I don't believe in the "Church of Meisner" or the "Church of Method". You need it all. New forms of acting are evolving for the next century. The actor needs to be open to all forms of technique."
- "My misson is to bring the craft of acting into the present reality of today's "fast-forward" world of film, television and theatre, and to put actors on a higher path to artistry within that reality."