Moral Courage Workshops
Commemorating the Holocaust will not stop another holocaust from happening!
It is now over seventy years since The Holocaust ended with the opening of the concentration camps and the slow, ever so slow, recognition of what had taken place.
And yet…and yet… with the diminishing amount of survivors left in the world, soon, a commemoration will be for whom?
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Stanislavski and the Moral Dilemma
Many theatre people know of Constantin Stanislavski and his famous system (Americans may know parts of it better as “The Method”) but most don’t know his views on moral courage that went along with his theatrical devices that helped build an alive human being on stage.
More on Stanislavski Acting below…
Overview
“Goodness is an optimist’s dream. Reality lies somewhere between that dream and the pessimism we have to deal with every day.” Anonymous
When we look around at the news being reported by the media, by the history we keep reading about, we begin understanding that the signposts of our lives revolve around war and colonization, poverty and starvation, holocausts and genocides.
Our ‘signposts’ extend to entertainment: The American Psychological Society reports that children watch 21-23 hours of television a week, and that by the end of elementary school, the child will have seen 8,000 murders and 10,000 other acts of violence. And this is beyond CNN’s instant recording of war.
Yet the child is also attacked in school itself. Our history books include so many violent acts. Notice how much ‘reality’ our books are full of. So we teach the violence and war that we see on television, see in our films, and hear in our modern music. The cycle grows and grips us. Watch children on the playground or in the cafeteria; notice inclusion/exclusion, haves/have-nots as a reflection of our lives. Isn’t this how wars begin? Isn’t this how the Holocaust began? Are we repeating history?
With our theatrical experiences as actors and teachers, we have found that in order to build a character on stage, we need to know the thoughts, behavior, and therefore the emotions of the character.
As this is true for theatre, why not in life? If I begin understanding my everyday thoughts (and therefore my behavior) I can change my thoughts and my behavior. My emotions and attitudes may change as well. Experts call this Behavioral Psychology. Actors call it Building a Character.
Schools offer us the possibility of planting these seeds. If a child can learn, through theatrical means, what his thoughts are, then he can change those thoughts with the theatrical games we play. Just as actors can choose how they build their character, so can children choose the person they want to be. Once they learn the technique of choosing their thoughts, they can also choose their behavior and become the person they want to be through choices, hopefully loving, caring and non-violent.
We have a chance to change society, one good step at a time.
Want to see how?
BIOGRAPHIES
ISAAC DOSTIS has worn many hats in his artistic career. As actor, director and teacher, he has worked with the famed Henry Street Playhouse & The Sonia Moore Studio, both in New York City. As a filmmaker, he has produced the award winning video LIVES TO SAVE: THE RESCUERS, about those who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. Currently he writes and teaches with Act 1’s Moral Courage Programs.
DIANA SUNRISE, co-founder of Act 1 Presentations, has helped create and write shows and workshops for schools and organizations throughout the states. While a member of the Actors Studio in New York, Diana also created many roles for stage including a video LIVES TO SAVE: THE RESCUERS. A graduate of Seattle Pacific College in Seattle, Washington, she received her BA in Speech and Drama receiving awards as Best Actress in THE INNOCENTS and THE MIRACLE WORKER.
BOTH are co-recipients of THE RAOUL WALLENBERG AWARD for teaching Moral Courage and THE AXELROD AWARD for educators in Holocaust Education.
The Stanislavski System (of acting)
Stanislavski and the Moral Dilemma
Many theatre people know of Constantin Stanislavski and his famous system (Americans may know parts of it better as “The Method”) but most don’t know his views on moral courage that went along with his theatrical devices that helped build an alive human being on stage.
Read more?
Stanislavski & the Art of Making Commercials
The idea of Konstantin Stanislavski & the art of making commercials looks at first incongruous. The obvious reasons may be that “there is no real acting in commercials” or “it happens so quickly, we don’t have the time it takes to use Stanislavski” or “are you kidding, a real actor wouldn’t be caught dead in ‘em.”
Stanislavski in his lifetime, worked in a medium which influenced people’s lives. Today, commercials, to a vast extent, do the same thing.
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THE MUSICAL CONNECTION: The Visual Expression of a Musical Experience By Frederick Storfer
The current standard practice in presenting a music theatre piece is to break it down into its basic elements of drama and music. Usually this results in a lack of vision as to an overall point of view. By organically interconnecting the dramatic and musical elements of a work, we enable a flow of behavioral logic leading toward an organic whole. This connection between the two facilitates the construct of a logical flow of its episodic elements within the organic totality – the musical connection.
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