Today we’d like to introduce you to Shelley Mitchell.
Shelley, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
When I was seven years old my parents took me to see a play on Broadway called The Miracle Worker. It was based on the true story of Helen Keller, and by the end of it I was shivering in my chair and rendered speechless. The stars of the play, Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft, instilled in me a deep reverence for dramatic artists that set me on my path and has never left me.
I grew up in Detroit and graduated from Southfield high school in 1970. I somehow found out that Emerson College, in Boston, had an acting program. I applied and they accepted me. I did a lot of plays there and studied with some wonderful teachers, but after a couple of years I realized that I needed to get to New York City to pursue the kind of career I was dreaming of. I auditioned for The Circle in the Square Theater School, moved to Manhattan and completed their two year conservatory training. Right out of the gate one of my teachers, Estelle Parsons, (Oscar winner for Bonnie and Clyde) suggested that if we were really serious about acting we should study with Lee Strasberg “while he was still alive”. I took her advice and studied with him for four years.
In New York I got to work with and learn from artists who were at the top of their game. I modeled for Salvador Dali, did scene work with Harvey Keitel (Mean Streets, Pulp Fiction), attended the Actors Studio, was mentored by Oscar winning actress, Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist) and Greek tragedian, Irene Papas (Zorba the Greek). I also worked closely with Al Pacino on his production of a Brecht play called Arturo Ui. The great actor, John Cazalle, (The Godfather, Deer Hunter) was one of the actors in that play and he hooked me up with my first agent. All of this gave me a solid foundation. And as a midwesterner, it opened my mind and allowed me to see that I was not alone in questioning the status quo and searching for meaning through art.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
That’s a big question for a short interview. -It has definitely not been a smooth road! The 1970s in NYC was full on ‘Mad Men’ times. Daily catcalls would startle me. Being routinely groped between classes by one of the owners of Circle in the Square was completely dehumanizing.
The irony was that I was also in a cultural paradise, learning from, working with and seeing incredible performers. On any given day my emotions would soar like an eagle and then be smacked down into the pavement. I took great comfort in the works of Chekhov and Ibsen and Tennessee Williams. I read. I read Alan Watts, Ram Dass and The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. I took LSD! I smoked a lot of weed! I went to the theater! I went to films and concerts; sometimes with friends but mostly by myself. I bought records and listened to complete symphonies just sitting by myself in my apartment. I had wild solo Isadora Duncan dance sessions. …My best friend was CULTURE itself and my heart was open to anyone or anything or any place that added to my knowledge and understanding.
Please tell us about Duse Studio of Dramatic Art.
I established Duse Studio of Dramatic Art in 2014 when I moved to Los Angeles. My previous studio was called The Actors Center of San Francisco, where I taught for the previous 20 years.
In 2018 I co-founded The Slauson Rec Theater School with Shia LaBeouf and Bobby Soto and produced our 2019 Sacred Spectacle event in DTLA featuring The Slauson Players.
I specialize in finding where metaphysics and great acting meet. I use my NYC street cred to demystify ‘The Method’ and restore it to its mind-expanding, heart-opening essence. Duse Studio is a boutique acting school. I teach one class a week in Hollywood with 20 students and have about 15 private clients ranging from leading film and TV actors to beginners.
As a performer, I’m best known for my adaptation and stage performance of TALKING WITH ANGELS: BUDAPEST, 1943. I can be seen on the big screen in SORRY TO BOTHER YOU, written and directed by my student, Boots Riley; and GREEN IS GOLD, also written, directed by and starring my student Ryon Baxter.
Duse Studio of Dramatic Art is named after the great 19th-century Italian actress, Eleonora Duse. She is considered by many to be the first modern actor and the mother of Method Acting. Duse was such a powerful influencer that during her 1894 tour of the USA, the word “doozy” was adopted into the English language to describe something that was exceptional and life-changing. Twenty years later she became the first women to be on the cover of Time Magazine. Duse is unknown to many modern actors yet Stanislavsky and Strasberg both stand on her shoulders.
Eleonora Duse was the innovator of an acting technique she described as “the elimination of self”. Akin to the ideas associated with Zen Buddhism and Mindfulness, she said that her technique allowed her to internally connect with the character she was portraying and free her spirit from mind and ego so that emotional expression could take over.
I aspire to pass Duse’s legacy on to the current generation of young actors. I help my students sound unscripted. I help them to analyze text and find dynamic acting choices. Most important of all, I help them find the universal in the personal.
I believe that the ‘magician’s apprentice’ has taken hold of and twisted the entertainment industry. I believe that art and love and the human spirit are more powerful. I endeavor to help my students and clients keep their balance as they navigate the ups and downs of an acting career and a life in art. I hope that my students will be a healing force, whatever their level of success.
Who have you been inspired by?
Patty Duke, Anne Bancroft, Shelley Winters, Eleonora Duse, Samantha Morton, Cary Mulligan, Laurette Taylor, Ellen Burstyn, Meryl Streep, Vanessa Redgrave, Judy Dench, Juliette Binoche, Glenda Jackson, Paula Vogel, Theresa Rebeck, Notzake Shangre, Sarah Rhul, Wendy Wasserstein, Yasmine Reza, Elizabeth Warren, Gelsey Kirkland, Marianne Williamson, Janis Ian, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Marion Cotillard, Elaine Pagels, Dr. Lesley Gray, Dr. Jill Bolte-Taylor, Evan Rachel Wood, Irene Papas, Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet, Ellen Page, Anne Heche, Debra Winger, Michelle Williams, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Jean Shinoda-Bolen, Oprah and most of all Abraham/Esther Hicks.
All of these women have taken me to heights of feeling and thought that I would not have come to by myself.
Pricing:
- If anyone is interested in coaching with me or taking my class they can check out the menu of rates here https://shelleymitchell.org/classes/
- Monthly classes are $250 for four three hour classes.
- One-on-One Coaching (in person or on Skype) is $150/hour
Contact Info:
- Address: Shelley Mitchell
Duse Studio of Dramatic Art
6476 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036 - Website: http://www.dusestudio.com
- Phone: (424) 209-9822
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shelleymitchell360/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MethodActingClass/
- Twitter: @shelleymitchell
- Other: https://shelleymitchell.org/demystifying-the-method/
Image Credit:
David Noles for my headshot portrait and Leo Lovely for all the others except the black and white photo of me and Shia LaBeouf on the mattress which should be credited to David Artiega.
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