OVERVIEW
Learn the innovative acting approach created by Earle Gister, former head of Acting at Yale University. This class is taught by Dr. Joe Alberti, the world's foremost authority on Gister, and author of the book "The Gister Method."
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
Joe Alberti and Genoa Davidson are offering an eight-week intensive scene study class based on the acting methodology developed by the late Earle Gister, former head of acting at the Yale School of Drama. It uses Gister’s unique Principle of Action, which requires the actor to focus on affecting their scene partner rather than self-generating emotion. This creates a unique flow of energy between actors that is the key to powerful, effective acting. This class is suitable for intermediate or advanced actors. Those with minimal or no acting training should learn the basics in another class first before considering this class.
CLASS TIMES
Wednesdays, 7:00-9:30 pm
12 Student Limit
Begins Jan. 28, 2026
8 Weeks
Dr. Joe Alberti
Professional Educator and Vocal Coach
Joe Alberti (PhD) is a tenured Associate Professor of Voice and Performance at the University of Oklahoma. He attended the Yale School of Drama and wrote his dissertation as well as numerous books and peer-reviewed articles on the acting methodology of Earle R. Gister, former Associate Dean of YSD. His book, Acting: the Gister Method, is in its second printing and has been translated onto Chinese. He is a Designated Linklater Voice teacher, a certified Colaianni Speech and Dialect teacher, a certified Alexander Technique (AmSAT) teacher, and is currently completing certification in Jessica Wolf’s Art of Breathing. He is the Editor-in Chief of the AmSAT (Alexander Technique) Journal and is Editor-in-Chief of the international, OJS peer-reviewed Alexander Journal. He is co-author, with Genoa Davidson, of the interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed article, “The Other Side of Performance: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Listening for Voice and Speech Trainers,” published in the international Routledge Journal, the Voice and Speech Review.
He has worked extensively at Shakespeare & Company, served as text coach at the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival, and has been voice, speech, dialect, and text coach on many theatre productions and film projects. With Genoa Davidson, he wrote and directed the world-premiere production of The Trial, a modern play based on the Kafka novel set in the context of surveillance capitalism. He is currently co-writing several new plays, including a play adaptation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis, The Transformation, and a two-character play about the life of John and Abigail Adams, My Dearest Friend. He has extensive coaching, directing and acting experience. His coaching work includes training and empowering non-actors and is informed in part by his work with actor Alan Alda, whose Foundation trains and empowers non-actors in communication, presence, and leadership using acting methods and techniques. He completed speech and dialect coaching on the feature film The King of Sunflowers, based on the life of internet genius Rob Ryan and is currently voice coaching the WB series The Librarians: The Next Chapter. He recently returned from China, where he taught a seven-day intensive on Earle Gister’s work at the Shanghai Theater Academy. He is currently at work on a book on reconstructing an historic dialect.
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