THE GISTER METHOD
Author, "The Gister Method"
Tuesdays, 7:00-9:00pm
8-week class
Beginning April 15, 2025
12 Student Limit, Ages 18+
$395
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This method focuses on training the actor in transformation, analysis of the text and putting the focus on a source outside of self. 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.
Designed for intermediate to advanced actors, this class will use text from modern theater to give students an immersive, working understanding of the methodology. Students will work in two-person scenes to learn how to deal with text analysis, character development and context. Many scenes will also include monologues, and the entire class will learn how to approach both monologues and soliloquies.
This class will take your acting to the next level in a supportive environment that encourages the actor to make discoveries, take the focus off of self and connect with another actor in a profound way.
Joe and Genoa recently returned from a trip to China, where they taught a 7-day concentrated workshop on the methodology at the Shanghai Theater Academy.
There is no bigger expert on Gister's teachings than Joe Alberti. He possesses hundreds of hours of class recordings from Earle's classes, and also has in his possession every single teaching notebook from Earle's private collection--boxes and boxes--given to him by Earle's family after his passing in 2012.
Most importantly, this is what the class addresses: paying more attention to your scene partner than on you. How many auditions and scenes do I see featuring actors only worried about how they are saying their lines and how they are saying the next one? Or actors clearly in their head and not in the moment? This class gives you practical application for addressing that.​
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Those that have not taken basic acting classes should probably not consider this class. This will be an advanced deep-dive for people already with a working vocabulary in acting.
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BIOS:
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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.
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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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Genoa Davidson is an actor, coach, voice teacher, Alexander Technique teacher (AmSAT) and writer who has attended The North Carolina School of the Arts (music and performance), St. John’s college (linguistics and philosophy) and KD Actor’s Studio in Dallas. She also completed the month-long actor-training intensive at Shakespeare & Company. She is the associate editor and production manager of The AmSAT (The American Society for the Alexander Technique) Journal and co-editor of the international, Open Source, peer-reviewed Alexander Journal. She is a certified Colaianni Speech Practitioner and is in the process of completing her certification in Jessica Wolf’s Art of Breathing. She is currently co-writing several new plays and screenplays, including a play adaptation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis, The Transformation.
She has published peer-reviewed papers on acting technique and interdisciplinary work, and numerous articles on the Alexander Technique. With Joe Alberti, she is currently at work on a new play about the lives of John and Abigail Adams, with a focus on a reconstructed historical dialect and the role of women in the Revolutionary War. She has just completed speech and dialect coaching on the feature film The King of Sunflowers, based on the life of internet genius Rob Ryan, filmed on location in Serbia.
After working with the actor Alan Alda, she and Dr. Alberti began to explore the use of actor training, especially improvisation, to work with non-actors who desired to improve their presence and vocal freedom and they now work in universities and corporations worldwide to help people become better communicators. She recently returned from China, where she assisted a seven-day intensive on Earle Gister’s work at the Shanghai Theater Academy. She is currently at work on a book on reconstructing a historic dialect.
