Marilyn Monroe will be with us forever

One afternoon a week in the early to mid-1980s in New York City, I 

Marilyn Monroe will be with us forever

would be in the same room as Arthur Penn, Joe Mankiewicz, Elia Kazan and 

Marilyn Monroe will be with us forever

Norman Mailer. Sometimes we would be joined by the son of Bertolt Brecht, 

Marilyn Monroe will be with us forever

and by Robert Anderson, the guy who wrote Tea and Sympathy and occasionally

Marilyn Monroe will be with us forever

This was – and still is – a workshop called The Actors Studio Playwrights/ Directors Unit.

Marilyn Monroe will be with us forever

 You had to be invited and it was assumed that you would be discreet if you were. Because

Marilyn Monroe will be with us forever

this was where members tried out their work, and this work was – and still is – based on The

Marilyn Monroe will be with us forever

screen; household names and easily recognisable faces.The Method was Actors Studio director Lee Strasberg’s 

Marilyn Monroe will be with us forever

 version of techniques of a system developed by the Russian Konstantin Stanislavski. Everything had to feel “real”.

Marilyn Monroe will be with us forever

I was invited one day to see a Method-embracing friend who had been working on The Seagull for about five years.