Stella Adler & Acting Methods and Yiddish Theatre

It may be my imagination but when I saw Jack McFarland's acting teacher Zandra Zoggin for first time on Will and Grace my thoughts went to Stella Adler.  The mannerisms, the voice, the body language - were the writers doing an homage to the great Stella Adler ?  Was the McFarland Method a sly jab at the Method Acting of Lee Strasberg ?

Stella Adler was one of the great acting teachers of 20th century. Unlike many others, she actually studied with Constantin Stanislavski himself.  She wrote a small number of books, there's also one compiled of her teachings and a video Stella Adler Awake and Dream!

      

Stella Adler was born into a family with deep acting roots. Her parents, Sara and Jacob Adler, were two of the greatest performers within American Yiddish Theatre.  The Toronto Reference Library has an extensive theatre collection with many books on Yiddish Theatre.

 

You can search the catalogue using any keywords "yiddish theatre" or looking in subject keyword for "theater yiddish" or "theater jewish".  There are also extensive online databases of magazine and journal articles available through the Library's website from home or in the any branch library.