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From Stage to Screen
 
Recently, I was invited to address the graduating class of a top conservatory training program for actors in New York City. I asked the group to give a few minutes of thought to where they would like to see themselves professionally in five years' time. Then I asked for a show of hands from all those who were thinking in terms of "film." Every hand in the group, except one, shot up. The one holdout responded "theater and film."
 
Prior to the above-mentioned speaking engagement, I was a guest at another well-known acting training program, also in New York City, where I posed the same question to a theater full of young acting students. And got essentially the same response—mostly "film," several "television," and only a few "theater."
 
In the past, an actor seeking a career in film or television usually ventured west to Hollywood while the actor pursuing work in the theater migrated to New York. The westward trek is still made, but it has become equally true that most young actors who come to New York are also eyeing careers in film or television. This has become the ultimate goal, or dream, for most of the actors with whom I come in contact.
 
Why this change? One major contribution to the powerful lure of the film and television industry is a now decentralized theater scene, which makes it necessary for most actors to accept often low-paying out-of-town engagements if they are to be employed in the theater at all. Yet, despite the hardships, there is still probably no better way for the New York actor who seeks a career in film or television to give this dream a chance than to strive for the highest quality visibility possible in...