Catherine Gaffigan
A renowned acting teacher for over 30 years, she made her New York debut opposite Dustin Hoffman in “Journey of the Fifth Horse.” Her other acting work includes “Cabaret” (national tour with Signe Hasso, Rob Salvio and Melissa Hart), as Lady Macbeth, on many soap shows. Ms. Gaffigan appeared in both Broadway versions of “Whose Life Is It, Anyway?” Her films include “Julia,” Brian DePalma’s “Sisters,” and “Town Diary.” She was the producer-director of the world premiere of “The J.A.R.,” and the North American premiere of “Lady Susan,” based on the Jane Austen novel.
Early in your career, you were cast in “Journey of the Fifth Horse” opposite Dustin Hoffman.
Yes, my friend, Jack Aaron, was in the show, and they were in rehearsal. Larry Arrick was the director, and Jack told him about me. So they invited me to audition with Dusty (Dustin Hoffman), and I got the job. I had a good part, and working with Dusty was a joy. He was a younger then as we all were, and playing a middle-age character. Dusty is extremely generous and creative; I was very lucky. I had just finished graduate school at Catholic U in Washington, D.C., and when I got the role, I thought this is how it works – you just get jobs right away. It was a lucky fortuitous combination.
And then you did “Cabaret” on tour.
I had a bad audition on the stage of the Imperial Theatre; Hal Prince was there. I had been working with a vocal coach, and sang Barbara’s song from “Three Penny Opera.” I started to sing and right away I knew I was off, so I stopped, and asked if I could start again. I did, and then Hal came down to the edge of the stage and looked at me. The next day I heard I got the part. I was the perfect Aryan.
Rob Salvio was the emcee and subsequently, George Abbott too over. During the second year of the tour we were in Toronto, and I had a friend who had founded a theatre in Buffalo – Brother Augustine Towey. He came to see us and casually asked me if there was a play I wanted to do. He had “Macbeth” in mind but didn’t say so. Then he told me that’s what he would do! So I wrote Hal to say I had to quit to play Lady Macbeth. He told me, “Of course you have to do it. Take a month and then come back.” So I went to Buffalo, did the show, and then went back into ”Cabaret.”
How did you begin teaching?
My teacher was the great Jim Tuttle. I was in a speech class in the early 70’s, and Curt Dempster was in it too, and Curt said to me: “I think I know someone who can help you.” He meant Jim. Curt gave me the nickel for a phone call. So I went to study with Jim. He taught “acting is truthful human behavior in fictional circumstance.”
At one point, Jim asked myself and Curt to take over his classes. “Would you like to teach?” he asked me. First, I said: “I don’t have the patience to do this, but he was passing the baton to both of us. I actually knew I knew how to do the work. Knowing how to do it and knowing how to teach are two different things. Jim had given me a very solid technique. In school I learned critical thinking and psychology, among other things. Being educated is of critical importance; I believe teaching and acting are sacred and important.
After Jim’s death, the students asked me to continue. I was very upset and didn’t want to take it on. But two months later, I said, “Okay I’ll do this.” I resumed but I was working a lot, and while I was on Broadway I only taught one day a week in the daytime. Curt also continued and, of course, he founded EST on 52nd Street
Have you changed the way you teach from when you began?
Hopefully it has improved. Fundamentally I’ve added things. For instance, Jim didn’t do anything for musical theatre or commercials, and I always teach everything but circus training. I think my work has evolved, but Stanislavsky is the core of the work. That’s the anchor.
Teaching is totally a surprise every minute. I give the students assignments and then people bring their individual angst and their individual perspectives. It’s a creative act we do together. If you’re in the moment it will be fresh and new. That’s the wonderful thing about teaching. So much of it has to do with the generosity of the students trusting me, bringing me their hopes and dreams to get what they need. It’s an exchange of gifts. It’s always renewing – a very alive process.
How should a student rehearse?
With one hundred percent attention. It’s a combination – of being technically adept, insightful, patient, instinctive. And try things. That is what rehearsal is for. Students should sit down in an armless chair, do breathing exercises, from the solar plexus, so they ‘clear the deck,’ then work on improvisations. If you know your objective, you can create an independent activity. I give them exercises that are equivalent to what Stanislavsky gave his students, specific instructions about the rehearsal process so no one becomes a teacher when they’re working with their partner.
The key is to reinforce the actor, so they aren’t floundering. I ask them to an improve structure and bring it in to the studio. The main thing is that they are in the moment. Staying moment-to-moment – ah, the ultimate skill. We do it with scenes and by collaborating with the playwright. I believe your subconscious is your greatest ally – if we’d just get out of our way – get rid of the blah, blah, blah.
I only give developing artists plays that are functional for actors – not esoterica. I always ask: What is the playwright talking about? If it’s Sam Shepard – what is his issue? We analyze the essence of the scene. I ask the students: What is your point of view? It must become personal. We have to collaborate with the writer. If you’re working on a play by Mamet – what’s the world view in “Glengarry Ross.” The play is about the real estate business. The world of the play reveals to us this is a society about money, making money. That’s how you participate, and that’s all that matters.
I ask the student to go inside the text. I try and get the actors to think. I expect them to come in with something. They’re learning how to contribute.
On the soap shows, there’s a dearth of significance, so that’s where your skill has to be with knowing how to harness the writing. Actors have to know the lay of the land, they have to be clued in how to be prepared and to meet the need, whatever it takes. To be prepared for whatever is necessary. Acting is tremendous fun.
What is your goal with those who study with you?
To be prepared to work! Every person is individual. After two years I want them to have done everything. Once they have an impulse to look for work, I don’t control their lives. I emphasize: it’s just not for class, it’s what you do everyday, in whatever you do. I do mock auditions and interviews, so they’re exposed to the reality of the business.
Acting is a blend of being your artistic self, and bringing the richness of your emotional life to it. That’s what so unique about it and you marry that to a technique and that carries you forward.
People ask: “Why study? I can become famous in 15 minutes.” I tell them, this work is for the long haul. It’s like I’m teaching them how to fly an airplane. You have to know the technique or you’ll kill yourself and everyone on the plane. You have to know what you’re doing. It’s what Martha Graham said: “Technique frees you.”
And it changes them.
Yes, you are transformed by the work. When you investigate yourself and learn all about yourself and you learn how it use that so you become open for your work, you become undefended in your real life. You are transformed by training. At the end of the training, you’re not who you were. You become most viable, your most emotional self; that’s what you give.
Whom would you point to as an example.
The great Colleen Dewhurst. She had guts, she wasn’t afraid to show it. She was courageous in giving things that others would say you, no, you can’t see that part of me. That’s what you give so others can see. What she did on the stage was unforgettable. The stage was on fire. So alive! Alive!!
A part of her was unsophisticated, but she had something to say and it came from her guts, and to me that’s when theatre is most alive. Because it’s a living thing, in front to you, and for three hours, it’s a different world. I see young students grow in front of my eyes, and when they know they’re experiencing themselves in a richer way, they feel it. A lot of the time what you see are people fooling other people and that’s characterizes what’s going on. What you’re seeing on TV are people who are not awake.
How will they know the difference? You say: somewhere within me, I have to reveal my personal history but not as a therapy session outside the play. I want them to have a sense, it may be something they may not be able to identify, but to know we have a gift within each of us. There’s a light on inside. Young people today need to be awake to themselves, to what’s in the world.
