Ed Kovens: A Modern Master Teacher

Of all the arts, perhaps the most elusive is that of a teacher's. At first, one might think that it is easily grasped and understood because the externals are so apparent. A good teacher is, of course, both knowledgeable and capable of dynamic presentation, but a great teacher can only be judged by looking at his or her students. Even then, many times the fruits of a great teacher's art cannot be realized until years afterward when the planted seed has had full time to flower and mature. Ed Kovens spent years with a Master Teacher himself. Starting in 1957, Lee Strasberg trained Kovens as an actor and subsequently sent him onto a successful career which has included Broadway, film and television. But Strasberg also inspired him to another art, and by the mid-sixties, Kovens found himself coaching and teaching other Strasberg students. Shortly thereafter, Kovens became a founding teacher of the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. A twenty-five year member of The Actors Studio, Kovens is now the director of his own training program, The Professional Workshop, where he guides actors of all levels through their craft using the principles which he originally learned from Strasberg.

A recent visit to several of Ed Koven's classes revealed classic Method Acting training which is often attempted, but seldom understood. His classes are divided into two sections, each lasting more or less two hours: The first part is given over to exercises, which incorporates a great deal of work on Sense Memory and other techniques, and the second part is a monologue and scene study class which focuses on the incorporation of the methodology developed in the exercises.

Perhaps the most extraordinary thing about Koven's class strikes one immediately upon arrival: not only do his students have great respect for Kovens, but it is returned. The atmosphere bubbles with friendliness and congeniality. Acting teachers in the past were celebrated for being aloof, moody, unreachable and, in general, terrors. Not so with Kovens. He goes out of his way to relax his students, and put them at ease. He tells a few jokes, talks about the Big Fight, passes on news about former students - anything to loosen up his charges and make them feel at home. The nice thing is that none of this is faked. His compassion and personal sensitivity towards his students belies his gruff voice and truck driver exterior.

Having "decompressed his students from the streets of New York," Kovens then starts formal relaxation exercises. "If you're on a film set, you don't want them thinking you're some Method-acting nut. So you have to be able to do exercises they can't see."

Sensory Exercises

The class now branches out to include various Sensory exercises which are expressed through the use of a monologue. It is more than a challenge to an actor's craft to use the same words in rapid fire succession to express different realities and different remembered emotions. The results are sometimes unintentionally comic, but are much more often riveting as the student finds new levels hitherto unknown and unexplored. Much care is given to making each personal object and moment extremely specific, and Kovens prompts and questions each student in order to heighten the reality for the actor. The famous "Song and Dance" exercise is a cap to the sensory work for the day, and allows the student to express the emotion of the moment or those brought in from past habitual responses, first through elongated sung notes, and later, through movement. The emotional discoveries can be nothing less than amazing. All of this practice, of course, is leading up to Affective Memory work which will incorporate all of the senses simultaneously, and is a further challenge to the actor.

In his scene and monologue class, Kovens teaches his students to incorporate the techniques of their sensory work. These classes reveal Ed Koven's true genius of perception, and he deftly fingers actors' problems and offers possible solutions. Is an actor trying to produce a drunk on stage? Well, perhaps that actor would, in real life, be a mean drunk rather than the pleasant drunk called for by the script. Kovens relates a similar problem from his past, and tells of his own substitution: "Sometimes a non-literal substitution can get the desired emotional result for that particular character". He substituted the feeling of being up and awake for 24 hours. It is a nodding, giddiness for him, and it worked perfectly for the character.

Kovens says that substitutes are particularly good "at the beginning of the rehearsal process. After awhile, you become more enmeshed with your partner." Actually Kovens believes more in Stanislavski's protege Eugene Vakhtangov premise of "What adjustments do I need to make in order to do what the character does?' Which is the next level after Stanislavski's "What would I do if I were in this situation?" This is the major departure as far as Kovens is concerned in the teachings of Strasberg from those of Meisner. "All parts are character parts, even if you are 99% alike. Where you differ is where you need an adjustment."

Going Beyond

Kovens often goes beyond the ordinary in his teaching, and he is easy with his praise when a student does well. In reviewing a scene from Death of a Salesman, he almost tears up complimenting an actor playing Biff on his own sudden surge of emotion. "I've heard that scene a hundred times, and never heard that line read that way!" After a scene from Summer Tree, he praises the actress for letting the music from the cassette deck put her in the mood for the scene, but takes her to task for not checking the other side of newspaper when she clipped out coupons. Finally, he suggests to the two Japanese actors in the scene that they rehearse the dialogue in their native language, and allow themselves the liberty of feeling the anger in the scene. Kovens is willing to be unconventional in getting an actor up to speed. In a scene from a Dorothy Parker play, an actress simply will not speak up despite the fact that Kovens interrupts the action several times. "I'm tired of imitations of Method Actors. Mumblers can't be heard!" But it is of no use. The actress starts strong, but descends quickly into a hushed whisper, bringing her scene partner down with her. Finally exclaiming "Casualness sucks!", Kovens throws a vacuum cleaner at her and makes her scream her lines over the din of the ear-splitting appliance. Sometimes the adjustments just have to be forced on the student.

Ed Kovens obviously sees himself as more that just an guide. For example, in one class he started by reading an excerpt from Italian author Primo Levi which offers several pieces of advise, including the importance of accepting judgment from those you trust. To expect to avoid all judgment is unnatural. You must receive judgments. One needs criticism to excel." But Kovens demands that one earn the right to criticize, and says that along with his self-discipline, he learned how to criticized during his days in art school. "You must say something positive before you can say anything negative and then you can give some suggestion on how to fix it, or else keep your mouth shut." Indeed, Kovens takes his own advise. Having watched him at the Actors Studio for a couple of years, he is one of the few people who did not service their own ego while criticizing others. His was a continual voice of reason.

Watch Out!

Kovens also worries about his students outside the classroom. He frets over the advise they get from others, and is mournful over the bad training actors are exposed to in town. "There are maybe 50 decent teachers in town - the rest are fakes!" Kovens is troubled over the physical safety of his charges in New York. Not only is it dangerous simply walking down the street, but actors and, especially, actresses are in danger when they go on strange casting calls. "Never go on a call to someone's apartment without a friend along. Take your home address and your social security number off your resume, and if you don't have and answering service at least get a machine" Kovens speaks from sad experience because he once had a student who was killed on a roof after she answered a casting call.

As all great nurturers do, Kovens is finally teaching the actor to take care of himself or herself. He advises that everyone gets different things out of the Method, but that you "have to work out a Method for yourself. Use what works eliminate the rest. No one can make you act. I can only report what I see. You have to take responsibility, and learn and explore for yourself, too."

Ed Kovens still gets excited when he sees his students grow. "I'm like an old fighter who rallies when he sees something that has great possibilities." Fortunately, that Old Fighter sees lots of possibilities, and is still greatly excited not only by the art of acting, but also by the seldom practiced art of great teaching.