The New School for Drama has announced that award-winning actor John Turturro will be the distinguished Artist-in-Residence for the 2008-09 academic year. Turturro is the recipient of a multitude of awards and accolades for his extensive acting work in theater, film and television. Most recently, he was nominated for a SAG Award for his portrayal of Billy Martin in ESPN's The Bronx Is Burning, and starred in Samuel Beckett's Endgame at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music to critical acclaim.
"We are fortunate to have such a versatile and accomplished artist on hand to mentor our students," said
Robert LuPone, director of The New School for Drama. "John's extensive background and the variety of roles he has mastered speak to the type of well-rounded actor we are training. His first-hand accounts of the intellectual, emotional, physical, vocal, and psychological demands of being an actor in the twenty-first century will offer invaluable insight to our students."
The MFA acting program offers intensive training in all aspects of the craft of acting, as well as in the individual and collaborative application of classical and modern texts. The goals of the program are to ensure understanding of the demands of individual performance in the current professional world, to build an individual voice as a performer, and to prepare students with the skills needed for the acting profession. A recent success of the program is alumna
Xanthe Elbrick. Elbrick made her Broadway debut starring in the production of Coram Boy, for which she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play, a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Performance, and a Theatre World Award.
As artist-in-residence, Turturro will teach several master classes in the fall and spring semesters. He will also address the drama school as a whole in a town hall meeting moderated by LuPone, in which he will describe his experiences on the stage and on the film set and answer student questions.
"I am looking forward to the opportunity to support the artistic growth of students at The New School for Drama," said Turturro of his residency, which will coincide with his filming Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. "I hope my experiences, including both obstacles and successes, will connect with them and help them find their path in this challenging industry."
Turturro studied at the Yale School of Drama. In his theatrical debut, he created the title role of
John Patrick Shanley's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, for which he won an Obie Award and a Theater World Award. Since then, he has performed on stage in Waiting for Godot, in the title role of
Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and in
Eduardo De Filippo's Souls of Naples, for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.
Turturro has performed in more than 60 films, including
Martin Scorsese's The Color of Money, Tony Bill's Five Corners,
Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever,
Robert Redford's Quiz Show, Peter Weir's Fearless, Tom DiCillo's Box of Moonlight, Francesco Rosi's La Tregua and Joel and
Ethan Coen's Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou? For his lead role in Barton Fink, he won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival and the David di Donatello Award, the Italian equivalent of an Academy Award. Turturro was also nominated for a SAG Award for his portrayal of Howard Cosell on the television show Monday Night Mayhem and won an Emmy for his guest appearance on the hit series Monk.
Most recently, he appeared in
Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd,
Michael Bay's Transformers,
Noah Baumbach's Margot at the Wedding, and
Barry Levinson's What Just Happened? and just finished filming
Columbia Pictures' The Taking of Pelham One Two Three opposite
Denzel Washington and
John Travolta. Turturro has also directed three films. His directorial debut, Mac, won the Camera d' Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He also directed Illuminata and the recently released Romance & Cigarettes starring
James Gandolfini,
Susan Sarandon and
Kate Winslet.
About The New School for Drama
At The New School for Drama, the instinct to create is revered. Through its interrelated three-year MFA programs in acting, directing, and playwriting, the school is fostering the next generation of dramatic artists. A faculty of working professionals brings to the fore each student's original voice and helps them establish a rooted sense of who they are as individuals and as artists. This includes acting chair
Ron Leibman, Tony Award and Drama Desk Award winner;
Robert Walden, prolific theater, film and television actor who has been nominated for over five Emmy Awards; and
Karen Ludwig, stage and screen star whose first film was
Woody Allen's Manhattan. These faculty members are complemented by those of the playwriting and directing program, such as playwrights
Christopher Shinn,
Frank Pugliese, and
Michael Weller; playwriting chair
Pippin Parker; directing program chair
Elinor Renfield, whose production of Johnny Got His Gun won an Obie Award;
Casey Biggs, director of award-winning productions of
Hedda Gabler, The Sea Gull, Richard III, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Three Sisters; and
Austin Pendleton, celebrated actor, director, and playwright. The New School's history in the dramatic arts began in the 1940s, when the Dramatic Workshop, led by founder
Erwin Piscator and a faculty including
Stella Adler and
Lee Strasberg, fostered artistic voices as distinctive as
Tennessee Williams and
Marlon Brando. For more information, visit
www.drama.newschool.edu.
Photo Credit Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.
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