The Actors Studio to Present Conversation With Al Pacino & DOG DAY AFTERNOON Screening for 75th Anniversary

This season, The Actors Studio celebrates 75 years as the world's most celebrated and influential membership association for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights. In celebration of the milestone, The Actors Studio will host a 75th Anniversary benefit screening of the Academy Award-winning film Dog Day Afternoon, followed by a live interview with the film's star and The Actors Studio co-president Al Pacino. The Gala event will take place Thursday, October 27 at 7PM, the United Palace (4140 Broadway at 175th Street, NYC). Tickets, now on sale at TheActorsStudio.org, are $35, $55 and $75. $250 premium seats are available. $1000 VIP tickets include premium seating as well as a backstage meet-and-greet photo opportunity with Al Pacino following the screening.

"I'm glad to be a part of this event honoring The Actors Studio 75th Anniversary," says Al Pacino. "This incredible institution, founded by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford and Robert Lewis, followed by Lee Strasberg, has left an indelible mark on the world of film and theater. It's where actors are given the freedom to take chances and explore their work and craft. Anyone can audition for The Actors Studio. I'm surprised more people don't know that. Once an actor becomes a member of The Actors Studio, it doesn't cost anything, it's totally free and membership is for life. It's going to be great night at the United Palace on October 27th. I look forward to watching Dog Day Afternoon and engaging, live, with an audience of New Yorkers, some who will be seeing it for the first time and others who will be seeing it for the first time in years."

Directed by Sidney Lumet, Dog Day Afternoon stars Al Pacino, John Cazale, James Broderick, Charles Durning and Actors Studio members Carol Kane, Penny Allen and Sully Boyer. The Academy Award winning screenplay by Frank Pierson is based on the real-life story of two amateur bank robbers who on a hot August day in 1972 attempt to rob a bank in Brooklyn NY. When everything goes wrong the failed heist turns into a 14 hour long media circus hostage crisis. Pacino's indelible performance brought him his fourth consecutive Oscar nomination. Released in 1975, Dog Day Afternoon was nominated for six Academy Awards. In 2009 it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Both a place and a philosophy, The Actors Studio is an association of artists who, drawing from this common wellspring, have made enormous contributions to American art. Founded in 1947 in New York City by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, and Robert Lewis, the Studio began as a place where theatre artists could gather, privately, to explore new and deeper connections to the work. The founding members, a group of actors, writers, and directors, were committed to redefining the art of acting, to developing a series of techniques an actor could use to search for and express the truth onstage in the moment. The workshop went on to become the most powerful influence on American acting in the 20th century and continues today serving new generations of actors who are committed to the same ideal. Founding Artistic Director, Lee Strasberg, developed a series of techniques and exercises that became known as 'The Method' and changed the art of acting worldwide.

Membership is free. After successfully completing a series of auditions, the actor is invited into membership for life. Membership is bi-coastal, and to support them there are two locations. New York is The Actors Studio's birthplace and administrative headquarters. The only branch, Actors Studio West, is located in West Hollywood, CA. All members benefit from having a home with similar activities on both coasts.

Current leadership of The Actors Studio includes Co-Presidents Ellen Burstyn and Al Pacino; Artistic Directors Beau Gravitte (NYC) and Salome Jens (L.A.); Co-Associate Artistic Directors Estelle Parsons, Michael Aronov and Javier Molina (NYC), and Katherine Cortez (L.A.)

Notable members, past and present, of The Actors Studio have included Bea Arthur, James Baldwin, Anne Bancroft, Michael Bennett, Marlon Brando, Roscoe Lee Browne, Montgomery Clift, Common, Bradley Cooper, James Dean, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Ben Gazzara, Lorraine Hansberry, Julie Harris, Dustin Hoffman, Celeste Holm, Kim Hunter, William Inge, Elia Kazan, Harvey Keitel, James Lipton, Martin Landau, Cloris Leachman, Melissa Leo, Norman Mailer, Walter Matthau, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, Jack Nicholson, Clifford Odets, Geraldine Page, Sidney Poitier, Sydney Pollack, Jose Quintero, Jerome Robbins, Mark Rylance, Eva Marie Saint, Maureen Stapleton, Rod Steiger, Eli Wallach, Tennessee Williams, Gene Wilder, Shelley Winters and Joanne Woodward, to name a few.

For more information visit: https://theactorsstudio.org/

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