We’d love to help you get to know our incredible TBG teaching artists a little bit better, so we got Eric Paeper to answer a few questions! Check out our interview with him below…
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What is your favorite class to teach at TBG and why?
EP: It’s tough to pick a favorite, but there’s something about teaching [Professional Scene Study II: Self-Adjustment] that is closest to what I think sets our approach apart. In Scene Study II, we begin to explore the concept of self-evaluation without self-judgment!
As a student in Seth and Lee’s classes back in the late 90s, this was a game-changer for me on so many levels. My previous acting training was rooted in well-meaning but largely negative feedback as a way to let the actor know how they were being perceived. It was a binary system of right and wrong, good and bad, that would lead to career success or failure. When I learned the tools we now teach in Scene Study II, I understood that I had everything I needed to evaluate my own work, self-adjust, and continue to grow by focusing on what changed. Not what was better or worse, but what changed. Still blows me away to help others find this way.
What is something you recently learned or were reminded of in the world of acting, writing, or directing?
EP: When we were working on TBG’s production of Triptych by John Yearley last season, I knew we had something special on our hands. We had a compelling and innovative script, and consummate actors in Trish Alexandro and Mike Giese. But the minimal production elements made me nervous to leave it alone.
As the director, I had to fight the urge to embellish rather than trust the writing. Fortunately my better angels won that fight, and we let the story and the acting shine on their own. The result was a story that deeply touched people in their own individual ways. By getting out of the way, and making the direction invisible (or striving to), the audience was allowed to participate in completing the story, making it their own.
What is a recent, current, or upcoming project that you’d like folks to know about?
EP: Currently, I am working with the Triptych team to bring the TBG production to a wider audience. The goal is an Off-Broadway, fully-realized production within two years. Planning is everything!
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