What the press has to say about Ed Kovens:
From Professional Acting Training in New York
IN THE MANNER OF STRASBERG
Ed Kovens leans back in his chair, with feet up on a table, and peers at a group of ten students who are seated about the stage area of a small, cozy theatre space. They are working on relaxation techniques, based on the teachings of Lee Strasberg with whom Kovens trained for twelve years. As they stretch their arms and rotate their shoulders, raise and extend their legs, the students vocalize to express the physical and psychological state they're experiencing, Kovens instructs them: "Let the sound let us know how it's affecting you," Kovens says, "I want to know what's happening to you."
As the students work on this kinetic form of relaxation, Kovens, with a wry smile, periodically makes comments and quips to challenge the concentration of the actors. He also moves among the students, checking and prodding their various "rings of tension," particularly in the arms, neck and shoulders.
After this group relaxation work, Kovens begins working with each actor individually. To a new student he prods: “Keep the sound going. Don't be afraid. Moan if you have to, so we'll know that you're suffering.” He then encourages the student to transform the sounds into unintelligible words: “Put it in the chest, full voice; now give me the words in gibberish. Now go to the words of your monologue and sing it full OUT. Keep the exercise going.. Sing it to the balcony, full out!“
Moving on to an advanced student (who has been with him for over two years), Kovens instructs her to begin her monologue In conjunction with four sensory exercises. The actress's first choice results in her becoming angry and hostile; the second choice produces tears; the third, a stage of silliness and intoxication; and the fourth, an attitude of loathing and disgust. Kovens then has her work with the "four states" in different combinations, saying, for example: “Now give me two and three together. Drop three and go to your fourth and combine it with one... Stay with four and give me two ...
According to Kovens, this quick succession of changes using various combinations of the four exercises breaks the stranglehold of the actor's need to "interpret" the spoken word, freeing him to let his monologue (or dialogue) be motivated by what he is feeling, his inner life.
Kovens, having trained extensively with Lee Strasberg and having taught for him from 1969 through 1974 at the Strasberg Institute, says, "I know as much about Lee's techniques, what he taught, as anyone teaching today."
YEAR ESTABLISHED
1974 (Mr. Kovens has been teaching since 1965)
STUDIO SPACE
25' x 50' theatre space, white walls, wooden floor, seating 30, folding chairs, lighting instruments.
STUDIO POLICY
Admission: by personal interview
Fee: $165 per month for one 4-hour or two 2-hour classes per week.
(Kovens encourages new students to enroll for an initial three-month period, thereafter by the month.)
STUDIO PROGRAM
Beginning, intermediate and advanced students.
Part-time, on-going program. Evening class meets once a week for four hours; day class meets twice a week for 2 hours
Curriculum: sensory work/exercises and scene study.
Class size: 15 to 18.
Total enrollment: 40. Mean age: 27 years old.
FACULTY BIO
Ed Kovens: Studied with Lee Strasberg for 12 years and taught at the Strasberg Institute for 5 years.
Member of Actors Studio since 1968.
Member of SSDC.
Actor and director for Off-Broadway and regional theatre, TV and films.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY AND METHODOLOGY
"I read something a long time ago," Kovens says when asked about his teaching goals, "A teacher's job is to discover what is individual about each student and quickly and fully develop it. That in a thimbleful is my teaching philosophy."Continuing, he remembers his formative years with Lee Strasberg:
At the (Strasberg) institute where I started teaching for Lee as one of the founding staff members,
we slowly began bringing in the influence of kinetics and dealing with some of the things introduced to us by people like Alexander Lowen from his book, “Betrayal of the Body”, and Wilhelm Reich, the gestalt man, about movement and the breaking of tension rings.
We began asking the people as they relaxed, to stretch their bodies and locate where the tensions were.
. What I do now, during the relaxation period, includes a moderate amount of movement, so that when the people are done relaxing
- emotionally as well as physically - they are ready to start their exercises.
I allow them to move during the exercises,
but only in a naturalistic way, so I can see if they're checking out any tensions.
The foundation of Kovens' teaching is a series of sensory exercises with include the following: An all-over sensation like a shower, steam bath, standing in front of a fire, or different types of amusement park rides; seeing or hearing someone.; tasting something pleasant, like ice cream, or unpleasant, like sucking on a lemon; a state of being, such as intoxication or having a headache. Kovens explains the goal of this type of training:
“I use this technique to break down the verbal patterns that people unconsciously get into when they memorize lines. Without realizing it, they try to indicate what the emotion is by stressing certain words in a very cliché manner... This technique allows the language, that is, how the words come out, to be filled by the emotion that the actor is feeling.
Also of great importance in Kovens' training of the actor is the song and dance exercise, in which the actor is asked to pick a simple song, and, while intoning the lyrics, express whatever he's feeling through the song. Similarly, he is asked to express what he's feeling through dance-like movement, and at times, while intoning the song. In the scene study work, Kovens' primary concern is the application of the relaxation and sensory exercises into the scenes. He is not so concerned with a scene's interpretation as he is with an actor's sense of aliveness and spontaneity, which reflects the degree to which his instrument has been sensitized.
STUDENT COMMENTS
"The technique we learn here we can fall back on, sort of rely on." "I needed a teacher in New York that was stronger than me. I'm strong, and I needed someone over me to bring it out of me, and get me to a certain point."
"Working with Ed has helped me learn to trust myself." "It's been a terrific way for me to break down my inhibitions."
"Ed teaches everyone on a personal, individual basis." "He has given us a grab bag of things to use, a lot of which I think he got from Lee Strasberg." "At times I may question and resist, but I do trust Ed's opinions about the work."
STUDIO FEATURES
Strasberg oriented "Method" training
Teacher is a working professional
Pleasant working environment
Reasonable fees
Some of the better-known actors who have studies with Kovens are Sissy Spacek, Tanya Roberts, Sean Young, Thomas Calabro, Jennifer Beals.
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