Jason hale
Encyclopedia
Jason Hale is an American
actor
, theatre director, and teacher
. Hale spent over a decade working as a professional actor, performing at many New York and regional ensemble theaters and acting in several independent and feature films, but he is better known for directing and teaching Viola Spolin
improvisation, guided by a nearly two-decade association with Paul Sills
, the renowned theater director, theater pioneer, and son of Viola Spolin
.
where he studied acting with George Morrison
, Mike Nichols
, and Paul Sills
. After graduating, Hale continued to work and study privately with Mr. Sills to learn more about he and his mother's, Viola Spolin
, improvisational work. While a student at New Actors Workshop, Hale became an intern and then a member of The Blue Circle Theater Company in Door County Wisconsin. The company was led by Diane Paulus
, under the artistic guidance of Paul Sills and Beatrice Lees, sister of Viola Spolin. http://www.dianepaulus.net/press/paulusAmericanTheatre.html http://www.flickr.com/photos/jason_hale/4019658366/
In 1998, under the auspice of Mr. Sills, Hale became a member of the Spolin-based improvisational company, The Resident Company. The troupe, led by Gerrit Graham
, featured early Sills players, Garry Goodrow
, Cordis Heard, and Penny White. The company performed at the Albert Grossman
Bearsville Studios
in upstate New York. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jason_hale/4018893677/in/photostream/ Hale then founded and directed the Off Off Broadway Theatre Project Ensemble in New York City
from 1999 - 2004 when Mr. Sills served as the ensemble’s artistic advisor.http://www.flickr.com/photos/jason_hale/4012304985/ The group dedicated itself to passing along the improvisational work of Sills and Spolin through improvisational workshops and Story Theater model performances. http://cache.zoominfo.com/CachedPage/?archive_id=0&page_id=558138753&page_url=%2f%2fwww.improvland.com%2fmagazine%2fnews%2f0205031.html&page_last_updated=10%2f3%2f2004+6%3a49%3a10+AM&firstName=Jason&lastName=Hale
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/30/arts/spare-times-for-children.html
improvisation and sense memory for seven years as a faculty member at the New Actors Workshop http://www.newactorsworkshop.com/faculty.htm He also taught at Stella Adler Studio of Acting
/New York University
-Tisch School of the Arts
and with other theaters, groups, and private workshops.http://www.flickr.com/photos/jason_hale/4012295899/. Jason currently guest teaches at HB Studios and School of Visual Arts, Film and Video-Continuing Education.
Internationally, he has taught workshops in Turkey at Olusum Drama Institute (Istanbul 2005 and Ankara 2010), Istanbul University State Conservatory, Maltepe University, and Robert College of Istanbul. In 2010 he introduced the work of Viola Spolin at ACTUANDO SIN ACTUAR, the first annual international acting method festival in Aguascalientes, Mexico. http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/cumartesi/16046872_p.asphttp://mimesis-dergi.org/2010/09/jason-hayleden-spolin-atolyesi/http://www.palestraaguascalientes.com/culturayespectaculos/%E2%80%9Cactuando-sin-actuar%E2%80%9D-en-hacienda-los-cuartos/http://www.flickr.com/photos/jason_hale/sets/72157622461527857/
with John Uecker
. In 1995 he became a member of Mr. Uecker’s Running Sun Theater Company and befriended the company’s lead writer, James Purdy
. He became a longtime friend and one of Mr. Purdy's frequent assistants.
John uecker
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, theatre director, and teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
. Hale spent over a decade working as a professional actor, performing at many New York and regional ensemble theaters and acting in several independent and feature films, but he is better known for directing and teaching Viola Spolin
Viola Spolin
Viola Spolin was an important innovator of the American theater in the 20th century. She created directorial techniques to help actors to be focused in the present moment and to find choices improvisationally, as if in real life...
improvisation, guided by a nearly two-decade association with Paul Sills
Paul Sills
Paul Sills was a director and improvisation teacher, and the original director of Chicago's The Second City.-Biography:...
, the renowned theater director, theater pioneer, and son of Viola Spolin
Viola Spolin
Viola Spolin was an important innovator of the American theater in the 20th century. She created directorial techniques to help actors to be focused in the present moment and to find choices improvisationally, as if in real life...
.
Paul Sills
Jason is a 1993 graduate of the New Actors Workshop in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
where he studied acting with George Morrison
George Morrison (director, acting teacher)
George Morrison is one of the leading teachers of acting in the United States.-Biography:Born in Evanston, Illinois, he attended the public schools there and started acting in the pioneering children’s theater headed by Winifred Ward. By age 13 he was playing Tom Sawyer in an elaborate production...
, Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate...
, and Paul Sills
Paul Sills
Paul Sills was a director and improvisation teacher, and the original director of Chicago's The Second City.-Biography:...
. After graduating, Hale continued to work and study privately with Mr. Sills to learn more about he and his mother's, Viola Spolin
Viola Spolin
Viola Spolin was an important innovator of the American theater in the 20th century. She created directorial techniques to help actors to be focused in the present moment and to find choices improvisationally, as if in real life...
, improvisational work. While a student at New Actors Workshop, Hale became an intern and then a member of The Blue Circle Theater Company in Door County Wisconsin. The company was led by Diane Paulus
Diane Paulus
Diane Paulus is an American director of theater and opera who became Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University in 2009. Paulus was nominated for the Best Director Tony Award for her revival of Hair...
, under the artistic guidance of Paul Sills and Beatrice Lees, sister of Viola Spolin. http://www.dianepaulus.net/press/paulusAmericanTheatre.html http://www.flickr.com/photos/jason_hale/4019658366/
In 1998, under the auspice of Mr. Sills, Hale became a member of the Spolin-based improvisational company, The Resident Company. The troupe, led by Gerrit Graham
Gerrit Graham
Gerrit Graham is an American actor and songwriter. He's appeared in such films as Used Cars, TerrorVision, National Lampoon's Class Reunion, and Greetings, where he worked with Brian DePalma for the first time...
, featured early Sills players, Garry Goodrow
Garry Goodrow
Garry Goodrow is an American actor best known for his role in the original stage production of the Obie Award-winning play The Connection, and as one of the original cast members of The Committee. In The Connection Goodrow played the young, intense, morose, would-be jazz musician Ernie, a heroin...
, Cordis Heard, and Penny White. The company performed at the Albert Grossman
Albert Grossman
Albert Bernard Grossman was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music scene and rock and roll. He was most famous as the manager of Bob Dylan between 1962 and 1970.-Biography:...
Bearsville Studios
Bearsville Studios
Bearsville Studios was a recording studio at Bearsville, New York just west of Woodstock, New York.The studio was opened in 1969 by Albert Grossman, manager of Bob Dylan, The Band, Janis Joplin and Todd Rundgren....
in upstate New York. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jason_hale/4018893677/in/photostream/ Hale then founded and directed the Off Off Broadway Theatre Project Ensemble in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
from 1999 - 2004 when Mr. Sills served as the ensemble’s artistic advisor.http://www.flickr.com/photos/jason_hale/4012304985/ The group dedicated itself to passing along the improvisational work of Sills and Spolin through improvisational workshops and Story Theater model performances. http://cache.zoominfo.com/CachedPage/?archive_id=0&page_id=558138753&page_url=%2f%2fwww.improvland.com%2fmagazine%2fnews%2f0205031.html&page_last_updated=10%2f3%2f2004+6%3a49%3a10+AM&firstName=Jason&lastName=Hale
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/30/arts/spare-times-for-children.html
Teaching
In 2006, Sills recommended and endorsed Jason as "uniquely equipped to impart the improvisational work of Viola Spolin" as a teacher and director.http://www.flickr.com/photos/jason_hale/4012148805/ Jason has taught Viola SpolinViola Spolin
Viola Spolin was an important innovator of the American theater in the 20th century. She created directorial techniques to help actors to be focused in the present moment and to find choices improvisationally, as if in real life...
improvisation and sense memory for seven years as a faculty member at the New Actors Workshop http://www.newactorsworkshop.com/faculty.htm He also taught at Stella Adler Studio of Acting
Stella Adler Studio of Acting
Stella Adler Studio of Acting is an acting school in New York founded by the actress and teacher Stella Adler -History:...
/New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
-Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
and with other theaters, groups, and private workshops.http://www.flickr.com/photos/jason_hale/4012295899/. Jason currently guest teaches at HB Studios and School of Visual Arts, Film and Video-Continuing Education.
Internationally, he has taught workshops in Turkey at Olusum Drama Institute (Istanbul 2005 and Ankara 2010), Istanbul University State Conservatory, Maltepe University, and Robert College of Istanbul. In 2010 he introduced the work of Viola Spolin at ACTUANDO SIN ACTUAR, the first annual international acting method festival in Aguascalientes, Mexico. http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/cumartesi/16046872_p.asphttp://mimesis-dergi.org/2010/09/jason-hayleden-spolin-atolyesi/http://www.palestraaguascalientes.com/culturayespectaculos/%E2%80%9Cactuando-sin-actuar%E2%80%9D-en-hacienda-los-cuartos/http://www.flickr.com/photos/jason_hale/sets/72157622461527857/
Other
Hale studied refinements of Method ActingMethod acting
Method acting is a phrase that loosely refers to a family of techniques used by actors to create in themselves the thoughts and emotions of their characters, so as to develop lifelike performances...
with John Uecker
John Uecker
John Uecker is a producer, director, actor, and editor whose work may be considered to occur in the genre and forms of magic realism, metarealism, poetic realism or heightened realism...
. In 1995 he became a member of Mr. Uecker’s Running Sun Theater Company and befriended the company’s lead writer, James Purdy
James Purdy
James Otis Purdy was a controversial American novelist, short story-writer, poet, and playwright who, since his debut in 1956, published over a dozen novels, and many collections of poetry, short stories, and plays. His work has been translated into more than 30 languages. He has been praised by...
. He became a longtime friend and one of Mr. Purdy's frequent assistants.
John uecker
John Uecker
John Uecker is a producer, director, actor, and editor whose work may be considered to occur in the genre and forms of magic realism, metarealism, poetic realism or heightened realism...