A celebration in five quotations
Sometimes the words of others frame our sentiments of appreciation. Here are five quotations that came to mind when thinking of a great teacher, Terry Schreiber.
There is more understanding required in the teaching of’ others than in being taught
Montaigne
I joined the Terry Schreiber Studio in 1980 and was able to stay in that marvelous community then meeting in a basement off of Washington Square Park until 1982. Two years doesn’t seem like a lot of time, but Terry and Jill Andre who were my teachers from the beginning and then through my elevation to his Master Class gave me wonderful lessons that have stayed with me to this day. Older than many of the other students in the first grouping at twenty-eight, my experience in the outside world allowed me to notice the extraordinary sensitivity and command of Terry. He took each of us on a journey. He was a powerful teacher while also being a gentle guide.
“You cannot teach a man anything: you can only help him to find it within himself.”
Galileo
Who am I to argue with the father of observational astronomy, modern-era classical physics, the scientific method, and modern science., but I think Terry did both: giving specific skills and techniques that he helped us to master while simultaneously leading us to a clearer understanding of how we might make theater live. The word education is rooted in a sense of leading the student to a new way of interpreting the world. Every class was that sort of an education; both in what each of us experienced with Terry when it was our turn to’ go up’ but also in watching how he worked with our classmates, which turned out to be a bonus class in stage direction.
“Building a boat isn’t about weaving canvas, forging nails, or reading the sky. It’s about giving a shared taste for the sea, by the light of which you will see nothing contradictory but rather a friend of love.”
‐Antoine De Saint‐Exupery, Author of The Little Prince
The media tributes to Terry note facts that are worthy of that praise: one of the originating producers of the Off-Off Broadway movement, an adherent and developer of the solid approaches of Uta Hagen and Michael Howard, a three-time director on Broadway with one of those plays a Tony nominee, a teacher to a roster of actors including Oscar winners. But I think that all of the many people who passed through the studio would attest to another sublime accomplishment, which I would compare to Saint Exupery’s, “shared taste for the sea”. Terry gave all of us a shared taste for an authentic artistic life, one which valued collaboration, creativity, and purpose. He helped so many look past the inevitable rejections in auditions and the inescapable drudgery of straight jobs to that artistic life in which we all had the privilege to participate, that shared taste to create in our minds and hearts.
“We must teach ourselves to walk on air against our better judgment.”
Seamus Heaney
Every time an actor gets up in any class they take a risk. But when Terry had you up — as long as you had done your work, which was a non negotiable requirement —— he was going to patiently, carefully, teach us to walk on air even when our judgment was telling us maybe we should just beg off to the restroom. In song and movement and memory, Terry extracted from us abilities and performance that we didn’t know we had. And once they were there, he counseled us not to let them retreat.
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”
Henry Adams
My own adventures after leaving the Studio included a turn to playwrighting and producing, and then three decades infusing what Terry taught me into other enterprises. In those lost years, producing, directing, and performing among casts of thousands in a mélange of corporate telenovelas and tragic, comic, melodramatic, and absurd organizational performance art (in other words, straight jobs), kept my children fed and clothed and my wife sane — most of the time, on both counts. Happily, later life allowed me to return as an OOB playwright and the lessons that Terry imparted to me are woven into whatever I’m able to create. His influence never stopped.
My son, Gifford Elliott, in 2010 was preparing for auditions to acting school, and he wanted to obtain some private coaching. I contacted TSS and they recommended a wonderful advisor, Bob Verlacque. My son ended up getting a bunch of admission offers and then an acting degree from Cal Arts.
But on the day that I was accompanying Gifford to meet Bob for the first time we both rode up in the old freight elevator to where the studio was located in Chelsea. The gate opened and there was Terry standing just a few feet away. We had not seen each other in almost 30 years. He pointed at me and said, “I know you. You were my student.” Pretty impressive given that most of my hair was gone and what was left had long since stopped being brown. I nodded and reintroduced myself. Smiling that wizardly smile, he asked me if I was still in the business. And I replied, “Terry, every day, every day. I’m use what you taught me every day. The stage may look like a corporate conference room, a factory floor, or an executive office, but what I learned from you and others at this studio has served me so very very well and I’m glad you’re here so that I get to thank you.” The smile grew wider. And then I left forever blessed by the serendipity of being able to express my gratitude to Terry.
I’m sorry that I never got to see Terry again, but like many others who might not have been able to stay strictly within the world of theater our thankfulness for who he was and what he imparted can be seen in the successes that we enjoyed because of having known him. A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. The influence of Terry Schreiber and his studio will flow on for a long, long time. And so we wish to the man: Flights of angels, Terry, flights of angels.
