Suzanne Shepherd is renowned as one of the finest acting teachers of our time. I, who have studied with her, tell you that if you are fortunate enough to get into her class, you’ve struck gold, my friend!
"Acting is living truthfully under imaginary circumstances."
- Sanford Meisner
So many actors come to me and do monologues to an empty chair or wall. Well... you can’t tell me you see your brother or your wife. That’s a lie. The circumstances are imaginary, not the people.
A poem is an imaginary garden with real toads in it.
That is precisely what a play is — an imaginary garden with real humans in it.
I think in Suzanne’s work — and in fact when you just talk to her in real life she’s totally focused on you. And that’s when things happen between people...
I would describe Suzanne as probably one of the most passionate people I’ve ever met in my whole life. She’s incredibly fascinated by people and about what their lives are and what makes them tick and what they love.
She’s so sensitive and so intuitive and so empathic toward people, that it takes her a very short amount of time to figure out how to talk to any individual person. You know there are teachers who come in and teach their class. Suzanne just lasers in and understands what to say to you...