U-Guthrie venture turns out talent

Counterpoint

The Star Tribune recently ran a review of the Guthrie's production of "Charley's Aunt" in which the newspaper's critic spared little detail in his estimation of the show's lack of quality and his disagreement with the theater's creative choices.

Of course a theater such as the Guthrie is accustomed to a wide range of reaction to its work, but this article also contained a dismissive reference to the training received by graduates and students in the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program to which we feel compelled to respond.

For a full decade, our joint educational program has ably readied young performers for work at the highest level both in the Twin Cities and around the country. It attracts students from around the world, and is frequently on a short list of choices for bright young talent.

Critics across the country have been lavish in their praise for our graduates.

The Wall Street Journal's Terry Teachout said of Matthew Amendt (class of 2004, a star of "Charley's Aunt"): "Mr. Amendt is already more than good enough to make you wonder what he'll be doing, and where he'll be doing it, five years down the road"; Teachout was referring to Amendt's performance in the title role of the Hudson Shakespeare Festival's 2011 production of "Hamlet."

In March 2009, Charles Isherwood of the New York Times wrote of Amendt's work in "Henry V," again in the title role: "Fortunately, Matthew Amendt, who plays the role here, is a charismatic, skillful actor with a clarion baritone who gives the production a magnetic focus."

Indeed, Fontana won a Drama Desk Award (the off-Broadway equivalent of a Tony) for his starring role in "Brighton Beach Memoirs." Unquestionably blessed with outsized talent, he nonetheless gives credit to the Actor Training program.

"It's pretty much all my training up there on stage," he recently wrote. "Text, voice, characterization, physicality, timing, vulnerability, relationships, spontaneity and consistency."

The benefits of the Actor Training Program also make themselves felt on the local level.

In the fall of 2011, Ali Rose Dachis (class of 2009) captivated audiences in Adam Rapp's "The Edge of Our Bodies" in the Guthrie's Dowling Studio ("the kind of performance ... that can be a career touchstone," according to the Star Tribune).

And performers from the Actors Training Program appeared on local stages for the Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, the Jungle Theater and Park Square Theatre, among many others.

For four years they move together through intense disciplinary study including voice, singing, movement, theater history and technology, a period of required study abroad, and ultimately a presentation on the University of Minnesota's main stage.

Believing that we are only as good as the opportunities we offer young people to learn, grow and flourish, we are proud that at the conclusion of its first decade, the program has exceeded all expectations.

It has prepared a long list of highly talented young people for a difficult but ultimately enriching life in the arts, where they have already earned acclaim in the Twin Cities and throughout the country.

The University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program is the pride and the legacy of both our organizations, and is our treasured contribution to tomorrow.

The play is indeed the thing, you see, and it is our distinct pleasure to know that our program will contribute to that being just as possible in the future as it is today.