TheWilliam Esper Studio was founded in 1965 as aschool for theperforming arts inManhattan,New York. The school is dedicated to the acting technique ofSanford Meisner.[1] Its founder, William "Bill" Esper, is occasionally referred to as the best-known of Meisner's first generation teachers.[2]
The William Esper Studio was listed as one of The 25 Best Drama Schools for aMaster of Fine Arts numerous times.[3]
When Esper was a young man, he sawEli Wallach andMaureen Stapleton in a touring production ofThe Rose Tattoo.
As Esper later recounted: "[I] was so struck by the acting ...[A]fter the play was over, I decided to go around the corner to get a cup of coffee so I could think about it some more. I walked into a little drugstore, and Eli was sitting there having a bite to eat..."
Esper talked to the actor, and Wallach told him he had studied atSanford Meisner'sNeighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. After graduatingCase Western Reserve University in his nativeOhio, Esper moved toNew York City and began studying with Meisner, who was famous for his repetition exercise.[4]
In 1962 Esper undertook training as a teacher and director with Meisner and proceeded to work closely with him for the next 15 years. Esper was on the staff of the Neighborhood Playhouse from 1965 to 1977 and Associate Director of the Playhouse Acting Department from 1974 to 1977.
In 1977 Esper also founded theBFA andMFA Professional Actor Training Programs atRutgers University'sMason Gross School of the Arts. He led that department until 2004.
Esper has been a guest artist/teacher atCanada'sBanff Festival of the Arts as well as at theNational Theatre School of Canada, the St. Nicholas Theater inChicago, Illinois, and the Schauspiel München School inMunich. Together with his wife Suzanne Esper, who also teaches at Esper Studios, he has conducted numerous workshops throughout Europe, most notably at theNational Film School of Denmark, theNorwegian National Academy of Theatre, and theNational Theatre Mannheim. In 2008 Bill and Suzanne Esper introduced Meisner's work to Russia at the St. Petersburg State Academy of Theater.
Esper has worked extensivelyOff-Broadway andregionally. He is a member ofEnsemble Studio Theatre in New York. He was profiled in the bookThe New Generation of Acting Teachers, published byViking Press in 1987. He is a past member of the National Board of the National Association of Schools of Theatre and a former Vice-President and Board Member of the University/Resident Theatre Association. He has lectured on acting at People′s Light and Theatre Company and theScreen Actors Guild Conservatory, New York City; SAG honored him with a Certificate of Achievement for his service to the profession.[5] In 2011 Esper received theAssociation for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE)'s Lifetime Achievement in Academic Theatre Award.[6] In 2013 he was inducted into theCollege of Fellows of the American Theatre.[7]
Esper died January 26, 2019. The studio is currently led by his widow Suzanne, who also was trained by Sanford Meisner both as an actor and a teacher alongside Esper.
In 1965 Esper founded his eponymous studio. Among those he and his wife have coached and taught are:[8][9][10][11][12]
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