I think often about how as actors and dramaturgs, the work that we do is not often recognized outside the scope of the theatre. If you are a soccer player, it is evident that you have physical skill, if you are a (lucky) author, you can hold your work in your hands, as can a visual artist, and our parents all wanted us to be lawyers and doctors or ACCOUNTANTS so no need to elaborate there.
BUT I am particularly elated to post on a man who is an artist and a facilitator of other artists– Actors! I am sure that many of you have heard of Howard Schatz, and if you aren’t familiar with his name, you have probably seen his work. Howard Schatz is a professional photographer who works in many subject areas, but he enjoys documenting the lives or professions of specific people. For example, he has a series in which he documents Cirque de Soiliel, as well as a series depicting the bodies of boxers.
However, what you know Howard Schatz for– consciously or not– is his series for Vanity Fair called In Character. It is a series of portraits of actors, most displayed in a set of three photographs, in which the actors have been asked to emote their expression in three made up situations. Although his photographs are primarily of actors who appear in film, it is a wonderful representation of work. Yes, it is mostly comedic, but if you look at the captions (what they were asked to emote) it is usually right on! (And if it’s not good….its stands out)
What made me want to post about this, however, has less to do with the artistry of the photographs (Which is amazing and please peruse Schatz’s website, especially his underwater photography, to get a sense of his artistry) and more to do with the artistic partnership in this situation.
I often have lamented that I cannot really “prove my salt” to others unless they witness my work in real-time. To see this work encapsulated as Schatz does is so gratifying. Even for film actors who can have their work replayed I feel that what Schatz has captured here is a boon. It is an opportunity to get a quick (if comedic) impression of someone’s work– and its corporeal! I think it would behoove us to do something like this for resumes or head-shots. It may sound silly, but I think it would be fantastic.
As I said it is also a testament to the benefits of artistic partnerships. Here, Schatz get to do his work and the actors get to do theirs, to the benefit of all. I feel that this is exemplary of what we aspire to in the theatre arts major at CFA. As my education progresses, I gravitate more and more to partnerships like this, and this way of creating art. I am grateful for Howard Schatz’s example.
Melissa Leo (Photographed by Howard Schatz)
View the entire series of In Character here!
