80 nshoremag.com April 2014
Theatre
ne
arc clopton is a
busy man. A play-
wright and director,
he also is executive
director of The Actors Studio in New-
buryport (TASN), overseeing an array
of well-regarded plays, intensive work-
shops, and developmental classes, along
with the fundraising demands that come
from running a nonprofit.
This dizzying swirl of activity has at its
center a calm creative oasis—a compact
black box theatre in the city's Tannery
Marketplace that serves as an incuba-
tor for writers and actors to hone their
crafts. At a recent cold reading class, a
group of 20-odd actors—some old pros,
some attending for the first time—were
M
Community
Theatre
For more than 20 years, The Actors Studio
has been challenging audiences and actors alike.
By Jeanne O'Brien Coffey
ne
Talented Types
Workshops provide
actors with the
guidance they seek to
hone their craft.
handed short three- to four-page scenes
and invited in small groups on the stage
to perform them. Despite myriad respon-
sibilities that would keep anyone preoc-
cupied, Clopton sat rapt during each
performance, occasionally, sometimes
gleefully, approaching an actor to whisper
an "adjustment"—suggesting a different
motivation for the character or a different
delivery of the dialogue.
"I've always been captivated by the
process [of acting], and I'm always
amazed at the interaction of the individu-
als onstage," Clopton says. "What's going
on with the actors has never ceased to
thrill and engage me because of the sheer
honesty and bravery of it."
Clopton's studio has been developing
photographs by patrick marasco
REV_80_84_KJ NS Apr14 ActorsStudio.indd 80 2/21/14 4:42 PM
