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'Sandra Diane Seacat (born October 2, 1936), known professionally as Sandra Kaufman prior to 1969, is an American actor, director and, most notably, an acting teacher and coach. Widely regarded as one of Lee Strasberg's primary disciples (and thus one of The Method's prime repositories), as well as one of the most successful and sought-after acting coaches of the 1980s and beyond, she has, in recent years, come to be equally well, if not better, known for her groundbreaking work in the early 1980s, involving the application of Jung's theories to acting technique and pedagogy, introducing the practice, now widespread, which would come to be known as dream work, or sometimes simply "The Way" (much as Strasberg's Stanislavski-based system eventually came to be known as "The Method").

Career

Acting (The 1960s)

Seacat was the first of three daughters born to Russell Henry and Lois Marion Seacat in Greensburg, Kansas. A graduate of Northwestern University, Seacat eventually made her way to New York and, shortly thereafter, the Actors Studio, where she studied method acting under the studio's director, Lee Strasberg.

During the 1960s, Seacat began to get acting jobs, initially appearing under her married name, Sandra Kaufman. In the summer of 1962, she made her New York stage debut, earning plaudits from the Village Voice for her performance in the American premiere of Leonid Andreyev's Waltz of the Dogs, an Off-Off-Broadway production directed by noted acting teacher - and Actors Studio alumnus - Michael Howard.

While the next two years would be taken up with the birth and early rearing of her daughter Greta, she returned to action in 1964, making her Broadway debut in the sixth and final production of the short-lived Actors Studio Theatre, albeit in a minor role. The first and only installment directed by Strasberg, Randall Jarrell's translation of Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters starred Kim Stanley, Geraldine Page, and Shirley Knight (though neither Knight nor Seacat would appear in the version eventually preserved on videotape).

For the remainder of the decade, she continued to hone her craft at the Studio, working frequently with Robert Walden and Robert Viharo, two artists whose ties to Seacat would survive each of their eventual west coast migrations, as well as two of her future co-stars, Ben Piazza and Will Hare. During that time, Seacat (aka Kaufman) was fast becoming one of Strasberg's prize pupils, and one of the Method's most articulate exponents. Thus, at just about the time her first marriage was coming to an end, a new career path beckoned, when, in 1969, the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute was born.

By the early 1970s, she was leading classes, not only at the Institute, but also at the City College of New York's Leonard Davis Center for the Performing Arts, as well as teaching privately. By 1980, Seacat would also teach at John Strasberg's The Real Stage.

In the meantime, though, both her acting career (which, from this point forward, along with all facets of her professional life, would be conducted under her maiden name, Sandra Seacat), and her matrimonial status - this time with fellow actor Michael Ebert - were showing renewed signs of life, as the couple appeared together in a 1969 production of Brendan Behan's The Hostage. This would eventually be followed by their joint appearance in the New Orleans Repertory Theater's June 1970 revival of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by June Havoc, featuring Ebert as Harold 'Mitch' Mitchell and E. Katherine Kerr as Blanche DuBois, as well as Seacat and Ben Piazza, respectively, as Stella and Stanley Kowalski.

Teaching

Returning to New York, Seacat began to build her teaching practice. Among her early students were Steve Railsback, then preparing for his film debut in Elia Kazan's The Visitors, and later Mickey Rourke, whose own screen debut was still several years away. Rourke would study with Seacat for six years in New York - both at the Strasberg Institute and at CCNY, as well as privately - before departing for the west coast in 1978, and then, only at his mentor's insistence.

Rourke has repeatedly cited his time with Seacat as the turning point in his career. "That's when everything started to click," he told Newsday in 1984, making a point, as he had in New York Magazine the year before, to contrast this with his disappointing Actors Studio stint ("I sat there a year, waiting for the teacup to develop in my hand"), saying of the Studio's director: "All I saw Lee do was tear people down." By contrast, speaking with the Los Angeles Times in 1984, Rourke credited Seacat with "channeling all it was that was messing me up into something creative and challenging."

Moreover, as Rourke himself has recounted on numerous occasions (notwithstanding his subsequent disappointment with Strasberg and the Studio), it was Seacat's coaching, and, in particular, her simple yet novel suggestion, which allowed Rourke to get into the Actors Studio in the first place - that being, that in order to bring any conviction to the character he was to portray in his Actors Studio audition scene, he needed immediately to find his biological father, whom he had not seen in almost 20 years. In short, Rourke found his father, auditioned the following day, and delivered what Actors Studio co-founder Elia Kazan - as recounted by James Lipton during Rourke's 2009 Inside the Actors Studio appearance - "famously called the best audition he'd seen in 30 years." During the same program, after describing his first affective memory, executed under Seacat's guidance more than thirty years before, the 56-year-old Rourke was asked by Lipton whether he still used what Seacat had taught him. "Very much," he replied.

Speaking with Film Comment in 1993, another of Seacat's seventies alumni, Lance Henriksen, had his own anecdote regarding a basic but invaluable technique which had stood him in good stead for nearly two decades: "I had a wonderful acting teacher, Sandra Seacat, and one of the things she taught was she'd put a book on a chair and all you did was ask questions about that book: is it a good book or a lousy book? Who made the binding? Why don't I want to read it? Why would I want to read it? How long has it been sitting there? It's a very simple exercise but I do that all the time, constantly question myself and my surroundings, not in a negative way but in a positive way that leads toward my character."

Acting (The 1970s)

During the 1970s, Seacat continued to juggle her teaching and acting careers, portraying the female leads in a number of Off and Off-Off-Broadway productions, as well as minor roles in three Broadway and Off Broadway shows.

Of the former group, two productions in particular stand out. First was the 1973 revival of William Inge's Natural Affection, which marked the debut of U.R.G.E.N.T. (Universal Relevance Group Enterprise in a National Theatre), a new theater company founded by producer Ronald Muchnick and actor Nathan George (who co-starred with Seacat). While this revival does not appear to have won Inge or his play any new adherents, both the staging ("skillfully directed by Israel Hicks") and performances ("acting on a level not customarily encountered Off-Off-Broadway") received high marks from Newsday: "Seacat conveys admirably a woman made vulnerable by her fading beauty."

New York Times critic Howard Thompson noted that the new company's home, situated "on the 15th floor at 151 West 46th Street, is a snug, three-sided arena with better acoustics than some big Broadway houses nearby. For that matter, the acting is so good it is hardly notable as such... The best are Sandra Seacat as the heroine, Nathan George as her husband, and William Mooney as a neighbor." "Seacat," added the Village Voice, "exhibits a fine range of emotions from nervous joy to fits of despair and is always under control. She is well supported by Nathan George as her lover and Patrick Duffy as the returning son."

The upcoming Actors Studio production of Harold Pinter's Old Times (to be staged in November and December of 1974 and reprised in January 1975 at the Actors Studio West) sounded promising, with "supervising director" Arthur Penn stating: "At last, Old Times makes sense." In fact, the staging was largely developed by the actors themselves, with Penn only entering the process during the final two weeks, a fact not lost on the play's reviewers, as the revival quickly proved a critical disaster, lambasted both for presuming to 'explain' Pinter's intentions ("the deadly subjugation of imagination to explicit, dull events - the shackling of inspired possibilities in favor of uninspired fact"), and for a lack of focus and unity in the production and performances, right down to the cast's mismatched accents, working "against the illusion of some shared secret which is one of the play's major strengths. Hard as these actors strive for intimacy, they suggest the representatives of three different tribes accidentally met ... Here is one show that needed more than a supervisor." Even the stray positive mention was quickly qualified: "Sandra Seacat starts off promisingly as the passive wife with inner strength but the performance doesn't build."

The 1976 Actors Studio-produced American premiere of John Hopkins' Economic Necessity would fare somewhat better; it starred Seacat in the role originated three years earlier in London's Haymarket Theatre by the playwright's wife, and Seacat's Actors Studio colleague and onetime cast mate, Shirley Knight. Like the Inge revival three years before, this appears to be a case of the production, and, in particular, the performances, being more compelling than the play itself; at least that was the verdict of Village Voice theater critic Arthur Sainer: "Concerning the performances, I was most impressed by Sandra Seacat as the sometimes sympathetic, sometimes terribly cruel wife." It would prove to be Seacat's last substantial role on either stage or screen for more than 35 years.

Two years later (after minor roles in two TV specials, NBC's Bicentennial tribute to historic First Ladies, and Hallmark Hall of Fame's premiere presentation of Arthur Miller's Fame ), Seacat's stage career concluded on a decidedly anticlimactic note: a pair of minor roles, even within the context of two somewhat notable productions - one being the first work to be staged in the new Harold Clurman Theatre, the other, a rare directorial credit for Ellen Burstyn - and even if the former did provide yet one last example of a performance, however peripheral, outshining the work being performed, at least as per Newsday's Allan Wallach: "Sandra Seacat has no problems with the small role of the maid. The play, unfortunately, is a formidable problem." As for Erika Munk's scathing Village Voice piece, the best that can be said from Seacat's perspective is that, unlike the two stars (the one, deemed "limp, squeaky, coy," the other, of whose performance, an inadvertently un-pasted moustache is deemed the sole highlight), the staging ("not at all innovative... when the work should be gathering tension, it becomes fatally slack, and deathly boring"), and even the play itself ("about as minor as a classic can get"), Seacat alone escapes unscathed, albeit unmentioned.

1978 provided a number of punctuation points for Seacat. Early that year, two significant eras had come to an end - first, on January 26, the end of her second marriage, to Michael Ebert, and next, just two days later, the death of her father. This was also the year Seacat persuaded her prize pupil, Mickey Rourke, that there was nothing further to be gained by staying in New York, that it was time to go west and test his fortunes in Hollywood.

Coaching ("Guru to the Stars")

Early Collaborations

Certainly, given her circumstances at that moment, one could see such advice applying equally to Seacat herself, and, indeed, by the early 1980s, Seacat had expanded her base of operations, teaching in both New York and Los Angeles (as she has continued to do ever since), helping actors like Jessica Lange, Rachel Ward, and Marlo Thomas give career-altering performances. On March 29, 1983, just weeks after the announcement of Lange's dual Oscar nominations, Seacat was acknowledged by the Associated Press as the one who "helped turn Jessica Lange from King Kong's consort into the soulful actress in Frances and Tootsie. Later, Liz Smith would write that "Sandra is credited with helping Jessica Lange to her Oscar and Marlo Thomas to her Emmy." Lange herself later told both Vanity Fair and Inside the Actors Studio host James Lipton just how pivotal Seacat's contribution had been, both for her career in general and, in particular, her portrayal of Frances Farmer. Regarding the latter, and the intensive nature of that collaboration, J.T. Jeffries writes in his 1986 biography of Lange: "In the spring of 1981, while still breast-feeding her newborn daughter by Baryshnikov, she worked on each scene with her coach, Sandra Seacat... Seacat had expanded her theatrical repertoire in recent years to include techniques from Eastern meditation. Lange regularly used those deep relaxation techniques on the set to improve her concentration in the grueling role."

Regarding the Emmy-winning performance which would transform the perception of Marlo Thomas from the perpetually perky sitcom heroine to an actor who could take on any role and be taken seriously doing it, Thomas writes in her 2010 autobiography: "I only wish Lee could have lived to see me portray a schizohprenic in Nobody's Child. I never could have gotten near playing that kind of part without Lee's exercises, and the subsequent work I did and continue to do with his primary disciple, the brilliant Sandra Seacat."

Of the three actors mentioned above, Rachel Ward's transformation - culminating in her Golden Globe-nominated lead performance in The Thorn Birds - stands out. In the fall of 1982 and continuing on through the following winter, even as Lange's two Oscar-nominated performances were receiving applause, acclaim, and, eventually, awards, the then inexperienced Ward was undergoing a rigorous makeover program under Seacat's guidance. But simply in order to get to that point, Ward first had to get the part. The Associated Press reports: "Ward's first reading before producers David Wolper and Stan Margulies was disastrous. So she hired drama coach Sondra Seacat." "I studied exhaustively for two weeks," recalled Ward, "went back and did a screen test with Richard." According to Margulies, Ward's second reading "was so breathtaking that she got the part right there. But our questions were whether she could do it over the five-month shooting period."

Seacat had no problem answering those questions, but her prescription was radical, and required Ward's active participation and unwavering commitment. "Seacat saved her," reported the Chicago Tribune, "and in the end, Ward saved herself. For Seacat, Ward stopped smoking, stopped eating meat, started to exercise every day, learned to calm her mind and focus on the moment. You can almost see her develop as an actress in 'Thorn Birds'... By the finish, her Meggie is much stronger, more worldly, compassionate. The changes were in character, but they were taking place in Ward too. Thanks, in large part, to Seacat. 'She's extraordinary,' Ward says. 'She made me work in a totally different way than I'd ever worked before. For the first time, I really worked on technique... It was definitely not an easy five months. It was a lot of tying things together and understanding and confusion and frustration and anger. I asked a lot of questions about acting and about me and stuff, and Sandra just had these answers, and they were just like, of course, oh my God, of course!'"

Dream Work

It was during that same period, as reported by The New York Times more than 25 years later, that Seacat's Jung-inspired experiments ushered in the now widespread practice known as dream work, wherein actors interpret and sometimes influence their own dreams, often casting and staging those dreams in the process, all in the interests of achieving the richest, most genuine characterization possible. A number of the current crop of dream work practitioners, such as Elizabeth Kemp, Kim Gillingham, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, director John Markland, and, most recently, Sandra's daughter and fellow acting coach, Greta, all claim Seacat as their mentor.

Moreover, Seacat clients Melanie Griffith and Gina Gershon, as well as onetime student, Diane Salinger, have long been on record as crediting Seacat's use of dreams with improving their craft. "In Sondra's class," recalled Salinger in 1987, "we had dream assignments where, before you went to sleep, you'd write out an assignment to yourself--and dream dreams that had connections to the work you were doing. I've done that with this play." "It's a great way to open yourself up," insisted Griffith in a 1986 interview. "It's been very healthy for me, because I think our interior soul knows a lot more about ourselves than our conscious intellect ever allows you to think about." More recently, Hélène Cardona, a Paris-born poet, translator and actor who studied at the AADA and the Actors Studio in the early 1990s, recalls: "When I trained with Sandra Seacat at the Actors Studio in New York, she introduced me to a particular form of dream work. You could call it Jungian. I have kept doing this work for many years now. It’s very therapeutic, a more holistic approach to medicine. And it can also be used to develop a character in a play or movie. You dig into yourself to find the answers. In the dream you are connected to your inner self and to the divine."

Gershon is particularly passionate on the subject, speaking in a 1998 interview: "Sandra totally changed my acting. Instinctively, I was always in love with psychology and my dream life had always been very important to me... What's really exciting to me about Sandra's work is that it changes your life, almost on a psychic level. Now I'll get parts and in working on them, she'll say, 'Well, let's see how you're developing, as a human being.' Because the parts you're doing, it's no accident. Those parts affect your life and they kind of illustrate the map that your life is following." As recently as August 26, 2012, Gershon reaffirmed the importance of Seacat and dream work to her career.

In a 2001 interview with Back Stage West, another longtime Seacat client of mid-eighties vintage, Laura Dern, went public. While not specifically referencing dream work, Dern echoes both Gershon, Cardona and Rachel Ward in her portrayal of Seacat's holistic, almost therapeutic approach, a characteristic previously noted in 1994 by erstwhile Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter (calling her time with Seacat "better than any therapy), and one which brings to mind another Jungian archetype central to Seacat's career from at least the 1980s onward; as Seacat would tell the New York Times in 2009, "I believe that the artist is a wounded healer, that they are healing wounds of their own, and when they do that truthfully, they heal the audience.” Dern recalled:

"Through studying and through being raised on movie sets, I was surrounded by a lot of people who believed that the more tortured the person, the greater the artist. I always had a hard time understanding that, but thought, 'I guess that's the way it is'... Luckily through life and the gift of the acting teacher who's changed my life in so many ways since 1984--her name is Sandra Seacat--I learned there's another opinion, which is: the better the person, the better the artist. The more true you are to who you are and the more honest you are as an individual, the more honest you can be as an actor, and I'm really liking that." Asked if she still studied, Dern replied, "I still study with Sandra and I love studying."

Speaking again with BSW in 2004, Dern elaborated: "All of a sudden this new idea that the parts I play help me discover myself and I could maybe be kinder to the ambiguous places and the flaws--I was so lifted by that. Since then, I feel like it's an extraordinary experience of therapy and learning about being in the moment and honoring that. All of a sudden, acting wasn't this torment where you're supposed to be a screwed-up artist, but it's an opportunity for self-growth. And I think I've had fun ever since." Finally, in January 2012, at the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards, Dern reaffirmed the connection, thanking Seacat in her acceptance speech for Best Actress in HBO's Enlightened, the first two episodes of which each featured Seacat in a small role.

Back to School

After an extended teaching hiatus, roughly mid-1988 to mid-1990, devoted to production and post-production for Seacat's sole feature film directing assignment, In the Spirit, the transition back to her customary regimen was eased considerably by the fact that the client for her first project after In the Spirit was none other than In the Spirit's star, Marlo Thomas, on her TV movie, Held Hostage: The Sis and Jerry Levin Story; in addition, Seacat would work with In the Spirit cast member Melanie Griffith on 1993's Born Yesterday, and with Thomas again on the 1994 TV movie, Reunion.

In the mid-to-late 1990s, Seacat joined the faculty of the newly formed Actors Studio Drama School at the New School for Social Research.

Seacat Speaks (and is spoken of)

Starting in 1999, Seacat embarked on an unprecedented binge of media exposure, becoming the 'talking head' on three TV documentaries in the space of two years, and, even more uncharacteristically, talking at length about three of her clients in the process. Despite this seeming inconsistency (witness the Sandra Seacat entry at TakeHollywood.com), whenever a given client has no qualms about revealing their working relationship, or has already done so, Seacat has always been happy to grant interviews on the subject, as she did in 1983 for New York Magazine's Mickey Rourke profile. Speaking of whom, Rourke is the subject of the second of these three documentaries (as well as one in 2008, in which Seacat also participated), flanked, respectively, by two very vocal Seacat champions, Laura Dern and Jessica Lange.

Another Seacat outburst, addressed not merely to the press, but to one of her longstanding client's potential employers, would occur in 2003, part of an image makeover much like that of Seacat's oft-recounted early success stories, Jessica Lange and Marlo Thomas, especially the latter, another perpetually perky, seemingly ubiquitous paragon of 'cute.' This time, however, instead of a sixties sitcom princess, it was the nineties romcom queen, Meg Ryan, who was chomping at the bit for some more challenging roles. Already at work with Seacat on her upcoming Against the Ropes, the 2004 Jackie Kallen biopic, Ryan saw the opportunity for an even more radical departure with Nicole Kidman's early exit from Jane Campion's In the Cut.

Interviewed shortly before the film's release, Campion recounted Seacat's surprising phone intervention: "Sandra said, 'Look, I'm working with Meg Ryan. I've never done this before, but she's doing amazing work. You should audition her.' And I said, 'Audition Meg? Do you think she'd audition?' She said, 'Sure, she would.'"

Ryan would indeed audition, and for helping Campion get beyond her preconceptions, the grateful director likened Seacat to "a fairy godmother who takes the mists away." As it happens, Campion's preconceptions were not unlike those of the many reviewers who would find Ryan's performance a revelation, as well as the most interesting and accomplished element within a not so successful film. Speaking for public consumption, Seacat reiterated: "Meg has great courage and discipline and commitment. Her talent is large, and her potential is vast."

The following year, speaking with Newsday columnist John Anderson on the set of We Don't Live Here Anymore, exactly one week after the film's co-star, Laura Dern, had expanded upon her 2001 testimonial, her longtime teacher returned the favor: "'Laura is a free spirit,' says Sandra Seacat, the celebrated acting coach and a longtime associate of Dern's. 'She's also a great student and a dedicated artist - and there aren't very many people I call artists. But the entire cast of this film, they're all true artists, dedicated to their own inner truth, and they have the courage to share that. You don't find that very often.'"

As the decade wore on, perhaps fueled by dream work's increasing popularity, Seacat's name began to be seen in print more frequently, some of the mentions dreamwork-related, others, like those by Mickey Rourke, Marlo Thomas, or Laura Dern, simply satisfied customers reaffirming their indebtedness.

Speaking in 2010, acting teacher Alex Cole Taylor told Back Stage that he "learned compassion from Seacat, a beautiful woman and a beautiful artist." Speaking with CNN's Todd Leopold in 2012, acting coach and dream work practitioner Elizabeth Kemp paired Seacat with Lee Strasberg as two of the coaches to whom she was most indebted. Moreover, two of Seacat's students, actor/directors Jamie Wollrab and John Markland, have each been putting Seacat's teachings into practice, one play at a time - Wollrab, with his Triptych Theatre; Markland, with the Moth Theatre Company, itself composed largely, if not entirely, of fellow Seacat alumni, recently incorporating Wollrab as well. The latter's words, spoken in 2010, echo those of his mentor, just one year before: “'More than anything,' Wollrab says, 'we’re wounded healers. Each of us. I think that’s why audiences keep taking to our work.' Work, he describes, as fragile and beautiful."

Others who have studied with Seacat include Rosanna Arquette, Betty Buckley, Nicolas Cage, Reeve Carney, Common, Robert Davi, Loren Dean, Rebecca DeMornay, Johnny Depp, Peter Falk, Frances Fisher, Don Johnson, Harvey Keitel, Peggy Lipton, Tatum O'Neal, Michelle Pfeiffer, Chris Pine, Christopher Reeve, Isabella Rossellini, Ally Sheedy, Brooke Shields, and Treat Williams.

On March 8, 2012, together with longtime friend and colleague, Robert Walden, and several others, Seacat became a founding faculty member of the newly instituted Winthrop Rockefeller Institute Film Forum, a three-day seminar to be hosted annually by the University of Arkansas.

Directing

A View From the Bridge (1975)

In February 1975, upon Seacat's less-than-triumphant return to New York following the ill-fated Los Angeles engagement of the Actors Studio revival of Harold Pinter's Old Times, Seacat's CCNY employment afforded her a welcome distraction, in the form of a 4-day event - May 12-15, 1975 - starting with a symposium entitled "Theatre in the University," hosted by Alan Schneider, and featuring playwrights Peter Shaffer, Edward Albee and Arthur Miller, to be followed by one day apiece devoted to the works of each of the three guests, with student performances being followed by discussions with the respective playwrights. The final day was to be devoted to Arthur Miller's work, with each grade level in the Davis Center's acting program performing a scene from a different Miller opus. The play assigned to Sandra's freshman class was A View from the Bridge. After choosing as their showcase the climactic closing scene of Act One, Seacat cast four of her regular students, but reserved the central role of Eddie Carbone for one of her private students who had just started auditing the class. And thus did Seacat, in this somewhat obscure setting, come to direct the stage debut of the as-yet unknown Mickey Rourke.

In the Spirit (1988-1990)

The Making and Marketing of...

13 years later, by then well established as Hollywood's "Acting Guru," another, slightly more publicized directing opportunity fell her way; this would eventually become In the Spirit, the first, and as yet, only film Seacat has directed, boasting an "ultra-hip cast" featuring no less than three of Seacat's regular clients, Marlo Thomas, Melanie Griffith and Peter Falk, plus Olympia Dukakis at the height of her popularity, having just collected her Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Arguably the film's casting coup, however (and probably the positive element most frequently cited by reviewers), was landing the celebrated writer/performer Elaine May to co-star opposite Thomas (with May's daughter, Jeannie Berlin, who co-authored the screenplay, also appearing).

The remainder of the film's cast would reflect its homegrown Big Apple bent, featuring an assortment of local luminaries, some of them professional actors, some not.The former group included both indie icons (such as Henry Jaglom's brother, and sometime leading man, Michael Emil, plus Steve Buscemi mainstays Mark Boone Junior and Rockets Redglare), and 'legit' stage and TV actors (e.g. Seacat's Actors Studio colleagues, Hope Cameron and Gary Swanson), while the latter featured such miscellaneous notables as musician Roy Nathanson, journalist Steve Powers, and playwright Christopher Durang. Moreover, making his film debut here was Seacat's current husband, Thurn Hoffman.

Notwithstanding numerous press references to the "respected," "famous," even "legendary" "acting guru" and her screen directing debut, Seacat managed to maintain a characteristically low profile throughout, surfacing only long enough to contribute one sentence to an article on In the Spirit's producer, Julian Schlossberg: "There are two main things about Julian -- he has a big heart and he goes the distance." Speaking of Schlossberg, co-star Elaine May got into the act as well, providing her own characteristically tongue-in-cheek teaser for In the Spirit, a mock-interview with the film's producer on the making and marketing of ITS, published in the New York TImes just days before the film's release.

Regarding May, Liz Smith would report (circa December 1988, shortly after the film had wrapped): "Recent remarks here about the genius that is Elaine May brought forth the encouraging news that we'll soon see this gifted actress in a new suspense movie written by her daughter Jeannie Berlin (with co-writer Laurie Jones). In the Spirit had all its money raised independently by producers Julian Schlossberg and Beverly Irby. They're now editing the film and seeking a distributor for release next spring. The cast is a staggering one -- Elaine and daughter, as well as Peter Falk, Melanie Griffith, Marlo Thomas, Olympia Dukakis and Louise Lasser. The director was an interesting choice: Sandra Seacat, acting coach and guru to many stars. (Sandra is credited with helping Jessica Lange to her Oscar and Marlo Thomas to her Emmy.)"

Critical Reception

Kind words aside, in hindsight, one cannot help but note both the fact that Louise Lasser - barely visible in the finished film and nowhere to be seen in its credits - was still being announced as one of the film's stars even after the film had wrapped, and that the film itself would not make it to theaters until more than a year past its estimated release date; certainly, the former tends to shed light on the latter, as it does on the general narrative disarray which, as evidenced by the mere titles of this broad sample of In the Spirit reviews, managed to survive nearly a year and a half's worth of editing - assuming, that is, that it was not in fact exacerbated by the process: "Grand and Goofy Comedy," "'In the Spirit' – An Endearing Mess," "Screwball Comedy Holds Up Even When Plot Sags," "Spirit Loses Its Comic Flair Halfway Through," "'Spirit' Amusing, But Unpolished," "'In the Spirit' Needs a Bit More Body," "'In The Spirit' Needs To Be More Perky, Less Poky," and "A Few Screws Are Loose But 'In The Spirit' Offers A Rare Glimpse Of Elaine May In A Feminist Comedy."

As one can see, critical reaction among the nation's dailies was mixed at best. Two reactions were almost universal: appreciation for the film's performances, especially those of the two leads, as well as disdain for its technical shortcomings - seen primarily in the areas of camera placement and pacing, as well as the aforementioned matter of narrative construction. What distinguished the favorable from the unfavorable review in these cases was largely a matter of emphasis. Unfortunately for Seacat, when it came to evaluating her impact on the finished film, the emphasis was placed almost exclusively on the shortcomings. And while reviewers had, almost without exception, acknowledged Seacat's storied coaching career, in practice, it appears, few felt compelled to credit her with even contributing to her actors' success.

Two of the more sympathetic reviews, by Dave Kehr of the Chicago Tribune and ex-Village Voice critic Carrie Rickey, writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer, tended however to bypass both Seacat and the film's screenwriter, Jeannie Berlin, and instead credit Elaine May as the film's true auteur.

Two of the film's most merciless drubbings were administered, respectively, by the Washington Times ("New Age 'Spirit' Gets Old and Boring Quickly") and by the Chicago Sun-Times ("The Mystery of 'Spirit' is Finding Film's Funny Parts"); however, given the film's target audience (even the Los Angeles Daily News called it "a flat-out New York comedy, with all of the pluses and minuses"), the most damaging blow of all was almost certainly delivered by the New York Times' Janet Maslin, with her considerably more 'polite,' yet thoroughly condescending dismissal: "The beneficial power of crystals has done nothing for In the Spirit, a nervous new-age comedy much more notable for good intentions than good luck. A rare appearance by Elaine May, who co-stars with Marlo Thomas in what proves to be an unexpectedly mundane caper story, and a directing credit for the respected acting coach Sandra Seacat give In the Spirit a lot more curiosity value than it would otherwise have... Ms. Seacat's direction is especially strange, since it is so thoroughly unaccommodating to the actors. The camera is treated as if it were radioactive, never being allowed to linger where a performer might be heard clearly or shown off to good advantage." Even the generally lauded female leads do not escape unscathed: "The actors, especially Ms. May and Ms. Thomas, spend a lot of time yammering simultaneously in time-honored sitcom style."

If America's original paper of record had delivered one of Spirit's most resounding pans, it would fall to the entertainment industry's trade 'paper of record' to supply arguably its most simpatico critique. Not merely echoing the critical consensus regarding Thomas' and May's "memorable screen odd couple," Variety embraced the film itself, portraying its limitations as strengths ("an unusual case of big-name talent gathering with friends to make a low-budget pic freed of mainstream good taste and gloss") and, while not oblivious of the film's structural issues ("weakest element being a stupid framing device of a mystical narrator... midway shift in tone may put off some viewers, but others will likely relish the intensity of the May and Thomas segment"), it was Variety, virtually alone among reviewers, which cited Seacat for something beyond merely her ability to handle actors: "First-time director Sandra Seacat emphasizes slapstick but also female bonding as the gals on the lam reach beyond their wacky survivalist tactics to address feminist issues."

The Mistakes Madeline Made (2007)

In August 2007, Seacat, with Jamie Wollrab, directed her daughter, Greta Seacat, and others in Elizabeth Meriwether's play The Mistakes Madeline Made, staged at Boulder, Colorado's Dairy Center for the Arts, starring Shannon Woodward, Justin Chatwin and Johnny Lewis. As in her previous directorial assignments, Seacat was again supervising a number of current and former students, which, in this instance, included her daughter Greta, co-star Justin Chatwin, and director Jamie Wollrab. The younger Ms. Seacat's performance garnered particularly favorable notices, deemed "steady and grounded" by Mark Collins of the Boulder Daily Camera, while Lisa Bornstein of the Rocky Mountain News writes, "As Beth, Seacat is a marvel: simplistic (she frequently shuts her laptop to avoid news of Iraq) and authoritarian, but awkwardly kind as well. Beth is annoying, but she knows it; in Seacat's hands, she's funny and real."

Personal life

Seacat lives in Santa Monica with her husband, actor Thurn Hoffman, son of Le Roy Hoffman and Claudia Boettcher Merthan.

Stage and Screen Credits

Theatre

Television

Film

All acting credits except where otherwise indicated.

Notes

1. In addition, researchers, be warned: Seacat's first name has occasionally been misspelled S- o -n-d-r-a (and, no doubt, will continue to do so), both in print and online, simply because that is, indeed, how her name is pronounced, despite the conventional spelling. Not surprisingly, then, though not nearly so frequently, it is also misspelled S-a-u-n-d-r-a.
2. In the fall of 2011, Seacat co-starred in the independently produced short subject, Shale, which debuted on May 5, 2012 at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater, as part of the 25th Annual Columbia University Film Festival. Coming in the wake of nearly three decades' worth of coaching credits discreetly camouflaged as acting credits (and bit parts at that), it remains to be seen whether or not this performance, along with some of Seacat's most recent, still brief, but better integrated and increasingly integral characterizations in such films as Sympathy for Delicious and You Don't Know Jack (and it was writer-director Jed Cowley's viewing of the latter film which immediately sold him on Seacat as Shale's leading lady) signal a resurrection of Seacat's long dormant acting career.
3. For Baryshnikov, those relaxation techniques would prove a happy legacy of his relationship with Lange, long since ended by 1985, when the dancer was shooting his second feature film: "Hackford says he and Actor's Studio coach Sandra Seacat worked extensively on acting with Baryshnikov, who had only Turning Point to his credit." "He says he benefited greatly from the training he undertook with Actors Studio coach Sandra Seacat, whom he'd met earlier through Lange. 'One of the main things was she helped me relax in front of the camera,' he says. 'The best acting I did on the set was in the improvisations before the takes - that gave me real satisfaction. But keeping the level when the camera was going, that was completely something else. Technicians placing the camera, the director behind you, your throat is dry, and you're trying to forget everything, all distractions, and ask yourself what is this scene really about - that's when the hard work starts.'"
4. Written by Leonid Andreyev.
5. Written by Dennis Reardon, best know for his play The Happiness Cage, later made into a film of the same name.
6. Written by Actors Studio member Ed Setrakian.
7. Written by William Devane.
8. Written by John Hopkins for his wife Shirley Knight; debuted at London's Haymarket Theatre in 1973.
9. Written by Norman Krasna.
10. Written by Elizabeth Meriwether.

References

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2. "1940 U.S. Census form - Image". Familysearch.org. Document dated May 2, 1940 + 3-year-old Sandra + October 2 birthday (as per Theatre World ref) = 1936 YoB
3. "California, Divorce Index, 1966-1984: Sandra D Seacat and Michael C Ebert, 1977," FamilySearch.org.
4. ^ "California, Divorce Index, 1966-1984: Michael C Ebert and Sandra D, 1978," FamilySearch.org.
5. ^ "Jessica Lange". Vanity Fair. October 1988.
6. ^ Thomas, Marlo (2010). "Obsession". Growing Up Laughing: My Story and the Story of Funny. New York: Hyperion. p. 210. ISBN 0-13-367870-9. I only wish Lee could have lived to see me portray a schizohprenic in Nobody's Child. I never could have gotten near playing that kind of part without Lee's exercises, and the subsequent work I did and continue to do with his primary disciple, the brilliant Sandra Seacat.
7. ^ Leopold, Todd: "Actress' role of a lifetime: Being a mentor". CNN. February 13, 2012.
8. ^ Cohn, Al: "People: The Rising Star Has an Identity Problem," Newsday, June 29, 1984. "A former Actors Studio student ('I sat there a year, waiting for the teacup to develop in my hand'), Rourke relied on the training of an acting coach, Sandra Seacat, and 'that's when everything started to click.'"
9. ^ Smith, Liz: "Elaine May Gathers Quality Cast Together for Her Next Movie". The Orange County Register. December 1, 1988. "The director was an interesting choice: Sandra Seacat, acting coach and guru to many stars. (Sandra is credited with helping Jessica Lange to her Oscar and Marlo Thomas to her Emmy.)"
10. Chutkow, Paul: "I Dream of Gina". Cigar Aficionado, September/October 1998. p. 4
11. ^ Kershaw, Sarah: "The Role of Their Dreams". The New York Times. May 6, 2009. (3rd paragraph from the end, and the following page, 1st paragraph.)
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17. ^ Internet Broadway Database
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20. ^ Winthrop Rockefeller Institute Film Forum Faculty
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22. Gilbert, Ruth: "In and Around Town - Theater: Off and Off-Off Broadway," New York Magazine, October 28, 1974
23. ^ As Sandra Kaufman at the University of Wisconsin's Actors Studio audio collection
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30. BravoTV.com - Inside the Actors Studio: Mickey Rourke - Meeting His Father. Broadcast August 31, 2009.
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38. Drake, Sylvie: "Stage News: Reprieve for 'Wanda June'; Additional Stage News". The Los Angeles Times. December 15, 1974.
39. Drake, Sylvie: "Stage News: Hartford Bills Revival of 'All My Sons'; Additional Stage News". The Los Angeles Times. January 12, 1975.
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41. ^ Sullivan, Dan: "Stage Review: 'Old Times' Fall on Hard Times". The Los Angeles Times February 7, 1985
42. "Theater Review: 'Old Times'". The Ojai Valley News. January 26, 1975
43. Film Reference profile for Shirley Knight
44. Sainer, Arthur: "We Move From Darkness Into Light: Mrs. Warren's Profession, Economic Necessity, The Son" The Village Voice, April 12, 1976
45. 25th Annual Columbia University Film Festival
46. Jed Cowley: "Shale - a short film: We're wrapped!" kickstarter.com. December 8, 2011.
47. "First Ladies' Diaries". The Lexington Dispatch January 16, 1976.
48. Tom Crabtree: "Arthur Miller's 'Fame'" The Charleston News and Courier. November 25, 1978
49. Wallach, Allan: "Theater Review: By Ionesco". Newsday. October 19, 1978.
50. Munk, Erika: "No Miracle on 42nd Street Yet". The Village Voice. November 6, 1978.
51. GENi - Russell H. Seacat (1913-1978) - Genealogy
52. ^ Rothenberg, Fred (AP): "'Thorn Birds' Casting Gamble". The Lewiston Journal. March 29, 1983.
53. Noel Holston: "Critic's Choice". The Minneapolis Star-Tribune. June 12, 1996.
54. Reuters: "Baryshnikov natural for movie". The Windsor Star. December 18, 1985.
55. Kriegsman, Alan M.: "The Screening of Baryshnikov: From the Ballet Stage to a Cinematic Star Turn". The Washington Post. December 6, 1985. (paywall).
56. Jeffries, J.T. (1986). Jessica Lange: A Biography. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 18–19. ISBN 0-312-44200-9.
57. ^ Preston, Marilynn: "Thorn Birds gives Ward chance to win her wings". The Chicago Tribune. March 29, 1983.
58. Wilkins, William: "Thorn Birds Star Enthused: Chamberlain Role Pursuit Succeeds". The Oxnard Press-Courier. March 27, 1983.
59. Community Events Calendar: Acting for Film with Dana Wheeler-Nicholson. austinfilm.org. May 9, 2010.
60. ^ Collins, Mark: "Boulder International Fringe Festival: Native returns in dream-fueled play". The Colorado Daily
61. Black, Jack: "Rashida Jones". The Lab Magazine. July 10, 2010
62. Arkatov, Janice: "Salinger on Risks, Rewards of Staging Schizophrenia". The Los Angeles Times. November 20, 1987.
63. Goldstein, Patrick: "Many-Sided Melanie Griffith". The Los Angeles Times. November 10, 1986.
64. Draghincescu, Rodica: "Expert Interviews: Are You Ready? Hélène Cardona". Levure Litterature. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
65. Chutkow, Paul: "I Dream of Gina". Cigar Aficionado, September/October 1998. page 3 (final two paragraphs) & page 4
66. ^ Dawn Kay: "Film: Gina Gershon" The Lab Magazine. August 26, 2012
67. ^ "Carter tackles the wonders of history". USA Today. August 15, 1994.
68. ^ Young, Jamie Painter: "Profile: Defining Moments". Back Stage West. November 22-28, 2001.
69. ^ Riley, Jenelle: "Living Out Loud" Back Stage West. August 16, 2004
70. ^ Laura Dern's 2012 Golden Globes acceptance speech for Best Actress. Dailymotion.com. January 16, 2012
71. ^ Youtube - Inside the Actors Studio: Johnny Depp describing his training. Broadcast September 8, 2002.
72. ^ Schruers, Fred: "Cut to Darkness: Meg Ryan, survivor, pushes beyond 'America's sweetheart' in a raw new film". The Los Angeles Times. October 5, 2003.
73. Urban, Andrew L.: "Campion, Jane: In the Cut". Australia:Urban Cinefile. November 13, 2003.
74. Anderson, John: "Laura Dern: A Hollywood Old-Timer at 37". The Baltimore Sun. August 23, 2004.
75. "L.A. Readers' Choice: Classes and Coaches; Favorite Private Acting Coach, Favorite Monologue Coach - Alex Taylor". Back Stage. June 23, 2010.
76. "Actress' role of a lifetime: Being a mentor". CNN. February 13, 2012.
77. ^ Joanna Adler: "Hollywood Actors come to Boulder". YourHub.DenverPost.com. July 29, 2007.
78. Sheehan, Michael: "DREAM DREAM DREAM". On Stage Los Angeles. January 31, 2010.
79. Julian, Steve "Moth Theatre’s unconventional un-blocking of plays". Steve Julian. February 28, 2010.
80. ^ Rea, Steven (KNT News Service): "Rosanna Arquette Finds Critics Kinder Nowadays". The Orlando Sentinel. April 28, 1985.
81. ^ Hayes, Bill (2009). "Arts and Entertainment". Two Square Miles: The Heros of a Small Town. Tucson, AZ: Fireship Press. p. 7. ISBN 1-934757-81-9. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
82. Glikas, Bruce (photo): "Spider-Man Flies Onto Broadway: Reeve Carney does his acting coach, Sandra Seacat, proud." Broadway.com. November 28, 2010.
83. Moore, Roger: "There's nothing Common about this rapper's ambition". The Orlando Sentinel. May 6, 2010.
84. Baum, Robert: "Robert Davi". thespian.net. 2001.
85. Collins, Glenn: "A Young Actor With 2 Choice Roles: Enter Fame". The New York Times October 31, 1981.
86. ^ Who's Who in Entertainment, Vol. 1. Wilmette, IL: Marquis Who's Who. 1989. p. 527. ISBN 0837918502.
87. ^ Lipton, Peggy; Dalton, David and Coco (2005). "Ch. 67. Gurumayi". Breathing Out. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 240–242. ISBN 0-312-32413-8.
88. Who's Who of American Women 1999-2000. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who. 1998. p. 320. ISBN 0-8379-0424-2.
89. Lipton, James (2007). Inside Inside. New York: Dutton. ISBN 0-525-95035-4.
90. "The Self-Aware Artist". Backstage. June 15, 2009.
91. Kolson, Ann: "Isabella Rossellini: No Comparisons". The Pittsburgh Press. December 22, 1985.
92. Cook, Bruce: "Isabella Rossellini: A Rose Who Has Known Thorns". Chicago Tribune. November 28, 1985. (scroll to last paragraph)
93. Robbins, Jane Marla (2002). "Relaxation". Acting Techniques for Everyday Life: Look and Feel Self-Confident in Difficult Real-Life Situations. New York: Marlowe & Company. p. 57. ISBN 1-56924-554-1.
94. "Winthrop Rockefeller Institute hosting first Film Forum". KTHV. March 8, 2012.
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101. Figler, J.: Customer Review: Getting the Spirit". amazon.com. June 13. 2005. "FYI: Blink twice and you will miss the estimable Louise Lasser lurking in the background of an early shot. Would we have O.D.'d on Funny Women if she hadn't been left on the cutting room floor???."
102. Hinson, Hal: "Grand and Goofy Comedy". The Washington Post. May 18, 1990.
103. Carr, Jay: "'In the Spirit' – An Endearing Mess". The Boston Globe. June 8, 1990.
104. Russell, Candice: "Screwball Comedy Holds Up Even When Plot Sags" The South Florida Sun-Sentinel. May 11, 1990.
105. "Spirit Loses Its Comic Flair Halfway Through‎". Los Angeles Times. April 11, 1990.
106. "'Spirit' Amusing, But Unpolished". The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 22, 1990
107. "'In the Spirit' Needs a Bit More Body". The St. Paul Pioneer Press. June 21, 1990.]
108. Barnes, Harper: "'In The Spirit' Needs To Be More Perky, Less Poky". The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. June 8, 1990.
109. Carroll, Kathleen: "A Few Screws Are Loose But 'In The Spirit' Offers A Rare Glimpse Of Elaine May In A Feminist Comedy". The New York Daily News. July 6, 1990.
110. Kehr, Dave: "May and Thomas Odd Couple in 'Spirit'". The Chicago Tribune. August 3, 1990
111. Rickey, Carrie: "New Age Widow, Monied Wife Share Philosophies, Laughs". The Philadelphia Inquirer. July 6, 1990.
112. "New Age 'Spirit' Gets Old and Boring Quickly". The Washington Times. May 18, 1990.
113. Voedisch, Lynn: "The Mystery of 'Spirit' is Finding Film's Funny Parts". 'The Chicago Sun-Times. August 3, 1990.
114. "Comedy, Talent in 'Spirit' of Fun". The Los Angeles Daily News. April 11, 1990.
115. Maslin, Janet: "Movie review: 'In The Spirit'". The New York Times. April 6, 1990.
116. "In the Spirit". Variety. December 31, 1989.
117. Collins, Mark: "Review: 'The Mistakes Madeline Made'" The Boulder Daily Camera. August 9, 2007.
118. Bornstein, Lisa: "Well-made 'Mistakes'". The Rocky Mountain News. August 10, 2007
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120. ^ Sandra Seacat aka Sandra Kaufman at Playbill Vault
121. Willis, John (1973). Theatre World, 1972-1973 Season. Volume 29. New York: Crown Publishing, Inc. p. 124. ISBN 0-517-50618-1.
122. Willis, John (1973). Theatre World, 1972-1973 Season. Volume 29. New York: Crown Publishing, Inc. p. 125. ISBN 0-517-50618-1.
123. EST History: Photo - Beau Brummel and the Lady
124. Willis, John (1975). Theatre World, 1974-1975 Season. Volume 31. New York: Crown Publishing, Inc. p. 90. ISBN 0-517-52322-1.
125. Willis, John (1976). Theatre World, 1975-1976 Season. Volume 32. New York: Crown Publishing, Inc. p. 82. ISBN 0-517-52665-4.
126. Willis, John (1977). Theatre World, 1976-1977 Season. Volume 33. New York: Crown Publishing, Inc. ISBN 0-517-53111-9.
127. Willis, John (1979). Theatre World, 1978-1979 Season. Volume 35. New York: Crown Publishing, Inc. p. 77. ISBN 0-517-53997-7.
128. Guernsey, Otis L., editor (1980). The Best Plays of 1979-1980: The Burns Mantle Yearbook. New York: Dodds, Mead & Co. p. 452. ISBN 0-396-07907-5. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Further reading

• Kelly, John: "1970: June Havoc produces A Streetcar Named Desire in New Orleans". The New Orleans Times-Picayune. April 7, 2010
• Sainer, Arthur: "Obit to Inge and other bouquets: 'Natural Affection,' 'P From B,' 'In the Cage,'". The Village Voice. June 21, 1973
• Sainer, Arthur: "We Move From Darkness Into Light: Mrs. Warren's Profession, Economic Necessity, The Son". The Village Voice. April 12, 1976
• Walden, Robert: "The Method and the Myth: Is the controversial technique still relevant for today’s actor?" Backstage. April 21, 2009

External links

• As Sandra Kaufman at the Internet Broadway Database
• As Sandra Kaufman at the University of Wisconsin's Actors Studio audio collection
• Sandra Seacat at the Internet Broadway Database
• Sandra Seacat at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Sandra Seacat at IMDb
• Sandra Seacat at TAKEHOLLYWOOD

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