Dear Enquirer,

Welcome to our website!

To know more about the Science of Acting, you will need to know more about the background of the Academy. ASAD, formerly known as the School of the Science of Acting, was founded in 1991 by my father Sam Kogan. Sam studied acting and stage directing at GITIS, the Moscow Institute of Theatre Art (now the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts) under the tutelage of Professor Maria Knebel, herself a pupil of Stanislavski and later a close colleague.

After working in the professional theatre and immigrating to England, Sam started to teach Stanislavski's technique in numerous London drama Schools. In preparation for his classes Sam read the English translations of Stanislavski's "An Actor Prepares" and "Building a Character". Finding that both books had been wrongly translated and edited into English he went back to the original Russian texts and looked at Stanislavski's system step-by-step while continuing to use Stanislavski's principles in the classes he taught. The more he taught, the more Sam noticed that an increasing number of questions came up which the system did not have practical answers to. Moreover he found that in Stanislavski's rehearsals, the system as described in his books was not being used, nor was his system's terminology.

Sam realized that some of Stanislavski's ideas could not be used in acting. It is often a criticism that in Stanislavski's translations there are many vagaries, contradictions and very few clear or consistent working definitions. Sam had seen the harm done to Stanislavski's system by teachers whose knowledge was based on severely abridged and mis-translated versions of his work. This had resulted in teachers and their students misunderstanding Stanislavski's ideas, in turn leading to confusion, frustration and despair.

ASAD is also about firmly establishing "The Science of Acting", a technique founded in the Stanislavski Method, but developed much further, so as to fill in the gaps left by Stanislavski's work; to include precise definitions for all the terminology used (e.g. purposes, actions, emotion, inspiration, imagination, talent) and importantly to provide clear answers to questions like "What is good acting?" "How do I keep my inspiration for a part I am playing for four months? Or a year?" And the simple question that Sam himself asked his director the first time he was on the stage, "What am I doing wrong?" Incidentally the reply was "Just do it again!"

The Science of Acting, copyrighted and Trade Marked is now a complete stand-alone technique, which covers everything from the fundamentals of Events, Purposes and Actions to the Ten Steps to creating a Character. Altogether, your acting syllabus, supplemented with essential training in Voice, Dance, Yoga, Singing, Acrobatics, History of Theatre, Art, Stage Combat and (more)! will give you all the tools you need to create any character from any period, in any genre, for stage, small or big screen.

Thank you very much for your interest in ASAD, we look forward to hearing from you soon!

Helen Kogan BSc PhD