Stella Adler was the primary creative influence on Thurman E. Scott, ATW’s Artistic Director, Executive Producer and Founder. Her teachings and legacy have had a profound impact on The Actors Theatre Workshop and everyone we serve.
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Eulogy in Honor of Stella Adler
By Thurman E. Scott
Frank Campbell Funeral Chapel
December 24, 1992
Struggle and suffering create poetry in human beings. This poetry is revealed in the way we negotiate through the moments in life. Stella said that to obscure this poetry, especially if you are a Black or Jewish person, is to limit the essence of power gained by the noble journey of these two peoples. Stella did not see color in human beings. She saw eternalness. She saw potential. She saw talent. She saw in me that which was difficult for others to accept.
As a young student in class there were times when I did not have the words or the formal intellectual training in order to express the moment. And so I would express myself through a creative, intuitive metaphor. Stella would say, “Listen. Listen to him. He understands on a depth level of creative, intuitive insight. Listen to him. He knows.”
Stella took me into her home to live when I had no place. She fed me and gave me books to read. She insisted I go across the street to the museum to study images and paintings. Until this time I had had no desire for formal education. Stella enkindled in me a burning desire to learn. Stella educated me. My cue to respond to any situation in life comes from Technique II and Script Analysis. Out of this foundation of Stella’s teaching and discipline I developed not only as an actor, director and teacher but I also created a new writing process. Stella’s teachings served every day of my life during our over twenty-five year association.
Stella gave me permission to accept my talent and permission to be different in the world. This acceptance of the human potential to move beyond the boundaries of the norm was the action of Stella’s creative revolution. In the process of her struggle to bring individuals into light and acceptance Stella was relentless. As are all great ones, Stella was a very complex human being. The expressions regarding her life, which shall alight from the tongues of many, shall be profound in the multiplicity. But the core of my teacher is that she was and is a primal revolutionary creative force committed to moving life along.
Central to her ideals is the knowledge that the true interpretation of human behavior must be deeply rooted in social, political and ethical consciousness. At this time of alienation between the races and classes and tribes in our city, our country and our world, I want the truth of Stella’s positive legacy, the truth of her struggle against injustice to be known.
I believed every single thing Stella taught me. Stella said, “If you want learn to act, learn how to build things.” I have built my own acting company and I have built my own theatre and this theatre is dedicated to her. It is a clean place. It was designed and built by actors. It is a place where all people come and feel at home. It is a temple of worship because the theatre is a temple.
I wanted children to know who Stella was and to learn her teachings and so I founded The Young People’s Creative Workshop for children from all classes and races. Our children come to us from all the different neighborhoods of New York. Last month we sent Stella a tape of the children. In it they thanked Stella for teaching me, and they thanked her for her contribution to their lives through the work. They told Stella they would honor her by living her ideals and carrying her teachings into the world.
After seeing the tape over a few days, Stella called me. She said to me on the telephone, “The work you are doing is at the center of the conflict of the world. There is nothing you could be doing with your life that is more important.” And then she sent me a note that read, “You did it. I knew you would be the one to take the work on to a new level. And you have done it. I congratulate you and love you.”
Yes, Stella, your child has grown up to take his place in the world. I am strong and well fortified and I am a fighter. I am a dedicated and ruthless fighter at war to express to this world the consciousness and beauty of creation. I have been tried in tears and blood and sweat. You fought for me and protected me and I will fight to protect you and your teachings, your ideals in the world and your place in the universe. I will fight for this commitment to my last breath. You were my teacher, my creative mother, my friend, my general. I salute you. Your spirit vibrates upon the souls the children, it enflames their hearts, burns brightly in their minds and illuminates their eyes. Nothing is ended. This is a new beginning.
