Michael Beckett began his
study of acting at the age of 17. He trained with several fine acting teachers,
each with a diversity of styles. He finally came upon two who opened doors of
perception that otherwise might have remained closed. One was Academy Award
nominee William Hickey; the other was the eminent and renowned Herbert Berghof.
It was Mr. Berghof who invited Michael to start teaching classes at New York's
HB Studio, which he had founded in 1945 with his partner Uta Hagen.
So, in 1966, while acting in
and directing various projects, Michael also started teaching. In addition to
his classes at HB Studio, he accepted invitations from the prestigious Singers
Forum to direct actor/singers in the craft of acting, and to direct students in
“The Actor's Craft” and “Directing the Actor” as a guest professor in NYU's
Tisch School of the Arts, Kanbar Institute of Film & TV. As years went by,
more and more students found his teaching approach to be unique with its
emphasis on the psychological. They kept pushing him to write a book. Not being
a writer, he did finally agree to have his Advanced Acting class audio
recorded, from which this book was compiled. In 2012 the e-book Acting: Walking the Tightrope of an
Illusion. Zen Lessons for Actors in Life and Onstage, was released on
Amazon and other online retailers.
Michael's teaching approach is to focus not just on
technique but on moving into the deeper and more mysterious realm that lies at
the core of art itself. His concern has prompted him to create a second book
called Meditation: To Blow the Mind,
a probing conversation that aims to penetrate the darkness of psychological
thought.