Directing Fellowship
Mentoring Artistic Leaders
While best known as the father of Method Acting, Lee Strasberg was also a visionary stage director whose contributions helped define the language of modern American theatre. Before his name became synonymous with actor training, Strasberg was already making his mark with productions of extraordinary psychological depth and precision. His Broadway staging of Men in White by Sidney Kingsley earned national acclaim and helped establish the Group Theatre as a revolutionary force. He directed key early works by Clifford Odets, and later brought a masterful sense of emotional truth to his 1964 Actors Studio production of Chekhov’s Three Sisters—a performance still regarded as a milestone of ensemble craft.
Strasberg’s directing was grounded in deep dramaturgical study and a profound respect for the actor’s process. He drew on his encyclopedic knowledge of the world’s great directors—Stanislavski, Vakhtangov, Meyerhold, Reinhardt, and others—not as fixed models, but as inspirations to be questioned, adapted, and reimagined.
The Lee Strasberg Directing Fellowship reclaims this essential yet often overshadowed dimension of his legacy, inviting a new generation of directors to train with the same rigor, insight, and artistic conviction that defined Strasberg’s own work.
“I feel a great responsibility to transmit and share with directors those experiences that were essential as a foundation for my work.”
— Lee Strasberg
About the Fellowship
The Lee Strasberg Fellowship is awarded to early-career directors and recent MFA directing graduates wishing to complement their training with a year-long investigation of Method Acting techniques and a rigorous understanding of the actor’s process.
Fellows will get the opportunity to audit classes at the esteemed Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute and be paired with a faculty member who will help facilitate this collaboration and their exploration of Lee Strasberg’s Method. They will have access to some of our extensive archival materials including Lee’s work with the Director’s Unit at the Actors Studio. This fellowship will culminate in a fully realized production at the Institute directed by the recipient. Directors should nominate themselves through an application available online. All applications will be vetted by a committee of faculty and staff, and the recipient will be selected based on talent, passion, and commitment to the actor’s craft.