Arthur Bartow

Arthur Bartow

Major Influences

Like many theater people, I was lucky enough to have great teachers early in life, in my case three great teachers. Though I grew up in Oklahoma, not known to be a center for theatre development, my high school teacher, Dora Hobbs, had a lasting effect on me and many others. Her professionalism, imagination, and drive held me to a high standard that I accepted with pleasure.

Then at the University of Oklahoma, where I was a drama major and was given fantastic opportunities to act and direct, I also studied voice in the music department with Dame Eva Turner. Dame Eva was England's greatest dramatic soprano of the 20th Century who happened to be guest teaching at OU through a colleague she had worked with at La Scala in Milan. She took me into a world of standards of technique and concentration that previously were beyond my awareness and capabilities and perhaps altered my life to the greatest extent. "Pull up your socks, dear!" I believe I could have scoured the world and not found better mentors than Dora and Dame Eva...and they were at my doorstep! What are the chances of that!

 Michael Hood interviews Arthur Bartow

​Later, when I was at NYU and rejected applicants to the Tisch Drama Department would sit in my office and weep, thinking their lives were over, I could tell them that it takes only one great teacher to change your life, and such teachers are everywhere.

​The third mentor in my life was Jack Lee. Jack was a vaunted teacher and major music director on Broadway. I met him at the beginning of his career when he was chorus director for Starlight Theater in Kansas City, where I acted summers during college years. When I came to New York he became my teacher and continued in that capacity for 56 years up until his death this year. Jack's focus was always truth in performance no matter what the style.

There were many other professional influences. I acted with a bevy of stars and wonderful character actors of the period. The stars had earned that designation by achievement and not mere notoriety. And they were stars of the stage. To my mind, the most versatile and impressive role model was Robert Preston. I was in his Broadway production of Ben Franklin in Paris. I say "his" production because Bob assumed responsibility for the company. He knew every cast member's name the second day of rehearsal and took a personal interest in each of us. Every performance was a joy. You couldn't wait to get in costume and get to the stage where he held forth behind the grand drape engaging us all and preparing us for the moment when that curtain rose. He lifted a rather common musical by his artistry and warmth. He inspired us all to go beyond ourselves and showed me what genuine theatrical leadership can ​be.

Change in the Theatre

I suppose the most positive change I've seen in the theatre, as many others will also attest, is the advent of not-for-profit regional theatre. Again, I was lucky enough to be Associate Director of Theatre Communications Group early in its growth when it included only forty regional theatre members and I was afforded the opportunity to see the work of every one of them on a regular basis. The founders of those early theatres were a genuine inspiration as they dug the foundations of their organizations from the earth with their bare hands.

As to negative changes in the profession, I spent most of my acting years in the musical theatre. At the time that I entered that world there was an established community. By that I mean that there was a community of artists and producers who created work year after year and it was possible to enter their world and become known, if not to the greater world then to your colleagues. And one could make a living doing this. Today, the continuity of producing has fallen away. It is true that there are many more opportunities for actors to find jobs that last for five minutes but not so many where artists can work together repeatedly over an extended period of time. Many of my acting jobs ran for a year or more. I loved long runs, attempting to make it fresh every performance.​

Best Received Advice

​Perhaps the best advice I ever received was from Dame Eva..."Be ready." Of course as a singer you have to work every day to keep your voice agile. And it's true for those in non-musical theatre too, but much harder to manage if you haven't established a daily routine workout for yourself.

There is the story of the great pianist Arthur Rubenstein who said, "If I don't practice for one day my wife knows it. If I don't practice for two days my agent knows it. And if I don't practice for three days the whole world knows it."

So many jobs came on short notice. "Get over to the theatre this morning at 10 a.m.!" To be competitive, one has to be in top physical shape and mentally ready. The confidence of that is immediately apparent. I tended to be a bit lazy and didn't always keep myself in shape and vaulted into action only when the audition was coming or even when starting rehearsals! You can't do that. You have to walk into the room prepared. They can smell it if you're not. When I was ready I got the job and when I wasn't...

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Arthur Bartow (MFA, U. of Oklahoma) Chair; Artistic Director of the Drama Department at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Associate Director, Theatre Communications Group.  Executive Vice President, Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers Foundation. Chair, Theater Arts Recognition and Talent Search for National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Consultant: National Endowment for the Arts; La Jolla Playhouse; Charles Stewart Mott Foundation; Connecticut Commission on the Arts; Florida Professional Theatre Association; Opportunity Resources for the Arts; McKnight Fellowships at The Playwrights' Center, Minneapolis; various theatres. Chair, New York State Council on the Arts Theatre and the Performing Arts for the Media panels. Artistic Director, New Playwrights' Theatre, Washington DC, Helen Hayes Award for Elizabeth Swados's The Beautiful Lady.  Artistic Director, Theatre of the Riverside Church, New York, producing the premiere of Miguel Piñero’s Short Eyes and the New York premiere of Eric Bentley's Are You Now or Have You Ever Been.  Co-produced Dennis McIntyre's Modigliani, Astor Place Theatre. As actor, he portrayed over 70 roles on Broadway, off-Broadway, Las Vegas, touring, and stock.  He authored The Director's Voice and edited Training of the American Actor (issued as Handbook of Acting Techniques in England and translated into the Russian).

Michael Hood - Now in his 18th year as Dean of Fine Arts at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Michael Hood is an actor, director, and fight teacher/choreographer.  He is a Certified Teacher with the SAFD.  He served for 22 years on the faculty at the University of Alaska Anchorage where he was department chair of Theatre and Dance for a total of 11 years, and twice served as Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.   A former president of the Northwest Drama Conference, he has served on the Board of Directors of the International Council of Fine Arts Deans and has served as Trustee, Secretary, Vice-President and now President of the National Theatre Conference. He has frequently served as a mentor in the ATHE Leadership Institute, and has been a regular presenter for NAST.  He has frequently appeared as a featured artist at the Last Frontier Theatre Festival in Valdez, Alaska.  In 2015 he was inducted to the College of Fellows of the American Theatre.
 
Michael's university productions have 5 times been invited to KCACTF regional festivals and in 1991 he was awarded national  Honorable mention for his UAA production of Arms and the Man.   He acted in Anchorage with Synergy Theater and with the Alaska Repertory Theatre.  Michael’s most recent professional work has been for Unseam’d Shakespeare in Pittsburgh where he directed Othello:Noir in 2006, Macbeth 3 in 2009, and Dryden and Davenant’s The Tempest, or the Enchanted Isle, in 2013.