ABSTRACT
Among the Stanislavsky teachers in America, only three – Harold Clurman, Elia Kazan, and Bobby Lewis – had a natural facility for analytical writing and professional venues to disseminate their ideas in full-length books. Of the three, Lewis was, by far, the most droll and self-deprecating. During his lifetime, two of his books on acting and an autobiography appeared in print. His unprepossessing physicality, eccentric interests, love of the grotesque, gay sensibility, and raconteurship all helped shape his unusual understanding of Stanislavsky Technique and unique style of teaching. For instance, when Lewis was asked why he concealed all references
to his homosexual lifestyle in his long-awaited memoir Slings and Arrows (New York: Stein and Day, 1984), Bobby replied that he assumed everyone in theatre was queer; there was no particular reason to even mention it. This was classic Bobby. He was the wittiest of the Group but his humor was almost always tinged with sardonic hidden meanings and transgressive invective. Despite Lewis’ gregarious personality and clearly articulated lessons
in acting, he left few hardcore disciples or instructors who continued to promote his Technique. His amusing outsider status probably much enhanced his direct connection with students and skeptics who enjoyed Lewis’ public derision of Strasberg’s Method. But Bobby’s cultish aloofness and distain for commercial success also explained why the Bobby Lewis Technique more or less disappeared after his death in 1997.
