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May 28, 1999/13 Sivan 5759, Vol. 51, No.35
Talented team teaches tricks of acting trade
LENI REISS
Senior Contributing Editor
Earthquakes in Los Angeles, they say, prompted their move to the Valley in 1994 - but now Marla Finn and her husband, Peter Stelzer, are looking to shake things up here with their new business ventures.
Folks on Film and Kids on Kamera, offering professional film acting classes for adults and workshops for children, promise to enliven and upgrade the caliber of local talent.
The couple, both Jewish native Chicagoans, with impressive resumes as performers and teachers, met in a classroom setting.
"Peter was my professor in a drama class at Cornell University," Finn explains. "I was attracted to him the second I saw him."
She adds, "We're still soulmates after 17 years." (And yes, she got an "A" in the course.)
During his affiliation with Cornell's theater management program, Stelzer directed 35 plays and coached hundreds of actors. He then went to New York to perform in films, on television, and in plays on Broadway.
A move to the West Coast brought work in feature film production and a position as vice president of Ted Danson's feature film and TV movie company. There Stelzer won, among other awards, an Emmy in 1997 for co-producing "Miss Evers' Boys." (Both Stelzer and Finn continued working in Los Angeles after they first moved to Phoenix by commuting between the two cities.)
Finn has performed on stage from coast to coast, as well as writing, casting, producing and directing radio commercials, and directing radio theater performances for National Public Radio. She is an acting and voice-over teacher and has "voiced" thousands of national radio and TV commercials, as well as characters on network cartoon shows, including "Scooby Doo."
Now this talented duo is combining their talents to bring to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area a new level of expertise in the performing arts. Together with local casting director Gay Gilbert, a few months ago they formed the Phoenix Film Institute to serve as an umbrella organization for Folks on Film, Kids on Kamera and other ventures yet to come. Finn and Stelzer team-teach the classes.
"We are loud and demanding and a lot of fun," Stelzer says. "It's a challenge, but we love it, and we have a lot to share. We work off of each other."
"Some of the adult students call us 'Lucy and Ricky,' " he says, referring to the zany couple portrayed by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz on the classic "I Love Lucy" television series.
Enrollees in Kids on Kamera workshops, geared for ages 8-16, include debaters, models, karate kids, "some who are serious about acting, some who are there just for fun and maybe to increase their self-confidence and self-esteem," says Stelzer. "They work in groups but also get individualized attention. And everyone works in front of a camera."
Adults in Folks on Film classes learn camera techniques: "how to move and emote," and such "magical hints" as "where to look (and) how to modulate your skills on camera." Sessions also are offered on auditioning, character and script analysis, improvisation and on-set protocol.
Stelzer explains, "In the world of film, there are two skills that actors must master - auditioning and performing. They are unique unto themselves. They are simple and clear, but they take practice and training. Once you learn the skills, it takes constant repetiton to maintain them. Film actors - the good ones - make it look easy, but it's not."
However, Stelzer maintains that anyone can be a film actor.
"If you are the right type, you can act. Each person has a unique personality and can be taught how to bring it out on camera.
"There are people who are more electrifying than others," he acknowledges, "but if the desire is strong enough, you can have a shot at it. If you can be honest and truthful in front of the camera, the camera will love you."
For more information about Folks on Film and/or Kids on Kamera, call (480) 922-9267.
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