"Growth as an actor and as a human being are synonymous"
To Stella Adler, the impulse to act was a sacred and important one but she was not dogmatic about any singular approach or method. Rather, her “system” centered on providing budding actors with the tools, training, and discipline to grow and to employ the limitless human imagination in their task of studying and bringing a script to life. The beliefs Stella held about actors and acting formed the framework for how the tools, training, and discipline were delivered, and these were — and are still — found in five basic principles which are present across all the classes at the Studio. These basic principles include:

The development of independent actors.
Stella Adler, herself a fiercely independent theater artist, understood that acting becomes vital, exciting, and alive when actors do their own thinking and bring a point of view or a sense of mission to their work. One of her most frequently quoted statements is: “Your talent is in your choice.” At the Studio, the aim is to develop actors who think for themselves, respect their own ideas and ideals, and use the theatre as a means to share those ideas and ideals. Such independent actors are fully resolved to train their minds, bodies, voices, and spirits to achieve that end.

The power of the imagination.
Actors’ imaginations are the most powerful source for them to draw on. To bring alive a mimetic narrative — a story that happens as it is told — an actor must be able to create not just a replication of the actual, but a transforming, living experience. To create such an experience, Adler Studio actors are asked to use their imagination to locate the fullest range of motivational force, rather than depending solely on observation and emotional memory.

The importance of action.
Drama depends on doing, not feeling; feeling is a by-product of doing. The Adler Technique depends on actors connecting strongly to each other by way of actions and creating dramatic events that take place between “I and thou,” not between “me and myself.” These actions include the subtle, creative, onstage choices to which actors commit.

Informed script interpretation.
A text, once the author has surrendered it, is an object in itself with its own life, its own meaningful possibilities, and its own potential for impact. Another Stella Adler quote still used at the Studio is: “The play is not in the words, it’s in you!” It is the actor’s responsibility to respect the script with a willingness to read it deeply with a fertile imagination. This respect involves an understanding of where the playwright is leading the character, including understanding the character’s environment and investigating the full setting of the play.

The cultivation of a rich humanity.
The actor’s instrument is the actor’s own body and brain but if the dramatic arts are to avoid shrinking to a self-referential, self-enclosed, detached, and isolated unit of a larger world, then the psyche upon which the actor calls must not be the actor’s own, but the character’s. Therefore, an actor needs to develop resources of information and experience that connect with the rest of the world — socially, culturally, historically, and politically — thereby enriching the actor’s instrument that is required to perform.

Each of these principals permeates all of the Studio’s courses as the general teaching philosophy at the Adler Studio.