14 May 4 - May 10, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | News | letters | coNteNts | IN THE GARDEN MOTHER’S DAY MOTHER’S DAY MOTHER’S DAY Sunday, May 14 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | Stage Flight Tcherkin Studio in Miami Springs nurtures actors with big dreams. BY SEAN LEVISMAN O n a balmy Tuesday evening in April, a handful of twenty- somethings are gathered un- derneath the hot stage lights illuminating Tcherkin Studio’s intimate confines in Miami Springs. What has brought these wide-eyed youths together here? A common dream. Gian Bonacchi is Italian and began his act- ing career in high school at the famed Scuola Di Cinema Anna Magnani in Tuscany. After graduating, he would heed his calling all the way to Miami, getting signed with a talent agency in Delray Beach and enrolling at the New York Film Academy in South Beach. To- day his ambitious to-do list includes writing, acting, and producing for several ongoing film and television projects. “My dream is to be successful in this in- dustry and one day open my own production company,” Bonacchi tells New Times. Me’Lisa Modestil was born and raised in Brooklyn and began her acting journey as a 6-year-old performing in local church plays. Naturally talented, she secured talent agency representation by the time she was in her teens. Still, her budding career was cruelly hampered at age 16 by her cancer diagnosis and her moth- er’s prolonged battle with Crohn’s disease. “After all that, I focused a lot on mine and my mother’s health, as well as college, but I never gave up on my passion for acting,” she explains. “My dream is to remain a pursuant, dedicated, and successful artist, and see you at the 100th Oscars.” There’s also Luis Acha, a Miami native who was recently bitten by the acting bug af- ter attending performance courses at Florida International University. “My dream is to play characters in film or television that can bring hope to audiences,” he says. “I plan to grow as much as possible in this art because I want to be the best possible actor and be able to perform as characters of that caliber.” On this particular evening in the studio, Bo- nacchi, Modestil, and Acha take turns rehears- ing selected movie scenes as bigger-than-life coach Violet Tcherkin holds court from her di- rector’s chair. After the scenes are performed, Tcherkin draws each actor into a deep, psychoana- lytic examination of their chosen charac- ter’s innermost fears and motivations. Of course, this daunt- ing process comes standard with the Chubbuck tech- nique, of which Tcherkin is currently the sole accredited instructor in Miami. The method was developed by Ivana Chubbuck, an eminent Los Angeles-based acting coach and author of the bestselling book The Power of the Actor. As a 21st-century evolution of the widely studied Stanislavski method, the Chubbuck technique applies psychology and behavioral science to help ac- tors study and bring dynamic, emotionally complex characters to life. The technique is big in Hollywood, where Ivana has personally trained many A-list actors, including Brad Pitt, Charlize Theron, and Jake Gyllenhaal. “The technique has been demonstrated to work for almost four decades, producing highly regarded performers in the industry,” Tcherkin says. “Our objective at Tcherkin Studio is to produce actors who stand out. We aim to give them the competitive edge that will unequivocally position them among the best in the industry.” It follows that none of the students at Tcherkin Studio are mere dilettantes or in it for kicks. They all have legitimate dreams, and they’re burning to make them a reality. This will require swimming strenuously to the top of the talent pool in a highly competi- tive and demanding industry. Professional ac- tors must continuously hone their craft or risk losing their edge. Tcherkin strongly believes that the Chub- buck technique has a transformative power far beyond attaining skills and professional success. She considers it a veritable life hack. “It changed my life,” she says. “It taught me how to use my emotions, pain, and trauma to overcome obstacles, both in my acting work and in real life. It also allowed me to dis- cover who I truly am, my triggers, and mind- sets that kept me victimized, disempowered, and diminished.” Tcherkin’s students also vouch for these personal growth benefits. “Since I have been studying and applying the technique, I feel more deeply connected with characters, but I especially feel better as a person,” Bonacchi says. “I feel more free and relieved, having recognized and solved issues that were af- fecting me.” “Studying there has helped me recognize things that have freed me and helped me be- come a better actress,” Modestil says. Miami generally lags behind the major cultural capitals of America when it comes to performance-art education. Only a handful of local studios and schools teach advanced act- ing techniques like Stanislavski’s method and the Meisner approach. Thanks to Tcherkin Studio, Miami finally has a studio teaching the Chubbuck technique. “I was always interested in the technique but never thought I would find it in Miami,” Modestil says. “Once I heard about it, I jumped at the opportunity to join Violet’s studio.” Bonacchi also finds Tcherkin Studio a god- send for local actors seeking to train in the technique and acquire its formidable perfor- mance tools. “When I found out that there is a Chubbuck studio in Miami, it was like a boom from the sky,” he says. “Violet is so powerful, energized, and empathetic,” he adds. “She re- ally knows how to make you work.” Acha certainly shares his fellow students’ sentiments. “Learning from Violet about the Chubbuck technique and learning more about myself through her coaching methods is an incomparable experience,” he says. “Ev- ery day, I’m thankful that I can grow more and more because of her coaching.” It’s telling that Tcherkin’s sales pitch isn’t only directed at working or beginning actors but also any closeted creative souls who have yet to recognize their embryonic potential. She dares you, whoever you are, to go on an audacious adventure of self-discovery in pur- suit of self-growth. “If you think you are not an actor, a creator, or a great collaborator for progress and inno- vation, think again,” Tcherkin says. “Come experience for yourself how much you can contribute to a world desperately in need of exceptional people like you.” “Consider it,” she says. “I’ll see you in class.” [email protected] ▼ Culture “OUR OBJECTIVE AT TCHERKIN STUDIO IS TO PRODUCE ACTORS WHO STAND OUT.” Violet Tcherkin teaches the Chubbuck acting technique at her Miami Springs studio. Photo by Ray Sorensen
