Three years ago Alexander MacAlpine wouldn’t have envisioned himself on a large theater stage, entertaining a packed auditorium in a lead role.
Right now he’s embracing the character of Jacob Marley, Ebenezer Scrooge’s deceased business partner and the first ghost to visit Scrooge in the Charles Dickens classic, “A Christmas Carol.” The annual NWU production runs through December 13.
“I had no intention to study acting,” MacAlpine recalled.
But an impromptu decision to do a script reading for a high school production landed him a small role, and he was bit by the acting bug.
He eventually enrolled at Nebraska Wesleyan and signed up for an acting course taught by professor Jay Chipman. The course taught MacAlpine about acting theory and past practitioners, including late actress Stella Adler. Intrigued by what he learned, the junior acting major from Ord, Neb. applied to a training program offered at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City.
"I thought I might as well aim for the best with the hopes that I might blindly and accidentally hit something," he said.
Stella Adler started the school in 1949 to guide theater artists and aid them in becoming well-rounded actors. Her early students included Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Robert DeNiro, Warren Beatty and Candice Bergen, and since then thousands of actors have gone onto important film and theater careers. Though prestigious and selective, MacAlpine was inspired to apply to the studio's acting program, hoping to further his learning and continue developing his acting skills.
"We as actors and humans have awesome rational, emotional, physical, and imaginative potential, but it must be consciously developed," said MacAlpine. "It doesn't just happen. I felt that full-on conservatory training would be the best way to develop all these potentials into realities."
Within days of applying, the Stella Adler Studio contacted MacAlpine and scheduled an interview. He was soon notified of his acceptance into the training program.
MacAlpine headed to New York City for 10 weeks. His training included improvisation, script interpretation, voice and speech, and Shakespeare.
"It's as though I was really only taking one expansive class that had many subdivisions," he said.
The classes and training proved to be enlightening, but studying in a fast-paced New York City was challenging. Coming from a small town, MacAlpine admitted the training was intimidating and exhausting, mentally and physically. His coping mechanism was to simply let go of the stress.
MacAlpine's training not only taught him to utilize his abilities as a person and an actor, but to develop the skills to their fullest potential. Learning that acting and living overlap with one another, MacAlpine said he will use his experience at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting for the rest of his life.
"If you train to utilize your full potential, the product you have to offer is that much stronger and magnetic,” he said. “One of Stella's most famous quotes is, 'Growth as an actor and growth as a human being are synonymous.' In this way, I will always utilize my training."
Since he return to campus, MacAlpine has co-directed and performed in “August: Osage County” and now as Jacob Marley in “A Christmas Carol.” He’ll utilize his Shakespearean skills next when the Theatre Department performs a semester-long series of shows marking the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death.