Press Releases

August 31, 2002
Professor Alec Baldwin!

Distinguished Actor Is Named Distinguished Professor at Southampton College

Contact:
Darren Johnson (PR@southampton.liu.edu)
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081

In his first-ever role as teacher, Professor Alec Baldwin headed a Master Class in Theater at the College this past summer. He is a graduate of NYU's prestigious acting program and joined one of Southampton College's fastest-growing and best-known departments. In recent years, the Southampton Players have become one of Long Island's most celebrated and popular troupes, regularly selling out shows and staging a wide range of fare, from locally-written comedies to elaborate, full-scale musicals.

Baldwin's three-credit course ran intensively August 23-30 and involved hands-on critiquing by the actor while students performed scenes from popular movies and plays. In his lessons, Baldwin included real-world examples of motivations and techniques professional actors use. Hundreds applied for the 36-hour course, and students were chosen based upon their acting resume. The class was featured in People magazine.

Baldwin, a Long Island native and resident of nearby Amagansett, continued a relationship with Southampton College that began this January with his well-received discussion "The Artist as Activist" in the Avram Theater. He joined other Distinguished Professors at Southampton College, including Time and PBS essayist Roger Rosenblatt, Oscar and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and cartoonist Jules Feiffer, Booker Prize-nominated novelist and fine artist Brian O'Doherty and Southampton College Dean James Larocca, a public policy expert and state cabinet official who headed the Long Island Association.

Baldwin joined the College's heralded summer lineup of professors that also included U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, Booker Prize winner Margaret Atwood and best-selling author of "Angela's Ashes" Frank McCourt, all of whom appeared at Southampton College's Writers Conference.

"This, I hope, will be the first of many collaborations with Mr. Baldwin. His strength as an actor and artist is remarkable," said theater director Michael Disher. "This gracious gesture illustrates his generosity as a renowned craftsman. It is quite an honor for our students and our university."

On Broadway, Baldwin was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in the 1992 revival of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire," and also was nominated for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for the television movie of that same production. He won an Obie Award for the 1991 Off-Broadway production of Craig Lucas' "Prelude to a Kiss" and a Theatre World Award in 1986 for his turn in Joe Orton's "Loot" on Broadway.

Baldwin has starred in several major films, including "The Hunt for Red October," "Miami Blues," "Prelude to a Kiss," "Malice," "The Getaway," "The Shadow," "Glengarry Glen Ross," "Heaven's Prisoners," "Ghosts of Mississippi" and "The Edge," among others. His production company, El Dorado Pictures, has co-produced "The Confession" (winner of the 2000 Writers Guild Award for best adapted screenplay by David Black) for Cinemax Television, "Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial" for Turner Network Television, and "State and Main," a motion picture comedy written and directed by David Mamet.

Alec Baldwin is an outspoken supporter of various causes related to public policy, including environmentalism, the government's support of the arts, campaign finance reform and animal rights. At his January lecture at Southampton College, he discussed the relationship between artists and public policy.