"You will fail. That's great. Here's a secret for you - that's the only way you can learn. Learning has to cost you something. If you fail but learn something from your failure, you will grow." - Stella Adler
What is the Adler Technique?
The Stella Adler technique centres on imagination, physical action, and a deep understanding of a character’s circumstances. Adler believed that actors should live truthfully within the character’s social world, rather than relying heavily on personal emotional memories, which she felt could limit an actor’s range and creative possibilities. Actors training in this technique learn to explore the conditions of the character’s life in great detail.
This includes understanding their social environment, cultural context, profession, relationships, and daily behaviour. Through research and imagination, the actor constructs a fully realised inner life that supports truthful performance and freedom to be in the moment. Adler also believed that actors must continually expand their understanding of the world. As part of the craft, performers study history, culture, politics, professions, and human behaviour. This ongoing curiosity allows actors to bring depth and specificity to the characters they portray.
At the heart of the technique is the relationship between imagination, research, and action. Actors are encouraged to create boldly, observe everyday life, and trust their instincts within the circumstances they have built. When the work is fully realised, the actor becomes genuinely moved by what they have created, allowing truthful and dynamic performances to emerge.
My work with Adler Technique
I guide actors through the disciplined process of examining the given circumstances of a text, expanding their imaginative and factual understanding of the scripts soical situation, and building specific, playable choices. This work equips actors with a reliable process they can apply to auditions, rehearsals, and performances.
At the core of Adler’s teaching is the belief that actors must be serious students of life and the world around them. My coaching challenges actors to deepen their curiosity, engage in research, and make bold, creative choices that are grounded in truthful circumstances.
The goal is not quick results, but the development of craft. Actors leave with a stronger technique, a deeper understanding of their work, and the independence to approach any role with clarity, discipline, and confidence.
“Don’t be afraid, she said you have a right to be who you are, where you are and how you are” – Marlon Brando
Engage Javiar
Stella Adler Technique – Group Workshops
For Professional Actors & Actors in Training
Rooted in the transformative principles of the Stella Adler technique, these group workshops are designed for those who take the craft of acting seriously, whether they’re working professionally, in formal training, or seeking to deepen their connection to the work.
With extensive experience teaching Adler’s approach, Javiar brings clarity, precision, and inspiration to each session. His workshops offer actors the opportunity to reconnect with their artistic instincts, challenge habitual choices, and develop the imagination as a powerful tool for truthful storytelling.
Javiar creates a focused, collaborative space where actors can challenge themselves, connect deeply with material, and grow artistically—both individually and as an ensemble.
Interested in Booking a Workshop?
If you're part of a training program, theatre company, or acting group interested in bringing this work to your ensemble, please provide the following details to help us tailor the experience to your needs:
1. Proposed dates and times for the workshop
2. Location and city (UK only)
3. Estimated number of participants
4. Primary objectives or focus areas for the session
5. Whether your group consists of professional actors or actors in training, looking to expand their craft and performance skills
Once we receive your information, we’ll be in touch to discuss availability, workshop structure, and how Javiar can best support your group’s creative development.
Private coaching
Stella Adler’s technique encourages actors to move beyond imitation and into bold, imaginative choices. Rooted in the power of action, circumstance, and clear justifications, her approach empowers actors to build rich inner worlds grounded in the text, rather than relying on personal memory or emotional recall.
This technique fosters:
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A deep connection to character through text analysis and imaginative engagement
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A focus on circumstances and actions over emotional display
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The development of strong choices that serve the story and elevate performance
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Intellectual curiosity and artistic expansion
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Work that is emotionally resonant, yet safe, sustainable, and grounded in craft
Online 1-to-1 sessions (minimum 1 hour) are available for actors who wish to:
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Explore and deepen their understanding of Adler’s technique
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Prepare for a drama school audition
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Work on an upcoming role
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Keep up to date with their craft and stay creatively engaged
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Refine their approach to text, character, and performance
These personalised sessions offer a supportive, focused space to engage with the technique and unlock more truthful, dynamic work—wherever you are in your journey.
Who Was Stella Adler?
Stella (1901 - 1992), the youngest daughter of famed theatre actors Sara and Jacob Adler, began her career on her father’s stage at four. She spent her young adult life performing throughout the United States, Europe and South America, appearing in more than 100 plays in vaudeville and the Yiddish theatre. Following her Broadway debut, she joined the American Laboratory headed by Richard Boleslavsky and Maria Ouspenskaya, both former members of the Moscow Art Theatre. In 1931, when Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg, and Cheryl Crawford created The Group Theatre, Stella was invited to join as a founding member.
“Acting requires a creative and compassionate attitude. It must aim to lift life up to a higher level of meaning and not tear it down or demean it. The actor's search is a generous quest for that larger meaning. That's why acting is never to be done passively.”
― Stella Adler
Taking a brief leave of absence in 1934 to travel to Russia, she stopped in Paris, where she met and studied for five weeks with Konstantin Stanislavski. Stella Adler is the only American actor to have studied with him through intense, private training. When she returned to The Group Theatre with a new understanding of his work, she began giving acting classes to other members, including Sanford Meisner, Elia Kazan, and Robert Lewis, whom all became notable theatrical directors and acting teachers.
Stella worked in Hollywood as an associate producer at MGM for six years and played several roles. She returned to New York and London to direct and act in many plays, among them the London premiere of Manhattan Nocturne, the Off-Broadway revival of the Paul Green/Kurt Weil anti-war play Johnny Johnson, as well as Sons and Soldiers, Pretty Little Parlor, and He Who Gets Slapped. Her last stage appearance was in the critically controversial production of Arthur Kopit’s Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet, and I’m Feeling So Sad (1959).
In the early 1940s, Stella began teaching at the Erwin Piscator Workshop at the New School for Social Research. She left the faculty in 1949 to establish her own studio, the Stella Adler Theatre Studio (later renamed the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting and finally the Stella Adler Studio of Acting). She went on to teach some of the most prolific stage and film actors of the 20th Century.