Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/51766
CELEBRATING THE CRAFT Television's Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Winners DRAMA COMEDY ART of the ENSEMBLE 2010 E 2009 2008 nsemble acting is more than just three or more actors giving a performance. When done right, it creates a synergy, a mosaic in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Like an impressionist painting, each brushstroke can be viewed individually, but all — in their variety of sizes, shapes and colors — are necessary to create the masterpiece. Russian actor Konstantin Stanislavsky, famous for the approach to acting that bears his name, spoke of ensemble acting in reverent, almost sacred, terms. "In such an enterprise, one works for all and all for one. There must be mutual responsibility… collective creative effort is the root of our kind of art. That requires ensemble acting and whoever mars that ensemble is committing a crime… against the very art he serves." It is why Screen Actors Guild each year presents 2007 the outstanding ensemble award as a recognition that it is a kind of acting that demands its own approach. The 2010 winner in the TV drama category was HBO's Boardwalk Empire, a Prohibition-era series focusing on a politician- gangster played by Steve Buscemi. Aleksa Palladino, who plays Angela Darmody, 2006 49 SCREEN ACTOR - Special Issue 2012 said acting with the show's large cast is a learning experience. SAG.org