Corey Allen: The Ultimate Teacher

What do you want the most at this moment in your life?
That is the question Corey would ask at the beginning of class every week.

When I first got to LA, I researched the oh so many different possibilities of acting classes or workshops that were out there to choose. I finally decided on trying out the Margie Haber workshops. Little did I know, that within the walls of Margie’s studio was a man named Corey Allen. It took me a year of studying at Margie’s to finally find my way into Corey’s Intensive weekend workshop. That moment changed my life forever.

What Corey presented was a workshop that acting was simply being and connecting. And let me tell you… each and every class was simply complex and wonderful. Each and every class was a break-through for me . To use “what you want” in your work. And the exercises that he had… were limitless.

His classes made you feel alive. Like you were living on the edge of life discovering new frontiers. Not necessarily on a set of a Star Trek episode, but on the stage of your own story. Your own page, as Corey would put it. And you were the writing instrument that made the choice of what do you want to do with your next breath. And your next breath… and the next.

For five years I assisted Corey in his acting class and realized how wonderful it is to be in the moment.

He became the Grandfather that I had never met. Outside of the Haber studios we continued our friendship … and working relationship. I introduced Corey to the Media Access Office and the Meet The Biz workshops, where he continued to teach his magic. And he taught me the limitlessness of myself as I went on to produce his production of Saroyan’s The Beautiful People with the Screen Actors Guild and the Media Access Office.

He never forced anyone to get to the next step or level. When someone would thank him for getting them to the place that they had reached in their work, he would always say that he didn’t do anything. That it was that person who did it themselves. They “allowed” it. He got the actor trained to be self sufficient and be able to be ready to handle themselves on the set and bring themselves and their choices, living in the moment.
The magic of Corey will continue to live on through all the lives that he touched. What do I want the most at this moment of my life?… At this moment, I want to thank you Corey for all the love and riches you bestowed to so many and to let you know, as I had told you, you will always be remembered. I know … there is a lot there.

Corey… you will always be remembered each and every day.

Thanks to you CA, I will always keep wanting to take my next breath.

Love,

DEZ

-David S. Zimmerman