The Actors Studio, the legendary theater workshop, has named Al Pacino, Ellen Burstyn and Harvey Keitel -- three members of its board -- as co-presidents. They will replace Arthur Penn, who is leaving to serve as executive producer of the television series ''Law and Order'' but who will continue as president emeritus. Estelle Parsons will stay on as artistic director.
Ms. Parsons said that the studio's new leaders -- all of whom are volunteering their services -- were most concerned with passing to a younger generation the experience of ''looking at work as an art form,'' a theater environment free from commercial pressures, with an emphasis on the acting process rather than on turning out a finished product. ''We want to work toward making it that kind of place again,'' Ms. Parsons said, ''a place of refuge from the commercial world.''
Founded in 1947 by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford and Robert Lewis, the Actors Studio has been a champion of the Method acting style taught by Lee Strasberg -- which focuses on sensory recall and was practiced by the likes of Marlon Brando, Paul Newman and Shelley Winters. The studio continues to offer its more than 900 members in New York and Los Angeles -- including actors, playwrights and directors -- a place to develop their work and to experiment with new approaches.
Among the projects that have been developed in the studio are Tennessee Williams's ''Camino Real,'' ''The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas'' and ''Twigs.''
More recent projects included a Group Theater Festival organized by Ms. Parsons in 1998 as a celebration of the studio's 50th anniversary, with a reading of all the plays produced by Group Theater (the studio's prestigious predecessor) featuring works by Clifford Odets, Irwin Shaw and William Saroyan.
Next season, the Actors Studio plans a similar reading series of the plays that have been developed at the studio throughout its history.
Ms. Parsons said the Studio's production of ''Oedipus,'' which she directed, is expected to be produced off Broadway in the fall with Mr. Pacino and Dianne Wiest in the starring roles.