First Year Curriculum
Meisner I
In this first semester students are introduced to the fundamentals of acting through work in the Meisner Exercise and scenes.
Meisner II
In the spring semester students continue their work in mastering the fundamentals through exercise work and scenes.
Level I Movement:
The first level of movement work focuses on releasing the constrictions of the actor’s physical instrument and freeing the actor’s emotional life. Special care is given to create a safe and nurturing environment where the actor can begin to give himself permission to move away from pedestrian and socialized behavior and to embody a more authentic and unbridled expression
Read more about the movement classes at the studio here: Movement Class
Level II Movement:
The second level of movement work allows the actors body to move to a more sensual and receptive level. There is a specific focus on the process of physical activation in order to access and open the senses to the actors surroundings. These exercises are used as a vehicle to build a sensually alive acting instrument, thus bringing the actor to a more expansive, balanced and effortlessly alive place in his work. Alignment and flexibility are explored on a deep level in this semester’s work.
Read more about the movement classes at the studio here: Movement Class
Voice I
Our voice is the most fundamental expression of who we are and, with the support of breath, it reveals our emotions, perspective, and thinking. Learning un-manipulated breathing to access ones most authentic voice is the actors’ first step towards living truthfully in imaginary circumstances. As we become aware of, and release, habitual tensions in the tongue, jaw, and throat, we will also explore the full range of sounds possible in human language, building the skills for dialect mastery. To that end, we will use contemporary poems to practically apply the tools of the Linklater Technique developed in class.
Voice II
We continue to build awareness of unnecessary habitual tensions and how to work without them. The actor progresses in expanding range and freedom to fill space of any size while still working truthfully, using both the Linklater Technique and Stough’s Coordinated Breathing. We begin looking at the Neutral American Dialect as a choice and gain further mastery of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Text work shifts towards famous speeches where we focus on breathing habits, phrasing, pausing, and a connected through line in thought and intention.
Second Year Curriculum
Meisner II
The first semester of second year is devoted to learning how to craft a character through Meisner exercises and scene work.
Meisner IV
The final semester puts the work together, integrating first year fundamentals with the crafting of a major role.
Level III Movement and The Salon/Style Project:
The third level of movement engages the actor in a process of owning and inhabiting his/her physical instrument in terms of it’s alignment, ability to expansively and expressively articulate and it’s availability and openness to the life around him/her. The third level also shifts the actor to consider and use the body as a tool or channel for physical performance substantially separate from the movement work that supports the acting training. During the third level of movement training actors are instructed in style work (period dance, physical carriage, manners, history, character development, text) in a semester-long project called a Salon. The Salon give the actors an opportunity to improvise with circumstances and relationships from an historical period (Renaissance, Victorian, Baroque) while being taught and supported to use their bodies in a fully aligned and behaviorally expansive way.
Read more about the movement classes at the studio here: Movement Class
Level IV Movement:
This semester is often called the Project Semester because the ensemble of actors in the class, taught and directed by the instructor, create original physical performances through vocabulary and technique given in class. A theme or through-line is chosen as a narrative or foundation for the ensemble to function and create from and then class-based work slowly is threaded together to form an end of the term performance shared with faculty, other students and invited guests. The value of this kind of project is to put into practice the entire two years of movement training as well as to challenge each actor to envision, create, choreograph and execute physical images, sequences and dances.
Read more about the movement classes at the studio here: Movement Class
Voice III
As the actor develops greater access to strong points of view and meaning, release and expansion becomes even more important. While connecting language and the body in heightened circumstances, we give the body the physical experience of working tension-free in the most challenging of roles. We apply the Neutral American Dialect to Greek plays for this exploration with the end goal of a breathing, moving, vibrating person living truthfully.
Voice IV
We delve further into text work and classical forms with Shakespeare’s sonnets, scansion, and Shakespearean monologues. With emphasis turning to text work, students begin to fully integrate a deeper emotional commitment with a released voice and speech sounds that are the actors choice, as opposed to habit. Exercises ask the actor to explore the link between the personal to the character; from having students dig deeper into themselves to more fully exploring text, while incorporating breath, voice, speech, and movement.
Recommended Electives for Second Year Students
Cold Reading
The ability to break down audition material with choices that create vivid behavior is vital to sustaining a professional career. This ten week class with only four students each, trains the actor to craft quickly and specifically.
Monologue
For the beginning professional actor, monologues are the calling cards which allow managers and agents to evaluate a prospective client. Many auditions and open calls also require actors to present monologues. The student will leave class with two contrasting, contemporary monologues that are polished and audition worthy.
Acting for the Camera
The course is designed to give a beginning actor the basic tools to master single camera technique. The student will start from the basic technical demands of the medium. The student will learn all the crew parts and gain a deeper understanding of what all the roles do and why. Through out the class the student will begin to have a deeper understanding for film and the end of the class will have a solid grasp of close-up technique.
Advanced Acting for the Camera
The class starts with advanced close-up technique and then moves into multiple camera set-up. The studio then brings in professional screen writers to adapt a personalized scene to be shot for each actor. While the student begins to learn how to produce their own reel and work with a professional writers, they learn the aspects of pre and post production. The class culminates with a professional shoot for the actor in their custom made scene with a professional director. The student leaves with a cut and edited scene for their reel.
Commercial Class:
This 4 week intensive gives actors the tools they need to begin to book commercials. From scooping technique to improv: the class runs like commercial auditions with real commercial copy. The actor focuses not only on the acting but the branding and marketing of themselves in order to be competitive in this lucrative industry.
Auditioning for Film and Television
The ability to adapt your craft to film and television auditions has a unique pressure. To simultaneously be truthful to your craft while under the pressure of the casting director and the camera’s needs. The class harnesses your training to adapt to the pressures and demands of booking work while staying truthful to your craft. The Student will be on Camera and auditioning every class.
The Actor & The Business I
A 7 week class focusing on the Actor’s Arsenal: Headshots/Resume, Marketing, Choosing Audition Material, Physical Presentation, Creating Winning Standards for Excellence, Business Relationships: Agent/Manager/Casting Director, Contracts, Career Development: Setting & Meeting long/short time goals, Actor Resources: Housing, Unions, Business Planning and related topics.
The Actor & The Business II
A 7 week class focusing on Pilot Season Preparation and Auditions with Casting Directors/Agents/Managers. This class covers: Branding & Packaging: Press Kits, Websites & Reels; Getting an Agent and maintaining Relationships with Casting Directors, West Coast vs. East Coast, Adapting your audition style for Theatre/Film/TV and the various genres within each medium, Getting the Audition & Self-Submission as well as auditions with 16 Film/TV/Theatre Casting Directors, Agents & Managers.
Headshot Center of Range Part 1
Part I happens prior to the headshot shoot and covers: Choosing
a photographer, physical & emotional preparation for the headshot shoot: stylist, make-up, skin-care issues are addressed; the Center of Range Exercise focuses on your linking your physical and emotional type so that you create a look that is your unique artistic Brand.
Headshot Center of Range Part 2
The Class occurs after the headshot shoot , students are guided through the Center of Range Exercise to choose a commercial and legit set of pictures that reflect a marketable physical & emotional type.
Write Your Story
Using the hybrid documentary/fiction methodology pioneered by April Yvette Thompson in her acclaimed solo show Liberty City, students learn how to create their own work through exploration and dramatization of personal testimony. Students leave the class with a skeleton of an entire writing project and a wealth of raw material for future projects. This class is open to writers of all experience levels.
Classical Performance
This is a small class 8-10 students with lots of personal attention for students who have done some Shakespeare work and would like to learn more about how to physicalize that work and put it on its feet in actual performance using a movement based technique. Students will leave this class with: 2-4 Contrasting Shakespeare Monologues Ready to Audition A technique for Maximizing the Breath and working off the throat to get you through an 8 show week Quick Memorization & Physicalization Techniques Laban, Suzuki & Clown Work for Performance Clarity & Personalization of the Text
Western Canon:
An important overview of twelve of the major, award-winning plays written by European and American playwrights including Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Paula Vogel, Tony Kushner, Thorton Wilder and Suzan-Lori Parks. The goal of the class is to expose the students to these plays and to teach them how to read a play from an actor’s perspective. It is not a dramatic literature class and does not deal with theory. This class is a pre-requisite for Script Analysis, as it teaching the fundamentals of play-reading.
Script Analysis: Script Analysis.
The goal is to learn how to see what is written in the text of a play so that you can bring it to life. Using the tools in this class, students will be able to analyze the inner-workings of any text. Character analysis, beats, line intentions, objectives are all covered in this class. This class gives students a hands-on, working methodology to analysis so that there’s no more guesswork in working on a role.
Advanced Script Analysis:
For those who have taken Script Analysis, this class takes one play and delves into it for a total of 10 hours of analysis.Each session there is a new play and the sessions run throughout the year.
Learn to deeply analyze the play and then bring a scene of it to life in the class.
Actor/Director Relationships:
Using the support of both a professional director and a professional acting teacher, students in this class will learn how to work with a director: how to turn Meisner-friendly and non-Meisner-friendly direction into active and actable terms. In this laboratory setting, students are cast in short plays or scenes and work on them with the director, with the support of an acting teacher there to help them negotiate the direction given. This is a unique class that is invaluable to anyone who has ever had difficulty working with directors.