Class Descriptions

In TV/Film Acting students will learn the art of acting on TV/Film through breaking down scripts with their fellow actors. They will learn what is expected of them before they walk into an audition and how to stand out in a sea of other actors by making new and bold choices on the scenes that are given to them!

Improv is an essential tool to any actor. Through it students will learn to follow their natural instincts. It will also help them build confidence in their own creativity and to listen and respond to other actors allowing them to be fully engaged in scenes.

The mission of this class is to awaken the imagination, emotion, and intellect of the student actor by making him/her aware of the transforming power and universality of acting and the skills required to achieve excellence in performance. It is the beginning of the actor’s journey so it is imperative the student actor understands the craft of acting, which requires a disciplined approach to voice, speech, movement, as well as an intellectual rigor in dissecting text, subtext, and style. Finally, this course will stress both the actor’s ability to use “self” (body, mind, and experience) in a believable, honest way, as well as his/her willingness and resilience to transform that “self” beyond its pre-established boundaries. Students will participate in theatre exercises and games targeting text and sub-text, voice/Speech/Movement exercises that support and enhance text and give dimension to all three techniques, visualization exercises, active student analysis and commentary in response to performing scenes, active student participation and discussion and monologue prep & presentation.

This class will introduce students to a range of vocal and physical techniques for creative expression in performance. Through a series of exercises, trainings, and performances, students will have the opportunity to reduce habitual tensions finding maximum effect with minimum effort, connect their movement and voice to imagery and text, and increase the strength, flexibility, and dynamic of their voices and bodies in performance. The class will cover techniques drawn from a wide variety of voice and movement pedagogies including Laban, Alexander, yoga, and others. Students will increase awareness, freedom, and depth of breath, increase rib swing and abdominal movement, and eliminate “shoulder breathing,” and increase vocal projection and endurance. They will also replace habitual tension in the body with “relaxed readiness,” increase articulatory energy and vigor and explore ways of incorporating voice and speech work in the craft. Important Note: It is recommended an acting student take a voice and movement class and a beginning acting class before taking a character/scene study class.

This course provides a survey of the basic techniques for learning and applying stage dialects. You will receive instruction in selected dialects that are frequently used by the American actor. You will explore a systematic approach to dialect acquisition, which will serve you in further independent dialect/accent study. The following major dialects are studied: New York-Brooklyn, American Southern, Standard English (with an additional introduction to Cockney), and Irish.

Character Study is an essential part of any actor’s process, no matter how experienced. It involves creating and internalizing the details of a character’s life. These details can range from personality traits, to history and family background, to even the most mundane details like favorite color or favorite food. The more thought that an actor gives their character, the easier it is to “stay in character” throughout a scene and the more believable the performance. Important Note: It is recommended an acting student take a voice and movement class and a beginning acting class before taking a character/scene study class.

Scene Study has actors take a scene from a play or movie, develop it in front of their acting instructor with constructive critiques that can help them improve their craft. Scene Study is a way for actors to continually work on their craft and discover their strengths and weaknesses. It’s a great way to take all the exercises and techniques they have learned to create characters, connect to the emotions of the part, and fight for what they need and put them into a performance. Scene Study is a very important part of the actor’s process because it makes the actor harness his or her skill set to create a performance. Technique classes are where actors learn the exercises and build up their foundational skills, Scene Study is where they put it all together. In this course, actors will learn the development of a sense of confidence and discipline, appropriate rehearsal and performance attitudes, understanding of stage terminology and orientation, and the use of sensory and emotional awareness, observation, concentration, motivation, personalization, and imagination in acting. They will also learn to enhance the skills necessary to effectively utilize research in and beyond the script as a blueprint for characterization. The actors will learn to develop and demonstrate spontaneity, flexibility, a vulnerability in acting through the effective application of various processes, exercises, explorations, and improvisation preceding and during scene work. They will also develop appropriate critical skills when evaluating one’s own and another’s work in acting. Students will learn to develop the ability to accept and apply constructive criticism as a means of strengthening work in acting/characterization. They will also continue to formulate a personal and viable creative process to challenge the student of acting to live, moment-to-moment, as a character on the stage. Important Note: It is recommended an acting student take a voice and movement class and a beginning acting class before taking a character/scene study class.

This class will teach the actors what it means to be not only in front of but behind the camera as well. It will help the actor embody each role in the filmmaking process with projects that will help them build the confidence to understand the complexities of a working set. They will be creating material that can be used for demo reels and submissions for agent representation. The Content Creation Class will help create their own opportunities (rather than waiting around for opportunities to come to the actor) along with a creative outlet.

This class will teach actors basic dance techniques needed in a theater audition and production.  They will also focus on dances and styles from famous musicals.  This class helps an actor to be able to walk into any audition or show and know the basic dance technique and terminology needed.  Some of the styles that will be covered are-jazz, musical theater, tap, ballet, swing, partner dancing and much more!