Acting Class Blog Posts

As actors, we audition, but we don’t always get the role. This is part of the job. Sometimes we may not even be in the running, and other times we get so close we can smell craft services. The director,… Read More

  Use what you know. Don’t worry about what you don’t know. —Michael Shurtleff, playwright, casting director, and author Maybe your friends tell you, “You’re so attractive, you should be in commercials!” Or perhaps you’ve been approached at the mall… Read More

When I began to study screenwriting with Syd Field, one of the major principles that he taught me was Dramatic Need and it really struck a chord with me. Below is a discussion of how now, years later, I teach… Read More

  A successful career in the arts and especially in the performing arts is difficult to think about as a product. After all, a human being is involved. The preparation necessary to become an actor is specific and requires an… Read More

February has already arrived and for many actors, the New Year and New Year’s Resolutions go hand in hand. Starry eyed hopefuls will imagine networking more, plan to nail every audition, and decide to look into that commercial class they have… Read More

You read about it all the time: the actor who tells stories about what it took them to become an “overnight success.” They talk about auditioning for years, playing summer stock, auditioning, studying, auditioning, working as a waiter, paralegal or… Read More

Conscious in the Room This one would seem to be obvious—of course you’re going to be conscious in the room where you’re about to audition, that’s what you’re there for! But it’s sometimes harder than it sounds to remain totally… Read More

Auditioning is a solitary process. You receive your sides and read them alone. You do the work of exploring the material as well as your own emotional mapping to find the most interesting intersection between you and the character alone…. Read More

THE UNPREDICTABLE Storyline – The element of surprise is at the heart of any successful sitcom. In terms of storyline, the unpredictable is what keeps us laughing out loud and tuning in week after week. We know the character will… Read More

This is part two in the three part series of The Three Pillars of Comedy (part one here) DESPERATION Storyline – Desperation is what drives the character’s Want in an A storyline and B storyline. The storyline will revolve around… Read More

How many hours a week are you acting? I’m not talking about auditioning or workshops (they don’t count). I’m talking about that rarefied and sacred space where you work on your art. The place where outcome doesn’t matter, where there’s… Read More

Frustration can arise for just about any actor in the world due to reasons and circumstances beyond their control. There’s the frustration when work is slow, when you come in second for a desired role, when you feel unsupported by… Read More

So what have you been up to lately? We hear this question all the time from friends, family, agents, managers, and casting directors. Sometimes, we have a seemingly good (correct) answer: I just booked a job; I just shot a… Read More

If you’re waiting for your acting teacher to tell you what you should do, how you should do it or when you should do it—you may never make it. Waiting for someone else to feed you artistic ideas can be… Read More

WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL SITCOM A successful sitcom is like a big house filled with funny, topical storylines, memorable, identifiable characters and a plethora of laugh-out-loud jokes. Just think of “I Love Lucy,” “Friends,” “All in the Family,” “Seinfeld” and… Read More