Our classes are designed to develop and strengthen confidence, focus, self-awareness, creativity, sensory awareness, decision-making abilities, memory skills, sequencing abilities, preparation techniques, investigative techniques, reading comprehension, and all the essential foundational tools necessary for a competent young actor who can effectively take direction and maintain the stamina required while filming or taping scenes.
Our ongoing curriculum concentrates on five key areas of study:
- Scene Study
- Cold Reading
- Interview Technique
- Improvisation
- Character Development
The students in each class are always required to work within their own age range. Students are encouraged to comment positively on specific aspects of other actors' performances rather than offering critiques. As indicated in our class schedule, we do not believe in combining different age groups, as our communication style varies significantly depending on the age group within each particular class.
We do not provide "line readings" to our students. Our educational philosophy views instructors as facilitators even for our youngest actors. It is our responsibility at our school to expose every actor to many different techniques and approaches to achieve emotional authenticity within their scenes. Young actors must develop the ability to make independent choices in order to effectively handle the independence and decision-making expected of them when working on an actual film set. We actively encourage choice-making by empowering each young actor with confidence and agency.
We frequently use film terminology in our communication style to help develop on-set vocabulary with young actors so they will clearly understand technical directions given to them when filming.
Discussing character backgrounds, story development, emotional transitions, character motivation, and backstory encourages young actors to look beyond the written words to find the emotional truth and subtext within each scene, which leads to authentic and honest performances. The specific approaches we use for these concepts vary according to each individual age group. Developing the instinctive abilities of young actors is critically important because they often need to trust their instincts rather than rely on overthinking.
Cold Reading and Interview Technique
Every class incorporates some form of cold reading exercise, utilizing scenes and monologues from actual television and film scripts. We approach these exercises in many different ways to keep the work interesting and engaging for students who have participated in our program for multiple sessions. All characters are carefully selected to be age-appropriate for the students. We explore various approaches to handling challenging casting situations, including managing nervousness, maintaining appropriate eye contact, conducting general interviews effectively, using space purposefully, making strong character choices, employing the full range of body movement, creating believable environments, establishing meaningful character relationships, managing scripts confidently, memorizing dialogue efficiently through sequence work, and developing the ability to bring your unique personality and energy into the audition room.
Character Development
In many casting scenarios, young actors are sought to play "typical kids" roles. Fortunately, young actors are beginning to earn recognition for their actual acting abilities and technical training. In these days of national casting searches, many industry professionals sometimes overlook that a trained young person can effectively create and portray a character that is distinctly outside of their natural personality. A young person of almost any age can develop a complex, fully realized character equal to an adult actor, given proper training and appropriate opportunities to practice.
Improvisation
Improvisation serves as the foundational key to helping young actors develop the essential skill of active listening and maintain a consistent character point of view. Approximately fifty percent of our entire curriculum is based on improvisational work and training. Improvisation training significantly strengthens a young actor's ability to stay authentically in character while making deliberate choices that will prove useful when developing character backstories, identifying character traits, and creating emotional spontaneity in their performances.
Philosophy
The practice of "art coaching" fundamentally involves understanding how to skillfully address these various areas while carefully considering the unique personality and individual characteristics of the young person you are working with. It also requires assisting each young actor in maintaining fresh and natural performances while embodying a character point of view that may be distinctly different from their own natural personality and temperament.
