You apply advanced lessons in technique and text analysis to the preparation, rehearsal, and presentation of scenes from a range of contemporary and classic plays. The work may incorporate Modern (19th/early 20th century) and Classical texts, as well as heightened, non-linear, experimental and Contemporary material. Scenes are presented in class for critique, then reworked to explore and apply feedback. Extensive research, preparation, and rehearsal are expected outside of class. Skills: understanding and realizing the event of the scene; layering conscious and unconscious behavior; applying technique as a tool to solve challenges outside your comfort zone; transformation of self. Through extensive examination, research, and experiment, you discover and rediscover the level of action and commitment needed to fulfill the form and idea of the play. Expected rehearsal time outside of class: 3-6 hours / week

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• Prerequisite: Open to students placed at Acting Level 3 and up. New to HB? Submit online for level placement

Held online via Zoom: For playwrights who have a working craft, this advanced playwriting class focuses primarily on content, structure and criticism. It offers a place to try out skills and develop new material. The emphasis is on writing and rewriting scenes, one-act and full-length plays, with class readings as the goal. Offered in memory of beloved HB playwright extraordinaire, Donna deMatteo.

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• Registration Prerequisite: Open to all playwrights who are honing their craft, with experience writing scenes

Continuing with the foundation laid in Speech 1 you will develop and deepen your working knowledge of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) as an essential and practical actor’s tool in service to the clarity of communication. Expanding upon this knowledge, this course will offer you the skills necessary to acquire a North American Accent as well as the skill sets needed to acquire other accents. You must complete one full term (10 weeks) of Speech 1 before taking this course. 

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• Recommended reading: Speaking with Skill: An Introduction to Knight-Thompson Speechwork by Dudley Knight
• Prerequisite: Prior completion of one full term (10 weeks) of Speech 1

This advanced scene study track is geared to the particular circumstances of working with the camera on film or video and assumes you are already well grounded in acting technique, text analysis, and contemporary scene work. The class will address the adjustment you must make to the intimacy and immediacy of film, so you become accustomed to doing your best detailed, honest, layered work under the watchful eye of the lens. You learn to manage the tough realities of the film or television job, developing strategies for applying your own technique to the demands of the set. We consider angles, lenses, distances, continuity, and your relationship to the composition of the scene. You learn to work more quickly and more intimately, and to prepare effectively for a performance situation in which it is little or no rehearsal and scenes often occur out of sequence. You learn to respect and understand the financial, technical, and time considerations that govern film production, and cultivate the absolute discipline required to meet them. You will receive video files of your on-camera footage at no extra charge, included within the cost of the class.

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• Prerequisite: Open to Acting Level 2 and up. New to HB? Submit online for level placement

For actors who want to improve their acting skills through improvisation, this class amplifies the technique work in Level 1 and supports the work with scenes in Levels 2 and 3. The first session will be dedicated to the choices you need to make to structure a viable improvisation, with emphasis placed on circumstances, relationships, tension, and subtext. In the following sessions, you will improvise scenes and explore improvisation through games and exercises. There is no work outside of class. Through this inventive process, you develop immediacy, creativity and partnering skills, and hone your instincts for making productive dramatic choices. Actors of all levels are welcome.

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• Prerequisite: Open to All

This beginner-friendly course introduces actors to the craft and realities of acting for film and television while helping adapt theater techniques for the camera. Through scene study, improvisation, script analysis, movement work, and on-camera exercises, you will develop tools for creating authentic, grounded performances under the technical demands of production. You will explore: on-camera presence and stillness; eyeline and framing; behavioral truth and listening; subtext and objective; continuity and blocking; taking direction and adjusting quickly; and working truthfully within technical constraints. The course also introduces you to the rhythm and workflow of a professional set environment while incorporating techniques inspired by Uta Hagen, Michael Chekhov, Lucid Body, and Feldenkrais awareness work. Acting is doing — not playing emotion. Throughout the session, you will work on scenes that culminate in the final 2–3 weeks of the term, during which you will have the opportunity to shoot at least two scenes in a simulated on-set environment while applying the techniques explored throughout the course, for you to consider using for your reel. You will receive video files of your on-camera footage at no extra charge, included within the cost of the class.

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• Prerequisite: Prior (or simultaneous) enrollment in an Acting Technique class recommended

This class employs the destructuring and restructuring processes of Fitzmaurice Voicework® devised by Catherine Fitzmaurice. An ongoing practice class for performers who have gained an embodied understanding of the fundamental principles of Fitzmaurice Voicework addressed in Level 1, and are seeking to develop a personal practice, apply these practices more deeply, and explore applications to rehearsal and performance. This class functions as a workout, giving you the opportunity to build synthesis with the different aspects of your acting work, and also to address specific individual problems and challenges arising from your efforts in performance and rehearsal, further exploring skills and incorporating speech, text, and movement. Working from your growing visceral and kinesthetic bodily awareness, you will continue working through your vocal and creative warm up, taking greater ownership of your practice. You are guided to work with greater ease, spontaneity, and intention, and with a deeper sense of truth. You will work with imagery, directed sound, and movement to communicate with intention. You will examine how intention relates to release and to the support of your voice, as you bring your vocal work to the effort to communicate and the desire to be heard. Learn what intention includes vocally, in terms of inner life and moment-to-moment work. Discover greater resonance and vibrancy, as you become aware of the space around you and consider the need to be heard in any circumstance, with any piece of text. Deepen your release of the jaw and neck and the body overall. Incorporate the expressive powers of articulation, sound, and resonance. You are guided to develop your own vocal practice and challenged to keep venturing beyond your comfort zone. You will explore texts and circumstances with an ever more complex sense of the layering of language, sound, form, and meaning. Participants are encouraged to bring to class a specific play or text, or specific aspects of your work that require integration, that you are working on. This includes body-based needs such as vocal alignment, physical variations to a character’s circumstances, and other needs that can be addressed through voice and movement work. You are encouraged to bring in all of your actor’s background preparatory work such as: text analysis, objectives, and circumstances of the character and of the play over-all. You are also asked to bring in specific questions and observations, relating to healthy vocal and physical expressivity, that arise as you practice and work.

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• Prerequisite: Open to Speaking Voice Level 2 and up. New to HB? Submit online for level placement

The Alexander Technique is a gentle method through which you gradually learn to free yourself from unconscious physical habits that limit your ease, versatility, and freedom. This course will inquire into and enhance your “body map” – your conception of your body, as a whole and in specific areas. As you learn to release the downward pressure of your head to your spine, become clearer about your joints and how they work, and understand the unity of your body/mind and how it functions as a whole, you will gain access to an ever-increasing sensory awareness. Bringing conscious thought and awareness to daily life will allow you to change the habitual behavior that creates unneeded tension. Posture and self-use become conscious and volitional, not habitual and rigid. This translates to a greater possibility of fully embodying characters whose physical life is different from your own while maintaining healthy use of your body. Natural free use of the breath is addressed as a result of freeing the whole self, supporting your voice work.

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• Recommended reading: Body Learning by Michael Gelb
• Prerequisite: Open to All