The extremely practical acting exercises found in Uta Hagen’s world-famous books, Respect for Acting and A Challenge for the Actor, probe the depths and heights of human behavior. They offer the actor a structure for lifelong practice exploring the dynamic interaction between sensory/emotional experience and the creative imagination. Uta Hagen’s approach to acting works. She challenges the actor to develop skills continually. She offers avenues of creativity that, with an open imagination and expanding sense of self, are unlimited. Her ongoing process of self-observation and self-discovery fortifies your ability to respond truthfully, dynamically, and vividly with fellow actors, releasing unpremeditated truthful behavior in performance. Over time, you find yourself creatively alive and present in the process. Taught by Kelly Wolf, who trained directly with Uta Hagen. Held at HB Studio, the birthplace of the Hagen exercises.

• Learn more about the instructor.
• Required Reading: A Challenge for the Actor by Uta Hagen.
• Prerequisite: Open to all. 

Open up to a beautiful world! Mime is a form of silent communication using gesture and physical body movement to describe an event or tell a story. The best mimes are also good actors (and vice-versa!) because the emotional honesty of the work needs to be there as well. Mime requires that the body be prepared to accept the suggestion of the actor’s mind and emotion. In this class, you will learn exercises which bring your awareness to the many ways the body is ready to respond. Mime opens the world to an actor because the actor can create their own world –objects and places – with the immediacy of a few gestures. Mime tends toward comedy, but as with Charlie Chaplin, the work can also be moving or even tragic.

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• What to wear: Loose or flexible clothing (i.e. leggings, etc.) you can move in; gymnast/mime shoes or bare feet. 
• Prerequisite: Open to All

A deep look at the close up: We live in a fast, result-driven culture. Our industry is just as frantic. Social media has us pointing phones at ourselves all day. But if we are hoping to learn, or re-investigate screen acting, we need time to explore our relationship to the camera. What is “too big”? What does it feel like to “trust the mic”? How much can you bring to simply listening? This workshop offers a space to slow down and experience these questions for yourself. Through monologues, scene analysis and on-camera rehearsals, you’ll have the opportunity to find you in your character; to breathe and to BE. Created and led by two acclaimed actors each with 30 plus years experience on stage and on both sides of the camera. 

• Learn more about the instructors: Amelia Campbell & Anthony Arkin
• Prerequisite: Open to theater actors with some on camera experience

Held online via Zoom: This is a practical voice over class for actors designed to acquaint you with the specific techniques involved in performing commercial voice over and radio copy. You will practice the basics of mic technique, acquire tools to discover the point of view demanded by the commercial copy, and will learn how to translate that understanding into a compelling performance at an audition or a recording session. You will also gain perspective on demo tapes, casting directors, agents and the audition process.

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• Registration Prerequisite: Open to all.

This class is designed for early career actors who want to gain a useful understanding of how the acting industry actually works to further their careers. Many early career actors don’t necessarily know what this profession really entails until they are deep into it. Yet art and capital intersect heavily in what we do, and having a better understanding of how things work is essential to gaining a platform. This class is part-acting practice, part-discussion. Based in camera work, you are first invited to navigate the acting part of the work, and from that, open yourself up to a wider discussion of the business aspect of the work. How does employment (or casting) intersect with acting? How can we build actionable goals? How do we navigate work/life balance in a volatile landscape? What is required of us to function at that critical intersection of commerce and art? Are there helpful paradigms that we can individualize? How can we stay away from one-size-fits all advice, quick fixes, and scams?

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• Prerequisite: Open to all

This 5-week workshop is for actors who have some prior experience with Shakespeare but are seeking an introduction to and exploration of Shakespeare's Way With Words. Shakespeare the actor knows how to write for actors-- his characters say what they are thinking and feeling at the very moment they are thinking and feeling it. Shakespeare holds the mirror up to Nature, then and now. Through Shakespeare's monologues and scenes, you'll learn how to liberate the poetry and feeling in yourself by hearing the verse as Shakespeare heard it when writing it: "in character."

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• Prerequisite: Open to all levels, but prior acting training or experience with Shakespeare is required.

For people who lean toward performing AND writing. Most of us have stories to tell; what makes a personal story dramatic? This workshop challenges the solo performer to discover and craft the dramatic structure of the solo play, not just what is on the stage, but what is on the page; with emphasis on imagination, characterization, story, and plot.

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• Prerequisite: Open to writers with some prior experience: either prior enrollment in a playwriting class or professional experience as a playwright.

Body Intelligence focuses on developing the physical and emotional intelligence of the actor. Class utilizes Allan Wayne Work exercises to build physical and mental stamina. These repetitive, circular exercises condition the muscles and break up fascial adhesions while unveiling emotional availability, eroding habitual tension and preventing injury. There are guided creative movement explorations, ensemble, partner and solo work that allow the actor to fully experience moving from their body’s impulses as opposed to being ‘in their head’ to make choices. The focus on embodiment work leads the actor to greater emotional access and safety. Class references concepts from Alexander Technique, Fitzmaurice vocal technique, integral anatomy, Lucid Body, meditation and modern dance.

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• Prerequisite: Open to all.