This class will give students the tools needed to read scripts with active curiosity, so that you can bring the script to life in unique and specific ways. Your enhanced understanding of the script will improve your performance. You will explore specific techniques that allow you to identify inciting events, main events, character relationships, themes and genre and all the particulars that make storytelling powerful and clear. The course begins with an introduction to the approach, followed by in-depth analysis of assigned scripts each week. We will be breaking down a screenplay, a play and a popular TV pilot together. You will each explore a character from each of the scripts, and perform excerpts from scripts and/or sides analyzed in this class.

• Learn more about the instructor.
• Prerequisite: Open to Acting Level 2 and up. New to HB? Submit online for level placement.

In a climate when many acting classes are focused on performing, this workshop is focused on Being. It is deceptively simple, but only something we can learn by doing, and by watching and listening to each other. This workshop, geared towards actors with some prior acting experience, is designed to help you learn and refine on-camera skills in a supportive and exciting environment. First day on set? Don’t worry – We got you covered. Making the move to on-camera acting is a big challenge. If you’re new to film or TV (or if it’s been a few years), the set can be intimidating and very confusing. What you’ve experienced in rehearsal and on stage won’t prepare you for the technical challenges of on-screen performance. And when you get that first on- camera job, no one is there to guide you through it. Until now. Being on Camera is presented by two acclaimed actors each with 20 plus years experience on stage and on both sides of the camera. It is an intensive immersion into the practical, nuts & bolts work of on-screen acting. Through discussion and on-camera exercises we’ll explore basic film techniques and cover all fundamentals that go into realizing a filmed scene.

• Learn more about the instructors: Amelia Campbell & Anthony Arkin
• Prerequisite: Previous experience acting on-camera is required, such as prior enrollment in Being on Camera 1, Acting with the Camera 1, or equivalent.

In Scene Study 2, you will apply the lessons of Acting 1 and 2 to the preparation, rehearsal, and presentation of scenes, focusing on contemporary realist plays (mid-20th century to present). Scenes are presented in class for critique, then reworked to explore and apply feedback. Technique exercises may be introduced diagnostically to address problems as they arise.

• Learn more about the instructor.
• Prerequisite: Open to Acting Level 2 and up. New to HB? Submit online for level placement.

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

• Learn more about the instructor
• Recommended viewing: Uta Hagen's Acting Class documentary. 
• Prerequisite: Open to students placed at Acting Level 3 and up. New to HB? Submit online for level placement.

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.

• Learn more about the instructor.
• Prerequisite: Open to Acting Level 2 and up. New to HB? Submit online for level placement.

This class is designed for actors with prior training (Acting Level 2 and above) who are interested in deepening their on-camera work while creating strong, usable material for a professional reel. This class will guide you through the process of selecting, developing, rehearsing, and filming short scenes that highlight your unique strengths and casting potential. We will work with material from film or television—or develop original scenes—with an emphasis on making you the central focus. We will explore how to tailor material that showcases your range and versatility, whether in dramatic, comedic, or mixed tones. Special attention will be given to creating clips that are concise, compelling, and effective for submissions on platforms such as Actors Access, personal websites, and auditions. The goal is for you to complete the term with two to three polished, recorded scenes that reflect different facets of your work and can be used as high-quality clips for your reel. In collaboration with videographer Horacio Rojas, the class will emphasize strong visual storytelling, incorporating thoughtful camera work and lighting to ensure a professional and cinematic result.

• Learn more about the instructor.
• Prerequisite: Open to Acting Level 2 and up. New to HB? Submit online for level placement. 

For professional performers who desire to return to, or maintain an ongoing relationship with a dynamic and fertile state of learning. The goal: to use the specifics of language, action, subtext, circumstance, and relationships in order to connect with the work at the deepest most personal level. You are encouraged to push boundaries with the aim of building ever more complex characters and situations, allowing and exploring what is powerfully, unexpectedly revealed. Expected rehearsal time outside of class: 6+ hours / week

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• Prerequisite: Application required. Apply Online

This scene study class is designed for a group of intermediate and advanced students who come together from diverse and/or international backgrounds. As the world changes, the stories we tell as artists change with it, and the training of new actors must reflect this new landscape. In this class, students only work on scenes pulled from new plays (already written or currently being developed) by some working writers today. Students are also encouraged to work on scenes of their choice from plays that they feel reflect who they are in today’s world. This class is meant to complement traditional training in classical and contemporary plays by inviting the actors to experience their full cultural self in plays they see themselves in. How can we as diverse actors develop our craft and face the challenges of working on new plays all while cementing our belief in our place in the industry?

• Learn more about the instructor.
• Prerequisite: Open to Acting Level 2 and up. New to HB? Submit online for level placement.