Esta clase, dirigida en Español, consiste en un programa dinámico de 10 semanas dividido en dos partes de 5 semanas. La clase indagará en las aplicaciones prácticas de la técnica de Uta Hagen discutidas en su libro “Un reto para el actor”. Se usarán los ejercicios de Uta Hagen como herramienta para enfrentar retos y desbloquear el proceso de ensayo; y se pondrán en práctica mediante el trabajo de escenas, monólogos o soliloquios extraídos a partir de obras hispanas contemporáneas. A través del análisis de texto, trabajo de mesa, y ensayos guiados, se trabajará en conseguir una conexión auténtica con las circunstancias del personaje, escogiendo las acciones más honestas acordes con las circunstancias y buscando la organicidad y liberación de los impulsos. Las escenas se presentarán en clase, y luego se trabajarán y presentarán de nuevo para explorar y aplicar los comentarios recibidos. Se espera, por parte de los estudiantes, investigación extensa, preparación y ensayos fuera de la clase. El curso está abierto a la comunidad hispana así como a los actores cuya segunda lengua es el español y quieran usar sus habilidades lingüísticas a varios niveles, mejorando su habilidad para actuar en español.

• Aprende más sobre la instructora.
• Libro necesario para el curso: Uta Hagen: Un Reto Para El Actor (Artes Escénicas)
• Requisito previo: Esta clase está abierta a estudiantes de todos los niveles que hablen español de manera fluida.

For actors who have English as a second language. The question “How do I make these words my own?” is at the core of the actor’s craft. If you are speaking English as a second language, you may encounter additional stumbling blocks like getting stuck in “translator” mode, feeling emotionally disconnected from the language, and fearing being misunderstood. This course is designed to help you bridge the gap between the text and the self by unlocking the full expressive power of the language skills you already possess. The class guides you through activities to fully access your natural and learned language tools so that you can express yourself more freely, listen more intently and contribute more meaningfully in English. Voice and movement exercises will uncover the expressive musicality and physical experience of embodied language. Through text analysis, table reading, and guided rehearsal, you explore the vocabulary, grammar, subtext and context of a given script. The goal is to develop your language skills on multiple levels with a focus on improving your ability to perform in English. All of this serves the actor’s calling to make meaningful connections with others through collaborative dialogue.

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• Prerequisite: Prior completion of one full term (10 weeks) of Speech 1.

We put a mask on to take a mask off… The mask is an incredible tool that reveals more than it conceals. Its ability to give the actor permission to “let themselves go” increases the opportunity to surprise oneself and ultimately ignite the viewer’s excitement for watching. This workshop will investigate half masks and their function in heightening and specifying the actor’s range of performance. We will look at aspects of how to play space to inform the inner life of the character as well as how to engage with other characters. A mask will strengthen spontaneity, listening, and presence; in a way it is a style of play that harks to playing dress up as a child. The more masks you put on, the more yourself you become.

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• Prerequisite: Open to all levels.

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.

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

As immigrant actors, we are not only from somewhere else. We also come to this industry with different cultural sensibilities, languages, accents, physical behavior, human experiences, blindspots, and expectations. We also often find ourselves having to deal with way more than the craft. There are artistic, legal, and financial pressures that are particular to immigrants. What do we need to build our careers in theater, film, and TV? And how can we ‘own’ who we are at every step of the way? This class is designed for aspiring and early career actors in the U.S. It covers the 1) artistic aspect of acting and audition technique for theater, film, and TV, 2) 2) the business aspect and how the acting industry works, and 3) the legal aspect of employment authorization that is a kind of difficulty exclusive to international actors. The class is deeply rooted in practice across a wide range of material from film, TV, and theater.

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• Prerequisite: Open to all

A revolutionary approach to new play development in which four writers and fifteen actors collaborate to create full-length plays written specifically for the actors who will perform them. Under the guidance of master playwright Eduardo Machado, writers engage in a series of exercises refined over his 30+ years of teaching—soon to be published in his forthcoming book, Playwriting for Humanity. Each day’s new scenes are immediately brought to life by the actors, using a meditative, consciousness-based technique developed by Michael Domitrovich. This process deepens collaboration and artistic intuition, enhancing traditional theatrical training rather than replacing it. Actors will gain the tools to work dynamically with playwrights in the creation of new work, empowering their own point of view while learning to embody new characters swiftly and completely—skills that translate directly to auditions and professional work. Writers will complete the workshop with a finished full-length play, culminating in two public staged readings presented at the end of the program in Spring Term 2026.

• Learn more about the instructors: Eduardo Machado & Michael Domitrovich
• Prerequisite: Open to all

Broadway actor and renowned Shakespearean actor and teacher Peter Francis James leads this special masterclass for actors, taking a contemporary look at performing and interpreting the works of Shakespeare. In this workshop for professional performers, scenes and monologues from the works of Shakespeare are explored through table work, text analysis and discussion, and then rehearsed for presentation in class for critique and development. With the text as the fundamental teacher, we employ the specifics of language, action, subtext, circumstance, and relationships, to connect with the writing at the deepest most personal level, and, while referencing history, finding the common humanity revealed in the plays, and the continuity with contemporary life.

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• Prerequisite: Application required. Apply Online. (Prior participants of this class may register without applying.)

This course applies the skills developed in Acting 1 and 2 to musical performance—to the presentation and articulation of a song, as it arises from the scene and from the life of the character. You will work to balance correct vocal technique and sound production with the effort to bring truth and specificity, both to the song and to the role. Class material addressed may include solo performance, duet, or group scenes and is appropriate for both the professional and aspiring singing actor in whatever genre you may choose to focus your efforts (musical theatre, opera, concert/cabaret). Accompanist provided. Come prepared with a song (memorized and with sheet music properly prepared and in a binder for use by the accompanist).

• Learn more about the instructor.
• Recommended reading: A Challenge for the Actor by Uta Hagen.
• Prerequisite: Open to Singing Level 2 and up. New to HB? Submit online for level placement.