Okay, this is in no way meant to be the end all list of teachers and coaches, but it is my experience and by gosh golly gee every one’s got there list of favorites. Here are mine.
When I arrived in LA a bit ago, I had no idea where to start. I checked out some of the bigger, more talked about names and I didn’t dig it. I came upon the DAVID KAGEN SCHOOL OF FILM ACTING. A simple space residing first up in Sherman Oaks but now sitting a bit closer to Studio City, I found, really, what I was looking for—-attention to detail and the space to work. In a lot of the larger named classes I had heard you get to work once, maybe, twice a month. And trust me, there are many valuable lessons to learn from watching my peers, but I needed to work. What David’s class provided was an intimate space, 8-12 in class, and no auditors sitting in, which allowed a level of trust and a foundation to be built that I could really drop my walls and begin doing the work that might in some scratching of the surface way, emulate those actors who have inspired me.
David brings over 40 years of stage, film, television and international teaching to the room. And a trained eye that even the beat of a fly’s wing doesn’t miss his gaze. Well, that might be a bit exaggerated, but he’s just that good. This isn’t said to intimidate you, but more to say I’ve seen the work both in myself and after several years of working with him, in a number of actors, find the breakthroughs that changed their work. It is not easy work what we actors do, it is courageous work, and it needs the subtle, patient, and supportive hand of a teacher such as David to act as a guide to trust that being courageous at every moment is the best choice to be made. Habits creep in as they do, and sitting down with David is the one of the best way’s I’ve found to continue carving the path toward the work I aspire to be doing for myself.
And lord knows if I tried to do it alone, I’d never get out of the paper bag. Ask for help. You can totally do it without adult supervision, or even try it at home alone, but why? No humiliation here in getting into a class and saying, “Yup, I’m tired of the paper bag. Let’s do it!” Yet another act of courage.
As far as waking up fat and having gained another 20 pounds overnight—and don’t think I haven’t heard that scream early in the morning from some far away vanity mirror—the human body, the mind, or acting—all muscles need exercise and daily dose of me paying a little attention to me. One of the easiest is Runyon Canyon in Hollywood just off Vista and Franklin. There’s even free yoga classes there 2-3 times a morning 5-6 days a week. A little too much monkey chatter upstairs? Check out Dharma Punx for a different approach to the whole sitting down and thinking about not thinking.
We all start somewhere. Let’s just start.
