Acting is a muscle. An acting class is one way to keep that acting muscle in shape, so you might be looking for an acting class. If so, let me highly recommend that you first read what Stephen Book has to say about choosing acting classes.
Read his 3-part article. Now!
Welcome back. For those who didn’t take the time to read, a few highlights include: Doing more, watching less. Working towards self-sufficiency. The classroom should not be a theater with a small stage. Auditing is paradoxical. And more! (Really, you should read all 3 parts.)
In my experience, very few acting classes come close to meeting the criteria that Stephen puts forth. Some well-known classes, particularly some at what I like to call “houses of worship,” fail in every single regard. I really don’t know why people go there. Maybe because it’s so expensive, that is must be worth it?
Without knowing why, those students may be vaguely disappointed in their scene study class with Famous Teacher, and wish it were somehow more like that great improv class they took that one time. Stephen’s article tells you why! Consider how typical comedy improv classes work compared to typical scene study classes, and you’ll see that they score very well by Stephen’s philosophy: Every class member participates every week. There’s room in the space for everybody to do group warmups and group exercises. There’s a curriculum. The feedback is primarily on the focus at hand. Etc.
Okay. You should know that I am studying with Stephen. He has no openings at the moment, however, so this is not to promote his classes in any way, or to say that he in every way achieves every ideal every week, but rather I want to promote an overall philosophy about acting classes. I hope it helps!
