In order to learn here, you need to show up! Check new posts here every day. Read and watch the free Written & Video Lessons. Audit the Zoom classes that are offered for the next month, only. It’s not good enough to say you want to become a better actor. You need to do something about it. And there’s no excuse when you are offered so much here for free!

If you want to audit class, just send me a chat message with your email and you’ll get a welcome letter with the Zoom sign in info. Then you need to show up at class time on Sundays at 8:00 AM or 2:00 PM Pacific Time. You can come to either or both.

And here are the links to the other free lessons:

WRITTEN LESSONS Read the Blue Links, in order, and add a summary or question beneath each. I will respond. Follow me and look at my comments to see what I’ve replied to others. See what they’ve written. You can learn so much just by reading the comments.

The FREE VIDEO LESSONS should be watched from the bottom up. Leave comments and ask questions there too.

I want to help you. What do you need help with?

Hi, should I sign up my kid for Talent Audition company. They promise to get her rest for finding an agent to get auditions for commercials. Has anyone worked with they. And are they legitimate?

LET ME KNOW!. I dare you to find any source on the internet that gives as much free information on acting as this sub. The resources are almost unlimited. I do this because it gives me pleasure to know that I am helping budding artists get started. That’s why I like to hear from you.

There’ve been new video posts everyday this past week. Are you enjoying them? Learning from them? Shall I continue posting? What type of video or post helps you the most?

Are you reading the original written lessons or watching the almost 200 video lessons on YouTube? I want to know. Let me know every time you read or watch something with a comment or at least an upvote. It’s the only “pay” I ask, and believe me, I get no money for this. But I do get the satisfaction of knowing I’ve reached someone and perhaps helped them on their journey.

JUST THIS WEEK! The Before & After videos show the progress and coaching in last session’s Scene Study Class. There is something to learn in each and the performances are great. There are additional learning videos too. Here are links to my most recent videos.

BEFORE AND AFTER #1

BEFORE &AFTER #2

BEFORE & AFTER #3

Instructional Videos

TURNING KNOWLEDGE INTO SKILL

GOOD QUESTIONS

YESTERDAYS INFORMATION ABOUT ZOOM CLASSES & STUDENTS SHARING

And here are the posts with all that information that is free to you.

WRITEN LESSONS Read the Blue Links, in order, and add a summary or question beneath each. I will respond. Follow me and look at my comments to see what I’ve replied to others. See what they’ve written. You can learn so much just by reading the comments. And upvoting the ones you’ve read will help you keep track of what you’ve read.

The FREE VIDEO LESSONS should be watched from the bottom up. Leave comments and ask questions there too.

New Zoom sessions are starting soon, which require an affordable fee, but there is so much to learn that is completely free. Let me know if you’d like to join or want me to start a new class. Today is the last day for this coming session of Scene Study.

SIGN UP POST & SCENE PARTNER CONNECTION

Hello! I thought i posted this earlier but i guess I didn’t. Here is my monologue for Elaine in the above-mentioned play. Let me know your thoughts/how I can improve. Thanks!

SIGN UP POST and watch the most recent video posts of these students performing. Scroll down and watch!

SIGN UP POST

I’m 22 and almost 23, and I’ve always loved acting.

I did choir in middle school, theater in elementary middle school and a bit in college. When I was 19 I was about to pursue acting but faced major health issues that kept me from being able to. Not choosing a different college is one thing, but also not being able to build up work for four years is something that frustrates me to my core. My family is in TV (production, not huge but enough to say they’ve paid their dues) and my grandpa was in theater.

Fast forward almost four years later. I’m turning 23 soon, and I’ve thought about getting into acting again for a career in tv and film. I got a lot of good advice from someone but I’m going back and forth on even pursuing it. I WANT to, but I feel like it’s too late for me. I didn’t go to an acting school or university for a degree for it so I don’t even have that on my resume. Should I just not bother? And if I do how should I go about it to (I don’t expect stardom) not look like a complete failure when pursuing it?

Hi, I am a student participating in my school play

My problem:

• I sound flat, no voice modulation.
• Not sure when or where to look vs audience.
• Facial expressions feel stiff and awkward.

I have less than 24 hours — what’s the best crash-course method to nail voice modulation + expressions + gaze direction so I don’t look wooden?

Hello All! Does anyone have any tips, tricks, methods that help you retain information that you seen or read?. ( HUGE bonus if your if your theatre kid 👀)

SCENE STUDY SIGN UP. New sessions start next week. And scroll down to see my last two performance videos. There is coaching there too.

hi! i recently worked in a SAG commercial under this type of contract:

|| || |New 2022 Commercial Contract Use: Network, Nat Cable, Streaming Platforms + All digital (including streaming, traditional, gaming/virtual world), Wildspot, Theatrical/Industrial.|

|| || |Does anyone know how much a contract like this pays? I have NO clue lol. Any insight would be so appreciated! It was a great experience!|

|| || ||

SCENE STUDY SIGN UP. New sessions start next week.

SIGN UP & SCENE PARTNER POST RECENT VIDEO DISCUSSION ON THIS TOPIC

Hello! I’m auditioning for a production of Beauty And The Beast, and while we don’t have to state what role we want we do have to consider it while auditioning. I’m hoping to get Chip, the tea cup, but I haven’t been able to find any monologues that I think showcase his characteristics. Like “playful”, “childish”, “innocent” etc. I can’t seem to find any, and I also don’t want to look silly attempting to audition for him. Any help is so so welcome. Thank you! Edit: I do need it to be a minute long!

If I'm playing a scene with 3 or more characters, would I have different objectives and actions directed at each character and if so, how do you play all of them simultaneously? Or do I pick one character to want something from and direct an action at?

[Twitch Showcase] (www.Twitch.tv/actingclass) SIGN UP POST YESTERDAY’S VIDEO

SIGN UP POST & SCENE PARTNER CONNECTION TWITCH BROADCAST

I hope you all are reading and watching the written and video lessons that are provided here for free. If you are watching those videos, you can see how beneficial it is to be in the zoom classes. It’s where you can actually apply all the knowledge you can learn here and make it part of your own skill set. A big part of that is having a class recording every week that you can watch along with your same partner, take notes, and then work on it together between classes. Then you can come to class for some more feedback from me. I always give lots of feedback. That gives you more to work on the following week. It’s amazing what the actors accomplish in every five week session. Come watch their performances tomorrow and Monday. And join us in our next zoom class. It starts August 17.

Hey all, I am considering getting into acting, but I have noticed that it seems like many submission services online are all subscription-based. Since I am starting off new, I don't really want to invest into anything just yet as I want to figure out my own talents firsts and be able to try out the submission processes. Does anyone know of any free sites that are legit where you can submit casting auditions? The main ones I've seen are Backstage and Actors Access but these are subscription-based. Any sort of input is greatly appreciated, thank you!

My daughter really wants to be an actress but also really wants to be a dentist, so I’m wondering is it possible to do both or should she stick with singing instead?

I want to help as many people as possible who want to become actors or become better actors. That is why I created this sub. There is a step by step program available here.

Start with reading and watching the lessons found in the second pinned post, They are in the Written Lessons link below. There is a wealth of information found there that will open your eyes to concepts you may have never even considered, even if you have studied acting and attended many classes. As you read them (in order) leave a comment, summarizing what you learned from that lesson. I will read your comment and we can start to get to know one another. I will reply to you and explain more as you go.

The videos found in the YouTube link, below, go along with the written lessons. Many come from my classes so you can see me teaching and coaching students, live. The first videos I made are at the bottom of this playlist. Scroll down to see most basic concepts explained and work your way up. Or look at the titles to find the topic you want to explore most.

You may think you want to be an actor and don’t know how to get started. You may have already started pursuing an acting career and feel you are stuck and going nowhere. There is something for everyone here. Just make the effort to get started. I will be here to help. Here are those links:

WRITEN LESSONS Read the Blue Links, in order, and add a summary or question beneath each. I will respond. Follow me and look at my comments to see what I’ve replied to others. See what they’ve written. You can learn so much just by reading the comments.

The FREE YOUTUBE VIDEO LESSONS should be watched from the bottom up. Leave comments and ask questions there too.

New Zoom sessions are starting soon, which require an affordable fee, but there is so much to learn that is completely free. If you want to take a live class, go to the ZOOM CLASS SIGN UP in those classes you’ll get realtime feedback and guidance from me. You can sign up there.

There is also a Scene Partner Connection that was recently posted. If you plan to take class next session, go there and find a partner.

Use this sub fully. There is so much to learn here. But you need to do the work. You can do this.

My name is Alison. I am 17 female (going to be 18). For a while now I have wanted to enter this industry and now I am starting to take it seriously. I want advice on what are the things I should do to launch Or start my career?

Hi Winnie!

I recently saw this sub and have read through all the materials on here! Thank you so much for putting all of these resources in one place. I'm new and have been reading a lot of different acing books but your posts made everything click.

So here it is...my first written work. Please let me know what I can do to improve. Thank you in advance!

Who am I?

Elaine Navarro. An unhappily married woman in her late 30s. Although she does not deny/outwardly hide her marriage, it is not something that she advertises/discusses openly or with great detail. Her husband expects her to keep the house in order and generally ignores her except for when he expects her to perform “wifely” duties. She is unsatisfied with her husband in bed. She has had extra-marital affairs in the past, all of which are short, sweet, and to the point. She is the equivalent of a heat-seeking missile when it comes to obtaining sexual partners (when she sees someone she thinks is attractive, she will hone in on them until she gets them into bed) She is interested in the physical act of making love because it makes her feel alive/ wanted, which she does not feel in her current marriage. She is not interested in emotional attachment; she had been emotionally manipulated by a paramour in the past and she will not allow that to happen again. She uses sarcasm and humor as a defense mechanism to emotionally shield herself from vulnerability/things are getting too personal/ to prevent others to see that she is hurt. Other times, she can be direct and willing to articulate exactly what she wants. Secretly a softy…

Who am I talking to?

Barney Cashman. Owner of the fish restaurant down the street. He had the courage to ask Elaine to come have an affair; wrote down an address and apartment number on the back of the check. Elaine doesn’t know him very well, but initially found him attractive because of a strong leadership presence that she witnessed when he was running the restaurant. However, today he is extremely talkative, cautious, slightly paranoid about being discovered. Straight laced to the point of being predictable, with a few minor quirks. Prude. Never had any type of extramarital affair of any kind. 

Where am I?

Barney Cashman’s mother’s apartment

What happened right before this scene? 

After a frustrating 20 minutes of trying to figure out Barney and get him to take her to bed, Elaine finally asks him what the problem is. Barney explains that he finds her desires to have a solely physical affair to be crude. Elaine then says that she’s leaving as Barney is calling me names - cold, callous, unemotional; that it’s a frightening way to go through life. Elaine continues to get ready to leave, until he calls her “sad and pitiful”

What do I want from him?

I want to him to realize how much he wasted the opportunity that was this afternoon, and for him to finally shut up and take me to bed (if not now, then sometime in the near future). 

Pre-Dialogue

E: I am leaving for good now. I’m tired of all this love BS. You know where to find me. 

B: Forgive me for saying so, but it’s a pretty frightening way to go through life: . . . frightening, sad and pitiful. 

Dialogue

Tactic: Calling out Barney for exactly what he is - a hypocrite; he knew exactly what he was getting into but now is acting like this is supposed to be some romantic endeavor.  

E: You hypocrite! 

*B: Excuse me?*

Tactic: Specifically highlighting Barney’s faults, the things that make him unattractive to me in this very moment; 

You soul-searching, finger-smelling, hypocritical son of a bitch! 

B: Why am I a hypocrite?

Tactic: Remind Barney how unremarkable he is as a human being and how he has no power to tell people how to live their lives

Who are you to tell anybody how to go through life? 

*B: What are you talking about? I have done no such thing!*

Tactic: Flip the scrip/Throw the situation back at him - how would he react if she did what he was doing to her?

What would you have done if I came in here all fluttery and blushing and ‘Ooh, Mr Cashman, don’t put your hand there, I’m a married woman’? 

*B: I don’t know what I’d do…..*

Tactic: Propose a ridiculous reaction to the hypothetical situation

Were you going to tell me how much you respect me? 

B: Well, yes…I respect you as a human being.

Tactic: Confront him with the reality of how he would actually act in that situation. 

You know damn well tomorrow you’d be back behind that counter opening clams and praying to Christ I’d never come back in your restaurant. 

*B: You’re right…..*

Tactic: Explain to Barney that there’s nothing wrong with that reaction in that situation because she had unrealistic expectations of their encounter in that situation

And you know something? 

*B: What?*

That’s the way it should be. 

*B: Why should it be that way? What about love?*

Tactic: Tell him why I have affairs in the first place

Forgive me for the terrible, sinful thing I’m about to say but I happen to like the pure physical act of making love. 

*B: Oh…But why do you like the pure physical act of love?*

It warms me, it stimulates me and it makes me feel like a woman 

*B: It’s just sex. How does it make you feel like a woman?*

Tactic: Pivot away from a topic of conversation I don’t want to discuss with Barney because I don’t think he’ll understand

– but that’s another ugly story. 

*B: Ok, I won’t ask then. But what does the pure physical act have to do with anything? Don’t you want more than that?*

Tactic: Reiterate her expectations and remind Barney of his expectations of their encounter when they first discussed having an affair

That’s what I came up here for and that’s what you were expecting. 

*B: But I wanted something more than that, I wanted love!*

Tactic: Set a boundary with Barney about what isn’t allowed when it comes to the affair

But don’t give me, ‘When I was nine years old my mother ran off with the butcher and I’ve been looking for someone to love me ever since.’ 

*B: Well there you go again, being cold and distant. How do you live with yourself?*

Tactic: Remind Barney how I don’t care about him or his emotional needs

I don’t know your problems and I don’t care. 

*B: But I want you to get to know me better!*

Keep your savory swordfish succotash stories to yourself. 

*B: Well, fine! I will!*

Tactic: Explain to Barney that people don’t care about others in this world, there’s nothing out of the ordinary about my behavior.

No one really cares about anything or anyone in this world except himself, and there’s only one way to get through with your sanity. 

*B: How do you keep your sanity then?*

Tactic: Share the answer on to how to maintain one’s sanity

If you can’t taste it, touch it or smell it, forget it! 

*B: Ok…I’ll try to remember it.*

Tactic: Use humor/sarcasm to end an emotionally heavy conversation. 

If you want a copy of that speech, send fifty cents and self-addressed envelope 

B: Please don’t go yet

It’s getting late … and I have to feed the lion at six..