Welcome to acting. This is your introduction to a new community where you’ll learn the personal and group dynamics of working with your peers. Techniques and concepts include: warm-ups, risk-taking, awareness/journaling, monologues and improvisation. The course also introduces actors to the techniques used throughout the program: essential Stanislavski, Michael Shurtleff, Sandford Meisner and Uta Hagen. Throughout, you will build your toolbox and develop your skills via several acting disciplines.

Voice work lets you create transparency for emotions, intentions, words, desires and images. Let your voice be heard as you explore techniques for approaching the written word, including the Linklater Technique Warm-up.

The body is your primary instrument of expression. This course focuses on various exercises to free the body and allow it to respond to its natural impulse to move. This is your safe-space to take risks in a non-performance, non judgmental atmosphere. Ongoing reference to the Alexander Technique is a program element.

In this first course of the Camera Acting sequence, you will work with fully blocked feature film monologues and scenes, performing in wide shot, medium shot, and close-up. Knowing how to “work the frame” and adapt to different camera shots will give you a competitive edge at auditions, ultimately increasing the likelihood that your work will end up in the final edit.

Actors have inherited a rich and noble tradition. This course traces the development of performance genres from religious ritual through the humanistic movement of the Renaissance  and up to the innovations of Restoration Drama.

Explore the history of the cinema from humble beginnings in 1895 to present day. Focusing on North American cinema, with some European study, you will learn about the masters of cinema, film’s various genres and techniques, as well as how the social environment directly impacts film.

Take center stage. Expand on your monologue work from the previous term and integrate them in both contemporary and classical scenes. Develop your work in terms of the personal, the character and ensemble/group dynamics, while maintaining professional industry standards. Technique and concept areas are introduced including: warm-ups, risk-taking, listening, research, script analysis, character work, improvisations and storytelling. In addition, you will be asked to live and breathe acting as you prepare outside the studio.

You will be amazed at the things you can do to your voice. Master your greatest instrument through breath connection, as well as exercises for the tongue, lips, soft palate and rib areas. This course will also help you uncover personal connections to Shakespearean text.

A character isn’t only created through the voice. Here you will continue to develop character through movement, emphasizing the physical manifestations of psychological considerations. This course introduces a comprehensive process for creating a character and techniques that help you perceive their inner world.

Reveal the complexities of interaction, manifest the arc of each scene, and deal with the fractured jigsaw puzzle of cinematic construction. Find your spotlight as you perform television scenes (sitcoms and drama) fully blocked and shot in a master shot with coverage.

Explore 20th century issues and idioms, and how a rapid shift in social, political and technological dynamics profoundly affected and redefined trends in performance. You will examine the establishment of a range of “isms” which create conflicting concepts of the purpose of performance in a societal context. And you will be challenged to define your ethics and identity as a contemporary actor and creative artist.

This course introduces dramatic structure, the language and economy of script format, and the film storyboard. Explore the strengths and constraints of working in a visual medium, and ultimately you’ll get to perform your first scripts live.

It is essential for actors to learn how to relate one scene to another in order to create a sustained character journey throughout the script. In this course, you will work on brief scenes from a full-length script, playing the same character in each scene and developing strategies for constructing a cohesive arc of development.

Broaden your range and learn to mould your voice for any role through various accents and dialects. This course emphasizes dialect acquisition, with vigorous physical and vocal warm-ups incorporated into each session.

Develop your performance through physicality. Working in the tradition of clown and bouffon, you will be challenged to take risks, hone your improvisational skills and push through performance inhibitions to find the pleasure of being present via techniques related to space, rhythm, fixed point, complicity, focus, flop and play.

In this course, you are given several scenes from a feature film in which to play the same character – but shot out of sequence. By understanding character changes and the relationship from scene to scene, you will learn how to organize your acting processes to create a truthful character journey and develop an understanding of working in a non-sequential shooting format. The payoff? You will gain objective experience by watching your performance in a final edited film.

Take on the role of the director as you get exposed to the issues that govern a shoot and its performers. Experience hands-on collaboration with major on-set departments, including camera, sound and continuity, all from the director’s point-of-view.

Improvisation is the basic approach to all authentic dramatic performance. This essential skill is your ticket to booking commercials, television, film and even stage. In this course, you will create original scenes, sketches and songs through improvisation, culminating in a final showcase.

Not all acting requires a physical performance. Learn how to apply dynamic control to a range of voiceover disciplines, including television and radio commercials, animation, documentary and corporate video narration.

Your ability to move tells a story onstage. Though text will be utilized, this course centers on learning various movement and dance techniques to create original work as an ensemble.

Auditioning is an essential skill for landing an opportunity to work in the film and television industry. In this course, you will experience practical auditions for film and television, learning how to prepare for auditions, how to confidently demonstrate professional attitude and decorum, and how to follow industry protocols.

You’ve learned the basics of scriptwriting; now let’s use those skills to create a viable short film. Step by step, you will be introduced to script formatting via industry screenwriting software – interior/exterior, dialogue breaks, action, mise-en-scene, etc. Equip yourself with the proper technique to write screenplays from scratch, with the intention to produce the script in Term 6.

Understanding editing and how your performance can be cut together is a great asset for an actor. Expand your knowledge with video editing theories and techniques, including editing software – a valuable tool to create your own performance demo reel.

It is essential for actors to understand how a live event is put together – from the preparation of a rehearsal script to text and character analysis to staging rehearsals and eventually to run-throughs of scenes, acts and ultimately the whole play.  This course prepares you to create, rehearse and perform a full-length ensemble performance culminating in three presentations in front of a live audience.

This is your chance to step behind the camera as you take on the roles of a producer and director prior to production. You will learn the realities of pre-production by pitching your short film script (from ACF320) to a panel. In assembling a pre-production package, you will learn to budget, location scout, audition, cast and rehearse performers, as well as create a storyboard/shot list and assemble a crew for a short film.

Gain hands-on experience producing, directing and starring in your own scripted short films, scenes, and/or monologues. Here, short films will be produced with students being expected to contribute to each other’s projects. You will refine your skills in camera acting, directing, lighting, camera operation, sound recording, shot list/storyboarding and all facets of post-production.  Your work here culminates in a final screening event in which select projects will be presented.

Present-day auditioning has expanded far beyond in-room auditions. Today’s actors are expected to be prepared and equipped to create a professionally produced self-tape audition submitted electronically to talent agents and casting directors. You will learn behind-camera self-tape techniques (reading, camera operating, gaffing, etc.) as well as front-of-camera acting techniques to ensure that you are ready for any self-tape call.

A successful actor manages their own career in an effective and efficient manner. Learn practical approaches to obtaining head shots, writing resumes, approaching an agent, working with casting directors, the activities of professional organizations and unions (ACTRA, EQUITY), self-accounting procedures, as well as the need for further and ongoing artistic training.

You can be immortalized as an iconic video game character. In this course, expand on previous voiceover knowledge and enter the world of video games by collaborating with game designers. You will work with animation and develop cartoon voices, as well as learn to deliver serials and plays for eBooks and podcasts. The proper looping/ADR (additional dialogue replacement) and dubbing of foreign films to English will also be studied.