Listening and reacting truthfully to the other actor from moment to uninterrupted moment is the the basic foundation of all acting. The Meisner Technique is the only approach that actually teaches this foundation. What is typically taught in every Meisner Program over three to six months is covered and drilled here over the four weeks of the Actors’ Boot Camp. Every class builds on the class before it, and the pace is both challenging and satisfying to the committed actor.

Some Meisner practitioners who are certainly no strangers to film acting include Robert Duvall, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, John Malkovich, and Kathy Bates among many others.

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Like no other Meisner Program, and certainly like no other school offering scene study in Los Angeles, The Actors' Boot Camp actually applies the Meisner approach to Cold Reading and Scene Study from the very start. Here you don't just learn the rudiments of reading a script cold, rehearsing, and getting off book. You learn how to actually apply listening and answering in the moment to text work right away.

In our opinion, the Meisner work is best served in this manner, and serious actors who want to build technique immediately are often shocked by the efficiency and success of this approach.

"…how can expression freely manifest itself throughout an actor's body, if that very instrument (the body and mind) is mechanized, automated in its muscle structures and insensible to 90% of its possibilities?" 
Augusto Boal; actor, writer, teacher, director

The Actor’s Instrument is designed to help the actor develop heightened physical and vocal awareness by exploring the connection between body, breath, thought and impulse, and their relationship to the actor’s pure, unfettered expression.  

Through exercises in movement, voice and speech, observation, imagination, relaxation, and spontaneity, actors will examine and release their instruments, both internal and external, to encourage honest performance from a voice and body that respond naturally and wholly to their inner selves.

Leave your inhibitions behind and prepare to be challenged in this fully participatory, energetic, freeing romp into your most spontaneous and truthful self.

Continuing with the Meisner Technique, working truthfully off the other person’s behavior, always bringing the spirit of playing as you go into activity work.  There is now a greater emphasis on doing and action- to this end the Michael Chekhov work is introduced. The Michael Chekhov Technique, which provides you with reliable tools for characterization and playing real objectives, is a perfect adjunct to the Meisner work. Practitioners of The Michael Chekhov Technique are Johnny Depp,  Jack Nicholson, Anthony Hopkins, Clint Eastwood, Demi Moore, and Jeff Bridges.

more on the Michael Chekhov Technique

Acting is an interpretive art and the pressures of auditioning require that you make immediate and bold choices, expertly pick up the text off the page, and give a polished performance while remaining relaxed, spontaneous, and truthful. Easy to say, hard to do - this class works on all of these skills. Assigned scenes are appropriate to your casting type and you are invited to make mistakes here so that you don’t have to make them where it counts.  Also, as before, the Meisner work continues to be blended into scene work, but now there is much greater attention paid to actions, objectives, and character arc.

Classroom experience is invaluable, but actual on-camera work is a different animal altogether. It is important that an on camera acting class in Los Angeles focus on all aspects of on-camera film and television acting as it exists in today's fast-paced industry – from matching action and blocking to performance consistency and coverage. Using scenes prepared in the Scene Study/Cold Reading class, you will learn all of these vital techniques here and receive expert critiques that will permanently deepen your understanding of working in front of the camera.

Determining your type, putting that all important information into pictures and resumes. Learning about agents, submissions, auditioning, and what you are selling. You will finally learn what the business is really about, what is expected of you, and how and where your acting might fit into the industry. Taught by a working industry professional, either a casting director, agent, manager, or working actor with lots of television and film experience. By the end of this you WILL be auditioning and taking in with you a professional and appropriate picture and resume.

Work in all the styles; from sitcom, to commercials, to comedy, to theater, to film, to episodic TV, constantly switching gears and jumping into another genre. Read as much material appropriate to that style and work hard to get to the bottom of what it is, for instance, to work on episodic TV scripts and characters.

Explore through Meisner exercises, Chekhov, and Acting Corps techniques how to address the individual challenges each style presents.

Focus, focus, focus. Audition in front of the camera with scenes and cold reading in whatever that month’s style may be. Prepare for ANYTHING any audition may bring.

more on acting and auditioning

The title carries two implications; one, that acting mastery is a state already achieved by all attendees, or two, that one will master acting at some point during the class - good luck. While the first definition can lead to a great deal of slacking, the second is just as perilous - the idea of a creative plateau is anathema to the creative process.

So why call it a master class? Because it is an ideal, no more no less. And to even aspire to this ideal (a word of caution) this cannot be a TRADITIONAL acting class. It is investigative in nature, experimental, i.e., it may at times address what we don't know that we don't know. One thing is sure, participants will be asked to READ a great deal, explore ALL the arts and become self -defined artists, not just actors who can cold read.

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Classroom time is great and everyone at The Acting Corps gets plenty of it. But if you need a structure for doing the work outside of class, if you need a daily workout where you apply all the tools and then some on a daily basis for a full hour, then this may be for you.

The Daily Acting Workout was created for people in Boot Camp I, Boot Camp II, The Advanced Program, and also the Master Class. It is an hour a day, every day, of Meisner exercises, Michael Chekhov work, Grotowski work, Spolin, and whatever else will get your body, mind, and voice connected. If you truly want to attain the highest level of training or if you just need a place to warm up and prepare for that day's audition, you are invited.

There are morning AND evening sessions of the D.A.W.,  Monday – Friday from 9AM-10AM, and Sunday-Thursday, from 6PM-7PM. You can buy tickets for the D.A.W. and use these tickets either in all the sessions, either morning, or evening, or both - depending on your individual needs. The teachers will all be Acting Corps teachers. There will be no attendance taking, but always be on time. The Daily Acting Workout is ongoing but make sure you call the office first for availability.

Fitzmaurice voice work is an intensive body based system of voice training for actors.  It is innovative in that it integrates systems of body work, including: Yoga, Core Energetics, and Shiatsu into a comprehensive voice training technique.  The technique has come to be known as “Destructuring/Restructuring”. 

In “Destructuring” actors learn to identify and move through habits that inhibit the body’s natural breathing function.  The freeing of the breath is the first and most vital step in developing a more truthful, expressive and energetic voice.  In addition to transforming the voice, the exercises result in greater freedom of movement and overall availability in the actor.