1) Build real and effective listening skills

Listening is a core foundation skill that many actors find hard to manage. The key is to actually listen. Often the default choice for an actor is to ‘act’ listening – that never works. The focus of this workshop is on building real listening skills

2) Explore effective Meisner techniques to refine your listening

This adaptation of Meisner process is enormously effective at building listening skills. These challenging exercise develop a number of real skills that you will use in many different ways throughout your career.

3) Gain practical skills to find your place in a scene

Clearly understanding and controlling your character’s place in a scene is an essential skill for an actor. Those choices are crucial to delivering the unfolding story. These are the skills that drive the story forward and engage the audience. Nowhere else are these techniques taught so effectively. These are the skills that have you standing out in the audition room.

4) Be able to make big changes to character and story outcomes

How to change the nature of the character and balance that against the drama of the story is a skill that is not commonly taught. You will learn to make powerful choices that are dramatically engaging. With practice these skills are easy to manage. You will have a powerful professional presence in front of a Casting Director.

5) Learn to trust your actor’s impulses

Impulses are an instinctive part of daily interactions. But many actors take their importance for granted. The key to being real and believable is understanding what drives the impulses in a conversation. That understanding enables the actor to control a path to realistic but highly dramatic performances.

6) Test your skills with a professional casting director

The final exercise in this workshop is to test your burgeoning skills in front of a professional Casting Director

1) Casting Directors want you to be able to change

Actors with university degree courses (like NIDA) are taught to find the perfect performance for a scene.  But in the professional audition room Casting Directors know there isn't one perfect version of a scene.  Casting Directors know there are many options for a scene and the professional actor who can see lots of possibilities is an actor who can take direction.

2) Surprise the Casting Director with your skill

An actor who creates characters that experience real 'moments of surprise' stands out in the audition room and on the set. All the great actors play beautiful moments of surprise. Learn techniques for playing surprises that are ONLY TAUGHT HERE. Moments of surprise are the key to being real in performance.

3) Engage an audience and you will engage a Director

Directors want to hire actors who can engage an audience with the comedy or the drama.  If you can totally engage an audience with your performance, the professionals who want to hire you will instantly recognize your skills.

4) Gain a modern understanding of Stanislavski techniques

This is a no bullshit approach to traditional theories. It cuts through the complexities of other acting processes and explains them in a simple common sense language. You will be empowered by your new understanding of Stanislavski process. This is an acting process that makes sense.

5) Understand story so you can break a scene down quickly

Instead of questioning if you actually understand the story of a scene. Learn how to break down story effortlessly every time.

6) Remove confusions and clearly measure your success

Instead of walking out of an audition feeling flat and confused. Learn how to make every audition count. Acquire skills that enable you to measure your success.

IF YOU FEEL THIS COURSE IS TOO BASIC FOR YOU explore the Intermediate Workshop HERE

1) Master a new acting vocabulary

Put yourself in charge of a new terminology that is totally focused on practical outcomes. The understanding you will achieve of how your acting techniques empower and activate your choices will liberate you.

2) Refine professional skills that put you in charge

These techniques will enable you to stand tall in any professional discussion about character or story and the best ways to deliver them.

3) Avoid making clichéd choices

Actors frequently make predictable choices without even knowing it. The Rehearsal Room techniques will teach you how to avoid the obvious cliché. They will also teach you how to make the obvious choice richly complex and potently real.

4) Learn how to REALLY serve the text

There is much taught about analyzing the text but the majority of that instruction is based on a ‘literary model’. Refine your understanding of story and how the writer creates the script. Put yourself in charge of the interpretation of that script with common sense and powerful techniques that are practical for the actor. This is the powerhouse of the actor’s decision-making process.

5) Realize the connection between physical action and the dialogue

Physical action and the purpose of the conversation are inextricably linked. In life they are united. It must be the same for the actor.

6) Understand the way the actor’s mind makes decisions

Actors frequently make decisions that they ‘feel’ are right but can’t explain with clarity. They can’t explain them because often they don’t actually make sense. Understanding how the mind makes decisions is very useful for the actor.

1) Stretch your emotional range

The character’s emotions are directly connected to the success or failure they experience at achieving their goals. These techniques teach actors to get the emotional balance right.

2) Engage an audience with the power of the story

Delivering the story is the actor’s primary focus. You will be empowered to engage your audience with the real drama in a very real way.

3) Create richly complex characters

Creating real character’s that function beautifully in different relationships is the pinnacle of the actor’s craft. These simple and logical techniques create richly textured characters in a profoundly simple way.

4) Be in charge of your professional conversations

The Rehearsal Room process will enable you to dissect Directors and Casting Directors intentions. Often you will be able to interpret their goals into actor friendly concepts better than they can. You will be empowered to share in the responsibility of finding both story and character choices.

5) Prepare efficiently and effectively

Being given a task at short notice will no longer frighten you. You will practice being empowered to prepare in either seconds or weeks with techniques that are appropriate and effective. They are proven to work.

6) No longer will you be ruled by acting myths

You will practice techniques that are so logical and so practical that the mumbo-jumbo of many of the acting myths will no longer befuddle your mind and confuse your choices.

1) Supportive direction will give you the chance to achieve your goals

If you are working on a scene the direction will be tailored to your personal needs. You don’t need to have trained here – Richard will adapt the acting process to support you..

2) Learn the basics of this process and test them out

This is a great way to try out The Rehearsal Room acting process. You can discover whether this approach makes sense for you. Ask questions and try the techniques one step at a time.

3) Practice your established skills and develop new ones

If you are already familiar with these techniques then this is a simple way to expand them further. There is so much information available here that the learning is never ending. Actors just keep growing and growing.

4) Keep exercising your acting muscle

Many actors have noticed that if the training isn’t regular the skills do drop off. This is the perfect way to keep your skills strong and active.

5) Enjoy a relaxed social environment

Enjoy the convivial atmosphere of these classes while you continue to explore the wondrous world of acting. You can make these sessions as challenging or relaxing as you like.

6) Just keep on learning

Actors who keep returning to The Rehearsal Room just see there skills get better and better.