Ongoing Acting Classes are vital for young actors. I speak with agents and managers all the time, and often they will ask me how is my client is doing? Are they in class? Are they doing their work?
It’s very important for every actor to be in class and working and improving skills. Managers and Agents expect this of their clients. The best compliment for an actor is to know their agent and manager believe in them and are fighting for them. Doing your part, by showing your commitment to your craft, is how it starts.
I place special emphasis on training the actor to respond quickly and fully to all stimuli, enabling each student to make fearless, confident and ultimately winning choices. This process leads to more natural, more engaging, and more stand-out performances and applies to actors of all ages. Younger actors are taught with the same emphasis on craft and authentic human behavior as are adults. Honesty in performance is not something we acquire with age; it is something we attain with practice.
I take special care with each individual student because very actor has specific needs and personal strengths. As a result, I don’t rely on any one method at the exclusion of others. I take all I have learned from a variety of renowned teachers and I find an approach that is best for each student – whether teen and child actors who may be learning these approaches for the first time, or adults who may already be comfortable with a particular method. I aim to make each actor I work with as authentic and true within themselves as humanly possible. This means creating an acting technique for each actor that is as unique as they are as an individual.
I personally studied with George Morrison and Jack Waltzer in New York (Meisner, Strasberg, Stanoslavsky, Adler) In Los Angeles I studied with Peter Flood (Strasberg, Meisner) and for 15 years in a Master Class with Ivana Chubbuck. I was founder of the Youth and Teen Division of the Ivana Chubbuck Studio, and I was the first to adapt the Chubbuck technique for kids and teens.
So often kids, teens and young adults are taught rote memorization and this can lead to stiff, stilted and unnatural performances. Over the course of ongoing acting classes, my students learn their lines rather than memorize them. They know what they are saying, and they listen before they speak. If the words are not there, I teach them to breathe and release, and the words come. In life we often do not know what we are going to say next. So if the words are not there as an actor, I tell my students “That is a gift”. Often it is times like these that force the actor to be present. Forcing the actor to be in the reality of the moment. Forcing them to breath. To just… be.
My teaching is about Human Behavior. It’s not about the words, but rather what is underneath the words. As you prepare you have to keep bonding the words to your personal life experiences. You can tell stories about yourself that you’d never tell anybody. You can tell the worst things that ever happened to you. You can tell them in detail and nobody will ever know. Because nobody knows what you’re thinking, nobody knows the seeds of your performance but you.
– Contributed by Deborah Lemen for Hollywood Mom Blog
About Deborah Lemen Studios
Deb’s acting technique, workshops and ongoing acting classes have proven to be career changing! Past and present students have been successful both theatrically as well as commercially with leading and supporting roles in film, television and all media platforms.
Lemen Studio currently has adults, teens and kids working on shows like: Shameless, Henry Danger, The Thundermans, Bizaardvark, Shots Fired, Criminal Minds, Wits Academy, Fresh Off The Boat, many films and several upcoming series on Netflix. We love to brag about our talented students to see our shout outs go to our FB page or visit our website at www.deborahlemenactingstudio.com
Fall Class Schedule
Showcase: November 13th
Beginning Acting Workshop:
Kids and Teens
Ages 7-16
Sundays, September 11th – November 6th
3:00pm – 6:00pm
9 weeks
Audition Intensive Workshop:
Teens, Young Adults, Adults
Mondays, September 19th – November 7th
8:00-10:30PM
6 weeks
Company Master Workshop
Sundays, 8:00 – 11:00PM
Ongoing 18+ only
Advanced Scene Study Workshop:
Teens and Young Adults
• Sundays, September 11th – November 6th
1:00-4:00PM
• Tuesdays, September 13th – November 8th
7:00-9:00PM
8 weeks
Master Scene Study Workshop: Young Adults & Adults
Class 1 (Ongoing)
Mondays: 4PM-7PM
Class 2 (Ongoing)
Wednesdays: 8PM-11PM
Class 3 (Ongoing)
Fridays: 12PM-3PM
Master Class Acting Workshop: Teens and Young Adults
Thursdays
September 15th – November 10th
7:30-10:00pm
9 weeks
Please call the studio for class rates
This post was sponsored by Deborah Lemen Studio
