Musical Theater - Private Acting Lessons

Acting lessons are taught at Music Training Center by degreed theater professionals  Lessons may be used for audition preparation, current roles in productions, or general theatre acting skills.  Please contact us to schedule private acting lessons.

Students enrolled in MTC's musical theater productions receive a $50 discount on Acting Lessons (see class enrollment forms).

Acting curriculum

Training includes use of the following texts:

Actions: The Actors’ Thesaurus by Marina Caldarone
Ideas for Actors by Jon Jory
Acting is Believing: A Basic Method for Beginners by Charles McGraw
Break A Leg: The Kid’s Guide to Acting and Stagecraft by Lise Friedman

• Level 1 - Voice of the Actor:  This is the base of becoming an actor. With varied techniques we will find your true voice and how to use your voice to it’s fullest potential especially while on stage.  Within this level we will focus on breathing, vocal strengthening, and confidence exercises.  Topics include: Finding YOUR Voice; Vocal workouts; Breathing; Relaxation; Articulation; Projection; Vocal Development; Voice and Text.
•  Level 2 - Movement of an Actor: This level focuses on the physicality of acting.  Putting actions to written text, using actions to find emotion, how to tell a story using only movement and how to create a character physically.  We will also focus on a method called “Laban’s Movement”, a method and language for interpreting, describing, visualizing and noting all ways of human movement. 
• Level 3 - Acting Techniques / Understanding the Stage:  This level focuses on different methods of acting as well as stage directions.  Some of the methods discussed and used in this level are; Meisner, Stella Adler, and Stanislavski.  We will also cover the 12 guideposts to acting created by Michael Shurtleff:

1. Relationships - how to create them on stage
2. Conflict - what are you fighting for?
3. The moment before - how to start a scene
4. Humor - why jokes don’t work
5. Opposite - finding the hidden tension in your scene.
6. Discoveries - making things happen for the first time
7. Communication and competition - reaching the other actor
8. Importance - locating the dramatic score
9. Find the events - what is really happening in the play?
10. Place - create it on a bare stage
11. Game playing and role playing - play them for reality.
12. Mystery and secret - adding wonderment to the scene

• Level 4 - Monologues, Scene Work, and Script Analysis:  In this level the actor will learn how to take a scene and a monologue and learn how to break down the text using beats, breaks and focus changes. This level becomes personalized with monologues and scenes that are fit to the individual.  The goal of this level is to build cohesiveness from everything learned thus far.
  
•  Level 5 - Singing and the Actor: This level is designed to give the actor a foundation in musical theatre repertoire.  We will find songs that fit the actor individually and learn how to act within a song, how to understand the music and the words, and how to maintain your character even when your singing.
  
• Level 6  - Audition Technique and Preparation: The final level will focus on the actor's audition.  We will find the right songs or monologues that are fit for the actor, learn how to cut a piece down for an audition, and learn to present yourself when you are inside the audition room.  This level will also focus on your headshots, your resume, where to find auditions and creating your “book”.