There’s something about going to an acting class that really helps you, as a person, understand that you are not alone. Having to get up in front of a group of people, and really let go, really show all your sides, good, bad, and ugly, learning to scream, and open up, to laugh hysterically at yourself and others, and just having to be a kid once again — all of this helps to not only loosen you up as an adult, it also helps you to be more creative.

Scientific study has shown, in the last several years, that if you do not use your memory, or your brain to learn something new, then those synapses in that part of your brain, Acting classes should be safe havens for those of us who have fears…where those new things would be stored, and then …

Anyone I’ve ever known, including myself, who’s taken any kind of acting class: whether it be a performance class, a public speaking class, an audition class, cold reading class, or an improv class, has always said it was the best thing they ever did. You might include in this category, classes in: any type of dance, hip hop, ballet, elocution lessons, even general movement classes such as Feldenkrais, Yoga, or Alexander Technique.

Taking an acting class helps you open up in ways you never thought possible, and it’s my opinion, that everyone, at one time or another in life, should be required to take an acting class. Let’s face it, in business, sales, politics, and teaching, most people act at one time or another. Why not actually learn some short cuts to make it all easier?

One of the most important …

A great tool I learned about in one of my favorite Method classes was using “substitutions”. Using a substitution isn’t only for creating realistic emotions in a scene (which I have described in another post) – it’s also a simple, easy way, to break yourself out of pre-learned vocal patterns, and keep your lines sounding real and fresh. They can be great too, for delivering lines in classic drama, lines you’ve heard a million times (like the famous Hamlet monologue!)

What’s so fun, and so fascinating about using random substitutions, is that they’ll often give you ideas about how you can deliver lines in ways you’d never even thought. How do you do this? Well, let me try and give you an example.I learned that going back and forth with how I was feeling, in between some boring lines I wasn’t connecting …

The more traditional way to use substitutions to create realistic moments in scenes and monologues is to remember a similar conversation you may have had, from your past, which had the same kinds of emotions and feelings, and then go from that conversation, to your lines.

For example: If I was going to play Hamlet, and had to say the famous, “To be, or not to be” speech, I’d work very hard at trying to find a time in my life when I was wondering what life was all about. I’d try to remember how I, myself, would talk about living and dying, about the possibility that life can be crazy, that maybe it would be better just to end it.It’s important to just totally forget how you’ve heard other famous actors say these words…I’d study the famous speech, and try and not only re-write it …

All actors want to keep it fresh, as if every line we say has just come off the top of our heads, (like we do in real life), and hasn’t been something we’ve been thinking about during our scene partner’s previous line. Let’s face it. This is a basic element of good acting, and it’s one of the hardest things to do.

One of the main problems I always had, as an actor, was saying the lines exactly the same way, time after time. I found that once I’d memorized my lines in a particular rhythm, I had a hard time saying them any other way. It didn’t matter how the other actor delivered his or her lines to me, or even if they changed them, made their lines more angry, more sad, or said them more quickly, or softly – no matter how …

I keep having all sorts of people writing me privately, after reading my post about, “The Seven Reasons Why Professional Programs Simply Aren’t Worth It” — asking me, “Kirsten, if you had it to do over again, what would you do now?” Many of these actors tell me they’re already enrolled in expensive programs, and are now thinking, after reading this post, that they won’t go. They’re left feeling lost and confused. My advice to all of you is this. Get into a good Method Acting Class, based on Lee Strasberg, and learn to act in realistic ways, that will translate the best for Film and Television.

We’ve all heard about famous Method actors, like Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and Marlon Brando, but why did they all have so much success? Because Lee Strasberg was their teacher! …