Hello Strasberg Actors.
We hope that you are all well and enjoying the reopening of London and various other countries (wherever you're based). We also hope that you are all safe and healthy.
This month’s blogpost is about a subject that we have touched many times before, but that is always good to reiterate: actors need to continuously train. Yes, we know, some of you may be thinking ‘ok, ok, we need to keep training, but when do we get to work’? Perfectly good question. Well, dear Strasberg Actors, your next job is just around the corner, and guess what’s the difference between being booked again by the same people, or not? Nah, it’s not the number of Instagram followers. Yes, you guessed it right this time: it's training. Saying that in our industry jobs come and go quickly is a euphemism, you gotta be ready to go! Even the most talented actor won’t be ready for a job if their skills are not well oiled, if the emotional connection isn’t kept alive, if the memory muscle isn’t fit. Like you go to the gym and bust out reps for your biceps and glutes, well you gotta do the same for your acting skills. Are we straight? Very well. Let’s move onto how you do that.
One of the easiest (and cheapest) ways to keep up with the training is to join online acting challenges, there have been many floating around on social media. Alexander launched his very own one the ‘Alexander Monologue Challenge’, a six-week challenge during which each participant has to choose a monologue and perform it every week in a different way (yes, the very same monologue!). Having to perform the same piece of text in many different fashions is a great way to stretch your imagination. Often when we approach a piece of text we only see it in one colour, we tend to fit it within our own comfortable range, but it’s only stepping out of our comfort zone and stretching ourselves that we grow and often we surprise ourselves, managing to come up with things that we didn’t know we could come up with.
Another lovely aspect of the #alexandermonologuechallenge is that every participant has to post a feedback video for someone else taking part to the challenge every week: this way everyone would get one or more pieces of feedback and at the same time each participant would work on the skill of giving feedback, which as you know is very important aspect of the Strasberg Training.
Of course the downside of an online challenge is always the fact that, even if we do get notes, the work done will never be as deep and well-rounded as the one done with a coach, within the safe space of a class.
Which brings us to the next best option to keep up your skills (and even refine them): enrol to a Masterclass. We are now offering an online Masterclass of the duration of 8 weeks, starting on the 18th of May. This ‘International Masterclass’ is the perfect opportunity to get back into your Strasberg Training in full swing, as it is structured in ‘Character’s Intimacy’ and ‘Scene Work’, just like our regular in-person Strasberg Campus Training Terms (except that has Actor's Intimacy Training too). The Masterclass will be held in English, with a live translator to Italian, with participants from different countries. The training will also include Emotional and Sensory Memory and the Freedom Circle. At the end of the International Masterclass you will have a strong piece, ready for any audition, but most importantly you will be more at ease with fully committing to your own emotions, you’ll be able to create a deep and fully rounded character, you’ll have gained the skills to analyse a script and find the dramatic arc within a text.
We very much hope that we’ll see you at the Masterclass, but keep in mind that spots are limited. If you won’t be able to make it this time, we’ll be sure to launch new Instagram challenges and we’ll be back in the studio for the Autumn Term. Until then, be safe, be curious and study, study, study. Make sure that the people who will book you next will keep booking you for as long as you are in this crazy business called acting.
As usual: Always in the Art!
The Strasberg Team