The primary learning goal of the first term is for the student to understand a truthful use of him/herself in imaginary circumstances. Students explore dramatic situations to experience truthful behavior, spontaneous moment-to-moment reaction to stimuli, and the reality of doing.

With the capacity for truthful moment to moment involvement as a foundation, the student learns to scaffold in additional skills and techniques, including sensory work, the heightening and specificity of choices, extensive place work, including fourth wall, and conditioning forces. Students evolve a more conscious integration of voice, speech, and movement skills into acting. Scene work progresses to include contemporary comedy.

This course provides students an understanding of traditional musical theater styles, basic partnering technique, and the value of moving with dynamic specificity. Each class will contain rudiments designed to develop technical prowess, musicality, physical articulation, and rhythmic precision. Students will also learn combinations of musical theater repertoire in the style of Broadway’s most celebrated choreographers.

This course continues students’ understanding of traditional musical theater styles, partnering technique, and the value of moving with dynamic specificity. Each class will contain rudiments designed to develop technical prowess, musicality, physical articulation, and rhythmic precision. Students will also learn combinations of musical theater repertoire in the style of Broadway’s most celebrated choreographers.

This course focuses on the close reading of scripts from the perspective of the actor. It begins with the students’ personal responses to selected plays and then presents an analytical strategy from Uta Hagen’s Respect for Acting to identify the play’s facts provided by the playwright.

This course includes intensive individual study and development of the student’s vocal instrument. The content will include exercises that develop the instrument at the respiration, phonation, and articulation levels of the instrument within the context of singing. Topics of physical release, breathing coordination, laryngeal settings, resonance, and vowel shaping may be discussed depending on the needs of the specific student to coordinate these elements for the application on various musical styles. Personalized repertoire of the musical theatre canon, as it stands and as it develops, will be developed.

This course explores the fundamentals of music theory in a culturally inclusive and constructivist approach. Topics include but are not limited to musical notation, scales, intervals, ands chords, and how to relate those techniques to various musical theatre styles. Ear training and sight singing is also a major skill practiced within the course to apply theory into practice.

This course introduces the student to their voice and speech, moving through physical release, respiration, phonation, resonance, and articulation. The course offers an introductory level of experiential Anatomy and Physiology of the voice and speech systems and how they may be utilized as tools for acting. This course develops the student’s kinesthetic awareness of the vocal tract, coordinating breath, vocal qualities, and articulation skills as synergized parts of an holistic communication system.

This course develops the skills from Voice and Speech I by applying the work to text. Physical release, spontaneous breathing, vocal expression, and intelligibility are developed through the application of imaginary circumstance. Ear training and kinesthetic awareness of the vocal tract is also developed, using the International Phonetic Alphabet.

This course is an experiential study of the anatomy, physiology, and physics of sound waves of the voice. Anatomical structures and physiological functions of respiration, phonation, and resonance will be covered. Students will also engage in a self-reflective practice in which they formulate inferences about how to improve their vocal practice from the information learned about vocal anatomy and physiology.

Students continue the study and application of fundamental acting techniques through rehearsal of roles in multi-character scenes from full-length plays.

Students continue the study and application of fundamental acting techniques through rehearsal of roles in multi-character scenes from full-length plays.

This course introduces Academy students to the Alexander Technique, a method that refines body awareness to optimize postural support and to reduce physical tensions. First Year students study in small group settings and learn to execute fundamental Alexander practices.

Students prepare to work on a professional film and television set, learning the jargon of the industry and the various roles played by everyone on set. By working behind the scenes, as well as on camera, each student is trained to run the camera and the sound equipment. Exercises focus on working in a relaxed and truthful way and on understanding technical adjustments required for working in front of the camera.

This course is an experiential study of the anatomy, physiology, and physics of sound waves of speech. Anatomical structures and physiological functions of the face, pharynx, larynx, oral cavity, and nasal cavity will be covered. Students will also engage in a self-reflective practice in which they formulate inferences about how to improve their speech practice from the information learned about vocal anatomy and physiology.

This course includes intensive individual study and development of the student’s vocal instrument. The content will include exercises that develop the instrument at the respiration, phonation, and articulation levels of the instrument within the context of singing. Topics of physical release, breathing coordination, laryngeal settings, resonance, and vowel shaping may be discussed depending on the needs of the specific student to coordinate these elements for the application on various musical styles. Personalized repertoire of the musical theatre canon, as it stands and as it develops, will be developed.

This course re-coordinates the muscles of respiration, phonation, resonance, and articulation as it applies to singing in an ensemble. Both speaking and singing techniques are utilized to develop the voice so that students may start methodically approaching a broad range of challenges in musical theatre choral work.

Acting III builds on the First-Year foundational techniques of truthful, spontaneous, moment to moment involvement of self within imaginary circumstances, including use of objectives, relationship, activity, place, specificity, personalization, emotional and physical preparation, sensory skills and conditioning forces. Character work, action/intention and script analysis are introduced, and roles assigned require incorporation of all skills learned, with increasing commitment to imaginative, deeply engaged and extensively researched work.

Building on the work of Acting III, Acting IV is an advanced scene study in extended, multicharacter scenes from a wide variety of leading playwrights. Students will apply all elements of acting technique, including Moment to Moment Connection, Objectives, Actions/Intentions, Relationship, Emotional and Physical Preparation, Conditioning Forces, Building Character, Place and Script Analysis/Research, as well as application of accent work as appropriate to the character and the world of the play.

This course develops the student’s ability to maintain optimal use in daily activities and apply Alexander principles and procedures to the demands of actor training.

This course includes intensive individual study and development of the student’s vocal instrument. The content will include exercises that develop the instrument at the respiration, phonation, and articulation levels of the instrument within the context of singing. Topics of physical release, breathing coordination, laryngeal settings, resonance, and vowel shaping may be discussed depending on the needs of the specific student to coordinate these elements for the application on various musical styles. Personalized repertoire of the musical theatre canon, as it stands and as it develops, will be developed.

This course develops students’ understanding of musical theater styles, partnering techniques, and the value of moving with dynamic specificity. Each class will contain rudiments designed to develop technical prowess, musicality, physical articulation, and rhythmic precision. Students will also learn combinations of musical theater repertoire in the style of Broadway’s most celebrated choreographers.

Voice and Speech III reinforces the skills from Voice and Speech I and II while developing the foundations of accent/dialect work. The course discusses the differences between language, dialect, accent and idiolect as well as explores the oral postures, pronunciations, and prosodic features that make up an accent. This extension of Voice and Speech serves to help the actor develop more nuanced characters and make more specific acting choices through given circumstances including but not limited to race, ethnicity, class, geographical and cultural background that would affect a character’s speech. Approaches to accents of the English language as well as accents of non-English languages will be explored.

Building upon the work of On-Camera Technique: Fundamentals, students work on television and film scenes on camera, honing their text analysis and acting skills for media performance. Through rehearsal, taping scene work and viewing final edited scenes, students develop crucial skills for working in front of the camera.

This course applies both spoken and sung vocal technique within the context of acting. The focus of the course is mostly vocal as skills like using song as action and smooth transitioning between spoken and sung dialogue will be explored.

Students continue the study and application of advanced acting techniques through rehearsal and performance of roles in advanced scenes.

Students continue the study and application of acting techniques through rehearsal and performance of roles in full-length productions.

This course examines the business of acting, including headshots, resumes, agents, casting directors, unions and other aspects related to the development of a professional actor’s career in theater, film, and television. Students develop profiles for casting platforms and a financial and marketing plan to launch professional careers.

This course prepares students to audition for professional musical theatre. Students learn how to find auditions, read a breakdown, prepare material, select appropriate cuts, and what to expect in the audition room. Emphasis is placed on guiding the actor to select the very best material to market their unique self, culminating in building a professional audition book.

This course examines and discusses forms, styles, and practices of performance, relevant to the actor, as it exists within diverse cultures and time. Contemporary and historical performance of musical theatre, both international and domestic, will be studied, compared, and contrasted through assigned musicals, texts and dramaturgical research.