Choosing an acting school – do your homework…

Let’s face it, just about anyone can read a few books and set themselves up as an acting coach/acting school, so prospective students owe it to themselves to do their research.

Any reasonable coach/school will let you sit in on a class. If you are asked to pay for this privilege (i.e. HB Studio) or it simply is not an option, then proceed with caution. It may simply be a way of filtering out people who only have a passing curiosity.

Consider taking notes in the class if you find this helpful (without missing what’s actually going on), go away and think about it. If your still happy see if you can sign up for a single lesson before paying up front for a bunch of lessons.

You can only learn so much from watching other people…

If you do sign up for a single class, have something prepared! Have something prepared even if you’re just auditing, you may get a chance to work. What you have prepared might not be perfect (if it is, what are you doing in an acting class?), you might not know people in the class, it doesn’t matter. There’s no point in sitting in on a class for free and then paying for the privilege to sit in again. It is essential for an actor to get into the habit of having work prepared for every class. It really is a wasted opportunity to miss the chance to work in class.

Have a clear idea of what you are trying to achieve in your scene/monolog (you need to have a point of reference not some vague idea). Then consider the teachers feedback in light of what you were trying to do. Do the comments from the teacher help you, encourage you, inform you, or not?

You will need to find a teacher that can help you where you are now to get to where you want to go—sounds obvious but I’ve seen this often; an actor stays in a class because they like their classmates and tutor. They do not have a reason to be in the class other than it feels familiar and comfortable. Don’t be this person, reassess your progress regularly. It is a great bonus to get on with the people you're training with, but if you approach your class like some kind of private club you are only cheating yourself and will eventually leave feeling disappointed.

Don’t settle for tutors that tell you something was good or bad without any explanation, look for tutors that can tell you why something did or didn’t work.

Many acting schools have summer workshops, if you are considering a length of study of 1 to 2 years then taking a summer school or workshop can be very worthwhile in terms of helping you make an informed decision. You may even have the opportunity to work with teachers that teach the full-time program. At the very least you will get a feel for the school and will have some idea if you will be happy there.

Some other things to consider:

Can they teach me to act?
Can I learn what they’re teaching?
Can I be happy there?

Can they teach me to act?

The question is really can they teach anyone to act!? Check out the end of term/year shows. This (good or bad) will give you some idea of what you can expect.

Can I learn what they’re teaching?

Do I want to learn what they teach? Find out what their teaching system is, ask for an outline of their syllabus. If they don’t have one then they don’t know what they’re teaching. If you think it’s mumbo jumbo then it will be (for you). If you think its solid and makes sense, then again, it will (for you).

Can I be happy there?

I suppose the question is, can I be happy anywhere? It’s a tough one, happiness is subjective, happiness is relative. Certainly if you are happy with the school and the teachers-which you can choose (though you can’t choose your classmates), you stand to learn a lot more than if you hate the place the moment you set eyes on it, or walk through the door.

During an acting class you may hear a teacher say “it’s not about you”, in acting terms they may be correct, however, when it comes to choosing a place to study, it IS about you. It’s your time, your money, your life, so you owe it to yourself to do your research, make informed choices and then reassess, making any necessary adjustments along the way.

If you can enjoy the acting training you undertake now, you will be able to look back on it in the future and enjoy it second time around.