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Review content:
I started taking class with Elizabeth three years ago. I was looking for an acting/scene study technique class with a teacher who would push me to be better and be able to tell me exactly what I needed to work on and how. Since moving to Los Angeles, I had gotten involved with a few Theatre companies and gone on auditions for film and television here and there, but didn't feel like I was getting any better at my craft, or closer to becoming a working actor.
I sat in on several acting classes in LA - the big names and the little names - and felt OK about a lot of them, but as soon as I started talking to Elizabeth, I knew I found the class I needed. She is the perfect combination of supportive encourager and ass-kicker. Although incredibly warm and loving towards her students, she does not suffer laziness, flakiness, or stupidity (epidemics in LA!). This creates a wonderful atmosphere at the studio - Elizabeth's students work their behinds off, and love and support each other as they do it.
After a year in her Scene Study class, I decided to take the plunge and enroll in the two-year Meisner Training program. I could not be more thankful that I did. I now know how to act. Really. I know how to approach material, personalize and connect to an emotional life or point of view different than my own, and work moment to moment with my scene partner(s). I no longer ""fake"" my acting, but I behave truthfully under imaginary circumstances.
Not only is Elizabeth herself an amazing teacher, but she also has a knack for searching out the same passion and talents in the other teachers at the studio. Like Elizabeth, many of the teachers come from Bill Esper's run as head of the Rutgers University MFA Acting program. Bill learned the Meisner Technique from Sandy himself, and Meisner named Bill as his successor to the teaching of the technique. Bill then taught Elizabeth while she was completing her MFA, and has endorsed her as his go-to Los Angeles Meisner Technique teacher.
After taking the scene study class, Meisner Technique program, and several workshops at the studio (Commercial Voice Over, Commercial Auditions, Sitcom acting, The Business of the Business), I am well on my way to making this my career. I recently booked a National Commercial, closed a run of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors with a local theatre company, and most importantly, I know what I'm doing.
If you are serious about working as an actor and bettering yourself as an artist, check out EMAS.
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