In the last eight months I have been looking into the idea of running acting workshops that combine technique with healing and meditative practices.
I have set this process in motion with the students I teach on Sundays. Rachelle, my Sound Healer, has come in and worked with the students. They now use toning as a preparation for scene work in the same way they would use Meisner’s repetition exercise.
I have seen these techniques yield tangible results, with blocks being removed to a student’s creativity. This has happened vocally and physically, which I have found heartening.
This technique can work. Yet I have not been able to sit down and formulate a workshop to start a pitch.
This procrastination has been puzzling. Why, if I know this works, and I want to do it, am I not doing it?
The last few months have seen standards slip considerably at the school. Whereas I had felt previously the head of the course and I were on the same page in terms of being professional and shared a desire to push ahead with course structure, now he seemed distracted. I was left hanging over crucial elements of the end-of-year showcase and classes next term.
What kind of audition/interview process would I have? Or would it be open to all?
At an impromptu meeting where he raised issues with several students, I commented that it was interesting how the school’s energy was being weakened by the lethargy of the students.
He agreed and said he had had a spiritual awakening: teaching was not for him! He would be disbanding the school after the showcase. This left me utterly stunned.
Apart from my personal feelings about how I found out, I do feel that the whole experience has taught me some very valuable lessons about how to run an acting school. I have certainly seen how not to run things!
And what is needed on a purely practical level for an endeavour like this: a one-day-a-week acting course. The course would entail legal advice on drawing up a contract for each student; a fees up-front policy to combat no-shows; and flexible, clean and practical rehearsal spaces.
Perhaps I could use the space already being hired by the school for my workshops? Advertising, including research into the best methods of advertising, is important as this was severely lacking in this instance.
Entrance criteria: this again seemed to be sorely lacking. What kind of audition/interview process would I have? Or would it be open to all?
I think some sort of selection process will be needed as the nature of the workshop and my way of working may not be to everyone’s taste. This would need to be more than just a formulaic audition and interview. There is a fine line between excluding those who are unlikely to commit for the long haul and excluding those who may genuinely want to learn something new.
My biggest issue had been with professionalism and dedication. As the term progressed I saw the students were lacking basic skills such as sight reading, vocal range and exercises, physical warm ups, and connecting the craft of acting with voice and body. I know I can provide much better training than this.
So now I know that I am looking to provide something thorough, professional and something I’ve never done before.
I may have been dimly aware of all this, but seeing at first-hand how badly you can run things has really given me food for thought. If I can use this school as a template of what not to do, I can establish the beginnings of what to do.
Sometimes we need to look beyond our competition. In this case I found something close to what I want to do, but which failed nevertheless to meet any objectives.
Now I can examine how those goals could have been met. Then I’ll add my own special mix to it all.
This could be the lightbulb moment I needed; perhaps this was what I was waiting for. It has been a total gift to have the chance to observe the workings of an acting school from the inside.
