I Don't Need an Acting Class

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber for bonus content! ⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠ This episode continues the discussion of how to build character. Specifically— how to avoid cliches by remembering that no person is just one thing. Using the tenants of script analysis, finding clues (or facts) in the text about your character is the first step. As you allow these fa...

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber for bonus content! ⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠⁠ Happy New Year everyone! As we begin 2023, we thought it would be helpful to circle back and address some fundamental ideas about character. Like everything else in acting, this is not a cut and dry, fill-in-the-banks process. Sometimes a large piece of a character is their backgroun...

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber for bonus content! ⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠⁠⁠ This week, Milton takes us on a journey through the significance of the “place,” the objects (or props) that live there and our relationship to all of it. He shares an improvisation that JP did for The Glass Menagerie. He wanted to explore Tom’s relationship to his sister Laura’s v...

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber for bonus content! ⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠⁠⁠ Do you ever look around at our world today and think: nothing means anything anymore. So many of us are (understandably) cut off emotionally, desensitized, and this has affected acting today. All too often, we think that arriving at a big idea is where our work ends. In fact, it’s...

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber for bonus content! https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe This episode is a five minute rant from Milton about how we don’t find our lives interesting, which is why we often discourage the approach of “using our own lives” for a part. We fail to see the greatness in our own lives and the universal themes that run through them. We tell our own s...

You can avoid deciding in advance how to play something and marrying yourself to that performance by talking out immediately. But if the first thing you do is go to the words, you’ll be stuck with the words, and nothing but your initial interpretation of the words. Even if your instincts are right on, you run the risk of cementing yourself in a performance, and once that happens, it’s very difficu...

In this episode, Milton coaches Guilherme as he prepares the role of Portuguese Vampire from the 17th Century. He begins by suggesting specific images that will help his development of the character’s physicality and point of view. This eventually leads to a conversation about “objectives” and how using that word can actually get in the way of what’s really going on in the scene and the essence of...

One of Stella Adler’s fundamental exercises was a visualization exercise. This is something we can do anytime and anywhere— walking down the street, driving down the highway, standing in the shower. The more you train yourself how to see, the more specific your work will become, and the more the images will feed you emotionally. But this is not work you can do intellectually, deciding beforehand w...

This episode, an excerpt from Milton’s Script Analysis class, examines the importance’s of understanding the deeply human struggle of the playwright and how those struggles are infused into their characters. Using The Glass Menagerie, Milton talks about letting the “active facts” about a character seep into the actor’s consciousness over time, keeping in mind the enormity of the theme that the cha...

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber for bonus content! https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe One of the cornerstones of being believable is the ability to connect to the material. And we have to know what it feels like to be connected, so that when we’re not, we do more work to get there. But being believable is just one prerequisite. We also have to be interesting to watch and...

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber for bonus content! https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe At the end of the day, the technique is there for those moments we feel absolutely panicked and lost, like we have no idea what we’re doing. Maybe we’re staring blankly at a script thinking: I don’t know how to prepare, or where to start. Maybe we’re on stage and have no idea why the cho...

This episode features a work session with Kaleb on the character of Joe Pitt in Angels in America. It’s a rough one. But we’re not releasing this to abuse Kaleb any more than he already has been. We’re sharing this because so many of us make the mistake of inventing a backstory or past that has nothing to do with the facts of the play, don’t serve the play and therefore don’t help us ground oursel...

The reason we analyze text is so we can make discoveries that will bring us to life and bring depth to our work as actors. Gaining a deeper understanding of the play opens up a world of possibilities when it comes to our choices. However, we always want the play to dictate the choices we make. In this episode, Milton shares an example from Angels in America. Louis and Prior have been together for...

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber for bonus content! https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe Most of the time, when we have a last minute audition, there’s no way we can accomplish everything. The best way to approach it is to pick a few things we want to work on. Sometimes it’s getting clear about the sequence of thoughts and making sure we have a specific relationship with eve...

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber for bonus content! ⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠⁠⁠ Welcome to Season 5 of I Don’t Need an Acting Class! Milton begins the season asking the class to reflect on their biggest takeaways and revelations. Among them: how easy it is to jump to a performance; how researching the time period and social circumstances helps our creativity c...

Hello friends, listeners, actors and artists. Today we're making a small request that you rate and review the podcast if it has helped you in any way. This simple gesture will help us return with a fifth season and continue the show indefinitely. Thank you in advance! 

Dear listeners, We're gonna take a short break before we return with Season 5. In the meantime, please keep your acting questions coming. You can email Milton at: questionsformilton@gmail.com Thank you so much!

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber for bonus content! ⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠⁠⁠ Whether you’re in an audition, in rehearsal or standing on stage during a performance, most of us know what it’s like to have a scene partner who gives you absolutely nothing. The unfortunate news is that we can’t blame our performance on our scene partners. The good news is: we ca...

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber for bonus content! https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe This week, we take a break from script analysis, and Milton shares a private coaching session with a new student. He covers some fundamentals such as talking out in order to grasp the sequence of thoughts, and take ownership of the text so that everything you talk about is filled and you...

Tennessee Williams was keenly interested in outcasts, artists and wounded people like himself. He also wrote about the south and regardless of where his character’s find themselves, the mentality of the south looms large, whether they are holding onto their heritage or pushing it away. As Milton looks at his play The Glass Menagerie in this episodes, he allows himself to swim through it, giving us...

This episode begins with Milton giving general notes on plays, and then gets more specific to the work of Tennessee Williams. The world of Tennessee Williams is one of fantasy and escape because of the characters’ inability to face reality. The create and live in their own world because as Stella Adler said of Tennessee’s characters: “they are people at their end of their ability to cope.” Have an...

In this episode, Milton walks us through the shift that took place in the late 19th century when writers began writing about real people. Plays became much more complex and based on the interior life of their middle class characters, as opposed to being centered around the aristocracy which was larger than life and less personally relatable to an audience. Therefore, a new form of acting was calle...

When we first sit down with a play, it’s far too easy to rush through it and start getting preoccupied about how we're going to "play it." Our minds start racing, we get overwhelmed and we start making decisions too soon. We have to fight this impulse. Your first time reading through a script, you want to go really slow and just register first impressions. Then when you go back, you will start get...

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber for bonus content! ⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠⁠⁠ In this second part of ABCs of Auditioning, Milton applies all the concepts mentioned in the last episode to Teo’s audition for a police procedural, in which he was given two lines and no information. This is a practical example of knowing what world you’re in, understanding the fu...

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber for bonus content! ⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠⁠⁠ There are certain fundamental steps we can take when analyzing sides or preparing audition material. These concepts will help you understand where to begin, determine what work you need to do and inform the choices you make. This is a two-part episode. Next week, Milton will apply...