I Don't Need an Acting Class

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...

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber for bonus content! ⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠⁠⁠ This week, Milton talks about the importance of having a clear impulse for all of our work so that we “earn” the text. Nothing starts from nothing or nowhere. We’re always somewhere, in a particular circumstance, with something going on which gives us the impulse for the scene, the...

This week, Milton addresses a frequently asked question: how much information do we need when building the past of a character? As individuals, we may desirer (or require) different facts or details or tools. However, there are some “indisputables.” It’s vital to be able to differentiate what information is essential in order for us to play a role, and this is a skill that develops with experience...

Last season, Milton suggested that one way we can go about developing a character is by asking ourselves, “who is this person most?” In this episode, he reconsiders that idea. (Can you imagine? An acting teacher admitting they might have been wrong and changing their mind? Who’s ever heard of such an anomaly!) But as his own understanding of character work progresses, Milton questions whether aski...

Learning to act is not something you do in one year. It takes a lifetime. In the same way, doing a play isn’t something you can take on in one night. It’s a process. Stella told a student once that if she could learn one new thing a year, she’d be on the right path. Stanislavsky likened doing a play to going on a journey and making many unexpected stops along the way that added to the overall jour...

The lineage of this podcast is derived from the teaching of Stanislavsky and Milton’s teacher Stella Adler, who, among other things, taught her students to aspire towards the big ideas we communicate as actors, (ideas which are far bigger than us.) This is the thrill of acting— entering a different universe, a different skin. It is always a chance for growth. “Your attitude shouldn’t be: oh, I hav...

Very few directors speak the language of acting or have any real idea about what we do. So most of them give us “effect directions,” such as: “play it angrier,” or…”the scene needs to be more intense.” But if we play “anger” or “intensity” or any result, we’ll end up playing a cliche, an idea of an experience that we’ve absorbed from watching film and television. Therefore, we have to be able to t...

When breaking down a script, a profoundly important question to consider is: how does the time period in which this play takes place affect my character? It’s not just something you want to understand intellectually; it has to affect you experientially. The time frame is an enormous part of the given circumstances and we must take the time to consider how it influences our characters’ behavior. In...

This week’s episode is an excerpt from Milton’s current script analysis class which gives us insight into how we might begin to approach a play, or any piece of text. Using one of his favorite examples, Clifford Odet’s The Country Girl , Milton introduces some fundamental principals of script analysis: the playwright writes out of his social circumstances; the playwright has something to say that...

This week’s episode begins with an analysis of Aunjanue Ellis’ performance in the film King Richard and why it’s an example of great acting. Her interior life is so complete and rich that we, as an audience, are able to see (and more importantly, feel) the character’s struggle without any dialogue to reveal plot or exposition. How do we bring this level of depth to our work? One way is to talk out...

This week, Milton continues the conversation of expanding the characters we play far beyond ourselves. While it’s true that our choices must feed us as actors, our choices must also feed our characters (who don’t know they are living out our choices— they’re just living their lives— and will respond to our choices differently than we will.) In this episode Milton uses the example of Willy Loman in...