Teen Actor's Lab

Teen Actor's Lab www.teenactorslab.com
www.instagram.com/teenactorslab
www.twitter.com/teenactorslab
www.vine.co/teena Just starting out and wanting to build up confidence?

"the best place for teens to study acting"

Teen Actor’s Lab is for passionate young actors of all levels. Have some experience, but ready to take it to the next level? The Lab is a supportive and creative place to learn the technique and skills needed to work on great roles. Matt and Sarah’s classes have earned a reputation for serious fun and excellence. All classes culminate in a showcase per

formed for invited audiences, including industry guests. Classes currently run three hours, once per week. Sessions vary from 8 to 12 weeks in length.

-Scene Study
-Private coaching
-Audition coaching: Get help preparing for auditions! Go into the room with the confidence, technique and choices that will help land jobs.
-On-set prep: Did you book it? We’ll help make sure you go to set prepared!
-Private acting session: Get specialized, one-on-one attention in scene and monologue work.
-Career consultation: Specially tailored advice on agents and managers, headshots, auditions, training & more.


-On-set coaching: Matt and Sarah are available for work as Performance Consultants to television networks and film studios.

It's really such a gift to be an actor. Some of your life “stuff” comes up and you get to heal it. Sometimes, there's ...
12/05/2020

It's really such a gift to be an actor.

Some of your life “stuff” comes up and you get to heal it. Sometimes, there's just no other way but to heal through acting.
Your wounds will come right up and you’ll say "Oh hello! I guess I have deal with you now."
What a gift!
So much of my own profound healing and so many things that I’ve been able to face has been because of acting.

Being an actor is not just a gift to the world, but it's a gift to ourselves.

Has acting helped you heal? How has acting profoundly changed you?

Even though the WAITING ROOM is now a Zoom chat, you can still USE your environment to propel you and move you forward. ...
12/01/2020

Even though the WAITING ROOM is now a Zoom chat, you can still USE your environment to propel you and move you forward. Don’t let the new virtual world of auditions distract you from your purpose!

Did setting up Zoom stress you out? USE IT ✨
Dog barking in the background? USE IT ✨
Audition space too small? USE IT ✨

Every piece of life that happens around us can be used to fuel our motives - even for just a moment.

“Embrace your imperfections”. I call BS. This got me thinking acting and how this idea is harmful to you and your craf...
12/01/2020

“Embrace your imperfections”. I call BS.

This got me thinking acting and how this idea is harmful to you and your craft.

You already know that acting with a mirror on yourself leads to a heady performance. But, if you do act and watch yourself, somewhere in there you may have a belief operating about perfection— needing to be good, needing to be right...wanting validation from your art. But this is no path to truthful, impactful storytelling. Or happiness, for that matter.

So, naturally many smart actors, in the quest for truth, have been led to believe they need to “embrace their imperfections”, find the beauty in them, show up in their Instagram stories with no makeup and show all your fabulous “flaws”...

But what if there WERE NO FLAWS? Why is it framed like that?

helped me learn this: The idea of embracing our imperfections means that somewhere out there, there is some perfect human we’re striving to become and everything less than that coveted perfect is flawed. But isn’t it true that all of us humans have stuff we’re working on? We all have challenges, hiccups…we make mistakes.

Yes we can do better sometimes, but it does not mean we are broken.

Like, share this post and drop a

Happy Thanksgiving a day late because I was busy doing these lovely things with my ❤️s. Missing extended family and fri...
11/27/2020

Happy Thanksgiving a day late because I was busy doing these lovely things with my ❤️s. Missing extended family and friends in these more pod-focused times... know you are all on my mind and I can’t wait to hug and dance and sneeze together in the near future! Join me in making this whole holiday season about gratitude and all the things that make our lives so rich. I’m feeling grateful for my health, the health of my family, the love and support in my life, for the simple fact that all of my basic human needs are met and for binge-worthy/trashy love stories. What are you grateful for?

Ever been through this?A big audition finally comes through, you know the one-- the one you've been waiting for all year...
11/25/2020

Ever been through this?

A big audition finally comes through, you know the one-- the one you've been waiting for all year...or maybe all career?

You do all your work: You get off-book and do your prep, you break it down and understand the objectives and obstacles and actions, you build relationships to the PPOE, you find the rhythm and stakes, etc. You even read it with an actor friend and get it on its feet.

And for some dang reason you're still not buying yourself in the role. (And you can tell -- your friend isn’t buying it either.)

HOW can this be happening after all your and hard work?

Panic. Code red! You go over your lines 8 million more times (even though you know them). You rethink your choices. Change your outfit. You call your friend and cry.

What would you do next?

Read the rest inside the Actors With Purpose Facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/actorswithpurpose



And of course this applies to actors. Drop YES in the comments if you agree! Repost thanks!
11/24/2020

And of course this applies to actors. Drop YES in the comments if you agree! Repost thanks!

I’ve told my students this story over the years which illustrates this point perfectly. I first met .shanley in my 20s ...
11/21/2020

I’ve told my students this story over the years which illustrates this point perfectly. I first met .shanley in my 20s as the reader for the auditions of his then new play Sailor Song at . (Btw I was sh*tting myself nervous as a young actress who had worked on and studied many of his plays, as many of you have.) The doors to the flew open with a bang and before anyone could speak he exploded (in the purest Bronxian declaration): “I FELL IN LOVE ON THE SUBWAY!”, his long legs propelling him across the , almost in a fury, to where he collapsed in the chair provided with a regretful plop. “But I’m over it now, I’m over it....” and with that he departed into a about the woman from the R train I was certain would surface in his next play, perhaps the sequel to Savage in Limbo.

Actors get so afraid of being too big — and there’s this ever increasing pressure to throw it all away — that they shrink themselves into mediocre mumblers with nothing at stake. They make it sound “natural” to save themselves from the agony of risking the dreaded “larger than life” or “over the top”.

Imagine if in had played naturalism in with “ I LOST MY HAND, I LOST MY BRIDE!” ?

My dear friends: Stay connected to the truth and be bold.

Thanks to JPS for the juicy teaching material!

Amen ! The best feeling of all is standing in your power with zero apology and owning your badassery! When you no lo...
11/21/2020

Amen ! The best feeling of all is standing in your power with zero apology and owning your badassery! When you no longer need the approval of the or the or your agent or your mom , that’s when the magic happens! Thanks for posting! ❤️

I’ve learned today is I wouldn’t be an entrepreneur if it weren’t for many people who have inspired me but I have es...
11/17/2020

I’ve learned today is

I wouldn’t be an entrepreneur if it weren’t for many people who have inspired me but I have especially enormous gratitude for my very special mentor and friend who taught me so much about how to run a thriving business.

Dallas started as a business coach for actors which is where I learned that actors are also entrepreneurs. When I started to really see myself that way, things shifted in my life. I use so much of what she taught me then in the business side of what I do now but I also use it in my coaching work with actors— helping them take potent action as the CEO of their empire.

It’s funny, this picture is 21 year old me (photo credit ) before I really learned to own my badass entrepreneur self, but I like it because I can see that I’m on my way there...sorta faking it till I “made it.” Still working on that.

Dallas taught me to do less more often. To take care of my core first. And above all, to trust myself above any coach out there. All of it advice I circle back to often. Thanks, Dallas!

What’s the best advice you have ever received, acting repeated or otherwise? As an actor, do you think of yourself as an entrepreneur?

How will you love yourself this week? Pick up a new scene? Read a play by your favorite playwright? Write the fir...
11/17/2020

How will you love yourself this week? Pick up a new scene? Read a play by your favorite playwright? Write the first scene of the pilot in your head? Work on your voice every day? Invest in a mentor? Share in the comments below and I’ll check back in and hold you accountable this week via DM!            
   

I loved the question that came up in our ACTION focused workshop today around how to have a healthy prep process for aud...
11/11/2020

I loved the question that came up in our ACTION focused workshop today around how to have a healthy prep process for auditions— and if in fact there is such a thing. “Rehearse!” “Don’t rehearse!” “Get out of your head!” “Get IN your head!”

What’s an actor to do?

Of course I believe there is, without a doubt, a way to be prepared, to use technique and still be in the moment and spontaneous. You CAN get it, it just takes practice.

Fabulous group of today, I enjoyed every minute! Thank you all ❤️

What about you? Do you have a “healthy” process for that works?

           
   

This is for real what my tea bag says.
11/08/2020

This is for real what my tea bag says.

I love this trend and I want to play! I just found this pic of me for Girl With a Dragon Tattoo and I had totally f...
11/06/2020

I love this trend and I want to play! I just found this pic of me for Girl With a Dragon Tattoo and I had totally forgotten about it! (One day I’ll tell you the story of my amazing capture and death scene nobody ever saw!)

my big dream then ➡️ being the lead in a quirky disfunctional family indie film

my big dream now ➡️ creative fulfillment, quality time in nature with my family, having my own schedule, owning a business that does work I’m proud of

my dream life then ➡️ fast paced hustle life and late night dinners with friends

my dream life now ➡️ lakes and rivers and trees and family and early night dinners with my family and friends

my dream vacation then ➡️ rugged travel adventures in foreign lands

my dream vacation now ➡️ five-star-luxury-anything where I never have to move

my go-to cocktail then ➡️ Patron shaken with Cointreau and fresh lime

my go-to cocktail now ➡️

my go-to mindset then ➡️ I’m not good enough.

my go-to mindset now ➡️ I’ve got this 💪🏻

my biggest support system then ➡️ Matt Pittenger

my biggest support system now ➡️ Matt Pittenger (and my two girls!!)

what are your best THEN and NOWs?

(Kids contemplating future garden bed plans)Life during COVID update! 1) Our Original Project was a HUGE HIT you guys!2...
11/05/2020

(Kids contemplating future garden bed plans)

Life during COVID update!

1) Our Original Project was a HUGE HIT you guys!

2) Kids still begging for a pet though there’s still less than a one percent chance we can be convinced…

3) I haven’t exercised since ohhhh, say August…?

4) We are about to launch Original Project 2.0 in December and (I think…!) we are lucky enough to have and coming as guests! 🤞

5) COVID Halloweens are more fun.

6) I am roasting chicken in the toaster over because the oven died in February.

What is your latest COVID / exercise / work / kid / pet / shenanigan update?

10/27/2020

You love acting. Me too. But so many actors are frustrated at the lack of opportunity or are feeling challenged creatively... So many actors are tired of playing type or hearing “we don’t know where to put you”. You JUST WANT TO ACT! Any of this resonate?

I’m so in love with this class and these actors. I love nothing more than pouring myself into a creative project and I feel so crazy lucky that with this class not only do I get to help develop a new story and teach craft to but I get to help them solve a lot of those issues I mentioned at the top.

If you want to see these actors perform their story live or learn more about the next series which kicks off in December drop ME in the comments and I’ll send you an invite to learn more. ❤️

Happy birthday, Jack! Zoom-theatre-rehearsal-birthday-parties are totally a thing. . Check out the link in my bio ...
10/15/2020

Happy birthday, Jack! Zoom-theatre-rehearsal-birthday-parties are totally a thing. .
Check out the link in my bio if you want to know what we’re up to...

Posted • There are many reasons to on the proposed contract. We do not throw our own out of our lifeboats. This “de...
07/19/2020

Posted • There are many reasons to on the proposed contract. We do not throw our own out of our lifeboats. This “deal” does that in ways that are shocking.
•
The trickery, gutting of insurance & pension - which under these terms virtually no one will meet minimums on - the giving away our rights in terms of exclusivity - studios will own us in ways that go far beyond what they have before - the lies that hundreds of millions in profits have been increased for actors? Nope. Only 9% of the claimed number is actually an increase. The rest is smoke & mirrors.
•
But for me, there is NO more egregious giveaway or giving up on our rights than in terms of protections on set for the potential to s*xually exploit performers during “intimate” scenes. Love scenes, s*x scenes, scenes requiring partial or full nudity should be where actors are PROTECTED. The ACTRA contract in Canada just won (actually) record breaking protections for us & our bodies. SAG Aftra claims it did. AFTER the ACTRA deal was signed by the very same studios. SAG didn’t even fight to match it, let alone aim higher. Sets often have upwards of 70 people on them. Everyone with a smart phone. EVERYONE with access to monitors. The ability to capture footage & imagery of actors when they are at their most vulnerable? To traffic those images? To violate our personhood rather than protect us? I cannot believe they’d GIVE THIS AWAY. The lack of support persons are offensive, especially for young men, women, and non-binary actors who are often at the greatest risk for inappropriate pressure. The lack of any REAL protections or equity for our BG is equally offensive. We can’t do our jobs without BG. They do not deserve to be pressured in terms of their bodies, blackballed if they say no (the one day pay doesn’t help) OR be paid less if they do decide to participate in intimate scene material. Footage is NEVER destroyed after picture is locked?!
•
Our union, in 2020, three years into hitting Hollywood, with as a resource, threw us away like this?? And then told us aggrandizing, non-specific lies about their “wins” for us?? This is beyond the pale.

This truth speaks to many of us but man, how relevant is this for ? As you already know, control is the actor’s enemy....
07/17/2020

This truth speaks to many of us but man, how relevant is this for ? As you already know, control is the actor’s enemy. What can you playfully practice loosening the reins on a bit this week?

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Telephone

310.428.7055

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