New York Monologue Coach

09/23/2015

Actors Are Wicked Awful at the Boston Accent. Here’s Why.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/09/16/boston_accent_how_to_video_guide_shows_how_why_bostonian_dialect_is_difficult.html?wpsrc=sh_all_mob_tw_top

Hmmmm. . . interesting. Can you do a good Boston accent?

Johnny Depp (in Black Mass, due out Friday) and Chris Pine (The Finest Hours, coming next year) are the latest actors to attempt Boston accents. Early footage suggests they are also the latest to fumble them, at least partly. Why does Hollywood almost always get the tricky Beantown dialect wrong?...

09/23/2015

This Is What English Actually Sounded Like 500 Years Ago

Interesting listen:
http://encurious.com/post/126332300103/this-is-what-english-actually-sounded-like-500

"Freshly they dresse and make swete my bowre"

08/30/2015

Awful Goodness: What I've Learned About Auditions or, A Love Letter to NY Actors

A very very good read. Send to anyone you know who is a director! Or actor.

http://michaelbarakiva.blogspot.com/2015/07/what-ive-learned-about-auditions-or.html

Ugh this is so infuriating. You paint such a clear picture of how fulfilling and rewarding auditions/callbacks can be and should be, which only makes me realize how AWFUL most of them are! Really insightful article, Michael. Thanks!

08/29/2015

Georgia Engel, a ‘Mary Tyler Moore Show’ Sidekick, Takes a Star Turn

See this show. She is absolutely fantastic. The play is incredible. Annie Baker, Sam Gold, and the Signature Theater. Perfect combo.

Ms. Engel, best known for Georgette on the 1970s sitcom, returns to the stage in the play “John,” which features her in her first leading role.

08/28/2015

Have you been to an EPA today? Best place to brush up on your monologue skillz!

http://www.actorsequity.org/CastingCall/search_new.asp

08/27/2015

Robert Rodriguez on Film Making, Journaling and Being Creative. | The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss

Fearlessly creative and absolutely driven. Boom. Be like this guy.

http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/08/23/the-wizard-of-hollywood-robert-rodriguez/

Filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, editor, & musician - Robert Rodriguez, discusses directing, journaling and the creative process.

08/26/2015

Flash Mob "One More Day" (Les Mis) - West Des Moines Schools - Welcome Back

Back to school never looked this good.

While the West Des Moines Community School District Superintendent was beginning her speech to the staff of WDMCS at the district-wide welcome back meeting, ...

08/25/2015

Shaun Evaristo"Drowning/Banks" @ En Dance Camp Plus 2015

This is super cool.

2013年4月15日に渋谷駅徒歩5分に新規オープン! (1) 初心者専用のゆっくりと丁寧に教えるクラスがいっぱい！ → 未経験の方でも楽しめます！ (2) 講師陣は世界で活躍する日本のトップクラスのダンサーばかり！ → 芸能人の振付師も多数在籍！ (3) 渋谷駅東口徒歩5分（東京メトロ副都心線3番出口徒歩1分） ...

07/17/2015

It's time for another monologue intensive!

07/15/2015

Two Weeks of Status Updates from Your Vague Friend on Facebook - The New Yorker

Friends don't let friends VagueBook.

I want to thank everyone who sent me good vibes yesterday for The Thing I Can’t Tell You About Yet.

07/14/2015

Theatre director goes on 'axe rampage' in Manchester

Guys. Don't do this. It's generally drowned upon.

Turner Prize winner David Gordon has been asked to pay for repairs to the new Home venue

07/13/2015

People Who Are Messy Aren't Lazy, They're Imaginative And Bold

Rehearse in a cluttered room. It may give you a break through. And you might find ten bucks.

It takes courage to embrace disorder.

07/12/2015

‘F*ck That’ Meditation Is No BS

http://yogadork.com/2015/07/08/fck-that-meditation-is-no-bs/

This has some profanity so if that offends you, do not listen. It gives a good laugh and also relaxes. Give it a try.

World got you down? Meditation practice not cutting it? F*ck that. Send the children out of the room for this one. From the creative mind of Jason Headley,

07/12/2015

The Writing Assignment That Changes Lives

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/07/10/419202925/the-writing-assignment-that-changes-lives

Because this totally applies to the theater. And it also doesn't. And I think you should be well rounded and not always do stuff that improves your professional life.

Goal-setting closed achievement gaps in a recent experiment. The key element? Students put their thoughts in writing.

06/23/2015

Playwrights Horizons

Guys, this pertains to many of you. This is as close to free as you can get. Sign up! You owe it to yourself.

BREAKING NEWS: Young Memberships are now FREE! If you're 30 or under, or a student, get access to cheap tickets all season long and join now! http://bit.ly/1Gjh86w

06/10/2015

8 Important Acting Techniques (in Gifs!)

Who doesn't love GIFs? And for those who are often confused by which approach is attributed to which teacher. My students will recognize all of these in some capacity.

Learning about the foundation of acting should be fun (and have gifs)!

06/05/2015

Had a wonderful time with the lovely students in our new 4-week monologue intensive!

05/30/2015

Wanna be a better actor? Watch a ballet.
Wanna be a better actor? Go to the opera.
Wanna be a better actor? Go to an art museum.
Wanna be a better actor? Go to a football game.
Wanna be a better actor? Go volunteer somewhere.

There is more to acting than just acting. A well rounded person is a well rounded artist. And inspiration comes from far more than just your own art form.

05/27/2015

Sanford Meisner said it takes 20 years…

Super short and super simple. I always say take your time. But this brings it to a whole new level.

Meisner Technique, Sanford Meisner, Meisner Acting Classes

05/16/2015

Get your monologues and auditions ready!

05/14/2015

It's time for a monologue intensive!

This Four-Week Monologue Class will equip you with 2 new and unique audition-ready monologues. Also, it will give you a “back pocket” monologue for those auditions where you are asked for “something else.” You will receive professional guidance in matching monologues that best fit your style and acting goals. You will be able to hone your acting skills alongside peers and also observe other students working on perfecting their material. An array of different tools and approaches will be used to lead you to discovering your truest performance for the monologues chosen. At the end of the class you will leave confident and ready for any audition!

Classes are Thursdays from 7-9pm June 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th.

Tuition is $200 which includes all 4 Sessions.

Space is limited so reserve your spot today!

Contact Emma at [email protected] to reserve!

03/23/2015

A very cool play. Makes it slightly terrifying to go online. Excellent writing, a beautiful set, and some stellar acting. Seriously, go see it.

03/18/2015

Perseverance, Power and Push-Up Bras: Unstoppable Women Speak Out On Broadway

So excited to see these shows.

Three boundary-breaking female characters take center stage on Broadway this spring in The Heidi Chronicles, Wolf Hall and Fun Home. We talk to the women who bring their stories to life.

03/18/2015

Amazing performance by Cush Jumbo in her one woman show, "Josephine and I" at The Public Theater. The show is basically a monologue. It doesn't get any more pertinent than this.

03/17/2015

It's a present in the mail every two months.

03/16/2015

Onstage & Backstage: When Carol Channing Went Missing, Why Was She Found Asleep Under a Car?

Know your theater history. No matter how quirky.

A week in the life of actor, radio and TV host, music director and writer Seth Rudetsky.

03/09/2015

The Genius of O'Neill

http://www.americantheatre.org/2015/02/02/the-genius-of-oneill/view-all/

An excellent article on an enigmatic playwright that has shaped our theater.

He wrote his best play last, but it's a mistake to think of the rest of the playwright's thorny, ambitious, stammeringly poetic work as simply a warmup for 'Long Day's Journey Into Night.'

03/05/2015

A Crisis in American Acting

Strongly worded but the sentiment that hard work pays off is something I absolutely strive for with each student that comes in.

In a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly, Jeff Labrecque writes about the incredible influx of British actors in America, and the crisis that is unfolding for American acting. He correctly states that it comes down to one major weakness: training. I believe that the American actor is lazy. The...

03/03/2015

#50 Setting SMART Goals | Vocal Articles

I wrote this. Boom!

Articles And Resources on Singing, Vocal Technique, Voice, Public Speaking, and Speech from the staff of New York Vocal Coaching.

02/24/2015

Jimmy Kimmel Got Actors to Make Fun of Their Profession and It's Perfect

Everyone cool with it if I start teaching like this?

http://www.vh1.com/celebrity/2015-02-23/jimmy-kimmel-mila-kunis-benedict-cumberbatch-acting-school/

Mila Kunis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Redmayne, and more A-list stars prove why we love them, by not taking their jobs too seriously.

02/23/2015

Four hours and forty five minutes of acting fierceatude. Brian Dennehy is remarkable and I love discovering new actors (new to me not new to the craft): Stephen Ouimette. He plays Harry Hope. Do yourself a favor and go watch this man act. I'm ashamed to not have known such a veteran but I will not forget his performance ever.

02/21/2015

I work here.

This is why you should study here: There are puppies!

Our new staff member is getting acquainted with the boss. I think he's winning him over. :)

02/20/2015

Benedict Cumberbatch's Hamlet Will Be Screened in Cinemas Around the World

It's basically an acting lesson. But with a plot. WATCH IT!

The forthcoming production of Hamlet, starring Oscar nominee Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role, that will run at London's Barbican Theatre from August to October, has announced that it will be broadcast to cinemas around the world Oct. 15 as part of National Theatre Live.

02/18/2015

Big Love

Just saw this show last night at The Signature Theatre Company. If you like acting, unique sotry-telling, and bad-ass fight sequences involving a blender, go see this show. Tickets re all $25.00.

http://www.signaturetheatre.org/tickets/production.aspx?pid=3764

Fifty brides flee their fifty grooms and seek refuge in an Italian villa in this modern re-making of one of the world's oldest plays, The Danaids by Aeschylus. Mayhem ensues, complete with grooms in flight suits, women throwing themselves to the ground, occasional pop songs and romantic dances - eve…