The Acting Without Agony Academy

TECHNIQUE

The technique we use at The Academy is a very quick and easy way to work in today's fast paced Hollywood entertainment industry. Below are the basics of the lessons we teach at the Acting Without Agony Academy.

The Technique offers an Alternative to the Method and teaches another way of arriving at emotions. It further maintains that acting should be fun. Not a self-dissecting experience. This technique gives you a very simple, structured way of working without making acting a complex, traumatic, painful experience. Furthermore, this technique will help you learn how to analyze a scene and to create the most believable, entertaining characters possible in a very short period of time - which is required in today's fast paced Hollywood entertainment industry

THE FOUNDER - DON RICHARDSON

The Lessons we teach are based upon the lessons of the late Don Richardson, author of Acting Without Agony, An Alternative to The Method.

1919-1996

"Get your notebooks."

Don Richardson - founder, Author, and teacher, directed over 800 television shows in his time. Some of which include: GET SMART, ONE DAY AT A TIME, LOST IN SPACE, THE DEFENDERS, BONANZA, etc. He directed theatre productions on Broadway and has taught many legendary actors including Grace Kelly and Spencer Tracy.

Mr. Richardson devised a technique that was quite different from the torturous 'Method.' If you ever studied 'Method' acting, then you know that specific types of acting techniques can be painful, even torture. Some have said that the acting technique they have used is even worse than therapy. Well, there is an alternative to this. You can learn a technique which has been used for many years by actors from Grace Kelly to Spencer Tracy!

He directed over 800 television shows (including such legendary shows as GET SMART, BONANZA, LOST IN SPACE, and ONE DAY AT A TIME), directed Broadway Theatre Productions, won numerous Emmy awards and taught actors for over 40 years. He taught such legendary actors such as Grace Kelly, Anne Bancroft, Zero Mostel, and Spencer Tracy, to name a few.

Below are the basics of the lessons we teach at the Acting Without Agony Academy.

STYLES OF ENTERTAINMENT

There are many different types of entertainment we play: Drama, comedy, farce, modern tragedy, mystery, etc.... We have only named a few but as actors need to know how to play them all. **In fact, all different styles of entertainment have a different purpose in how they are to affect the audience.

Here are some brief examples:

*In a Drama the goal is to Move the audience to Feel.

*In a comedy the goal is to Amuse the audience.

*In a Farce the goal is to get 'Big Laughs.'

*In a Mystery the goal is to induce as much Tension into the audience and keep them on the edge of their seats.

There are specific tools we give you to help you mold the audience and get the crowds laughing where you want them to, or move them to tears at a specific dramatic moment.

COMEDY

Teaching comedy is one of the things we specialize in. Many actors and comics come to us so that they can learn how to get laughs in a scene when they are playing a believable character. There are specific principles of comedy - from how to set up a joke, to specific tools to get the audience laughing exactly where you want them to. Comedy is like a science and needs to be very specific. The timing of a joke can make or break the moment. Acting in a comedic role can be a lot of fun when you know the tools; otherwise, it can be very intimidating.

*The good thing is that comedy can be taught. Many of our students work regularly on sitcoms, commercials and comedic films. Some are stand up comedians who want to learn how to use their comedic ability in a role and still keep the character real and believable, and some are actors who want to not just play dramatic parts, but to play comedy, too.

After all, most of the shows on television are comedic, and if you can’t play a comedy, you’re eliminating a significant amount of potential work. The important thing to remember is that once you know the tools of comedy, it’s very exciting to plan your performance and get the crowd laughing when and where you want!

EMOTION

One of the main principles of the technique at the school pertains to 'evoking emotion.' Emotion is the intensity you feel in your body when you are angry, sad, happy, anxious, etc... It's the intensity that you feel in every pore of your body when you are really happy. At the Academy we teach actors how to create this quality on command, in a very quick and reliable way.

BELIEVABILITY

As actors, is doesn't matter what we do to 'jazz up a scene' if it's not real and believable. Remember that being real is acting. It's not about 'doing a tap dance.' Although we address creating interesting moments in a scene to get laughs or create suspense, even more focus is placed on being a real person in the scene. You will 'wow them' by bringing yourself to the role and really believing that you are the character you're playing in the given scene - reacting to the given circumstances as a real human being.

SCENE STUDY

After you book the job, you will need to build the roll. To do this you must create a character that has a lasting impact on the viewer. With regards to scene study, the students bring in a prepared scene to class that they find on their own or one that is given to them by the instructor. Then rehearse it outside of class (at a planned rehearsal) and perform it in class soon after. The instructor will give them notes on how to improve it, and the students work on it the following week, and bring it in again.

COLD READ / AUDITION TECHNIQUE

How to 'WOW' the casting director & Impress them so that they remember you. Some of the important tools include:

*Taking risks in your choices but making sure you're still telling the story the author intended to be told.

*How to react and listen in the scene.

*When to look up from the scene and when it's OK to read the lines if they aren't memorized.

*How to prepare for the audition.

*Over - learning the role so that you can perform at your potential under duress and pressure.

*Bringing yourself to the role.

*Take over the room and entice the casting director to want to know you.

*Last but not least, how to rehearse for an audition when you don't have a scene partner to practice with, and Making the scene real to you.

[ Home ]