Scene Study Classes
Think of Scene Study as the actor's gym – a must for every performer
Scene Study classes at Michael Howard Studios are composed of select actors conducted under the careful guidance of one of the Studio's professional instructors. The group classes meet the same day every week, on a month-to-month basis.
Each week, actors present scenes that they've selected and rehearsed. Scenes are chosen from stage, film, and TV. It's a chance for you to work on the kinds of roles you want to book and play, as well as to expand your skill set in a supportive and encouraging environment.
After performing your scene in front of the class, you receive constructive feedback and callback notes. You continue to rehearse outside of class with your scene partner, then bring it back in to perform again. The work is intense yet gratifying, building processes and honing techniques that you will apply to your professional work.
Scene Study is unique to American acting training and is the continuity of the actor. Many actors work professionally and come back to the same class over a period of years. The friendships and connections that you make in Scene Study are invaluable and often lifelong.
CADY McCLAIN
Three-time Emmy award-winning actor Cady McClain teaches the Michael Howard technique as she learned it from studying with Michael for eight years (1988 - 1995), during which time she won her first of three Emmy awards. What she calls "Acting With Integrity," begins with floor work and sensory work each session, followed by scheduled presentations of work of the ensemble members' choosing (scene work, monologues, poems, performance art). Focus is on the balance between developing one's toolkit and listening to one's inner guiding voice. Personal responsibility, the actor's role in society, and respectful note-giving are emphasized. This class will help you reclaim your sense of yourself as an artist and put your creativity back under your control. Experienced actors only, please. Audition and/or interview required.
Tuesdays
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
$275/Month
Now interviewing students
Class size limited
MICHAEL COLBY JONES
Michael Colby Jones is the Studio Director at Michael Howard Studios, where he studied with Michael Howard "himself," and has been teaching since 2016. In his Scene Study class, MCJ uses multiple approaches to help students make discoveries rooted in their own physical and vocal instrument to build fully integrated characters, make dynamic and organic choices, engage each individual artist's creativity to personalize the text and liberate character imperatives to drive the story. MCJ creates a warm and safe environment in which actors discover and increase their own resilience to allow for vulnerability and creative risk-taking. Having worked in the full array of media - screen to contemporary stage to classical text - Michael brings his techniques to bear on a broad spectrum of material in class, making all accessible and fully vested with simplicity. "Simple isn't easy, but it's truthful."
Thursdays
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
$325/Month
Now interviewing students
Class size limited
HOWARD MEYER
Learn the foundation of the actor's craft developed by Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasberg and then refined and deepened by Michael Howard. An opening group exercise exploring components of the craft will be followed by discussion and then scene study. Development of complex and deeply honest characters will be emphasized. As risk taking is always supported and encouraged, scenes in class are always considered rehearsals, not performances. Howard is the founding Artistic Director of Axial Theatre (in its 20th season), and has directed at theaters including New York Theatre Workshop, The Playwright's Center, Manhattan Theatre Club, as well as Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre.
Tuesdays
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
$295/Month
Now interviewing students for September class
Class size limited
STEPHEN REICH
Stephen has taught scene study and voiceover technique for all ages for Michael Howard Studios since 2019. Stephen's class is held on Zoom to open access to those that prefer it, and will aim to help actors of all levels understand how to approach scene study and audition technique from a script analysis and performance basis to make the work 'pop', incorporating notions of character, type, and industry know how while helping actors get comfortable with the new age of remote virtual acting and auditioning.
ZOOM CLASS
Tuesdays
5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
$265/Month
Now interviewing students
Class size limited
GABRIELLE BERBERICH
Gabrielle is a casting director, writer, and producer for film and television, as well as the owner of Michael Howard Studios. She follows up her immensely popular Acting for Film & Television Workshop with this ongoing Scene Study Class. Through scene work and text analysis, this class will focus on the passionate pursuit of artistic growth and evolution of today's actor in the American Theatre, including stage, film, and television. In addition, it will serve to assist actors in the craft of acting as a business. Together, this class will have the occasion to draw from the insight and experience of industry guests, including working actors, directors, producers, agents, and managers.
Wednesdays
3:00 PM - 6:00 PM
$350/Month
Now interviewing students for January class
Class size limited
Dynamic Approaches for Young Actors
with Angela Pietropinto
The powerhouse Angela Pietropinto leads this ongoing Scene Study class designed for the passionate up-and-coming actors in their formative years. Angela has worked with some of the industry’s greatest artists including Samuel L. Jackson, Paul Newman, Martin Scorsese, and Sarah Jessica Parker, and is singularly equipped to pass on the knowledge that makes greatness happen. She brings a warm and exciting atmosphere to the studio, creating a space where young artists can take the risks to discover their own talents, and hone them into skills to be used as they enter the professional field. Angela uses improvisation, somatic and vocal exercises, and teaches the fundamental skills of text analysis and dynamic choice-making that are essential to propel a young actor into the professional world of acting. This is the most fun you'll have learning how to be a working actor!
Wednesdays
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
$320
Now interviewing students
Class size limited