going to ballet class the first day - told to dance Swan Lake and then told how to do the steps afterwards. It just doesn't make much sense to us. Acting, contrary to popular belief, does have a finite number of concrete and learnable skills. Those include the ability to:

Access the creative imagination

Break down a script

Create a truthful character

Master a strong and flexible body and voice
The Technique Series was developed to give those skills to the actor first, and
then apply them to a performance. It is a great program for the Beginning Actor or for the more experienced actor who wants to refresh his or her tools. The Series is divided into three 12-week sessions:
The Character
The Script
The Foundation
These classes can be taken in any order. Classes run between 3 and 4 hours and students work in every class! No one ever just sits and watches at EMAS. The goal is to develop a comprehensive set of "acting tools" to draw upon when approaching a role or a scene. As a result students acquire confidence, self-awareness, a strong creative spirit and professional work ethic. All the traits needed for an acting career.
CLASS DESCRIPTIONS:
THE CHARACTER gives actors exercises and techniques using both research and imagination to create dynamic, truthful and emotionally alive characters. Actors learn how to place these characters into living relationships and then take the words off of the page and bring them to life in a scene.
THE SCRIPT emphasizes the actors need to be able to break down a scene, relate emotionally to the circumstances, and play the actions of the scene. Focus is placed on making strong choices that keep you engaged with your scene partner, using the language of the playwright to tell your character's story and strengthening the actor's imagination and creativity so that they can be completely believable in the world of the scene.
THE FOUNDATION is an overview class that puts all four major skill sets to work. It is an excellent diagnostic class to let students know how advanced or remedial their skill set is. It allows the actor to assess his or her strengths and weaknesses and rehearse the techniques acquired in previous acting classes.
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