Why Should You Be in an Acting Class?

Aren’t the best actors “natural”? Why should you be in an acting class? Well, it’s fun, first of all! If you’re an actor, you want to act, and if you’re in a class, you are guaranteed you get to practice. At our studio, you will get to work every week. Being in a class you can find a supportive community of fellow actors to meet with weekly or more than every week, if your schedule permits. 

Being in class is a really great opportunity to do the thing that you love. Within your new community, you’re going to get to network with other people. You might find an agent, or work on a short film or series, shoot a reel, and get a reader for auditions (your family and friends are over it but won’t tell you). 

You’re going to get a trusted adviser if you’re in an acting class. You should be able to go to your coaches and say, “Hey, will you look at my headshots?” “Can I get your opinion about this?” A good coach is in your corner, and we want you to succeed. 

Here at Speiser / Sturges, we always say we want to get you out of class and on set working. But when you’re done, we expect you back in class. You want to have trusted people in your corner that will help you identify your strengths and weaknesses. You can go to your coach and you can ask what you should be working on, see what your progress is towards your goals. 

In a class, you can check in with your coach because it’s really hard sometimes to know how you’re doing. You might not be booking your auditions so you think you’re not doing a good job, but you might be turning in great auditions and it’s just you weren’t the right person for those parts.

Get yourself into a class to continually practice and work out that muscle, to remind yourself how good an actor you are. Whether or not you’re successful, working right away is not a value on how good you are as an actor. Acting is a skill. It’s an art and a skill, and it can be taught. Something I hear quite often is, “You can’t teach acting.” Yeah, you can! I do! Acting, like painting or dancing, is an art form that helps if you have a natural ability, but all of the greats study at their art.

And perhaps most importantly, class is a safe place to fail. Take a fun risk and challenge yourself, and class is just for that. Maybe you’ve got that accent that you don’t know is 100% yet. You can come in and fail in class. That’s okay, and if you’re not failing sometimes, you’re not challenging yourself. In class, you’ve got a supportive community. Failure doesn’t mean that you’re not a good actor. It means, “Yeah you took a risk!” This is a place to take those risks.

Join a class, and make a commitment to yourself.

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