Act One Studios

Awesome education; sore ass.

This place is really so thorough and fantastic. If you want to figure out the whole acting world and get awesome training this is probably the best place to do that in this city. The curriculum is well thought out and can take you everywhere. I never realized how nuanced this business was from theater acting, to tv and film to commercial training, and to the audition process and even just how to manage your life as a full time actor. They will try and hold your hand every step of the way if you want them to.

The teachers have tons of real life experience, and so far I've liked all 3 teachers I've had here. I've taken 4 different classes for over a years worth of training, and I will come back for sure. If you are a complete beginner, I recommend Derrell Capes for your Fundamentals classes. He's pretty intimidating at first, but you'll get over all of that, and he's brilliant.

My only complaint is that the place needs to invest in some new chairs. You sit in these classes and watch your fellow students for a good chunk of a 3 hour class, and these seats might have been comfy in 1983. Now they're just torture.

I take Meisner at Act one and I love the classes and my teachers. I have learned valuable things that have pushed me to a whole new level of exploring who I am so I can open up and be vulnerable.

I am trying to have no Ego,open up. and have no barriers. I am slowly getting there but it takes time.

Even Dustin Hoffman had to take an acting class.

I don't have any experience acting, or previously taking acting classes, so you can take this review with a grain of salt.

I signed up for Fundamentals of Acting 1 with a couple friends of mine, and we all had a really great experience. John Green was our instructor and he was really professional, really well prepared for class, and the lessons and exercises were so much fun. I actually have a lot more confidence that I can, well, ACT! Which is awesome. We're all signing up for Fundamentals 2 with him, and are really excited.

Also, you can get a discount on classes if you sign up early enough, and if you take another class consecutively. Highly recommend ActOne (and John Green) to anyone interested in learning the fundamentals of acting!

As I round out my final week of Fundamentals III and prepare for showcase I am thoroughly excited and grateful. I have had the great opportunity to take all three Fundamentals classes with instructor Deborah Ann Smith and I have learned so much! I even had the opportunity to study with Grant Stokes in one sub class and he is just as brilliant!

Specifically about the classes, they teach listening, truth and strip you of the things you may have thought were acting before you came in the door. Basically if it isn't real, the audience won't believe it. With instructed focus on Uta Hagen's techniques I've been able to ACT truthfully! I could write a book about my experiences, but this is a review so I'll move on.

Learning from Deb has been phenomenal! Some say she's intimidating and even a B*&^%, but it's really just tough love. How else are you going to be prepared for the wolves when you're out there?! This business is 90% rejection (not an actual statistic) and if you don't have tough skin, you may as well hang it up NOW! Deb prepares you for auditions, teaches exercises, scene study, script analysis, working with other actors, using nerves, grounding yourself, and more! She is firm, but caring and focused on you bringing out your BEST at all times. I would take another one of her classes but she has encouraged us to start auditioning after Fundamentals III, then we can supplement our "field experience" with more classes, but make sure we don't hide behind the classes.

Truth be told, you will never stop learning in this industry, so I'm glad she has encouraged us to audition. I've booked 6 auditions this month alone, landed a role in an upcoming play and landed a role in a webisode. Many thanks to Deb, Grant and the AOS team. You have my vote! :)

I just completed my first class at ActOne and I enrolled in another. They run a great, legitimate program, and the classes are kept small enough to give the student enough individual attention. The staff is very experienced and seasoned. The only downside is that sometimes classes digress into anecdotes about the business that take away from our exercises, or that they call you and strongly encourage you to take another class. Other than that, you are getting your money's worth and having ActOne on your resume cannot harm you in any way. Also, try to get Joanne Sylvestrak as a teacher, she's memorable to say the least.

Seriously disappointing. I wasn't going to write this review since I knew Act One had closed, but now that it's re-opening, I feel as though I should warn people.

I decided to take an acting class a couple of years ago because I found myself presenting a lot for work. I had previously been in an intensive 4-yr program in high school and did some plays in college, but that was a looong time ago. I took Fundamentals of Acting because I thought it would be a great refresher of the basics.

Our teacher was fine. She was nice, seemed knowledgeable enough, and in the few demonstrations she did, it was clear she was a skilled actress (hence the 2 stars). The class itself, however, was terrible.

Our first assignment was fine (basically coming up with a basic blocking exercise), .. but from there it went down hill.

Like another reviewer mentioned, a lot of the class was warm up exercises. Each week we were paired up and given different scenes to practice and peform, and all (except one) were blank type of scenes (just basic lines, without plot, that we had to create a back story for). That was fine a few times, but it would have been nice to get to know a character throughout the class. There is so much that can be learned from making a character your own.

But even that I was fine with. What was awful is that even after weeks, the teacher could not tell any of us apart. She had no individual constructive criticism, just general feedback which didn't seem to help anyone. The one-on-one session was a joke. I was taking an intro class at Second City at the same time (also a one-day-a-week class) and as each week passed, our instructor knew us better and better and was able to provide specific and helpful guidance (And the class size was bigger for crying out loud!) It was astounding to see the difference between the two places.

The other thing I didn't understand is why we weren't given (or able to select) one piece that we could build upon throughout the class. Instead, each week we were given a new scene and students spent more time reading from the paper while performing rather than actually practicing their techniques. Sometimes we were given scenes the same day and that was just pointless. It would have been great if we could have done both new scenes as well as one piece to build upon- no one really knew if they were getting any stronger. We certainly had the time do both.

I wouldn't recommend Act One to anyone. I should have taken intro to acting at Second City. There is clearly a major difference. Since this whole experience I've taken several more classes and workshops at Second City and found them all to be well worth the money. Unless Act One has made significant changes, I'd advise everyone not to waste their time or money.



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Update 7/31/13:
I bumped up my rating because I always appreciate when a business reaches out. Below is most of my message in response to Steve's:
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I appreciate your message and the explanation. I respect the fact that the class was meant for people without any experience, but because I'd previously taken an intro to acting class and was concurrently taking another basic intro class at Second City (also through a YouSwoop deal), the difference was very noticeable. I made a couple of comparisons in my original post that I won't repeat here. I certainly didn't expect any in-depth training, but I felt the fundamentals were lacking. I wasn't told about a placement interview, so maybe that would have helped. I did ask for feedback during the final interview but unfortunately received no individual feedback at all. It had been years since I'd taken an acting course, so fundamentals was really all I was looking for. I'm sure plenty of people have had better experiences at Act One, but it was a disappointing experience for me. I do think it's great business practice that you respond to feedback and provide some insight as to what may have happened. I also appreciate the offer to try another class. I'll have to decline because I just don't think it's a good fit, but it is still very much appreciated. I wish you the best of luck on your re-opening and future endeavors. -S

I am proud to say that I took acting classes at Act One Studios. I have taken classes at other places, just to get a different take or feel, BUT what I have applied to my acting... or writing... or filming has all come back to the nurturing education from Act One Studios.

Aces!!!

I have taken a few classes here over the years, the first when I was pretty new to the scene 10 years ago, and one as recently as last year. I have always been impressed with the level of professionalism that exists here, and most importantly, I have always walked out with practical knowledge that I have been able to apply... much more so than with most university acting classes. All of the teachers are working professionals with long resumes and experience in their fields, and while some are better than others at being teachers, all the ones I have encountered have had something useful to offer me. In particular, I highly recommend Joanne Sylvestek's commercial technique class.

Steve Merle is a great teacher and a great human being. If you are an experienced actor, then I would suggest contacting him to join "The Group". It's a great group of actors that get together to work on scenes, monologues, and cold readings, as well as for social events and watching films.

It's really too bad that Act One closed. I've learned so much and made great friends. I'm excited for their next incarnation!