Dirty Acting

Intermediate/Advanced 

• Santa Barbara

• 14 Sundays* at 6:30 pm (Pacific), begins January 26th 

• Limit 12 actors. 

"If we actors could only be like the creatures of the forest whose very lives depend upon fully looking and listening."

-Geraldine Page

            What is Dirty Acting?  Acting on impulse in the now!  Being compelled to respond from pure awareness, from intense looking and listening.  Acting from necessity in the moment.  Behavior that happens, not behavior that is planned - resulting in an alive, dynamic, electric performance.

            These qualities are easier to achieve during non-scripted Improvisation, and so this class is devoted to what it means to “act dirty” with text, to be as alive, surprised and surprising as any improviser.

            Dirty Acting, working on impulse, eliminates self-consciousness and destructive concerns about audience judgment, personal habit patterns, obligations to text, obligations to audience, lying and artificial behavior. Eliminating these obligations may mean risking forgetting the next line, leaving frame or walking off stage before the written scene is over, but it’s exactly those kind of risks that result in electric performance.  Only what is true in the moment has importance.

              Each rehearsal, each performance becomes a true experiment, an improv with text.  Intense looking and listening is also the secret to great, moment-to-moment acting for the camera.

$720. total* (or three installments of $240.)

10% Early Bird, Multi-class and Couples Discounts are available

Early Bird discount for current and former students ends January 2.

N.B. All courses progress in a logical and consecutive sequence. Furthermore, students are frequently turned away once the maximum number of participants has been reached. For these reasons, students who begin the session agree to complete the entire session and are, therefore, financially responsible for that session.

Write to [email protected] or call 805.451.6789 

to register, ask any questions or to schedule an interview 

*Winter-Spring courses consist of two segments: the first six or seven weeks of intensive instruction followed by a one-week break, and then another six or seven weeks of advanced material. While you have the option to enroll in just the first seven weeks or the last seven weeks, participating in both sessions is best for a complete understanding and mastery of the curriculum.