"Movie Cab" : The Magic of Acting

Name your favorite scene from your favorite movie and I'll send you the script!  No prior experience is required. Each student receives 10 minutes of individual attention.  My teaching style is honest, enthusiastic and supportive. I will begin each session with a short introduction of what I teach.  

The topics I cover are : scene comprehension, relaxation in front of a camera, and listening.  Students will be encouraged to absorb the circumstances of each scene and apply that understanding when performing the material.  If the student needs help clarifying the circumstances, I will teach this by drawing parallels with stories familiar to us all.  For example, in a scene that includes the loneliness of character, I might associate that experience with what Cinderella felt when not being included by her step-sisters when they attended the glamorous ball where Cinderella eventually meets her prince.

Relaxation in front of a camera will be taught by reminding the student "how you really think and communicate".  In this pre-scene exercise, I will ask the student to share a bit about what they had for lunch or dinner.  Once they have settled into their natural verbal and emotional rhythms, I will direct them to begin the scene without stopping to delineate between the improvisation of thinking aloud and the actual text they have memorized.

Listening will be taught by supporting the student to put all of their attention on the person who is reading the scene with them.  If the student is having difficulty doing so, I will incorporate a "repeat exercise" that I learned from Sanford Meisner.  In the "repeat exercise", students are required to simply repeat a piece of objective information they have noticed on the other person.  For example, "you are wearing a red shirt".  This information is then reflected verbatim back to the student, "you are wearing a red shirt", thereby freeing the student to practice putting all of their attention on the other actor without the pressure to manufacture an interesting reading or interpretation of any text.  

What learners can expect from "Movie Cab" class time is ten minutes of individual attention, plus the benefit of learning from the process their fellow students' experience.