During my last semester at Prague Film School [PFS] I started attending external workshops and working with higher level coaches. It was around this time that I got my first guest star role in a major series acting alongside Orlando Bloom, Cara Delevingne and Jared Harris in Amazon Primes new series Carnival Row. In the midst of this new momentum I was asked to come and teach a workshop at my old Community College theatre program that I attended in Stockholm.
I had taught classes before in music and entertainment career management, but this was my first acting workshop. What I decided to do was create a cocktail of some of my favourite exercises from the various classes, workshops and coaching sessions I had and also added in quotes and knowledge from books and audio programs that I had consumed in the masses, as well as sharing my own experiences and the routines I implement in my own work and life.
After I Graduated from PFS I wanted to find a way to stay sharp and keep working on the tools I had been given throughout my education. It was during a workshop in Zürich with one of my mentors and closest friends, Francisco [Javier Medina] that an idea began to form in my mind.
Francisco is an amazing teacher and one of his greatest skills is bringing people together and creating an atmosphere that is passionate, safe and creative. During this class he emphasised something that he always talks about, finding your tribe. Finding your tribe, it really resonated with me and caused a chain reaction in my brain that got me thinking.
I wanted to create a platform, a brand that could act as an umbrella and bring like-minded people together to train, work on scenes and monologues, help each other with self-tapes, dialects, voice, physical and repetition exercises and implement the work that you learn in a class or from a book.
I thought back to The Actors Studio in New York that was founded by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford and Bobby Lewis in 1947 as a safe place for actors to hone their craft and work on scenes. It had its first routes in the Group Theatre which hosted some of the most noteworthy acting coaches in history such as Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasberg. Today the Actors Studio has 2 locations, New York and Actors Studio West in Los Angeles. As of May 2018 the Co-Presidents are Ellen Burstyn, Alec Baldwin and Al Pacino.
According to their website to become a member of The Actors Studio you have to be living in New York or LA within a commutable distance to either studio. The audition process is also vigorous and of course acceptance gives a range of high quality benefits which include free membership for life where you can rehearse and perform work for feedback at either studio together with some of the most prestigious names in the industry. [Read their History here]
What I wanted to create was a modernised version that was more easily accessible and could perhaps act as a complement or stepping stone where anyone who wants to learn and grow and work on their craft can do so. Thus The Global Acting Studio was born.
Our Mission Statement is as follows:
"To become the greatest you must first learn from the greatest and do as they did, expand on and evolve their techniques,
As the disciples of Stanislavsky did when they founded their world famous Actors Studio we too shall share our knowledge, passion and time to grow and build on our craft together,
To follow in the footsteps of Strasberg, Adler, Meisner, Hagan, Pacino, Hoffman and many, many more… and to then surpass these great teachers and become the actors of the FUTURE"
My goal is to create an online community of actors that can help each other and motivate one another to reach all of our full potential as artists. I also aim to bring together people to train and work on old and new techniques together in a safe and creative environment.
We started in Prague and have already got members that meet weekly to work on scenes and assist each other with auditions.
When I moved to Berlin we set up a weekly meet at the Teaterhaus Mitte, a production centre for free theatre groups.
Now that I moved to London my goal is to set up a space here and to have a monthly workshop where I invite amazing teachers and coaches from all over the world to share their knowledge and of course I will continue to lead workshops as I have been doing for the last year.
In our own workshops we focus on three aspects which are;
- Technique and Craft: Scenes, acting exercises, physical and vocal work etc.
- Personal Development: Waking the actor up and working through traumas and accessing our full emotional range so as to have a full pallet when we create our art while also setting clear and specific goals for the future.
- Career Management: which is my personal area of expertise, where we discuss the practical aspects of working on our careers and treating it as a business – who do we need in our teams, what can we do to keep growing and keep the motivation and workflow up.
This structure was something I took from Francisco and that he teaches in his workshops. He is one of the coaches we will be inviting to London and that Jojo [von Salmuth] (co-Founder and Dance Coach at TGAS and my life partner) and I constantly work with ourselves. I highly recommend that anyone serious about developing themselves as an actor and opening themselves up to be more vulnerable and emotionally available on stage and on camera should work with Francisco, it will change your life.
Find your tribe – Together we are stronger.
Membership to The Global Acting Studio is Free and you can join our Facebook group HERE.
Our workshops vary in price depending on the coach that we are bringing in, where they are travelling from, where the class is held and how long it is. You can follow us on Social Media to stay up to date on up-coming events, master classes and workshops and other information that we share there.
To become the greatest you must first learn from the greatest and do as they did and expand on and evolve their techniques to become the Actors of the FUTURE!
LINKS