I Don't Need an Acting Class

Working on a play begins to give actors the foundation of working on any text they get. These are excerpts from my Script Analysis class at The Actor Lab in New York.

We're combining two exercises in this class. (1) Seeing someone 'on the street' and being able to make decisions about who they are, based on their behavio and (2) building an attitude towards them.

Making choices that really bring you to life seems to be a constant struggle. Maybe it's because we're relieved that we can come up with any choice, but the choices must be worth it. They can't be passive.

Actively building an attitude to your partner can open you up to the action of the scene.

We need to really be careful about the vocabulary of acting. There are concepts that keep working their way and it can dangerously lead actors to a kind of passivity that lessens the power of experiencing.

After I vent about the Broadway production of Death of a Salesman, where they yelled at the audience for three hours, we look at the necessity of not just making great choices, but believing them. Not just performing them.

Directors give performance or effect directions. It forces actors to play cliches. Figuring out the nature of a character trait or spine or personality frees an actor to play an action ... or an impulse ... that makes behavior more actable.

Last week I gave classes in Poland and it was extremely useful to have a fresh perspective on students who were slightly new to this way of working – and also affording an opportunity for actors to talk about their particular problems.

My student, JP, has been working on the Biff and Happy scene from Death of a Salesman. In this episode we work through a place where he was stuck with that feeling of "now I'm performing a monologue."

In coaching an actor this week, I was struck again by what feels obvious—and yet is so often missed: the actor must find a personal connection to the circumstances, or the character’s conflict never becomes a lived experience.

Revisiting the concept of talking out as a way to help actors own everything they think about a character and a play.

Building the character's attitude towards their partner is not only essential in playing a scene, it saves you. There's a danger, however, in building the attitude all on one level.

Sometimes I think we've just had too many classes - and too many teachers telling you what you have to do in order to play a part. An actor needs to develop the ability to figure out what is necessary for each part.

The ability to visualize and live off images that are in the actor's imagination is a great skill to develop. It keeps you from acting in a vacuum,– to say nothing of solving the problem of a bad partner.

Actor work is not an intellectual exercise. And it’s not about “good writing.”It’s about experiencing.The audience doesn’t come to the theater for the words on the page. They come for the experience of what the character is going through — in the world of the play.In this episode, I return to one of my core tools: Talking Out. Through études — structured improvisations in which you speak aloud everything happening with your character — you begin to move off analyzing and philosophizing about the character and move into the experience of the character.

Actors have a tendency to abandon their technique as soon as they get an audition – and leap to a performance. Just taking a little time to really think about the text makes an enormous difference.

There are many roads in to building a character and, unfortunately, there is no paint-by-number approach. It's great as an actor to play with several different techniques.

When an actor does not connect, you catch them "acting". It doesn't matter if it's a television series or a play. Specificity helps us connect.

We have a tendency to leap to clichés because the dialogue seems to lead us there. There's a way to fight this.

It's very difficult to believe that there is not just one correct choice. As long as an actor is clear what the text is about, there are countless roads in to the experience of the world of the play.

"Everything is something." It seems simple, but as actors we often skip over something that can give us the key we're looking for.

The craft of acting is there to give us confidence. If we're not confident it's easy to see, especially for people casting. One of our problems is that we often throw away lines, – or parts of lines, – or even entire phrases. We miss the opportunities for creative acting work because we rush so fast to performance.

There are all sorts of quick fix "schools" of acting, but it's an art form and it takes dedicated study to become confident in your technique.

The purpose of the technique is to help open your talent, not strangle it. I'm suggesting that you think in terms of what the impulse is for a scene, – or what's going on with your character.

The vocabulary of acting is strangling the talent of actors. The need to use the right words is cutting off the actor's talent.

In person classes in New York City begin January 12th

We can't wait to see you!https://www.theactorlab.nyc

This acting class session focuses on the fundamental tension between allowing authentic moments to emerge versus forcing them through overthinking. The instructor addresses how students lose their natural instincts by getting trapped in intellectual analysis—particularly when trying to justify their emotional responses with logical explanations. Using examples from student work, including one student's fascination with construction sites and another's exploration of Stalin attending the ballet, the discussion emphasizes that specificity and genuine reaction matter more than elaborate backstories or explanations. The core lesson revolves around trusting initial instincts rather than explaining them away, with the instructor advocating for letting artistic discoveries "happen" organically rather than manufacturing them through mental effort. The session concludes with insights about building authentic attitudes toward scene partners without overcomplicating the process, drawing from Stella Adler's techniques about immediate, specific observations.

In this episode, Milton Justice explores the critical concept of matching your acting choices to the specific material you're working with. Using examples from his recent work with students, Milton demonstrates how actors often make the mistake of building relationships and emotions that don't serve the genre or tone of their project. He discusses a student working on a romantic comedy whose choices weren’t serving the genre, and another student writing a letter for "All My Sons" that was intellectually brilliant but wrong for the character. Milton emphasizes that while connection exercises are important for learning technique, actors must understand the form they're working in - whether it's a complex play like "All My Sons," a simple TV procedural, or a romantic comedy. He also shares insights about his upcoming acting studio in NYC and reflects on his experience directing "The Glass Menagerie."www.theactorlab.nycwww.idontneedanactingclass.com

In this episode, Milton Justice explores why actors struggle to make choices substantial enough to serve their material. He contextualizes modern acting within theater history, explaining how realistic theater emerged in the late 1800s with playwrights like Ibsen, Strindberg, and Chekhov. Milton discusses why Stanislavski's approach of having actors use their own lives fails - people don't relate to their experiences in theatrically useful ways, simply living without recognizing dramatic potential.Milton emphasizes that an actor's talent lies in making appropriate choices substantial enough to warrant emotional investment. Using student Grace's work as an example, he highlights how actors must understand the magnitude of their choices and earn them fully rather than throwing them away. Milton challenges students to see the extraordinary within ordinary things, to see that actors must become educators, philosophers, motivators, whose job it is to transform ideas meaningfully in order to remind us of our humanity. www.idontneedanactingclass.comwww.theactorlab.nyc

Milton and Kaleb explore how to authentically portray characters whose experiences are completely outside your own. They discuss the crucial role of script analysis in understanding what kind of person your character is within the specific world of the play. Kaleb shares his current challenge, balancing the playwright's thematic intentions with finding the character's personal motivations. They examine practical techniques like taking your character to imaginary places outside the play and how sometimes a single powerful image can unlock an entire performance without needing to experience every detail of the character's background.

Milton interviews student J.P. McCloskey about his off-Broadway experience in the Stephen Metcalfe play Strange Snow. J.P. identifies a major challenge: after months of rehearsals without set or props, he felt lost during tech rehearsal. The solution involves building specific relationships to the physical environment through "talking out" what you see and feel about the space.J.P. shares his character breakthrough: moving from himself to the character by giving the character activities outside the play - imagining him at a donut shop, playground, or going through morning routines. This progression from "seeing him in the world" to "thinking like him" to "being him" solved the common problem of character separation.The discussion covers building traumatic backstory by approaching it both from the character's present perspective and experiencing it as it happened, emphasizing the importance of knowing which elements require deeper investment.

Milton shares insights from a panel with top New York casting directors including Bernard Telsey and Billy Hopkins. The key revelation: casting directors are looking for "active listening" - actors who remain fully present and engaged even when not speaking. Many actors mistakenly think they only need to act when delivering lines, but casting directors immediately notice when an actor goes "dead" during listening moments.Milton advocates for his "telephone method" - talking out everything happening before and during scenes to ensure continuous engagement. The goal is experiencing circumstances rather than just reporting them, distinguishing between describing facts and experiencing those facts.Note: Casting directors confirmed that Instagram following has zero impact on casting decisions.

The Actor Lab is an acting studio founded by industry veterans Milton Justice and Patrick Quagliano, and producer Walker Vreeland. The studio aims to fill critical gaps in contemporary actor training by focusing exclusively on fundamental acting techniques, script analysis, and practical scene work in a supportive yet challenging environment. Unlike other acting programs, The Actor Lab emphasizes personalized guidance and honest feedback rather than vague instruction. We view acting as a lifelong pursuit where growth as an actor parallels growth as a human being, and strive to create a community of passionate, like-minded artists where professional actors can reconnect with their craft and receive individualized attention. Our classes provide a space for artists to rediscover their passion while developing concrete processes that build confidence in their work and meet high standards of traditional excellence.

Welcome back to I Don't Need an Acting Class and our first episode of Season 8! In this first episode, we hear a coaching session between Milton and student Madior exploring the concept of "personalization" in acting.The discussion centers around whether actors should draw from their own personal experiences or build relationships from the character's perspective. Using the example of a monologue where a character dismantles a house, Madior argues for using her own childhood home to tap into real emotional memories. However, Milton challenges this approach as potentially limiting, advocating instead for building relationships through imagination, which allows for endless creative expansion.Milton warns against "effect-seeking" - trying to manufacture specific emotional responses rather than allowing feelings to emerge naturally through imaginative work. He emphasizes that while personal experiences remain part of an actor's toolkit, they should inform the work organically rather than being actively mined for emotional content.Note: The Actor Lab, Milton's new acting school in New York City, begins classes September 15th. theactorlab.nyc will be live next week.

In this bonus episode, Milton explores the fundamental challenges of theatrical performance. He begins by praising a student's vivid storytelling about a traumatic experience, noting how the clarity of images and emotional connection made it compelling theater. The rest of the episode centers on Arthur's struggle with a complex role as an 1858 French priest, emphasizing how plays demand deep character work rather than plot-driven performance, requiring actors to build and experience a character's entire past.This complex process is contrasted with simpler television work, using a student's French TV audition as an example of how different mediums require different approaches. The episode concludes with practical advice about making smart choices as an actor - identifying what specifically needs to be made believable in each piece and often finding that a clear, strong relationship with one's scene partner can anchor an entire performance.

www.idontneedanactingclass.com

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We're so grateful for you. In honor of the holiday we're releasing some audio from 5 years ago, all about an exercise called The Imaginary Vacation. Interestingly, I found it in a folder called "Unusable." I have no idea why I deemed it as such at the time, but I certainly don't think it's unusable now! www.idontneedanactingclass.com

But we still have a lot going on. Check out out website: www.idontneedanactingclass.com for all the latest events. Happy Holidays to all of you and we can't wait to see you soon.

In this episode, Milton discusses the importance of understanding specific relationships to text and sequence of thoughts. The discussion highlights a common actor's problem of moving too quickly to performance without fully understanding the text's underlying thoughts and relationships. The episode concludes with practical examples of how to break down and connect with text by being more specific about your relationship to each thought.

This episode delves into the importance of conveying big ideas in acting. Milton emphasizes the need for actors to grasp the magnitude of concepts in great plays, avoiding monotonous delivery that reduces dialogue to a mere "grocery list." He advises performers to explore ideas deeply by asking "What does this mean?" and to get specific with examples to bring concepts to life. He also talks about the difference between artistic pursuits and conventional careers. WANT MORE? Become a subscriber on Spotify for bonus content! ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠ Have a question for Milton? Send us a voice note below or email us at: ⁠[email protected]⁠ Also, check out our website: ⁠www.idontneedanactingclass.com⁠ 

You have to give yourself permission to fail. If you’re too afraid of being bad, you’ll block your creative energy. Like Venessa Redgrave, indulge yourself in all the worst, most cliche choices first. Get them out of your system, and once they are, then go back and really get to work. But most of that work is done at home. Between rehearsals. It’s about the creative, imaginative research. Talking out. Getting more specific— like “the tear in the curtain.” And you’ll know it’s a good choice because you love it. It excites and fuels you in the part.  WANT MORE? Become a subscriber on Spotify for bonus content! ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠ Have a question for Milton? Send us a voice note below or email us at: ⁠[email protected]⁠ Also, check out our website: ⁠www.idontneedanactingclass.com⁠ 

Or we should say: everything must be magical. To YOU. This week’s episode is a lesson in connecting. We hear a student, Grace, go from “reporting” to “experiencing.” A big part of “getting it” is understanding the purpose of talking out. Once you understand what it’s for, then it becomes easier to make a good choice and “go there.” And when that happens, you no longer have to work so hard. The impulse of the character and circumstance take you over and magic happens. WANT MORE? Become a subscriber on Spotify for bonus content!⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠Have a question for Milton? Send us a voice note below or email us at: ⁠[email protected]⁠ Also, check out our website: ⁠www.idontneedanactingclass.com⁠ 

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber on Spotify for bonus content! ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠ Have a question for Milton? Send us a voice note below or email us at: ⁠[email protected]⁠ Also, check out our website: ⁠www.idontneedanactingclass.com⁠ 

Talking out or improvising text helps us connect to what we’re talking out, sometimes by way of letting us know we are lying. In that sense, talking out is like a lie detector. It’s a way of self-assessing our own work. For example, if we’re bored, that means we’re not bringing ourselves to life, which means we haven’t earned it. Will don’t believe it and neither will anyone else. Milton also makes it clear what talking out isn’t: it’s not performing, it’s not standup comedy, it’s not telling a story. It’s solely meant to connect, or begin experiencing the character and circumstances. WANT MORE? Become a subscriber on Spotify for bonus content! ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠ Have a question for Milton? Send us a voice note below or email us at: ⁠[email protected]⁠ Also, check out our website: ⁠www.idontneedanactingclass.com⁠ 

Milton will be teaching a week-long acting workshop at Clap Class in Marseille! The class will be held in English. Must have experience in film, television or theater, and be fluent in English. Monday, November 18th to Friday November 22, 2024; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. To register: go to clapclass.fr

Two topics are covered in this episode: our tendency to be disconnected from what you’re talking about, and our tendency to be disconnected from what’s going on with you in the scene. We shy away from being truly connected because it means vulnerability, it means “going there.” Even if you’re talking about something simple or you’re in a moment that’s not particularly heightened, when we’re connected, we’re revealing ourselves. It’s why we fall back on an analytical tone. Because it keeps us removed. Milton also talks about the importance of being active at all times, whether we’re speaking or not. A great way to listen actively is to talk out your reaction to what another character is saying. This creates an internal monologue so that something is always “going on” with you, whether you’re listening or looking out of a window.  *This episode is in audio and video format. To watch the video version, find it on the Spotify app. WANT MORE? Become a subscriber on Spotify for bonus content! ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠ Have a question for Milton? Send us a voice note below or email us at: ⁠[email protected]⁠ Also, check out our website: ⁠www.idontneedanactingclass.com⁠ 

Milton gives another round of notes to Chris who is doing a monologue from All My Sons.

This week, Milton coaches Chris on a monologue from All My Sons. This episode is both audio and video. You can watch the video version on Spotify. WANT MORE? Become a subscriber on Spotify for bonus content! ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠ Have a question for Milton? Send us a voice note below or email us at: ⁠[email protected]⁠ Also, check out our website: ⁠www.idontneedanactingclass.com⁠ 

This week’s episode calls to mind the Steve Martin quote: “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” You want to make choices that are so inventive that they have no choice but to hire you. WANT MORE? Become a subscriber on Spotify for bonus content! ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠ Have a question for Milton? Send us a voice note below or email us at: ⁠[email protected]⁠ Also, check out our website: ⁠www.idontneedanactingclass.com⁠