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PODCAST

I Don"t Need an Acting Class

Become a Paid Subscriber: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe Academy Award winner and celebrated acting teacher Milton Justice invites you into his weekly acting class, based on his years of study with the legendary Stella Adler. I Don’t Need an Acting Class delves deep into the craft of acting, breaks down concepts, tools and techniques, explores endless possibilities and offers you a foundation on which to build a solid, dependable process. Produced by Walker

arts performing arts

All Episodes

00:10:17

The Shorthand of Emotions

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2021/06/15

There was a period where you took the time and energy to communicate, either writing a letter or speaking. We’re now living in a world where language has become truncated into a shorthand of images and soundbites and yes, emojis. This episode is a rant about that. In may not be consequential for most people, but for actors, it’s important that we utilize the muscle of outward self-expression, lest it become atrophied. We must be in the habit of expressing what we’re feeling in our lives because it’s

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00:16:11

This is the Scene Where…

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2021/06/08

The ability to identify what’s going on in any given scene from an actor’s perspective is very important. Instead of getting bogged down in all the elements of the scene— specifically the plot and what your character is going through emotionally— we have to be able to take those facts and translate them into a clear action that activates us. If the action does not bring us to life, we have to find another one that does. This is like a gateway to freedom for the actor, a key that will free you up and

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00:13:41

Building the Place in the Age of Zoom

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2021/06/01

Because of the pandemic, the nature of the business of acting has changed, and most likely there’s no going back. Working remotely has become so pervasive that even when theater reopens, self-tape auditions and Zoom readings will remain a vital part of what we do everyday. Because of that, imaginatively *building the place* is that much more essential. We may be in our bedrooms sitting in front of a green screen, but to be believable, we have to be living off of the place we’re in. In this episode,

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00:11:31

Getting to Know You

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2021/05/25

In this episode, Milton draws parallels between the actor’s and writer’s process when it comes to creating a character. Both the actor and the writer have to live with a new character, talk with them, walk with them, get to know them fully, inside and out. The improvisational exercises we do as actors allow us to see how they behave, how they see the world. It’s not about getting the answer right, it’s a process of discovery that only comes from living with the character, and continually being

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00:21:25

Big Ideas That Are Part of Us

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2021/05/18

It’s ironic that in this present global, digital age where information travels at the speed of light, we feel so emotionally disconnected to what’s happening in our world, whether in our own country or on the other side of the globe. Perhaps our access to all of it has desensitized us. This has affected our acting because of our inability to understand big ideas. “It’s not enough to be truthful or emotionally connected to it,” Milton says. “When talking about a big idea, it must have size.” Have a

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00:18:24

What Cloud Am I Under?

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2021/05/11

Welcome to Season 3! Based on Stella Adler’s work with Stanislavsky, everything we do as actors comes out of the world of the play, or the given circumstances that the writer has given us. One way into the world is understand the playwright’s world view, what they want to say. This season, as the class begins working on George Bernard Shaw, Milton asks us to begin slowly brainstorming what the world of this great writer brings to mind. “Every idea he has is challenging popular thinking,” Milton

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00:24:37

Interview Your Character (Like Oprah)

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2021/03/16

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber for bonus content! ⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe⁠⁠⁠ A great technique that we have at your disposal when building a character, is to interview them. Or, come up with interview questions and answer them as the character you’re playing. If you, the actor, could ask your character anything, what would you most want to know? The questions you come up with become your own signature on the part because they’re coming out of your own

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00:15:47

How Is This Character Different From Me?

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2021/03/09

Actors often ask: “how is this character like me?” But unless we know how the characters we play are different from us, it’s hard not to fall back on playing ourselves, or a variation thereof. Knowing the clear differences in how you and your character approach the world is the first step in finding actable character traits that will help you eventually embody this human being. Brought to you by weaudition.com --- Send in a voice message:

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00:18:11

What’s Going On?

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2021/03/02

One effective way to uncover your action in a scene is to ask: what is going on with him/her/them/you? Actions, as we refer to them in acting, are often misunderstood as “activity” or “plot.” The true action is what’s going on beneath all of that, internally, within the character. It is what you are really doing to your scene partner(s) in order to get something. Asking yourself “what is going on?” gives you a broader view of your given circumstances, and your relationships, therefore helping you

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00:16:31

Show Them What They’re Looking For

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2021/02/23

It’s important to realize how conditioned we are to quickly jump to a conclusion about a character when we read lines of dialogue. We will end up playing an uniterteresting cliché unless we slow down and dig deeper to find a bold choice that we love. This will help you enormously in auditions because if you go beyond the obvious choice, you will walk in (or appear on tape) with something whole original and compelling to watch. Brought to you by weaudition.com --- Send in a voice message:

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00:10:20

Working Slowly

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2021/02/16

“Once you go to the script, all creative work stops” Milton says. It’s a provocative statement but it’s true if you consider how most actors jump straight to a performance or an intelligent rendering of the lines before they ever have an understanding of the world they’re inhabiting, or even a monologue’s sequence of thoughts. In this week’s short episode, Milton uses the short film he’s working on as an example of what it looks like to work slowly, even on a smaller scale. Brought to you by

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00:15:31

Falling Back on “Performing”

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2021/02/09

WANT MORE? Become a subscriber for bonus content! https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/subscribe It’s something every actor can relate to: you walk in the room, onstage on in front of the camera. Your heart is racing, your mouth is dry, and before you even speak, you know your nerves are getting the best of you. In that moment, instead of trusting all the work you’ve done and living off the given circumstances, you fall back into “performance mode,” that same, old, tired gimmicky

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00:14:51

Trial and Error

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2021/02/02

Stanislavsky’s Method of Acting was born out of trial and error. He was not a natural talent. Had he been, we probably would not have been gifted with his discoveries of the craft. By analyzing his students’ successes and failures, and his own, he created techniques that were practical and coaxed the actor “toward the inner most source of their creativity.” Brought to you by weaudition.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/message

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00:11:24

The Action Changes

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2021/01/25

As you gain a deeper understanding of the role you’re playing through analysis and rehearsal, it’s important that we give ourselves permission for our actions, or impulses, to change. It’s not something static that we decide in advance. And, if an action becomes stale and is no longer bringing you to life, it’s essential that it changes. Brought to you by weaudition.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/message

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00:11:30

How Do I Know If It’s a Good Choice?

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2021/01/19

Today we revisit a question that actors never stop asking. The ability to know whether or not you’ve made a good choice is part your talent, and it’s a skill you can hone over time. A choice has to feed you emotionally but it also has to be appropriate to the character and the world of the play. And the more you know about the world that you’re in, the more it feeds your imagination which becomes fertile ground for amazing choices. Brought to you by weaudition.com --- Send in a voice message:

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00:13:18

The Impulse to Begin

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2021/01/12

Stanislavsky never wanted a set vocabulary of acting. The words he used were an outgrowth of the creative work he was doing with actors. They pointed to ideas that brought actors to life, gave them something to hold onto. In other words, it was never *about* the words. Nowadays, we've become so focused on vocabulary, it's lost its meaning. So instead of asking yourself: what’s your action in the scene?” It might be more helpful to ask: “why are you going out there?” Or, “why am I telling you this?”

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00:16:52

What Am I Trying to Say?

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2021/01/05

Our job, as actors is so much more profound than playing the part and getting applause. As Stella Adler’s father said to her: “We need to make it better for them.” When we understand what the play is fundamentally saying to the audience, and what your character represents, it not only gives us something to hold onto, but something to aspire to, lift ourselves up to. It is a universal human idea or lesson that the audience will be better for having learned when they leave the theater. Plus, Milton

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00:14:57

How Time Period Influences Character

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2020/12/29

When building a character we can use the facts that are available to us in any way that will help us. Just as this is true for our character’s past, physical life or way of seeing the world, it is also true of the time period in which our character lives. Some helpful questions are: how does this time period effect who my character is? And how can I translate that information into behavior? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/actingclass/message

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00:09:53

Be a Snob About Your Process

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2020/12/22

“If you’re waiting for the director to help you, you’re going to be dead in the water,” says Milton. This episode is about taking ownership of your process, how you work. This builds confidence and independence as actors. Most directors don’t understand how we do what we do, so we have to be able to translate their effect-directions into something doable. Also, we never want to feel that our performance is dependent on a director. We do however, want to be able to depend on our process, always. This

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00:19:34

A Return to Rasbor

I Don"t Need an Acting Class ·

2020/12/15

This week, we return to the Russian word Rasbor, which means “to dig down” beneath what you’re talking about to get to the big, cosmic idea. This is a new way of thinking in terms of acting, a muscle that we’re not accustomed to exercising. When we talk about our characters, it should never be about accuracy, or information or words. When we talk about our characters, it should be in a way that shows we understand, experientially, the meaning of the idea. How do we get there? Through “Rasbor.” We

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