Hanford Multicultural Theater Company has acting students with varying levels of theater experience. Regardless of experience, we enjoy teaching. Especially when we see something incredible on stage like last Wednesday!
Don Brakeman and I have team-taught acting since 2017 to the community. We love sharing what we know. The routine is that I find new scripts and give to actors in the class to read on stage. As a playwright, I prefer to hear the script with actors. Don likes actors to be able to read a script they have never seen before and be able to give it life on the spot. This reading process is called a cold-reading.
In a cold reading, the actor has only a few minutes to scan the script, create an idea of the character, and the relationships. This can be frightening to the new actor, but it is ideal training for the industry. In the industry we have seen when an actor goes to an audition, the character they were supposed to read for, has been switched to another character. The actor must be flexible and give life to that new character.
Four actors went on stage in last Wednesday’s class and created a realism for a script we heard for the first time. It was outstanding how the actors on this first-read gave life to the play. I was about to pat Don and myself on the back for our teaching, but truly it’s the students who we should pat on the back. They have been listening in class.
Acting is not just memorizing lines. It’s reacting to the other actors on stage and creating a relationship that the audience believes. Whether in front of an audience, or in a class, the actor’s job is to make the characters real. That is acting.
HMTC’s primary goal is to teach acting skills. This instruction we give is free and has been since 2017. There are not too many places that do free acting classes. A quick google search showed that a class course can cost $2000-$4500. The average priced acting school costs around $100 per class. These schools are usually located in Los Angeles. Too far to go from Hanford.
Next acting class session is in September. More information on our website at www.HanfordMTC.com
