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Choosing the Best Summer Acting Program: Regina Marshall

The Maggie Flanigan Studio is the home of one of the best Summer Acting Programs in the United States. Regina Marshall talks about why she chose the Meisner Summer Acting Program after attending other NYC acting studios.

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The Leading Meisner Summer Intensive 2018 Begins – Maggie Flanigan Studio – Call (917) 794-3878

Choosing the Best Summer Acting Program in New York

Q: Regina, what did you think it meant to train as an actor before you joined the Six Week Summer Intensive?

A: Before I trained here– Well, I’m from Atlanta, we would honestly just get a script. We would not do any- right now, we’re doing the activities, I wouldn’t do that. We would just get a script on our first day and memorize your lines and that’s it. I went to Howard University and when I got there, we didn’t get a script, I was kind of frustrated because I was so used to getting a script, getting a script, getting a script. Being here, actually having Charlie and Karen verbalize it, like, “This is why you haven’t received it. This is this and you have to–” There are so many steps before receiving the script, I was like, “Okay.”

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"If acting is really something that you want to do, you are really in love with it, and you want to be the best, then you have to study the craft. This is the perfect place to study."

Regina MarshallStudent, Summer Acting Program

We actually just got our scenes last class and I’m like, “Yes.” I feel like way more comfortable having a script now because it’s like- now, that I don’t understand it, like, “Why would you just get a script on the first day?” I don’t know. Yes, before it was just there, that. I studied other conservatory programs and I would think that it’s okay, you just have to scream and get upset. It was kind of self-generated, it wasn’t you literally expressing yourself and– Let me think, really taking your partner in and really listening, you’re responding, it was just, “Okay, I know I have to get upset,” and I would just be upset.

Q: What happened to you during the Six Weeks Summer Intensive that changed your perspective on acting?

A: Wow. Charlie truly stretched me as an actor. I really understood the true meaning of like, “It’s okay, you’re enough.” I didn’t understand that before. It was like I had to put on a character, I had to be someone else other than myself. I really feel so embraced here, like, “You are enough,” and I truly understand it now. Maybe I may understand it even more in five years and that’s like, “Oh my god.” Now, it’s just like, “I’m enough,” and whatever scene or a script that I receive, it’s like, “I can just be me through that right now.” I’ve only been here for two months in my program, but yes, that feels good.

Regina, shown here, talks about her time at the Maggie Flanigan Studio and the summer acting program in NYC

Best Summer Acting Programs – Maggie Flanigan Studio – Call (917) 794-3878

Q: What did you learn about yourself during the Six Weeks Summer Intensive that was a surprise or that changed you?

A: I learned that I’m scared of physical contact with someone else. I also learned that more in my movement class. I don’t think that I would have really understood it in my six weeks. I understood that even in small little scenes, but I see it way more now in movement classes. I got my six weeks as an acting part of the six weeks program, but even going now, that meant that actual program is like, “Wow, I’m discovering so much about myself and so many fears that I had about it.” It’s mind-blowing.

Q: You started with the Six Weeks Summer Intensive this past summer, and now you started the January class. Why did you decide to come back for the two-year program?

A: Because this feels like home, and I was actually referred by Eric Ruffin from Howard University a long time ago when I was actually at Howard. I was like, “Okay, I’ll check it in the summer.” At that time, I was so young and coming to New York seemed just really intimidating, but then, when I got here I went to another conservatory and it just felt so forced. Being here, I felt like, “I can just be me,” like I said before, I’m enough. It’s just really a very nurturing environment.

You get this personalized training to yourself- everyone is in the class, but you have this where Karen and Charlie, it’s like they are speaking directly to you like you don’t get the same notes as everyone else. It’s like, “This is what you have to work on,” and sometimes like you think, even in a certain ensemble, you’re like, “Wow, this person is getting the same notes or this person- I don’t know, they really care. This teacher and the instructor doesn’t care, but they really do.” That’s when I was, “Hey, let me just start it.”

We actually have scenes now. This is only the second month, so I’m like, “Wow, I wonder where we’re going to be at the end.” Yes, in the six weeks, you got the sync at the end. It was really really fast, too. I used to actually walk from here to 59 because after class, my adrenaline would be like- I would be shaking because I would just feel overwhelmed, but I was happy. It was just like, “I’ve never experienced this type of training.” When you say, “I want to come to New York, I want to train,” this studio gives you the real New York training.

I’ve been to another training studio here and I haven’t been to all, but I’ve been to one that I was like, “I think, it would be great.” With this one, I’m like, “Wow.” You want to go to the class, you don’t want to feel comfortable, you don’t want to feel like, “Okay, whatever, I’m just like here.” Every day you’re like, “You have to be on it, or you’d be caught out for it.”

Q: How would you describe both Charlie and Karen as teachers?

A: Okay, Karen is like the nurturing, soft-spoken like, “Okay,” she just speaks to you like an amazing, hip, supportive, that you feel like you can always go to talk to, but she will call you out. In class, she’s like, “This was a terrible activity.” I’m like, “Okay.” She’ll call you out on it. You need that, you need that nurturing the environment and then nurturing teacher that has your back, but will be honest with you. Charlie is like, I don’t know like you feel like you have to be on it when you walk into his class. Both for Karen as well, but Charlie just does not play. I love that because it kind of reminded me of my old teacher Eric Ruffin, he was like, “Come on, let’s go.”

I remember in the six weeks program, he was like, “This was a terrible activity. What were you thinking?” I’m like, “I don’t know.” Sometimes, I feel as though like other programs, just as long as you scream, it’s like, “Okay, so-so.” He was really like, “No, this is not it.” To me, a bad day is when you did not just craft.” Like what Karen called “insta-craft” like before class, and you’re putting things together, but really taking the time out to really understand what you really want and your wishes. Really putting that in your activity and me, I just understood it now that I’m in the conservatory two classes ago. I just got the actual activity things, so it’s a discovery and a process, most definitely.

Why Choose the Summer Acting Program at the Maggie Flanigan Studio?

Q: Regina, what would you tell someone who is on the fence about committing because they can’t afford it or maybe they think they are too old?

A: It’s an amazing place and I completely understand, feeling like, “I don’t have enough money to come or I don’t know if I should commit.” But if this is really something that you really want to do, you’re really in love with it, you want to be the best and that you wanted in this craft, then you have to study the craft. This is the perfect place to study.

It’s just amazing that you have support from the studio managers, to Karen, to Charlie. These are people who are working actors and that’s a plus within itself because they can also help you to understand the industry. They’re helping you with your craft, but they’re helping you with other things as well, giving you advise, just speaking to you, just being open with you and being transparent. I love that.

NYC Meisner Summer Acting Program Begins

Best Meisner Summer Acting Program Begins June 8th, 2018

When it comes to being older, there are so many people from ages, different ages here and I think that’s amazing as well, it’s encouraging. People from 18 years old to 40, here, studying acting and I just don’t think that you should put a cap on when and when you should stop working or stop studying. Even our instructors are still learning as well.

I’ll just say, come and try it out. Try the six weeks and see what happens there. If you don’t think that you’ve learned anything and you will, then hands up, whatever. But honestly, it’s been a blessing to be here and I think that anyone else or especially my friends, I know that love acting. If they had the chance to be here, they would be here.

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Summer Acting Program – Maggie Flanigan Studio – Call (917) 794-3878

Learn About the Best Summer Acting Program in the United States

Learn more about the Meisner Summer Intensive and the acting classes in the summer acting program at the Maggie Flanigan Studio by visiting the studio website (https://www.maggieflaniganstudio.com/). Students who are interested in applying to the studio programs should contact the studio by calling (917) 794-3878 during regular studio hours.

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