Two year acting programs in nyc are usually referred to as the conservatory approach. These acting programs are designed for top tier professional actors who understand that they should never be satisfied or at rest with the development of their craft. It has long been a tradition in many fine arts and disciplines to take time off to apprentice with a master. Acting conservatories are for actors seeking a two year acting program that will help them move deeper into their art, break through barriers and strengthen any weaknesses before they become prohibitive.
True professional actors are never through learning. Those that make it look easy are the actors that have worked the hardest. Removing oneself from the stream of life to dedicate years to become great at something takes guts. But, when the field of study is acting, it’s this type of commitment that will help move beyond the “hobby” stage and turn acting into a lifelong professional goal.
The Meisner method of acting lends itself extremely well to a two year acting program, especially in New York. A lot of Meisner training in nyc is sequential, with skills that build upon each other as you master them. Believe it or not, the Miesner discipline can feel a lot like boot camp in the beginning. Students find their identities stripped down and their belief systems broken down and analyzed.
In the military the goal is to help the soldier rebuild their identity around a military mindset. In an acting conservatory teaching Meisner, it is simply so the actor can understand why they think, feel and behave like they do. Once they understand this, they can learn how not to let their personal emotional habits get in the way of creating the emotional behavior of a character.
Behavior, compulsions, desires, and emotional behaviors are all part of who we are. In acting however, personal qualities like these can be a help or a hindrance. If you are aware of them in the first place they can be used to the actor’s advantage of at the very least be put away so that the character’s true habits can take their place.
Acting is a discipline where it can be very easy to fall into bad habits. In short term acting classes, an actor can deal with these habits somewhat. However in a two year acting program, poor habits can be truly rooted out and reformed over a long period of time with greater success. This is complex work that requires the ability to be vulnerable but also the opportunity to be brave. A two year acting program allows you to look at your very core, change the way you think about yourself and be able to live out fully the fantasies, dreams, nightmares and struggles of the people you must bring to life. A two year acting program in nyc, if it is good, will get the actor to focus on changing maladaptive behavior patterns and to analyze and be able to change their emotional responses, especially the other actors onstage.
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