What Happens in a Beginners Acting Class
Walking into a first acting class as an adult takes some nerve. Here is what the beginners term at the studio covers and what you leave with.
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Acting Advice and Studio News
Practical articles for actors from Elena Stejko Actors Studio in Auckland. Each one takes a question students ask, about auditions, the Michael Chekhov technique or what a class is actually like, and answers it plainly. Below them is a short list of resources for actors.
How to Prepare for a Recorded Casting Session
Each term at the studio ends with a recording session with a casting director. Here is how to prepare for it, and what to do with the footage.
Psychological Gesture Explained
Psychological gesture is the best known tool in the Michael Chekhov technique. Here is what it is and how an actor actually uses it.
How to Prepare a Self Tape Audition in New Zealand
The self tape is now the usual first audition. Here is an order of work for preparing one, from the brief to the take you send.
Resources
Resources for Actors
The studio's own guides, two books, and the organisations worth knowing if you are training or working as an actor in New Zealand.
From the studio
- The Michael Chekhov technique explained, with each tool in plain words.
- A guide to acting in Auckland: training, agents and auditions in one place.
- Training with the studio from outside Auckland.
- Term dates, the weekly timetable and fees.
Reading
- To the Actor, by Michael Chekhov, the book in which he set out his method.
- Acting in Aotearoa, edited by Hilary Halba and David O'Donnell, which includes an interview with Elena about teaching the technique here.
Organisations
- Equity New Zealand, the union and professional organisation for performers working in New Zealand.
- The Michael Chekhov Association, the association dedicated to preserving and teaching the technique.
- The New Zealand Film Commission, which supports New Zealand films and attracts international productions.
- Screen Auckland, the office that helps productions film in Auckland.
- NZ On Screen, the showcase of New Zealand television, film, music video and web series.
- Women in Film and Television New Zealand, where the studio's terms and workshops are also announced.
Where to Go Next
If an article has made you want to try the work rather than read about it, the acting classes in Auckland page explains which class suits whom, and the longer guide to acting in Auckland covers training, agents and auditions in one place.
About the Method
Everything written here comes out of one way of working. If the terms are new to you, start with our explanation of the Michael Chekhov technique.
Have a question?
Contact Us
If there is something about acting, auditions or training you would like us to write about, or you want to ask about a class, send us a message.
021 675 977