I'm interested in taking a class at HB - I'm planning to audit with:

Joseph Daly
Snezhana Chernova
Michael Beckett
Rosemary De Angelis and
Jim Boerlin

Anyone have any advice about any of them? Think they're fantastic? Horror stories? Know of any other teachers at HB that you think are great?

thanks!

I began my acting studies with Joe Daly and found him both kindly and specific in his critiques. Michael Beckett was generally well-regarded when I was there, and very good on script analysis. As I recall, though, he often spoke so long after each scene that frequently we only got to get up every other week. I would audit both and see whose style speaks to you more.

One general note on HB: you can get excellent training there for very little money, but because it's so cheap, you get a variety of commitment levels from the other students. Try to find partners who take the work seriously (and of course do the same yourself). Otherwise, don't let the low-budget surroundings fool you - you're part of a grand tradition when you're studying there.

Good to know - thanks!

You might want to check out illse Pfeifer she also good too . She's @ HB studios. I know she wasn't one of the aboved mentions but trust me. Give her a look see. Let us know who you chose.

I studied with Jim Boerlin for two years. He is gentle and very perceptive. He assigned scenes which developed my weak areas.

He also gives solid coaching directions when you have an all too scary audition! I hear his words echo and it gets me thru.

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He also gives solid coaching directions when you have an all too scary audition! I hear his words echo and it gets me thru.

I've heard mixed things about HB studios.

Back 15 years ago it used to be one of the top schools in the country. On the other hand someone recently told me it's turned into a community theatre school.

But I always say the proof is in the pudding, and my friend who goes there just booked a lead role in a SAG film. She's in LA right now filming, but next time I get in touch with her I'll ask what she thinks of it.

I don't normally talk about acting schools (I'm pretty happy with the one I'm at so no need to at this point) so I'm kind of out of the loop.

HB has always been half-community theater-ish, half-great training. It's the predictable effect of trying to make acting training accessible to everybody (when I was there, it cost $7 a class.)

A certain number of people go there just because it's cheap and not inherently demanding (no pre-conditions, on-going requirements, etc.), and become the swine before whom pearls are cast.

Others value the best teachers there, and learn from them, and get great training at low cost.

The key I think is being careful whom you study with (the school used to suggest you audit before signing up) and also whom you choose as scene partners.

I don't know who's there just now, but teachers over the years have included Bill Hickey (Oscar nominee), Austin Pendleton, Anthony Hopkins somewhere along the line, and numerous others with reputations of their own. Pendleton used to, and may still, require an audition to get in his class. Dear, rambling Bill welcomed everybody. One man I know used to sit and read the paper during his class - I'm sure he told people ever after that he "studied with Bill Hickey". I took it somewhat more seriously and got a great deal out of a few incisive comments.

Since the formidable Ms. Hagen has joined Herbert (the HB in question) in the Great Beyond, maybe things have changed, but I think an attentive student can always benefit from a stint at the school.

A MINOR ANECDOTE: One class I took was in movement. The teacher, trim and vigorous in a leotard, was Mary Anthony, who announced on the first day that she'd recently turned... 78. I enjoyed her old school dance teacher manner, but one woman said grimly it reminded her of the nuns she'd had at parochial school. Certainly, Mary expected everybody to take their work seriously, even if, like me, they were only there to augment their "real" training.

Also, she had done yoga for decades, and it showed. That alone was a valuable lesson.

Otherwise, I didn't know much about her.

Years after I moved to LA, my neighbor, a modern dancer, proudly announced that he was working with a troupe that was "recreating Mary Anthony's choreography".

It turned out she was a giant in the dance world, in her time. Ending her years teaching movement to the pseudopoded likes of me.

HB has many a story like that tucked away in its faculty. Go if only to touch theater history.

I don't know much about HB studios either, in terms of their training - but I do know that a lot of the actors I know who study there are sort of "part-time" actors in the sense that its their hobby.

Generally its people I've met in the past who have day jobs which they are semi-passionate about and just want to try acting for fun. Serious actors I've come in contact with study at what I would consider more serious schools: Bill Esper, Terry Schreiber, Black Nexxus, Jason Bennett, etc.

And "you pay for what you get" in most cases, the discounted rates at HB just serve to brand them as a school for people who don't want to pay a lot for their training, who don't want to make a a significant investment in themselves as artists.

Really?

Here's a list of people who have studied there over the years:
HB "alumni"

Yes, some go back years, but some are much younger as well.

I wouldn't recommend that most people make HB their ONLY school. But it certainly can help to spend some time there if, again, you choose yor teachers and partners carefully. And I certainly don't see it hurting on a resume.

In my own case, it allowed me, yes, to try acting out before I had any commitment to it. And yes, I did go on to a variety of teachers after. But I've always been grateful for the training I got at the school, and if I were in NYC I might gladly go back.

What's more, the school is such an integral part of the NY theater world that a specific teacher often provides a talking point in meetings. Bill Hickey, for instance, taught generations of actors and his name on my resume was noted more than once. Austin Pendleton's name would probably win you a few points, partially because of his reputation as a character actor, but also because his class is known to be selective. Etc.

I can only speak for actors I've heard stories about the school from, and I know specifically from a fellow actor that Austin's class is not that difficult to get into.

I agree that getting tidbits of craft from a bunch of different training programs can be advantageous, but personally I think there are master teachers and programs in NYC that cover most, if not all, of the bases and the idea of continuity in your training is extremely important.

I'm about to start Austin Pendleton's class. I want to see what he has to teach me.

I hear his students are strong actors from a friend who took the class.
HB, I think, is for beginning and experienced actors. Experienced actors who already have a foundation can exercise and hone their craft. For beginning actors, it's ok. I started there before I went to a 2 year Meisner program. For a beginning actor, it can be daunting with all the classes and teachers as I was. I had taken only one acting class with another teacher. I think it's best that a serious beginner go to another school to get a solid foundation. I wanted to be good and became lost in the techniques, there was no overall focus. No one to explain in a step by step manner: use this for this and that for that. I ended up at the Gushee/Anania Studio and never missed a class.
10 years later, I can go back to what Gushee/Anania taught me and book a role.

Jason

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Originally posted by Oh_hai_thair:

quote:

He also gives solid coaching directions when you have an all too scary audition! I hear his words echo and it gets me thru.

I've heard mixed things about HB studios.

Back 15 years ago it used to be one of the top schools in the country. On the other hand someone recently told me it's turned into a community theatre school.

But I always say the proof is in the pudding, and my friend who goes there just booked a lead role in a SAG film. She's in LA right now filming, but next time I get in touch with her I'll ask what she thinks of it.

I don't normally talk about acting schools (I'm pretty happy with the one I'm at so no need to at this point) so I'm kind of out of the loop.

Just out of curiosity, where do you study?

I have heard good things about Austin and think he is also a really good director. From what I have heard the class is good if you already have a technique and can take his direction.