Sorry to post another post about Stella Adler, but since so many people are talking good things about her, I want to give her a try.

First of all, are the "good" classes only with certain teachers? Or are all of them very qualified?

Also, did anyone take "ACTING FOR FILM AND TELEVISION I" class with Bill Hopkins?

Any comments? Or teachers they recommend?

I only know about LA classes.

Even though you're in LA, it is probably more or less the same format. Would you care explaining more about your classes? How it is approached? do they video tape? etc.

Thanks!

Ok. It is the imagination technique. Whereby you really work on putting yourself in that character's shoes so you can imagine how they would really feel. The idea is that if you are in touch enough with the character, you will not be acting but really feeling what they would befeeling so it is more truthful, less fake and far more real. Robert de Niro uses this formula and can you think of a better or more gifted character/lead actor? He uses nothing of himself in his work, everything is dreived form being connected to his character and THEIR emotions, not his. The first few classes of technique, you will do exercises to work the imagination like a muscle. Examples are eating a watermelon, feeling the seeds in your mouth, the smell, imagining the juices dripping down your chin, the smell etc. Another one is you are in a concentration camp and watching a child die, touching their face etc. BEING PRESENT in the moment. I can watch any actor now and pick them apart for not being thruthful or present. If you really understand the character and what they are going through, you can be present an convincing. Don't yell, cry, scream etc or force anything. Imagining the circumstances and so on will help anything you do come more naturally. You will do things like describing a homeless person you create in your mind. Then you will work with a partner on one page of dialogue where you will be cops, reporters, hairdressers and you create the circumstances behind the dialogue and deliver it as such. In my class the girls had to do "Blanche" from "Streetcar" and the guys had to do the mean guy from "Amadeus." The trick is don't think what you would do. You have to imagine what THEY would do. In technique 2 I worked on a scene from "Closer" with a scene partner. We performed them at the end of that semester. Then script breakdown I did next, then scene study. DO NOT DO SCENE STUDY WITHOUT TECHNIQUE FIRST!!!!! This goes to all of you. You cannot truly understand your characters on a deep enough level if you skip the technique classes. Technique is the foundation or your work. There are two types of actors who win awards. Those who get lucky and are "now" or popular- i.e. Nicole Kidman and those who study their craft diligently for years and EARN them i.e. Al Pacino, Robert de Niro, Meryl Streep. I know who I want to be! Any more I can help with feel free to ask. I love this school and swear by it. Oh, and not really any videotaping. This THEATRE training. That is the type of training that creates and develops the best and deepest performances from actors.