Los Angeles Acting School - Small classes. Individual instruction.
Everyone works – every class.
Our commitment to the craft is proven by over 30 years of training working actors in the Los Angeles area.
The Actors Workout Studio continues to bring new and exciting techniques that provide actors with the necessary tools to create successful careers.
North Hollywood Acting Classes at AWS cover technique, improv, scene study, and cold reading. Free, participating audits are offered by appointment.
Classes are small and very individualized in order to inspire creativity, risk taking, and personal growth in the actor. Studio teaching focuses on two areas: (1) troubleshooting the particular blocks that are holding an actor back from reaching his or her full potential; and (2) providing a solid foundation and training in the Meisner Technique, if needed. Fran finds out what's in your way, holding you back, and/or keeping you from optimal freedom in your work, and then helps you break through it.
Everyone works, every class! This is vital because actors only grow when they participate, take risks, and succeed or fail in a safe environment. You can't learn to act by sitting in a chair. Class exercises focus on the actor's instrument: the body and the emotions. That 'instrument' is what an actor "plays" while performing. Just as a musician needs to keep his instrument in tune for optimal performance, the actor needs real physical and emotional freedom for the purest expression of their talent.
In addition to working on different exercises to fine-tune their instrument, students also work on cold reading, scenes and improvisations.
Working with Fran Montano is ultimately about searching for the truth; finding your truth in your character's truth, which involves developing your emotional instincts and sense of self, as well as your imagination. Expressing your truth, whatever it may be, both in performance and in life, is the fullest expression of being present in the moment.
Fran's goal as an acting teacher is to provide you with a complete training program for the professional actor. That means classes that focus on both craft and career concerns, because it's not enough to simply train your instrument. An actor must continually promote his or her work, and be seen in order to gain employment.
Classes are ongoing and meet once a week. An interview and audit are required. In the audit, the actor will participate in class exercises and may be given a cold reading. "That gives us a chance to work together and check each other out. Finding the right acting coach is crucial," Fran says, "It is important to find someone whose 'voice' speaks to you. I'm not for everyone and I respect that."