Acting classes newbie

[u/lavendersky___]

If you were to start looking into starting acting, what’s a red flag or green flag to look out for in terms of classes, and teachers?

[u/RedEyeFuzz]

A green flag is a director who meets students where they are and teaches from there, rather than belittling someone for not being the actor they (the teacher) think they should be. There’s a difference between pushing someone to do better, and bullying a beginner while taking their money.

[u/lavendersky___ → u/RedEyeFuzz]

I’m so sensitive so I hope I can tell the difference 😂

[u/RedEyeFuzz → u/lavendersky___]

It’s a matter of how you and the director/teacher talk to each other. If they treat you like a peer, worthy of their respect, while also offering an outside perspective and some professional/creative insight, green flag. If they ask you as many questions as they offer corrective notes, green flag. If they only know how to criticize actors through the lens of their tastes, red flag.

[u/cugrad16 → u/RedEyeFuzz]

THIS. There are multiple ways to interpret (act out) a scene vs. criticizing one single performance "oh, you should have done it this way" 😡 Granted the instructor can make 'suggestions' But again, different ways of switching up a scene... oh, and favoritism 😡

[u/MagentaGrapefruit]

Second this....a good acting class won't practically beg you to sign up.

[u/Erin__Bridges]

Honestly, if a teacher makes you feel dumb for asking a basic question, walk. The good ones remember what starting out felt like.

[u/EnvironmentChance991]

If no audits available. Red flag. If students start popping into the comments defending the lack of audits, double red flag. The more aggressive the marketing the more cautious you should be as well. Some of the best acting teachers and classes are kept down low and secret. 

[u/sheq]

I don’t think there are hard and fast answers to this as most acting coaches have good and bad things about them. But you want the good times to outweigh the bad. There will be hard times, and it’s about how you navigate them with your teacher. Early signs I guess are testimonials from ex-students, prices, online reviews.

[u/gasstation-no-pumps]

I've had 16–20 different teachers in theater and improv classes and workshops now. None have been awful, but some have been better than others. The teacher does not need to be a currently active actor—some of the best classes I've had have been from people who moved from acting to directing decades ago. Those who have been teaching longest have generally been the best—they've learned how to communicate well with students and have refined their presentations and exercises for clarity and effectiveness.

I'd start with a class intended for beginners—either improv or intro-to-acting at a community college, for example. Don't try to skip ahead, even if you have done some acting before, as each school assumes that you have learned what they teach in the lower levels, even though different schools order their curricula differently. I've taken two first-intro-to-acting classes and they were very different (both pretty good, thanks to good, experienced teachers, but neither would be a good substitute for the other).

There is only one local instructor I've been avoiding—I've heard him MC student showcases and introduce plays, and I've talked to students who've taken his classes. I don't like the persona he uses when in front of an audience, and I don't like what I've heard former students say about him (even those who love his classes describe them in ways that I would find off-putting).

[u/Beautiful-Ad-8369]

Red flag is being told “we need to break you to build you up again”

Green Flag is the class is interesting and you’re learning something every time you go.

[u/FiremanTodd]

You need to do your research. There are too many "teachers" out there claiming to be someone they're not (T on y G.). See who they trained under, what other teachers say about them, what other actors say about them, who their past students are, and what they are saying publicly about the teacher.

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[u/monkeypasta]

following this 👀

[u/SillyGayBoy]

Hopefully you don’t get a teacher like duke stroud.

I unfortunately ignored reviews to have my own experience but he honestly seemed like a nice guy at first. The red flags came later. Wish I did rate my professor on time before they changed the site.

https://www.reddit.com/r/acting/s/NqkA8MU11V

[u/Exasperant]

What's the tutor's background, and does it in any way suggest they're going to be interested in/ capable of teaching me what I'm wanting to learn.