Sense Memory

In this module, you’ll build on the foundational techniques from the Discover Your Method workshop, expanding your ability to access and recreate vivid, truthful emotional experiences through sensory recall. As you refine your technique, you’ll tackle more advanced exercises that push your emotional and physical boundaries for authentic performances.

The Sharp Smell Exercise helps you recall and recreate specific scents that evoke strong memories and emotions, enhancing your ability to influence your character's behavior and mood.

Meanwhile, the Three Pieces of Material Exercise involves engaging with various textures like silk, sandpaper, or leather, enabling you to integrate physical sensations into the internal world of your character.

Overall Sensation Exercises immerse you in full-body sensory experiences, such as exploring how heat or cold affects your body to authentically portray tension or relief.

Character Work (Stage 1)

This stage of character work challenges you to observe and mimic a real person’s physicality, including their sitting, walking, and interaction patterns.

By repeating this exercise multiple times with increasing focus and nuance, you develop a deeper understanding of how physical movement informs character and emotional expression.

This practice strengthens your ability to embody unique characters with precision and authenticity.

Nervous System Regulation

In addition to emotional and sensory exercises, this module also emphasizes the importance of nervous system regulation.

You will learn techniques for energy manifestation and biochemistry, focusing on how breath, sound, and movement can help regulate your emotional state. These practices enable you to maintain presence and emotional stability during performances.

One key technique, "receiving posture," encourages you to adopt a stance that promotes openness and calm, supporting both relaxation and emotional connection in your work.

Sense Memory

In this module, actors will dive deeper into the sensory techniques that unlock emotional depth and authenticity in their performances.

The Sharp Smell Sense Memory Exercise challenges actors to recall intense smells like ammonia or bleach, focusing on their physical and emotional impact.

Similarly, the Sharp Pain Sense Memory Exercise helps actors tap into the sensations and emotions associated with sharp, sudden pain—enabling them to convey distress or discomfort with raw realism.

In the second semester, the Twosomes approach blends sense memory with text work.

Through exercises like drinking a hot beverage or eating a favorite meal while performing a junk monologue, actors connect deeply with their sensory experiences to bring natural authenticity to their delivery.

This combination helps actors ground their performances in lived, sensory moments, enabling them to fully embody their characters and speak the text as if it flows naturally from within.

Character Work (Stage 2)

As actors progress, they begin working closely with the script to uncover key details about their character’s objectives, relationships, and emotional journey.

This stage focuses on interpreting subtext and incorporating it into the performance.

By understanding their character’s experiences and motivations, actors gain a richer, more nuanced portrayal that resonates on a deeper emotional level.

Nervous System Regulation

The module also introduces the theoretical understanding of nervous system regulation, exploring subconscious training, belief blasting, and the impact of trauma responses.

Actors will learn how neurochemicals influence both body and mind, providing powerful tools to regulate emotional states and enhance performance authenticity.

Sense Memory

In this module, actors explore personal connections through two types of objects—animate and inanimate. The Personal Object (Animate) exercise involves recalling sensory details associated with a living being, like a pet or loved one, to deepen emotional connections. The Personal Object (Inanimate) exercise focuses on inanimate objects, such as a childhood toy or photograph, to trigger memories and sensory responses that enhance emotional authenticity in performance.

In the third semester, Threesomes elevate Method Acting practice by combining daily activities, sensory experiences, and a junk monologue.

Actors engage in tasks like making tea or folding clothes while integrating sensations of heat or cold, grounding their performance in real sensory experiences.

Other exercises include applying makeup or shaving while channeling the sensation of being tipsy or drunk, fostering focus and emotional depth.

Character Work (Stage 3)

This stage delves into more advanced character exploration through exercises like the Photo/Image Exercise,  analyzing classical paintings to embody the mood and emotions of their character.

Additionally, music is used  to enhance emotional connection in scene work, helping actors deepen their character's internal world.

Nervous System Regulation

Actors will also learn various breath techniques, such as Dragon Breath to release diaphragm tension, Fire Breath to energize, and Grounding and Thumping Breath to release emotions. These practices support emotional regulation and help maintain focus, grounding actors in their physical and emotional states to enhance performance authenticity.

Sense Memory

In the fourth semester, Foursomes challenge actors to integrate multiple sensory exercises into one performance.

These combinations include daily activities, sense memory exercises, overall sensations, and junk monologues.

For example, actors may fold clothes while imagining the sensation of rain, the smell of coffee, and delivering a junk monologue, or sweep a floor while experiencing heat and tasting lemon.

By combining these elements, actors build advanced concentration, multitasking skills, and authenticity, allowing them to embody complex scenarios and evoke deep emotional truths with ease.

Character Work (Stage 4)

Character Work in the fourth semester is divided into more advanced stages, with a focus on iconic playwrights like Shakespeare and Chekhov.

Actors study Shakespearean language and rhythm, focusing on the historical and thematic context of the plays to bring authenticity to their performances.

Similarly, with Chekhovian characters, actors explore subtle internal conflicts and the nuances of social context. Script analysis is another key component, with students selecting scenes to perform, dissecting character objectives and relationships.

This comprehensive approach ensures actors can embody their characters fully, with a deep understanding of both the psychological and contextual layers that shape their roles.

Nervous System Regulation

Nervous System Regulation exercises in this stage are designed to ground actors and ensure emotional stability during complex performances.

Techniques such as lymphatic drainage (the Big 6) help release physical tension, while exercises like the Infinity Walk and Brain Gym enhance mental clarity and coordination. 

These practices improve the actor’s physical presence, ensuring they can stay centered while juggling multiple sensory and emotional inputs during performance.

By regulating their nervous system, actors are better equipped to face emotionally charged scenes with resilience and authenticity, fostering a more balanced and focused performance.

Private Moment Exercise

The Private Moment Exercise teaches actors to perform "private in public," by engaging in deeply personal actions that are typically done in solitude.

This practice helps actors eliminate the pressure of performance, allowing them to stay rooted in the present moment while accomplishing physical and emotional tasks with authenticity.

It cultivates the ability to reveal intimate, raw truths, fostering deep connections with the audience. The exercise often evokes strong emotions—embarrassment, laughter, or tears—emphasizing the power of honest, unfiltered performance.

Animal Exercise

In Semester 5, actors begin the Animal Exercise, where they choose an animal to observe and embody. This involves replicating the animal's movements, posture, sounds, and energy, and understanding how it interacts with its environment.

This exercise sharpens instincts and enhances the connection between the actor’s body and imagination, laying the foundation for future improvisations and character explorations.

Emotional Memory Exercises

This semester focuses on mastering the foundational techniques of Emotional Memory exercises. Actors begin with sensory recall, using all five senses to vividly reconstruct past emotional events in the present moment.

Through detailed sensory exploration, students learn to evoke emotions without mentally narrating the memory. Instead, they focus on physical and sensory impressions, such as the texture of a fabric or the scent of a room, to trigger authentic emotional responses.

Relaxation exercises are emphasized to maintain control and avoid emotional overwhelm. This groundwork enables actors to establish truthful and repeatable emotional connections essential for performance 

Private Moment For The Character Exercise

The Private Moment for the Character Exercise invites actors to explore intimate, personal actions specific to their character. By choosing a private activity that the character might do alone—such as grooming, eating, or writing—a deeper emotional connection is made to the character’s inner world.

This exercise helps actors understand how their character behaves when not performing for others, adding authenticity and richness to the portrayal. Revealing these private moments brings true depth, allowing the character's true self to emerge on stage or screen.

Animal Exercise

In Semester 6, actors build on their animal exploration by incorporating it into character work. They use the traits of their chosen animal to inform their improvisations, discovering how primal instincts can translate into human behavior.

This progression helps actors seamlessly transition from animal embodiment to full character development, deepening their performance and enriching the authenticity of their characters.

Emotional Memory Exercises

In this semester, students deepen their Emotional Memory work by sustaining emotional states over prolonged scenes and integrating emotions into character work.

Exercises focus on the art of restraint, ensuring actors maintain self-awareness and control while drawing from past experiences to create authentic performances. Actors also work on combining Emotional Memory with scripts and scene requirements, adding layers of complexity to their characters.

Techniques for transitioning between contrasting emotions and managing the interplay of personal and scripted feelings are introduced, honing the ability to adapt these tools effectively in dynamic and challenging roles​