The Summer Acting Program at Maggie Flanigan Studio is the first step for many actors who think they might be interested in a professional acting career. In this interview, Adam Marsh discusses his experience in the program and why he has decided to enroll in the two year program. Katie: What did you think it meant to train as an actor before you started the six-week Summer Intensive? Adam Marsh: Honestly, I wasn't really sure what to expect. I had never done any acting classes before. Memorizing lines, learning maybe about the business a little bit. I didn't know what I was getting into at all. Katie: Well, now that you have one week left to the intensive, if someone were to ask you now what you think it means to train as an actor, what would you say? Adam: I would say what it's meant to me to learn about acting and to study acting, is to find out how to really pay attention to how I feel, and really discover how I'm responding to another actor, and what's going on, and really listen and have those feelings and experience them. Katie: What was something that happened during these past six weeks that was a surprise or that changed you? Adam: I've had so many experiences that I didn't even realize I was capable of, like just experiencing despair and rage, and I said some horrible things to people. I didn't know I was capable of any of those things. I think I've cried more in the last few weeks than I had for years before that, five or six years before that, and I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to-- This is terrible. I thought about it this way, but that I wasn't going to be able to fake those kind of emotions, and I've really felt them. Katie: Before you started the six-week summer intensive at Maggie Flanigan Studio, had you ever studied the Meisner technique before? Adam: No, I didn't know anything about it. I had a vague idea that it was about repetition or something, and that was it. Katie: The first six weeks are basically the first six to eight weeks of first year. That's what the Summer Intensive is. I know that you've learned a lot, but what would you say is the one thing that has made the biggest difference for you, if you could pick one thing? Adam: The biggest thing is learning how important it is to really prepare and craft for a scene or whatever it is you're about to do, because that's all you really have control over, is how you prepare for it before you get there. By really doing that, you can go into a moment and actually believe what's going on, right? It makes such a huge difference, and it allows you to experience things in a whole different way. Katie: How did the voice, movement and on camera classes help you growth in the work? Adam: Sure. All right, so movement, voice and on-camera. Voice showed me that there were whole-- actually different set up. Well, acting showed me there're these whole worlds of emotion and feelings inside of me that I didn't know were there. Voice showed me the physical things that I didn't realize I had access to, and allowed me to explore that, and gave me some really practical, physical warm-ups and exercises that allowed me to pay attention to what was going on in my body and how it was affecting me. Sometimes before acting class, I would do some of those things to mentally prepare and loosen up and try and prevent things like physical blocks that I carry with me from affecting how I was going to behave. Then I think movement just, it brought me back to feeling like a child again, and feeling creative and playful, and we do so many things that just feel like fun games to me. I think it's probably really important to have access to that and to be able to play pretend and be like a toddler again when you're acting. And the last one, on-camera stuff, we start with scripts right away in there. It let me see my own progression a little bit, and there was a real difference in the way I approached those scenes at the beginning, and now it's only been a few weeks, but it's been fun to see what that looks like. Katie: How would you describe working with Charlie as a teacher? Adam: Charlie is tough. He's very direct, he tells it like it is. It's really helpful to me because I know that whatever he says, it's exactly what he sees. I can trust him. It's a safe space in the studio, and you really need somebody that you trust to train with when you're going to be so vulnerable in those moments, to know that whatever he says afterwards isn't going to be just to break you down or flatter you or anything like that. He just tells you the advice that he thinks is going to be most meaningful, and then when he says, ''You're on the right track,'' or, ''Good job,'' it's really meaningful and it helps a lot. He's a good guy. Katie: What would you say to someone that you know who's thinking about taking this summer intensive, but maybe they are [unintelligible 00:07:48] about it, or they're unsure if taking a lot of classes, what will just be like all those other things. What would you say to that person they are thinking about taking any of our intensives at Maggie Flanigan Studio? Adam: Sure. I asked somebody this question before I took the intensive, and they said that it changed their life, and I don't think I really was capable of understanding that for that time, but like, ''What does that even mean?'' It's absolutely been true for me. It doesn't seem clear to me that there's another program or school out there, maybe there's a few, who knows, but that could have allowed me to grow so much as a person, emotionally in just that short period of time. I'm doing the two-year program now, so I must like it. Learn more about the summer acting program and the Meisner Intensive by visit the acting programs page on the studio website. Students who are interested in interviewing for admission to the studio should complete that online application before contacting the studio. Students who have questions about the schedule and class details can call (917) 789-1599. https://flic.kr/p/2jaLnUi
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