18 Month Acting Program - Allison McHugh Interview

The 18-month acting program at the Maggie Flanigan Studio prepares professional actors for enduring acting careers. In this interview, Allison McHugh talks about how the Meisner Training has helped her get past emotional blocks. Katie: Before you started the 18 Month Program, what did you think it meant to train as an actor? Before I started the 18 Month Program, I had honestly no idea what it meant to train as an actor. I've taken comedy classes; I did all the Upright Citizens Brigade training. I've done a couple of one-offs like, "This casting director is teaching an intensive." I did a few of those. I've always wanted to act and then I never really, indeed, dared to say it out loud until the pandemic. Once I finally got that courage and was doing these one-off casting director intensive classes, I realized how much I was missing the fundamentals of acting. I've been on stage before, I do comedy, but there's so much more. In those short four-week courses, I learned that I had no idea what I was doing. I knew I was missing a huge chunk; I didn't know how much I was missing. Q: What do you think it means to train as an actor now that you're about halfway through the program? Now that I'm halfway through the program, I truly realized that I had no idea how freaking hard it was. The levels of vulnerability you have to get to in first-year, you break down all of these barriers, I guess, is the word. All these emotional blocks that we've learned throughout our entire lives, which I didn't even know I had, and then in the first couple of months of the first year, Karen would bring out specific just ways that our body would tense and all these things. I was just like, "Oh." The things I've done my whole life, and I didn't realize that I had been doing them until you have to start unlearning those things. There's just so much that goes into it emotionally and physically that when you're in it, you begin to understand it, but before that, honestly, you have no idea. Q: Since this is your first time committing to a training program, was this your first time explicitly working with the Meisner Technique? Yes. This is my first time working with Meisner. When I was looking at classes, I had gone to a couple of one-offs places that I talked about. They had talked about specific techniques; I met friends through UCB who had talked about particular methods and read a couple of books. Meisner was the one that stuck out to me the most. I may be, without understanding it at all, understood it the most, or so I thought. There was a bit of a gravitational pull towards it, and then I had a perfect friend who pushed me in this direction. Q: What about the Meisner Technique that you've learned so far from the first year and the first few months of the second year resonates most with you as an actor? I think emotional preparation is the wildest journey. It's so crazy that you go so many different places. I have this tendency to go back in time, and then I imagine things differently from how they happen. It's a mix of reality and fantasy. I genuinely have no idea what my brain is doing when it's doing it, but it's crazy. A lot of my emotional prep in the first year for my scenes was devastation. I do comedy, I've always been a light-hearted person, and I try to laugh everything off. So prepping for devastation, I had to dig and hurt my feelings, which was hard to do, but also when you're just having an emotional release like that, it was so cathartic. 18 Month Program Interview - Allison McHugh Interview - Maggie Flanigan Studio (917) 789-1599 Learn more about the Maggie Flanigan Studio by visiting the studio website. {URL] Actors who are interested in interviewing for acceptance into the studio acting programs should apply online and call the studio at (917) 789-1599 with enrollment questions. Maggie Flanigan Studio 147 W. 25th St. 5th Floor New York, NY 10001 (917) 789-1599 www.maggieflaniganstudio.com/... www.google.com/maps?cid=17904... www.youtube.com/channel/UC9vY... www.youtube.com/user/Maggiefl... twitter.com/MeisnerActing www.instagram.com/meisneracting/ maggieflaniganstudio.tumblr.com/ www.linkedin.com/company/magg... www.facebook.com/f/ s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/me... maggieflaniganstudio.business... www.pearltrees.com/maggieflani... acting classes NYC, acting classes in NYC, maggie flanigan studio, actors, maggie flanigan, Meisner technique training, Meisner technique, Meisner training, Meisner, Meisner work, Meisner acting, Meisner acting classes, acting conservatory, best acting studio in NYC https://flic.kr/p/2mUdLEs

18 Month Acting Program - Description

The Maggie Flanigan Studio is a home for serious actors who have a desire to master the craft of acting through a commitment to the training of the Meisner Technique. Our 18-month acting program provides the complete progression of Meisner training along with the entire conservatory program in only 18 months instead of 24. Beginning in January and running through the end of July, this accelerated approach is possible because we remove the holiday and summer breaks that come with the full two-year acting program. Taught by our senior acting teacher Karen Chamberlain, this program option allows our students the ability to study with both Karen and then Charlie Sandlan in their second year. https://flic.kr/p/2khTfGE

Chapter 1 Description -18 Month Acting Program - Maggie Flanigan Studio

The 18-month acting program with the Maggie Flanigan Studio is a professional actor training program that prepares actors for long professional acting careers. In this video, Charlie Sandlan discusses the first ten weeks of the program. Learn More About the Studio and the 18-month Acting Program To learn more about the Maggie Flanigan Studio and the 18-month acting program, visit the studio website's acting programs page. Students who have questions about the program can call (917) 789-1599. https://flic.kr/p/2khWX5f

Chapter 1 Description -18 Month Acting Program - Maggie Flanigan Studio 02

Today, I wanted to talk here a bit about Chapter 1, the first third of Sanford Meisner's first-year training. We are breaking it up into ten weeks, 20 classes. It does with the beginning repetition exercise is it gets out of your head, gets you into your hearts, where you get that place of the concentration off of yourself on to the other person or on to what you're doing. You're going to learn how to do it under an imaginary circumstance, honestly. You're going to learn how to listen. You're going to learn how to hear what's being said to you, to go from spontaneous moment to unanticipated moment. You're going to know how to start to craft in a straightforward, specific, and personal way. How do you begin to compose an independent activity, a previous circumstance? How do you begin to start to use your ability to daydream and fantasize about your craft as an actor? https://flic.kr/p/2khTd8m

Chapter 1 Description -18 Month Acting Program - Maggie Flanigan Studio VID

We're going to get you to be spontaneous, to get you to act before you think on your intuitive impulses, which is rare. Your freedom and your talent and your uniqueness can come to the surface-- your ability to be able to act before you think. Then, we're going to take all of that. We are going to bring it to what are the first round scenes so that you can learn how to improvise your way through a piece of text-- how to be spontaneous, how to break out of line readings, how to break out of manipulating yourself emotionally to adjust to a line. We're going to hurt you out of bad habits, and we're going to begin to start to move you towards really creating a very truthful acting instrument. https://flic.kr/p/2khWX5q

18 Month Acting Program in NYC Sydney Nordan 01

Sydney Nordan is an actor at the Maggie Flanigan Studio in New York City. In this interview Sydney talks about the decision to train at the studio and what it has been like coming out while she was enrolled in the program. Q: Sydney, tell me about your background in acting? I actually did not study anywhere else, and I don't really have any kind of background in acting. Q: What did you think Meisner training was before you started the 18-month program at Maggie Flanigan Studio? I actually knew really nothing about acting, and I actually read about it on this studio, our website online. Then I looked into a few other places and other definitions of it, but I really didn't understand it fully until I came here. Q: What were the specific steps that led you to Maggie Flanigan Studio? I knew that I really wanted to be serious about acting, and I wanted to find a very serious studio. I was ready to commit myself and my time 100%. I actually researched about a lot of studios in New York, and I called and actually talked to you on the phone. I asked you a ton of questions. Then I came in and I had an interview with Karen. I was going to interview at other studios actually, and I wasn't completely set until I met with Karen and Charlie. I just got this incredible vibe about this studio and what they were doing and how passionate they were when they talked and how they treated me. After my interview-- I actually cried with my interview with Karen. After my interview, I was like, "Let me come. Let me be here, please." Then I joined the studio after that. Q: Where were you living before you moved to New York? Did you move here specifically to pursue your acting career? Absolutely. I moved here-- I originally had no plans. I'm from Alabama. I’ve transferred up here to play soccer in college actually from the University of Alabama. I played in Connecticut for two years. Then when I decided and I started into this program, I was actually commuting about two and a half hours and I was playing soccer. I was going to college, I was taking eight classes because I was ready to graduate. I was working two jobs and it just-- this program was absolutely worth it to me. We were doing our scenes. Charlie came in to visit and to see our scenes, which he does in first year. He told us after our class, he was just like, "If you want to do this work, you have to fully commit. You need to be here, be on time, and everything like that." I sat in my seat and I sobbed because I realized I was doing so many other things that I couldn't fully commit. I actually have played soccer my entire life. I played semi-professional and professionally overseas. I did not end up finishing out my last year of eligibility in college. I had one more year, I did not do it. I decided right then in that class when he talked to us that I was moving to New York. I actually moved in with a girl who is going to the studio right now and we’re best friends and we live together. It’s been amazing, but I did commute for the whole first-- the January session. Q: Did your family support your decision to move here? My family doesn’t know that I'm up here acting actually. They think it's a hobby. I made the move by myself. I did everything by myself. My cousins, they support me and my acting friends here support me and they’re my family here. That's all that really hasn't mattered to me. My parents just wouldn't understand the whole turn from-- I was supposed to go down this road and then completely changed my life to a career that isn't always stable and they don’t get that, but you know, like I said, my friends here are my family and I love it. Acting has completely fulfilled my life and I have never been happier than I am right now at the studio. Q: What advice would you give to people or prospective students watching this video who are thinking about moving to NYC to train? Get ready. It's going to be a great ride. Honestly, you learn so much about yourself. I didn't even know who I was until I came here. I'm actually gay and my family doesn't even know. I was so conflicted on the inside about that. Last year through the acting training, I came completely out because I couldn't hide it anymore. You just learn how to look at other people and look at the world in such a new perspective. I think that you should be aware when you come to training that that's what's going to happen to you. You are going to open up. You are going to be emotionalized. I don't know, the world is just a really bright place. It's really good. Q: Do you have any advice for people who are feeling anxious or scared or nervous? It was a hard journey but I ultimately, I needed to do this. I needed to do it for myself. I knew my family wasn't going to be completely behind me. I honestly believe that this is your life. You have to do what is going to make you happy, ultimately. That's just, that's really it. Be ready. You're going to have your days. I had a day that I just broke down and just and cried. I was like, "What am I doing? My whole life is different." There is such beauty in that, your life is going to change. Everyone evolves. I think, honestly, just step into it with courage and go for it. Just be happy. Learn more about Karen Chamberlain, Charlie Sandlan and the acting programs at the Maggie Flanigan Studio by visiting the acting programs page on the studio website. Actors who are interested in applying for the 18 month acting program should apply online and contact the studio at (917) 789-1599 to arrange a personal interview with Charlie Sandlan. https://flic.kr/p/2e2wgeq