Acting Class is a place for you to try new things and feel free to fail completely miserably and get back up and try something else until you find something that does work. It is about learning and growing as an actor and a person! The only way to get better is to learn (and I am sure we have all heard the cliché phrase a million times before) and the only way to learn something is to try it and be free to make mistakes with it. I don’t think it’s necessarily true that you need to go up and completely butcher a scene to be able to learn fro it, but I do think you need to feel comfortable to be ABLE to take the chances that something like that could HAPPEN.

This is what you want to find in an acting class.

     Class is supposed to be the safest place for you as an actor. Technically, the way you prepare for the auditions you have is really the only thing that is 100% under your control, so you need to make sure that it is the thing you have down cold. No exceptions and no leniency should be given to this point, because why would you ever want to mess up the only thing you can fully and completely take control of and responsibility for? So finding an acting class where you can hone in on this skill in particular, and make yourself the most comfortable and ready as you possibly can to book the job and get the work anytime you are auditioning for anything, the better.

     So a class should make you feel comfortable in that regard, where you feel like you can mess up and you want to try new things because you aren’t afraid of the failure that might ensue (and trust me, it can and does ensue). But it should also keep you working hard and continually making progress as an actor and an artist. You should never feel like you aren’t progressing in your career. If you start feeling that way, then it may be time for a new class with more challenging things to offer you. Sometimes it’s as simple as being in a class where your classmates “get it” more than you do, this is a great way to constantly strive for more and constantly want to be learning and producing excellent work.

     Acting class is NOT supposed to be painful and horrible and upsetting. You shouldn’t walk into a class feeling like you’ve already lost a job because you aren’t even there for that in any way, shape, or form. You should love your class and be eager to get back to it so that you can keep learning and making yourself better and better as an actor and continue growing. When you have this, you have found a class that is the right fit for you! Until then, it’s better to keep searching because you don’t want to get into a situation where you feel completely introverted and uncomfortable as it just sets you up for failure in the real world of acting.