I Don't Need an Acting Class

By Milton JusticeArts Performing Arts

I Don't Need an Acting Class episodes

November 28, 2022 How Objectives Can Cripple You
In this episode, Milton coaches Guilherme as he prepares the role of Portuguese Vampire from the 17th Century. He begins by suggesting specific images that will help his development of the character’s physicality and point of view. This eventually leads to a conversation about “objectives” and how using that word can actually get in the way of what’s really going on in the scene and the essence of the character. Have an acting (or Vampire) question for Milton? Email him at: [email protected]
10 min
November 21, 2022 The Ability to See
One of Stella Adler’s fundamental exercises was a visualization exercise. This is something we can do anytime and anywhere— walking down the street, driving down the highway, standing in the shower. The more you train yourself how to see, the more specific your work will become, and the more the images will feed you emotionally. But this is not work you can do intellectually, deciding beforehand what the images are. It requires a leap of faith to be fully present and let the images come to you. Eventually, you will find specific things that make you come alive. Have an acting question for Milton? Email him at: [email protected]
8 min
November 14, 2022 Understanding The Playwright’s Struggle
This episode, an excerpt from Milton’s Script Analysis class, examines the importance’s of understanding the deeply human struggle of the playwright and how those struggles are infused into their characters. Using The Glass Menagerie, Milton talks about letting the “active facts” about a character seep into the actor’s consciousness over time, keeping in mind the enormity of the theme that the character represents. “One of the problems we have is that we don’t have a sense of our own personal struggles as being a big idea.” Have an acting question for Milton? Email him at: [email protected]
14 min
November 07, 2022 Be Believable AND Interesting
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One of the cornerstones of being believable is the ability to connect to the material. And we have to know what it feels like to be connected, so that when we’re not, we do more work to get there. But being believable is just one prerequisite. We also have to be interesting to watch and listen to. Milton shares a story about his former business partner, actress Lee Grant who came up with the most amazing stories as excuses for why she was late for Stanford Meisner’s class. They weren’t just believable, they were fascinating performances. Have an acting question for Milton? Email him at: [email protected]

18 min
October 31, 2022 Technique is The Antidote to Panic
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At the end of the day, the technique is there for those moments we feel absolutely panicked and lost, like we have no idea what we’re doing. Maybe we’re staring blankly at a script thinking: I don’t know how to prepare, or where to start. Maybe we’re on stage and have no idea why the choices that have been working for months suddenly have stopped. Or, we’re on set and the director is giving us an “effect-direction” which we need to translate into something actable. Although there’s never one “right” answer to any of these problems, there are certain concepts we can always come back to, like working on character, the social circumstance or making what we’re building more specific. All of the tools we have are there to help feed us emotionally and give us something to hold onto so that we’re confident we do know what we’re doing. Have an acting question for Milton? Email him at: [email protected]

12 min
October 24, 2022 Pt. 2: Let the Play Tell You What to Work On
This episode features a work session with Kaleb on the character of Joe Pitt in Angels in America. It’s a rough one. But we’re not releasing this to abuse Kaleb any more than he already has been. We’re sharing this because so many of us make the mistake of inventing a backstory or past that has nothing to do with the facts of the play, don’t serve the play and therefore don’t help us ground ourselves in the reality of the circumstances as actors. When we invent an imagined past that is not connected to the facts of the play, it has to do with our own personal experience and preconceived notions. This is why using our own lives to create a character is such shaky territory. This session is also a reminder that even when we are building something factual, we have to be connected to them. As Stella Adler said: “the facts must be filtered through the imagination and become the experience of the facts.” Have an acting question for Milton? Email him at: [email protected]
15 min
October 17, 2022 Pt. 1: Let the Play Tell You What to Work On
The reason we analyze text is so we can make discoveries that will bring us to life and bring depth to our work as actors. Gaining a deeper understanding of the play opens up a world of possibilities when it comes to our choices. However, we always want the play to dictate the choices we make. In this episode, Milton shares an example from Angels in America. Louis and Prior have been together for four years and have an incredible relationship. But no one where in the play is it mentioned how they met. This is a prime illustration of the play telling you what you might want to explore: an event where Louis and Prior met. But again, we don’t just make a random choice about how they met. We use what we know about the play and the characters to feed us. Have an acting question for Milton? Email him at: [email protected]
14 min
October 10, 2022 What Do I Need For This Audition?
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Most of the time, when we have a last minute audition, there’s no way we can accomplish everything. The best way to approach it is to pick a few things we want to work on. Sometimes it’s getting clear about the sequence of thoughts and making sure we have a specific relationship with everything we talk about. Sometimes we’ll choose to work on the character, or build the relationship with our scene partner. But choosing how we want to prepare isn’t arbitrary— the material will give us clues as to what we might want to work on. Have an acting question for Milton? Email him at: [email protected]
11 min
October 03, 2022 Revelations on Acting
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Welcome to Season 5 of I Don’t Need an Acting Class! Milton begins the season asking the class to reflect on their biggest takeaways and revelations. Among them: how easy it is to jump to a performance; how researching the time period and social circumstances helps our creativity come alive; how the more we know about the world we’re in, the more we're able to believe that world and understand our characters' behavior; the importance of making choices that we love and bringing ourselves up to the big ideas we’re working with. Have an acting question for Milton? Email him at: [email protected]
15 min
August 20, 2022 Bonus: Talking Out Your Impulse
Have an acting question for Milton? Email him at [email protected]
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3 min