Many of us come to acting cut off from ourselves and our true impulses. We then attempt to act in very heightened material and find it hard, if not impossible, to fulfill the demands of the script authentically. Often we try to bypass this difficulty by pushing, squeezing or forcing unfelt emotions, imitating what we think the emotional result "should" be. Or conversely, we may try to combat this tendency by appearing relaxed, simulating naturalness and approximating truthful line readings. Both of these strategies, sometimes employed consciously and often not, engender a sense of showing our part rather than really living it, like we're somehow standing outside of it.

Instrumental training is essential to developing a truthful, alive, present, emotionally free actor capable of going anywhere the material demands. Training the Instrument is the study of the Self in all its dimensions as it relates to the craft of acting: mind, body, voice, emotion and impulse. In our Studio, the individual strengths and challenges of each actor are acknowledged, with exercises and procedures prescribed to help break through specific experiential and expressive blocks. The Presence Of the Actor and all that affects it is of primary consideration in this portion of our work. What results is a new-found freedom and capacity to locate our public authenticity, profoundly be ourselves and share that on a moment-to-moment basis, with and without text.