Winter 2024 Sessions
In-Person – 12 weeks
Sundays: January 7th – march 24th
Mondays: January 8TH – march 25th
for serious ADULT actors of all Levels
Body * Voice * Heart * Mind * Imagination
•The only Canadian acting coach who trained with Lee Strasberg in his Master Class and was a Working Observer at the Actors Studio.
•Other training includes acting with Madeleine Sherwood at Circle-in-the-Square, Voice with Master teacher David Smukler.
•MA in Directing & Theater Criticism, UCLA; MFA in Directing, York University.
•Integrated approaches and techniques include: Meisner, Adler, Hagen, Shurtleff, Grotowski, Alexander and Linklater.
•Sessions include: warm-ups, relaxation & sense-memory, acting techniques, monologues, scene study & on-camera skills.
•35+ years training, coaching & directing actors in classes, for theatre, and on film & television sets.
Other information:
- Times for all classes:
- 1pm – 5/5:30pm (depending on class size)
- Class Size
- 6-10 actors
- Location
- In-Person near Carlton & Parliament.*
- Fees
- IN-PERSON – 12 weeks: (Sundays, Mondays)
- Returning actors/ACTRA members: $700.CAD+hst = 791.00
- Actors new to studio: $780.CAD+hst = 881.41
If you are interested in training with Miriam, watch video – then email: miriam.laurence@gmail.com
Payments & Refund Policy: Payment can be made in pre-arranged instalments but a substantial portion needs to be paid before and another payment by the 2nd week of class. Talk to Miriam about it. Unless we’ve arranged otherwise, half of the full payment is due two weeks before class. The balance is due a week before class. If you have to withdraw you can do so up to two weeks before class minus a $113.00 registration fee. No refunds will be issued after a week before class or after class has started. Each actor does get up to two ‘make-up’ exercises if they have to miss a class or two. Receipts will be issued by the middle of the session. Payment is to be made online by e-transfer to miriam.laurence@gmail.com.
Registration
Miriam meets all prospective actors and together they decide if this work is right for them.
If you are interested in studying with Miriam, watch the class video (about the studio and online process) and then email her (see below ‘to connect’ or email: miriamlaurence@gmail.com).
In the email tell her a bit about previous training in acting or related areas, life experience, and why you want to train with her. Please attach a resume and headshot if you have one.
Miriam will get back to you by email and arrange a time to meet with you online for 20 minutes max to establish an individual connection.
This procedure helps her tailor an individual program of study for each actor, preserves the integrity of the class, and ensures a safe space to explore the craft.
As the class size is limited, it offers a high value to those who are committed.
After admittance, payment will be made via PayPal for international students and online banking for Canadians.
Email miriam.laurence@gmail.com to apply
What happens in the sessions?
Videos:
(for more class description scroll down)
long narrated video from old studio about the entire process:
Actor craft warm ups (online & in-person
Working on Text – Scenes & Monologues: (online & in-person)
Auditions: (online & in-person)
CLASS DESCRIPTION
Classes Cover:
Meisner for listening; Method improvisational techniques for character
+ practical and organic on-camera skills
+ short prepared scenes, monologues, and long-term Scene Study
+ cold reads and “off-book” audition techniques
*All work is filmed on personal SD cards or recorded on Zoom and then sent individually to each actor who desires it.
Actors have found that studying with Miriam for over a year or two builds their technique and forces them to take risks more effectively than going from teacher to teacher. Because of the depth of training offered, working with Miriam leads to a highly skilled and intuitive acting style in theatre, television, and film. Actors need to gain the freedom, the information, and the knowledge to explore the many choices available to them in order to become better actors as a result. Miriam’s classes are held in a downtown studio in Toronto or online if in-person isn’t possible.
Actors new to class work on a monologue and then reading and audition and then might work on scene-study skills. Returning actors choose to work on short prepared scenes, monologues, long-term scene study, cold reads and ‘off-book’ audition techniques.
MORE ABOUT THE SESSION STRUCTURE
In all of Miriam’s classes, special attention is paid to techniques for on-camera acting. When we are in the studio, auditions, monologues, and scenes are filmed on HD video cameras or actors film on their iphones. Online, actors grow both in their craft and in their ability to use their lighting, backgrounds, cameras and computers to set up compelling shots that tell the story effectively for auditions, long-term scenes, or monologues.
Exercises, Auditions, Monologues, Scene Study
each class begins with an instrument warm-up
partner work: moment-to-moment listening
audition work
audition readings – letting the script live in your hands
long-term scene study
Actors work and connection.
‘the talk’ – in-depth feedback
AUDIT
As is the policy in many studios there are no auditors except for those who have previously trained with Miriam and understand the work.
Actors who have studied with Miriam are welcome to come back to audit free of charge when they are not in a session.
Actors new to Miriam should arrange to meet her in person and watch the videos on this website as a virtual ‘audit.’
