I’ve now been teaching acting classes for a couple of years, and am in the middle of my fourth offering. I have to say, I really enjoy the process of watching my students latch on to concepts that we work on and begin to apply them, sometimes consciously, and sometimes unconsciously. To see the “Aha!” moment as it happens is so rewarding. I’ve also been delighted to have several people sign up for their second, third, and even fourth round of classes. I’m sure that keeping the cost low has something to do with it, as well as keeping the sessions limited to a few weeks.
This is one of the things that I appreciated about the HB model, and I found that it encouraged actors at every stage of their career to study either between gigs, or even while performing. I wanted to emulate that model as a means to help local actors stay sharp and practice their craft. One of the reasons I selected Sunday evenings was that even for people involved in a show, they would be able to come after the matinee performance.
I’ve also found that I’ve learned so much from observing and commenting on the scene work. To paraphrase a former Tae Kwon Do teacher, a teacher is just a serious student.