I Don't Need an Acting Class
Academy Award winner and celebrated acting teacher Milton Justice invites you into his weekly acting class, based on his years of study with the legendary Stella Adler. The podcast delves deep into the craft of acting, breaking down concepts, tools and techniques. It explores endless possibilities and offers a foundation on which to build a solid, dependable process. Produced by Walker Vreeland.
Episodes
Getting to Depth
It's not just enough to be functional or accurate or good enough. There's a road in to our actor work that helps us find extraordinary choices and frees us up to do our best work.
Before the First Line
If you think of the play as a continuation of what has already happened, it gives you a sense of how much work you have to do in order to earn the play. Excerpted from my New York class, we continue our work on the Frank Gilroy play, The Subject Was Roses.
The Human Being Behind the Character
Continuing work on the Frank Gilroy play, The Subject Was Roses, this expert from Milton's in-person class begins to explore the road in to building a character with more depth.
Working on Text
Working on a play begins to give actors the foundation of working on any text they get. These are excerpts from my Script Analysis class at The Actor Lab in New York.
The Partner and their Behavior
We're combining two exercises in this class. (1) Seeing someone 'on the street' and being able to make decisions about who they are, based on their behavio and (2) building an attitude towards them.
Making Active Choices
Making choices that really bring you to life seems to be a constant struggle. Maybe it's because we're relieved that we can come up with any choice, but the choices must be worth it. They can't be passive.
Living Off Your Partner
Actively building an attitude to your partner can open you up to the action of the scene.
Empathy and Sympathy
We need to really be careful about the vocabulary of acting. There are concepts that keep working their way and it can dangerously lead actors to a kind of passivity that lessens the power of experiencing.
Believe Your Choices
After I vent about the Broadway production of Death of a Salesman, where they yelled at the audience for three hours, we look at the necessity of not just making great choices, but believing them. Not just performing them.
Character Traits and Actions
Directors give performance or effect directions. It forces actors to play cliches. Figuring out the nature of a character trait or spine or personality frees an actor to play an action ... or an impulse ... that makes behavior more actable.
Actors Talk Acting
Last week I gave classes in Poland and it was extremely useful to have a fresh perspective on students who were slightly new to this way of working – and also affording an opportunity for actors to talk about their particular problems.
Working On A Monologue
My student, JP, has been working on the Biff and Happy scene from Death of a Salesman. In this episode we work through a place where he was stuck with that feeling of "now I'm performing a monologue."
The Actor's Personal Connection
In coaching an actor this week, I was struck again by what feels obvious—and yet is so often missed: the actor must find a personal connection to the circumstances, or the character’s conflict never becomes a lived experience.
Talking Out
Revisiting the concept of talking out as a way to help actors own everything they think about a character and a play.
Living off your Partner
Building the character's attitude towards their partner is not only essential in playing a scene, it saves you. There's a danger, however, in building the attitude all on one level.
What to work on
Sometimes I think we've just had too many classes - and too many teachers telling you what you have to do in order to play a part. An actor needs to develop the ability to figure out what is necessary for each part.
Seeing What's Not There
The ability to visualize and live off images that are in the actor's imagination is a great skill to develop. It keeps you from acting in a vacuum,– to say nothing of solving the problem of a bad partner.
Talking Out Revisited
Actor work is not an intellectual exercise. And it’s not about “good writing.”It’s about experiencing.The audience doesn’t come to the theater for the words on the page. They come for the experience of what the character is going through — in the world of the play.In this episode, I return to one of my core tools: Talking Out. Through études — structured improvisations in which you speak aloud eve
The Technique Works!
Actors have a tendency to abandon their technique as soon as they get an audition – and leap to a performance. Just taking a little time to really think about the text makes an enormous difference.
Building a Character
There are many roads in to building a character and, unfortunately, there is no paint-by-number approach. It's great as an actor to play with several different techniques.
Connecting Through Specifics
When an actor does not connect, you catch them "acting". It doesn't matter if it's a television series or a play. Specificity helps us connect.
Fighting Clichés through Specificity and Events
We have a tendency to leap to clichés because the dialogue seems to lead us there. There's a way to fight this.
An Encyclopedic Possibility of Choices
It's very difficult to believe that there is not just one correct choice. As long as an actor is clear what the text is about, there are countless roads in to the experience of the world of the play.
Your choices must feed the text
"Everything is something." It seems simple, but as actors we often skip over something that can give us the key we're looking for.
Everything is Something
The craft of acting is there to give us confidence. If we're not confident it's easy to see, especially for people casting. One of our problems is that we often throw away lines, – or parts of lines, – or even entire phrases. We miss the opportunities for creative acting work because we rush so fast to performance.
There is no shortcut to learning to act
There are all sorts of quick fix "schools" of acting, but it's an art form and it takes dedicated study to become confident in your technique.
Impulse instead of Action
The purpose of the technique is to help open your talent, not strangle it. I'm suggesting that you think in terms of what the impulse is for a scene, – or what's going on with your character.
The Dreaded Vocabulary of Acting
The vocabulary of acting is strangling the talent of actors. The need to use the right words is cutting off the actor's talent.
NYC Classes Begin January 12th
In person classes in New York City begin January 12th
NYC Classes Beginning October 27th!
We can't wait to see you!https://www.theactorlab.nyc
Bonus Video Ep: Let It Happen
This acting class session focuses on the fundamental tension between allowing authentic moments to emerge versus forcing them through overthinking. The instructor addresses how students lose their natural instincts by getting trapped in intellectual analysis—particularly when trying to justify their emotional responses with logical explanations. Using examples from student work, including one stud
Why Your Acting Choices Must Feed the Material
In this episode, Milton Justice explores the critical concept of matching your acting choices to the specific material you're working with. Using examples from his recent work with students, Milton demonstrates how actors often make the mistake of building relationships and emotions that don't serve the genre or tone of their project. He discusses a student working on a romantic comedy who
Filling The Choice
In this episode, Milton Justice explores why actors struggle to make choices substantial enough to serve their material. He contextualizes modern acting within theater history, explaining how realistic theater emerged in the late 1800s with playwrights like Ibsen, Strindberg, and Chekhov. Milton discusses why Stanislavski's approach of having actors use their own lives fails - people don't
Playing Characters Beyond Your Experience
Milton and Kaleb explore how to authentically portray characters whose experiences are completely outside your own. They discuss the crucial role of script analysis in understanding what kind of person your character is within the specific world of the play. Kaleb shares his current challenge, balancing the playwright's thematic intentions with finding the character's personal motivations. They ex
What Worked and What Didn't
Milton interviews student J.P. McCloskey about his off-Broadway experience in the Stephen Metcalfe play Strange Snow. J.P. identifies a major challenge: after months of rehearsals without set or props, he felt lost during tech rehearsal. The solution involves building specific relationships to the physical environment through "talking out" what you see and feel about the space.J.P. shares his char
Casting Directors Need to See This
Milton shares insights from a panel with top New York casting directors including Bernard Telsey and Billy Hopkins. The key revelation: casting directors are looking for "active listening" - actors who remain fully present and engaged even when not speaking. Many actors mistakenly think they only need to act when delivering lines, but casting directors immediately notice when an actor goes "dead"
Announcement!
The Actor Lab is an acting studio founded by industry veterans Milton Justice and Patrick Quagliano, and producer Walker Vreeland. The studio aims to fill critical gaps in contemporary actor training by focusing exclusively on fundamental acting techniques, script analysis, and practical scene work in a supportive yet challenging environment. Unlike other acting programs, The Actor Lab emphasizes
What is Personalizing?
Welcome back to I Don't Need an Acting Class and our first episode of Season 8! In this first episode, we hear a coaching session between Milton and student Madior exploring the concept of "personalization" in acting.The discussion centers around whether actors should draw from their own personal experiences or build relationships from the character's perspective. Using the examp
Plays Are Difficult
In this bonus episode, Milton explores the fundamental challenges of theatrical performance. He begins by praising a student's vivid storytelling about a traumatic experience, noting how the clarity of images and emotional connection made it compelling theater. The rest of the episode centers on Arthur's struggle with a complex role as an 1858 French priest, emphasizing how plays demand de
Bonus Ep: What Separates the Good from the Great
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Bonus Ep: The Imaginary Vacation
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We're so grateful for you. In honor of the holiday we're releasing some audio from 5 years ago, all about an exercise called The Imaginary Vacation. Interestingly, I found it in a folder called "Unusable." I have no idea why I deemed it as such at the time, but I certainly don't think it's unusable now!
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Season 7 is Wrapped!
But we still have a lot going on. Check out out website: www.idontneedanactingclass.com for all the latest events. Happy Holidays to all of you and we can't wait to see you soon.
Avoid Boring Yourself to Death
In this episode, Milton discusses the importance of understanding specific relationships to text and sequence of thoughts. The discussion highlights a common actor's problem of moving too quickly to performance without fully understanding the text's underlying thoughts and relationships. The episode concludes with practical examples of how to break down and connect with text by being more specific
What Does That Mean
This episode delves into the importance of conveying big ideas in acting. Milton emphasizes the need for actors to grasp the magnitude of concepts in great plays, avoiding monotonous delivery that reduces dialogue to a mere "grocery list." He advises performers to explore ideas deeply by asking "What does this mean?" and to get specific with examples to bring concepts to life. He also talks about
A Tear in the Curtain
You have to give yourself permission to fail. If you’re too afraid of being bad, you’ll block your creative energy. Like Venessa Redgrave, indulge yourself in all the worst, most cliche choices first. Get them out of your system, and once they are, then go back and really get to work. But most of that work is done at home. Between rehearsals. It’s about the creative, imaginative research. Talking
Everything Can Be Magical
Or we should say: everything must be magical. To YOU. This week’s episode is a lesson in connecting. We hear a student, Grace, go from “reporting” to “experiencing.” A big part of “getting it” is understanding the purpose of talking out. Once you understand what it’s for, then it becomes easier to make a good choice and “go there.” And when that happens, you no longer have to work so hard. The imp
Your Attitude Towards Your Partner
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Have a question for Milton? Send us a voice note below or email us at: questionsformilton@gmail.com Also, check out our website: www.idontneedanactingclass.com
The Acting Lie Detector
Talking out or improvising text helps us connect to what we’re talking out, sometimes by way of letting us know we are lying. In that sense, talking out is like a lie detector. It’s a way of self-assessing our own work. For example, if we’re bored, that means we’re not bringing ourselves to life, which means we haven’t earned it. Will don’t believe it and neither will anyone else. Milton also make
Milton à Marseille
Milton will be teaching a week-long acting workshop at Clap Class in Marseille! The class will be held in English. Must have experience in film, television or theater, and be fluent in English.
Monday, November 18th to Friday November 22, 2024; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
To register: go to clapclass.fr
Being Active Always
Two topics are covered in this episode: our tendency to be disconnected from what you’re talking about, and our tendency to be disconnected from what’s going on with you in the scene. We shy away from being truly connected because it means vulnerability, it means “going there.” Even if you’re talking about something simple or you’re in a moment that’s not particularly heightened, when we’re connec
I Have (Another Round of) Notes
Milton gives another round of notes to Chris who is doing a monologue from All My Sons.
I Have Notes: All My Sons
This week, Milton coaches Chris on a monologue from All My Sons. This episode is both audio and video. You can watch the video version on Spotify.
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Have a question for Milton? Send us a voice note below or email us at: questionsformilton@gmail.com Also, check out our websit
Looking for A Revelation
This week’s episode calls to mind the Steve Martin quote: “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” You want to make choices that are so inventive that they have no choice but to hire you.
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Robot Drama
In this longer-than-usual episode, Milton coaches the class through Jed’s audition for a TV series in which an out-of-control robot is stealing children. You’ll hear how Milton talks out the entire scene several times. This includes his dialogue, the dialogue of the others in the scene and his response to the others in the scene, as if telling someone a story of what happened. In doing so, he find
Wandering with The Rainmaker
In this episode, Milton begins talking through The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash. It’s an example of how we can begin working on a play by ourselves. There is no right way. We can take our initial impressions (whatever hits us first) and wander around with them in a non-performative way. We do this, in large part, to discover what world we’re in, and that becomes our entree into all the specific el
The Structure of Musicals
Two of Milton’s students are currently starring in an off-Broadway musical, and this week he discusses his recent work with them. He talks about the similarities between the structure of a film and the structure of a musical. In (almost) every scene there is a song, which takes place because the circumstances become so heightened that the only thing one can do in that moment is to sing; and like i
You Can’t Take You Out of It
This episode gets back to the HUGE topic of using your own life, featuring an in-depth conversation amongst the class. It culminates with the following ideas: even though Stella Adler advised against using your own life and experience because it limits you, it’s impossible to take you out of the work. When you use your imagination instead of searching for how you can “relate” to your character, wh
Weird Actor Things
Let’s face it: acting is weird. So are actors. The issues we have…the circumstances we find ourselves in are unlike that of anyone else. Some examples: How does one negotiate a love scene? What do you do when you’re on stage and you start focusing on the mole on your fellow actor’s face, pulling you completely out of the moment? Why dating a co-star is dangerous. What are the principals of “food a
Being a Pleasure to Work With
Even when you're getting bad direction, or someone in the cast inappropriately gives you notes... Even when you feel like you're the only one who knows what they're doing, it's impossible to overemphasize the importance of being respectful and leaving a positive impression on everyone you work with. There are ways to handle these situations. Some actors have to learn the hard way,
Ordinary People (In Extraordinary Circumstances)
Milton begins this week’s episode talking about a client whose personal life reflects the circumstances of the character he’s playing. It’s yet another lesson about the actor’s instinct to make a character about us, and it’s especially difficult to resist when we have been through almost the exact same experience. The difference is— our relationship to the circumstances. This is what can wake you
Milton The Mechanic
Milton Plays A Car Mechanic
The point of this episode is that, while we always need to work hard to make our work believable and interesting, there are times where you might have to work even harder because of your limited imagination and/or life experience. Such as the example provided in this week’s episode: Milton working on a car. This, in life, has never and most likely, will never happen. An
The Nature of Modern Theater: An Analysis of Loose Ends
In this episode, we take a look at the play Loose Ends by Michael Weller. We do so through the lens of realism and the contribution that Ibsen, Strindberg and Chekov made to the modern theater. It’s an unusually long episode, but listening to Milton lecture on and analyze the time period of this play is an example of where script analyses can begin. It’s an exploration, a deep-dive conversation wh
Don't Say It Unless You've Built It
Whether it’s stage or screen, you have to be able to analyze the text to figure out what world you’re in, what’s going on with your character and how you fit into the bigger picture. This way, you can come up with a choice that gives you something, moves you, makes you excited. So that by the time you *say it,* you’ve earned it.
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What Makes A Person
This week, Milton explores a few of the ways we can gain insight into character. We can observe a stranger on the street and then, using a specific character trait, improvise a monologue as that person. We can also examine the events that contribute to a person’s identity. The crucial lesson here is that we never stop searching, never stop digging to find the complexity of a human being. Finally,
Enlighten The Audience
We begin our 7th season with a call to save acting. Together, we can do it! One of the biggest elements that is missing in acting today is understanding the idea behind the play (or whatever it is that we’re doing) and understanding the size of it. Because of the work we do as actors, we get insight into truths about the human experience that we get to share with an audience. And this is how we ne
Bonus Video Ep: How We Talk About Our Pain
In life, we usually don't relive a painful experience when we're talking about it. That doesn't mean it doesn't affect us. It's just that we're not actively trying to "go there." In fact, usually we resist going there with all of our being.
The same should be true when we're acting. We must build the character's past, but that doesn't mean our action
Bonus Content for The Price of a Latee!
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There Is No One Secret to Acting
Season finale! The problem with trying to learn acting in a linear way is that no creative art is linear. You can’t fit a lifelong craft into one box or one book. Therefore, there is no one secret, or one method, or one idea that will save you. We have to be able to take on board the fact that acting is multifaceted. It is not about right or wrong, but a matter of depth. And the more you’re able t
Upcoming Spring Classes!
Email Walker at questionsformilton@gmail.com for more information or to register.
Trusting Your Creative Impulses
In this episode, Milton shares an example of what it means to trust your creative impulses. This means allowing yourself the freedom to wander around until you find a connection to what you're talking about. Although you may know where you're going, you don't necessarily know how you're going to get there, or what choice you're going to discover that ends up bringing you to lif
VIDEO: Mark Ruffalo Goes Rogue
“I’m so sick of Mark Ruffalo. Whatever that is, I’m so sick of it. I am so sick of him that literally there was a part of me that was flirting with disaster.”
On the heels of his Academy Award nominated performance in the film Poor Things, Mark Ruffalo joined his former acting teacher and coach Milton Justice on the podcast I Don't Need an Acting Class to discuss his process. He has since been
Mark Ruffalo Goes Rogue
“I’m so sick of Mark Ruffalo. Whatever that is, I’m so sick of it. I am so sick of him that literally there was a part of me that was flirting with disaster.”
On the heels of his Academy Award nominated performance in the film Poor Things, Mark Ruffalo joined his former acting teacher and coach Milton Justice on the podcast I Don't Need an Acting Class to discuss his process. He has since bee
What Acting Is and Isn't
This week’s episode is based on a question we received about adding your own circumstances in order to increase the stakes, or help you connect. Here’s the question in its entirely:
Is it acceptable to add your own specific circumstances or facts to bear down on generalities in the script?
Or is this dangerous embellishment? David Mamet says to invent nothing, and that the author has given you on
Telling Someone Else’s Story
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This episode begins with the exercise of telling someone else’s story. It involves hearing a story from someone in class, and then retelling it as our own. This is a great technique exercise because it allows you to layer in your first impressions improvisationally. You d
Observing The Art of Seduction
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Milton begins this episode by emphasizing the importance of observing human behavior— our own and others. The reason is, it gives us clues to everything, from character to circumstance to what “playing an action” looks like. Milton gives the example of an audition Diego re
The Sin We Commit Without Knowing It
This week, we go back to some of the fundamentals of acting technique. One of which is, The Biggest Sin: Thou Shall Not Make Performance Choices When You First Read The Script. But this is not something we’re always aware that we’re doing. We forget. Or— we have an immediate response to the character or the circumstances, and run with that first instinct. Or— because of our own personal beliefs an
Think Like an Actor
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Have a question for Milton? Send us a voice note below or email us at: questionsformilton@gmail.com Also, check out our website: www.idontneedanactingclass.com
Be Outstanding
“Don’t shop at Kmart if there’s a Tiffany’s at 57th and 5th.”
-Stella Adler on Making Choices
This episode begins with Milton’s deconstruction of an audition. He talks about the downside of adding a lot of plot points to your preparation for a scene: it means you have to earn every single one of them in a way that feeds you emotionally. “But the advanced work,” he says, “is making kick-ass choices
Active Relaxation
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There are some misconceptions about relaxation in acting. You want to be relaxed but not so relaxed that you’re not able to be active as your character in the given circumstances. As Milton says in this week’s episode: “I think a lot of it is figuring out where to put your
Playing Witch-Twins on American Horror Story
In this episode, actress Annabelle Dexter-Jones joins us on the podcast to talk about playing twin witches on American Horror Story. She discusses the extensive background and character work the did while working one-on-one with Milton, as well as the exercises that freed her up the most and allowed her to make ever more discoveries.
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