About
We are a Distillery.
(NOT in the trendy and conventional “Boozy” sense of the word.)
Our main focus at The Acting Gallery involves the distillation of Spirits.
And although the outcome of the work that we do here at the Gallery may cause you to feel funny, lower your inhibitions, help you interact with others, and generally improve your overall performance...don’t get it twisted, we are NOT making (or consuming) Hooch in our classes. We’re dealing with the refinement of the Human Spirit.
In life, some extremely enjoyable events will come to pass, some overwhelmingly challenging things will occur, and many other seemingly significant or insignificant experiences will take place in between. ALL of these gems are in the well from which we will draw for our creative expressions.
We arm our students with the understanding that at birth we were similar to that of a fresh chalkboard, new and unmarked, and that our life experiences can be viewed as the many things that have been written upon us (it). It does not require much imagination to realize that after years of life, our so called “chalk boards” have surpassed a gentle crowding and moved more towards chaotic.
Our work sorts through it ALL.
We will get through the muck, all the way down to the real you, and build upward from there. The hardest part about teaching new habits and techniques, is getting rid of the old ones.
So, what’s an “About Us” about?
For some companies it’s a place to flex, name drop, and drive home how awesome and unique they are, so that you’ll use their product or service. For others it’s more about transparency and letting people in. How much “About” us do you want to know, really? How much is too much? Although name dropping isn’t really our thing, we’ve gotta at least tell ya where we learned what we’re offering to teach, right!? Hopefully I can shed an appropriate amount of light on a few pertinent things right off the top, and then if you get lost in the rest of the details, you’ll only have yourself to blame, for trying to dig deep enough to see why the class isn’t for you.
We are a husband and wife team that met in Los Angeles in the early 90’s and the entertainment business was every thing to us. We lived and breathed visual arts. NALIP (National Association of Latino Independent Producers Convention) is how we met, and The Nosotros Theatre (Started by Ricardo Montalban) is where we first began to work together. We studied for many years independently as well as several years together (under Nicholas Pernice a Meisner Teacher). I (Nino) studied with the Late Great Actor’s Studios Veteran David LeGrant for many years. (“Many” is a word usually used to hide age, or embellish 8-10) I was first introduced to David by Actor/Director/Producer Tobey Maguire in the early 90’s. Our crew also included Brittany Murphy, Sara Gilbert, Eddie Singletary, Melissa Heckler yada yada yada whatever whatever lol.
Here at the Actor’s Gallery, our approach stems from the complete awareness that performers are both artist and instrument. Our classes are designed to bring the two into a true harmony, teach technique, and strengthen the individual. The task of working towards our constant distillation, is not only an indispensable part of honing your craft, but it is also the foundation on which everything else will be built. This is just a fancy way of saying that we must find out where we are now (always), where we’d like to go, and whether or not we currently have the proper equipment to get us there. Finding out who we are and who we are not, is a large part of our work, and is a life changing experience. Once it is achieved and maintained, “acting” becomes easier, due to less internal conflict.
Being the actual instrument means that we can never blame our guitar, our paint brush, or the quality of the paint, only our lack of conviction and work put in. An actor cannot toss a canvas or stop mid performance because they are not “feeling it.” They must deliver from the truth of where they are.
For each student the depths of the well will be different at different times. The more muck removed from the top layers, the more that we can reach deeper.
Example: If a role requires that on a scale of one to ten we should be at a hysterical twelve, yet we are only feeling a three - but we PUSH the “untrue” rest of the way... ALL becomes unbelievable. But if we play an honest three, at least it will convey true emotion.
For those interested in this type of work (and it do not fool yourself, it is work) it means we must find within us a sincere willingness to dig, regardless of what is to be discovered.
We want our creatives to know what they are playing, why they are playing it, how well they are playing it, it’s current restrictions, and the boundless limits of their spirits.
We are a school that believes that the very techniques that we teach, are ONLY realized when they can no longer be witnessed, and that real training truly begins when we discover what the individual is NOT, in order uncover who and what they truly are.
Our classes bring discovery, freedom, and confidence, not only to professional actors, but to musicians, teachers, lawyers, public speakers, salespeople, and anyone else seeking to improve their awareness, communication skills, and personal growth.
Remember:
We’re all performing somewhere.