Group Acting Class

John Jacobsen is a director and teacher who lives in Seattle and Los Angeles. He is the Vice President of the Act Theatre, one of the country’s leading regional theatres, and co-founder of TheFilmSchool, one of America’s leading film schools, with the actor Tom Skerritt. He is the host and producer of the national cable TV show, Artists Reflections. He has been involved in the film, theatre and television industry for over 20 years and teaches acting, directing and writing all around the world. He directed the feature film, Around the Fire (starring Tara Reid and Devon Sawa), produced in part by The Shooting Gallery (Sling Blade), which premiered at The Seattle International Film Festival and was nominated for The Best Independent Filmmaker’s Award, and which won the Giffoni Film Festival in Italy last year. John has also produced several features, including the Columbia/Tri-Star picture Nervous Ticks starring Bill Pullman and Peter Boyle. His other production credits include the HBO movie of the week, Danger of Love, John Frankenheimer's 52 Pick Up with Roy Scheider and Ann Margaret, and The Assassin with Charles Bronson. Several short films he produced won awards including the Aspen Film Festival and the gold, silver, and bronze awards at the Houston international Film Festival and featured talent such as Sandra Bullock and Sally Kirkland. He has directed over twenty stage productions regionally and in New York, working with such talents as Eli Wallach, Scott Bakula, Marcia Gay Harden, Yeardley Smith, and Jill Eikenberry. He has directed commercials, documentaries and corporate videos, and worked as an assistant on Broadway to the legendary director, Hal Prince. He directed and produced the Tribute to Katherine Dunham on CBS's Emmy Award-winning Kennedy Center Honors and worked with the Academy Award-winning documentary maker, Charles Guggenheim. He managed the Motion Picture and Television Department at UCLA Extension, and he still teaches writing, directing and acting at numerous colleges. He was a Directing Fellow at the American Film Institute (AFI) and has sold several screenplays.

John teaches a very nuts-and-bolts, technique-oriented approach to acting, stemming from Stanislavski and Uta Hagen. He believes there is no better way to learn how to act than to work as an actor, and thus focuses his students on the business of getting hired. Acting technique is taught primarily through monologue work, which also allows students to develop their repertory of audition pieces, and motivating discussions regarding agents, casting directors, and marketing oneself in Seattle, Los Angeles and New York are frequent. The camera is a tool John will use to help students prepare for commercial, corporate and feature work, but generally his focus is on getting actors to be honest in their work, to trust their work and their abilities, and to make strong choices.

Class Schedule: The group acting class (currently filled with a waiting list of 3) meets Monday evenings from 6:30 to 9:30. Private acting classes are scheduled individually and are for one hour. Students can start anytime there is an opening, with the permission of the instructor and it is suggested that they meet at least once a week, although twice a week is ideal.

Class Size: The group acting class is limited to 10 students.

Acceptance and Cancellation Policy: In the group class, students are accepted on a first come basis and only the receipt of their full payment holds their space. Once space is held, there are no refunds unless the instructor agrees otherwise. Students are enrolled in 8 session increments and there are no refunds or credits for missing one or more classes.

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