The Online Acting Gym
Membership to a virtual acting gym generated by you, the actor. It meets twice a week for two hours via Zoom. The Online Acting Gym Members bring material they’ve prepared or they would like to read and we explore the text itself and related acting tools for the camera. Lessons vary depending on what the actor wishes to target. Some students focus on closeup techniques or auditioning tools while others focus on script analysis or a helpful hint for a “self tape.” It’s a Gym and like all gyms, you decide what you’d like to target. You can choose to work on a monologue, a scene or even sides for an upcoming audition. It’s up to you. You can act, audit or be a reader for someone else. It’s your call and it’s your gym. Zoom allows us to get molecular. In other words we can isolate moments and share footage and scenes from films that we know and love to better understand the lesson at hand. It’s your time, your material and we fly with my eye on you. Members have found it surprisingly effective and transformative. Here’s what students are saying:
“The Online Actors’ Gym with Maury is the first online acting class I have ever taken and I could not recommend it enough. At first, I was not sure what to expect from an online acting class— the idea of it seems counterintuitive to the very physical and intimate nature of what we do . However, it may be the best acting class I have ever taken…”…I love that in the Gym , I can bring in any a piece I want to work on, and if I don’t have a piece Maury will always recommend one for me to work on! The range of pieces I have brought into the gym have been a variety of scenes from episodic, to half-hour comedy, to even dramatic monologues for showcases or classical monologues for the stage. He works individually with each student for a generous amount of time as most students run their pieces multiple times per class. He translates and simplifies text in an easy and digestible way and the notes he gives are manageable yet challenging. We all get to watch our classmates grow and explore as Maury works with them. We often will look at the text together as a class, analyze it, and work beat by beat, which gives everyone the chance to review new material. The best part of taking class with Maury is that he makes sure watching others’ work still allows for teachable moments. Much of what I have learned for my own craft has come from watching my classmates flourish with Maury’s coaching…
“…Maury is a master of precision. Depending on where you are in your craft, Maury makes sure to meet each individual student where they’re best served. The Online Acting Gym has allowed me to focus on my on-camera skills and Maury taught me how to make sure my whole voice and body remain engaged. It has made a tremendous impact on my self-tape auditions and my on-camera work overall! His notes are always specific to the piece, your individual growth, and the world of the medium in which you are working. While he will break down the fundamental acting work, he also breaks down the techniques required for the specific piece you bring into class within the specific medium it was written for.”
– Nikhaar Kishnani
“I have been fortunate enough to work with Maury both in person and through his Online Acting Gym. I have grown exponentially in such a short amount of time whilst attending these sessions. Due to his extensive experience as an actively working industry professional, Maury has been able to bestow upon his students a wealth of knowledge that typically may be hard to come across in a traditional acting classroom setting. Maury fosters a creative environment that motivates students to express themselves confidently, as well as encouraging them to explore a scene and discover as many different approaches as possible. As an international student, opportunities to learn from established actors can be difficult to obtain, so the accessibility of an online class was an invaluable experience for me.”
– Cat Torres
Basic membership : two online classes a week for two hours .
Acting coach membership: Two online classes a week for two hours plus one private Marco Polo consult a week. Perfect for that last minute self tape submission that could benefit from another set of eyes.