Frequently Asked Questions

What are your students doing now? 
     ... well, most recently....

Alexandra Daddario is "Kate" on White Collar
Julianna Margulies is The Good Wife
Brandon Pizzola booked the PA Lottery commercial
Dina Rose Rivera is a principal on the new Sony commercial.
Chelsea Marino is in the feature film The Instant Messenger
Clayton Dean Smith was on 30 Rock and One Life to Live
Toni Romano wrapped Sweet Lorraine (lead role opposite Tatum O'Neal) and is in The Nail:  The Story of Joey Nardone
Larry Hines got rave reviews for Master Harold and The Boys
James Hanlon can be seen in Taking Woodstock and was on Criminal Minds
John (Matt) Leblanc and Tom Bentey shot Love Chaos (lead roles) and John just wowed The Mentalist folks at CBS
Mark Greenberg was on Life on Mars and Rescue Me
Dana Marks directed The Italian Actress at Manbites Dog Theater Company
Jen Percival booked as a team member of the Disney Magic Cast
Matt Cody did summer stock at The Winnipesaukee Playhouse
and Hardhi Harris interrupted every Sunday night football game (smile) on the WebMD commercial.

Why are your classes shorter than other Meisner classes I have researched?
The rule of thumb in the Ward Studio program is that every student works every class. Because we keep our class sizes smaller, the times listed reflect our best estimate as to when a particular section will get out.  If we've got 10 people in a class, it simply takes less time to get through the partnerships than when  you have 18+ in a class.  We're definitely not clock watchers.  We believe in quality over quantity  And if a particular class needs more time, we all stay and put in more work.  So end times vary.

Other Meisner programs insist that it takes two years to study Meisner.  What's up?
Twenty-five years ago, everyone was doing nine-month programs.  Having taught the approach for twenty years, I am confident in my ability to take students through the Meisner training without sacrificing quality in that time frame.  Additionally, while some of our students begin with our Six-Week Intensive, nearly all move into a longer sequence of training of up to two years.  If you take our Tech I intensive, you'll be expected to participate in a longer Tech II course.  Also, after completing their training, most of our students participate in our Performance Workshop, where they continue to receive instruction and support as they apply their Meisner skills to the emotional, interpretative and character demands placed upon them by the text of the play.

P.S. Our understanding is that Sandy's private classes were nine months long.

Are you the "Wendy" in Sandy's book?
No.

I graduated with a BA in theater.  Why do I need to study with you?
Getting your BA in theater probably means that you are a generalist -- and if you're exceptionally talented, maybe you'll be fine.  But we have never had an actor with a BA join our program and not be surprised at how much better he or she became.  Our Meisner technique classes and Audition/Career Mentoring program reveal to all actors where they are weak. We have plenty of talented, working actors who study with us and find that their auditions get much, much better.  Some casting directors will see you only once.  So we recommend that you know precisely what an LA or NY audition requires before you hit the marketplace.

Why don't you audition people to get into your program?
Quite frankly, if we did, almost no one would get in.  Most actors are so presentational that all we would see is how badly they need our training.  We prefer to determine if the student has the strength of character, maturity and work ethic that Meisner training requires -- and that we can do through an interview.  Students new to acting frequently have the advantage of not having developed bad habits.  So whether a student has previous experience or not becomes fairly irrelevant.  If you haven't done Meisner, you haven't done Meisner.  The playing field is leveled. 

I've already done Meisner -- that's repetition right? Why do I need to do it again?
Well, the Meisner approach is much, much more than "black shirt, black shirt."  Plenty of schools and teachers are introducing the elementary concepts surrounding repetition but not all are capable of providing the full curriculum -- many of them never completed the training themselves!  So you have to be careful who you study with.  In my generation, you had to be at the top of your class and asked by your teacher to sit and learn how to teach the approach before you were given your own class.  That apprenticeship program worked.  I'm afraid these days an awful lot of folks are hanging out a "Meisner" banner without having that expertise.

We're concerned when students from other "Meisner" experiences join our program and think that repetition was just a game and that the activity work could just be anything you felt like doing.  We adhere to very strict standards to insure the integrity of our training, which is inevitably why students find our program more challenging.

Sandy said, "The only time Meisner is being taught is when I am in the room."  Well, that's pretty true.  All we can advise is that you do your due diligence before joining any program.

Do you offer housing?
No, but we do help students with that.  There are several residences we recommend and plenty of our students find sublets on craigslist and other similar sites.  We also have a network of graduates who frequently provide temporary housing for our intensive students.  We do warn any student coming to New York to NEVER send money via Western Union.  We're happy to help you determine if a particular listing is a great deal or an obvious scam.  Having said that, we do not take responsibility for any student's housing arrangements.