Spring 2023 Class Schedule:
Monday Night Michael Chekhov Technique
Online: Stanislavski’s Cognitive Analysis
Monday Night Michael Chekhov Technique Training: “Transformation & Text”
This ongoing, in-person training focuses on the essential, core elements of Michael Chekhov’s psychophysical acting technique, whom Stanislavski considered to be his most “brilliant pupil”. The work is grounded in the belief that all acting is psychophysical and plays out at the intersection of the actor’s imagination and body.
The particular focus of this spring 2023 session will be on characterization, transformation, and text. In other words, how is the role different from the daily self? How does one transform to meet the imaginary given circumstances of the character? Chekhov’s technique will be employed on your feet to create character and applied to text. All participants in this class must come prepared with a specific role to work on, as well as a memorized monologue or scene from a script.
The class meets Monday nights for 16 sessions over four months.
Consecutive Mondays January 23rd - February 20th and March 13th - May 22nd from 7:00-10:00 PM
By Audition Only || Ongoing Monthly Enrollment Available
Email: hugh@hughogorman.com to set up an audition appointment. Former students of Mr. O’Gorman need not audition.
Tuition: Four monthly payments of $300 or one payment of $1080, reflective of a 10% discount.
Auditing is available only through the Curiosity Group.
Location: The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, 1238 W 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90026
All participants must provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination in order to participate.
Contact Hugh O’Gorman to request to enroll in the class:
Stanislavski’s Cognitive Analysis (Online)
Over the final stretch of his career, Konstantin Stanislavski, along with his former student and colleague at the Moscow Art Theatre, the director Maria Knebel, developed a multi-pronged, holistic acting process called ‘Active Analysis’. It is comprised of two parts” 1) Cognitive Analysis and 2) Physical Analysis. This 6-week online PraXis Acting Studio class with Hugh O’Gorman is a deep investigation into part one, Cognitive Analysis.
“To evaluate the facts means finding a key to the secrets of the character’s spiritual life hidden under the facts and the text.” -Konstantin Stanislavski
At the most fundamental level, actors need to be able to read a script for its dramatic action, as playing action is what you will eventually do in performance. More specifically, as action is embedded in events, actors need to read a script for the specific event in each scene. Therefore, in your own acting you need to become ‘event detectives’, actively investigating and discovering clues for how to discover the events which you will eventually act in performance. As action is at the heart of every event, when you identify the events of any script, you also reveal its dramatic action. The work will prepare you for rehearsal, what Stanislavski himself called “Mental Analysis”. It is comprised mostly of tools that will assist in how to read a script and prepare your role alone, including some psychophysical exercises you can do before you meet with your scene partner. A thorough vetting of the Cognitive Analysis is absolutely necessary before you get to the Physical Analysis. In fact, what you are able to do and accomplish in the physical work will depend on how much effort you have put into the cognitive aspects.
What I can confidently say about the process presented here is that it is reliable, repeatable, and time-tested in the real world by working professional actors and student actors alike. It will lead to success in your work. And again, by success, I specifically mean performing to your fullest potential with the least amount of interference, exacting precision, and long-term repeatability. This process gets results. The track record is strong. Playable action is the result.
“Creative feeling is guided along the pathways prepared by mental analysis. The actor should observe this sequence during Active Analysis.” -Maria Knebel
This online class meets for 6 weekly sessions via Zoom and is structured into three parts. The first part is comprised of the introduction of Stanislavski and Knebel’s vocabulary for Cognitive Analysis; part two is the application of the technique via analysis of a variety of short stories; the class concludes with the analysis of two full dramatic texts.
Consecutive Fridays March 17th - April 21st from 10 AM to 12 PM PST
Email: hugh@hughogorman.com
Tuition: $360
Location: Online via Zoom
Contact Hugh O’Gorman to request to enroll in the class:
“Hugh brings to every class he teaches his care, his particular insight, and his passion. The actors he sends to me always impress me with their training, their poise, and their inherent professionalism. I recommend him without reservation for any class he teaches.”
— Deborah Barylski: Emmy award-winning casting director