Search – Button
Subscribe – Button
Get Tips
Get free tips while you’re waiting to jump into a class! Sign up for my newsletter.
Site Switcher – Buttons
GET ON WAITLIST
Learn to act and audition on camera with confidence and authenticity.
Get more comfortable working in front of the camera and learn how to feel prepared for your auditions. Find out how you can bring your authentic self to your on-camera work.
ASSIGNMENTS
Each week, you’ll receive an assignment to create specific choices for your character and scene. One scene is given in class, and you will need to find and prepare two additional scenes. Your scene selections should match your persona and age. If you can’t find a scene, no worries!—you’ll be guided to resources.
WATCH YOURSELF ON CAMERA
We film your scenes and provide downloads after each class. It’s super important to watch your work—it’s an excellent way to study your progress, notice your creative “tics” or habits, and see what the producers and directors are watching on their monitors.
DEVELOP AND HONE
Specificity! We’ll work on developing your specificity while acting on camera. This is precisely what makes the difference in your auditions.
We’ll be honing in on these aspects: looking into the eyes of your scene partner and practicing having real, truthful presence; using physical choices; playing in the frame of the camera; shaping a scene and creating a discernible beginning and ending; making different choices each time the camera rolls; personalizing the scene in moments or lines.
UPLEVEL YOUR WORK
We will strive to uplevel your work so that you feel very confident in your audition scenarios (self-tapes, in-person auditions, and screen tests). Overall, we will deepen your work as an actor on camera.
BEYOND CLASS
“I’m always available for questions about class or industry. I want to connect your joy for acting with tools to make your characters and scenes feel natural. Only thing you have to bring is your most authentic self (and we’ll help you find that!). Let’s play, dig deep and learn how to make On Camera Acting work for you!”—Athena
CLASS 1: In the first class, it’s all about finding your voice. Your experiences, fears, and strengths help create some pretty awesome characters. Together we’ll examine character breakdowns. You’ll work a scene on camera and play one of the characters you create. You’ll leave class with some serious character skills, ready to make any persona come to life.
CLASS 2: In the second class, you’ll create the environment and objective for your scene. These are called your given circumstances, and most actors skip over these so fast! Using the great acting teacher Stanislavski’s idea of given circumstances, you’ll begin to understand the character’s intentions. Together, we’ll read and analyze a TV/film scene and study your character’s intentions as well as how the environment might affect your choices. You’ll work on camera with your prepared scene to discover all the possible choices your character can make to get what they want in these circumstances!
CLASS 3: In your final week, we will focus on recreating the audition room and prepping self-tapes. Work on camera with your prepared scene. Learn the role of each person in the audition room, including the casting director, writer, producer and director. This class serves up confidence and ease to conquer your next audition! (After this class, teens will be able to give their parents even more tips for helping them set up their self-tapes!)
This class is ideal for the highly motivated and enthusiastic young actor who has a feeling that they love acting! For teens 13–18 years old.
This is an era of films and TV shows that are speaking boldly, openly, and authentically to youth audiences.
Young actors on screen are pouring their hearts into these stories—and casting rooms are hunting high and low for authentic and crafted young actors. When they get both qualities in any actor, it’s like finding gold!
Join this class if you are a young, inspired actor who…
Maybe you’re a teen who’s somewhere in between newbie and veteran, or you simply want to transition from theater to film and TV!
All are welcome. Experience is a plus, but the camera truly levels the playing field. The most experienced actors and the newest actors are all in the running for the same lead roles…
TIME COMMITMENT
You will need to plan for homework time to research your assignment, prepare your materials, and practice your self-tape set-ups. All studio classes are designed to stretch and support your complete prep process as an actor for self-tapes and in-person auditions. The more you put into the class, the more you get out of it!
WORKING WITH GUEST TEACHERS
Artists teaching artists is the inspiration for bringing Guest Teachers to the studio. This class is intended to expand your process as an actor and to reinforce your skills, confidence, and natural talent.
Build your skills:
Athena Colón is a bilingual, native New York actress, teaching artist, and acting coach.
Athena Colón is a bilingual, native New York actress, teaching artist and acting Coach. Athena has worked as an independent teacher and coach in New York City for 10+ years. She has trained with former Telsey + Company casting director Heidi Marshall as a coach and joyfully prepares actors for screen tests and auditions. She is the recipient of the BRIO Grant from the Bronx Council of the Arts. While earning her BFA in Theatre from Long Island University–C.W. Post, she co-created a Suzuki-based performance, Third Child, which toured Italy, the Czech Republic, and New York City. Her recent TV credits include: THE GIRL ON THE BUS, NEW AMSTERDAM, BULL, Martin Scorsese’s VINYL, JESSICA JONES, and LAW & ORDER: SVU. When she’s not acting on stage or film, Athena facilitates acting classes and conducts theatre workshops in NYC. She proudly collaborates with Heidi Marshall Studio and DreamYard.
HEIDI’S ENDORSEMENT
Athena is a tremendous coach who will draw out your confidence and (re)energize your work. She has a loving, magic touch with actors. I often partner with Athena in the prep process for actors in screen tests and role prep (e.g., Hallie Bailey is starring as Disney’s live-action Little Mermaid after we walked her through all her intense screen tests!) Actors just adore Athena’s laser-focused, energetic coaching! Her classes are totally invigorating. They’re also super fun and incredibly informative—she brings ALL the insider, behind-the-scenes knowledge from actor to actor…things you’ll really want to know when you head to set! Athena has been around the block on so many TV sets. I really, really love for working artists to teach each other.
For 10+ years, Guest Teacher Athena Colón has been passionately teaching acting to Teens in NYC. Using Heidi’s on-camera acting techniques and philosophy combined with her own expertise, she will teach young artists how to work on camera like the pros.
Join the Priority List to receive Athena’s Video Tip #1 for some tips and inspiration, and start learning now.
When you register, you’ll receive these next two video tips in your inbox:
Full disclosure — please note that we do not guarantee that actors in these classes or workshops will be hired for any project that we might direct, produce, or cast. We teach and coach because we enjoy supporting and nurturing actors as you develop your personal process for auditioning, working and creating your own work.