Category: Actors

Drop in Sunday is tonight!

8/17/2014

Its the morning and I'm raring to go! It is going to be a beautiful day:)

If you have never experienced a Meisner Technique class before or if you have but you want more, here is your chance!

Every Sunday evening, 5-8 pm I offer a Sunday drop in class. Its a 3 hour class that will get you out of your head as you actively focus on something outside of yourself.

RSVP to reserve a spot in class HERE

Just one class can make a difference in your acting and improve your listening skills. So come in for a great workout! If you have any questions, please email or call me directly
416.312.9188 [email protected]

Starts at 5 pm and goes until 8. Every Sunday evening. We work on Sanford Meisner's repetition exercise to improve listening and get you working moment to moment. The most exciting acting class you will ever take.
$20 includes tea and biscuits RSVP

Regular class is still only $250 tax included till September 1. Register now!!! HERE

Beginner Meisner Technique for adults starts September 3rd
$149 plus HST

Want to come by and audit a class? RIGHT THIS WAY
$20 Audit

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Get Out of Your Head. For Good.

7/21/2014

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Everyone knows how to be a good actor right? Its easy. Just get out of your head. Go ahead, do it. I'll wait....Are you out of your head? Probably not. Because as simple as the concept is, actually doing it can be one of the most difficult things for humans to do, and impossible the more you TRY to do it. You are your thoughts, your behaviors reflect where your focus is. So the more you focus on being out of your head, the deeper you bury yourself in the thought of it, the more trapped you become in your thoughts. That is death for an actor. So hear are some ways to get out of your head:

1. Dance I said, dance.
Any kind of movement will do really but dancing just may be the most fun. Too many actors come in to my studio completely stiff from the neck down. Too many people end up glued to their chairs, keeping their instincts quiet. Moving around immediately ignites your instincts and allows you to feel. Emotions are awakened through heavy workouts, long walks and dancing

2. Children and animals
They say never work with children or animals. They steal the show. Why? Because they are always instinctual. Never in their head or confined to societal norms. They have no filter. They are compelling to watch. So play with a kid, or pet some animals. Roll around on the floor with a dog for ten minutes or play superheroes with some kids. That sense of play that we all had as children is instinctual and vital for your acting.

3. Meisner Technique acting classes
In order to get out of your head you must focus 100 percent on something outside of yourself. You must get your attention off yourself completely and leave yourself alone. Great acting can only happen when you completely allow everything going on in you to go on, never being aware of how you look, or how cool you are or how relaxed your forehead is. This is not easy.

Getting your attention off yourself is a muscle. A muscle that must be worked like your bicep or your gastrocnemius. You must actively train yourself to focus fully on something else. The quickest and most effective way to accomplish this is through Meisner Technique acting classes. Think of class as a gym for your instincts, working moment to moment, consistently working the muscle of getting your attention off yourself. Think about it. You would not expect your tushy to tighten up by sitting on the couch an thinking about it. Well neither will the muscle of getting your attention off yourself. Building a strong foundation in a technique you can rely on is the way to keep you out of your head and keep your focus where it needs to be, when there a million other places for your focus to go.

Interested in trying out the technique? Summer promotion is on now: $250 tax included for a 4 week session. There is also a beginner class starting August 4th for $149. There really has never been a better time to learn a technique that can take you to the next level of your acting, no matter where you start from. Here's people are saying:

For more information or to book a free consultation with Robyn Kay please call us at 416.312.9188 or [email protected]

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5 Ways to Ensure Success

7/20/2014

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Alright, I will give you the secret to success right now, right here. The secret is that there is no secret. There is no one right way and all ways take hard work, discipline, focus and flexibility. There is no such thing as a get rich quick and there is no overnight success. The long way is the short way. This is all good news. This is why they say "if at first you don't succeed, try try again". You must become a collector of "No" and fail more than you succeed. For in the journey towards success, is not only a means to an end, but an end in itself. If that's not meta, I don't know what is. Here are 5 things to consider:

1. Do it when you don't feel like it.
If you keep waiting for it to feel right before you start, you will die waiting. Yes, die. No matter what you are trying to achieve, you must just start. It will feel awful. You might complain like a teenager having to hang out with her parents. In public. The more you do this the more you will feel like doing it. Its true. We are creatures of habit, so the more your efforts become habit, the more you will crave doing it. Go to the gym at 6 am for 30 days and I swear you'll start looking down at people who sleep in.

2. Surround yourself with people more successful than you.
Some people love hanging out with unattractive people. It makes them feel pretty. The problem is the more they hang out with the unattractive, the more they pick up their habits, the more they start to blend right in with them. You cannot soar like an eagle whilst you are surrounded by turkeys. All around you there are people who are achieving more, booking more jobs, getting in better shape. Be around them. Listen to what they say. Sitting at the pub listening to your unemployed friend's theory on how the credit card companies are out to control him will not make you richer. If you can't find any real live people, there are many teachers and mentors who have written books and talk about success all the time. Pop some popcorn and have a drink with one of these videos.

3. Constant training
Get to class. I cant stress this enough. Actors need to be in class all the time. You need to be growing, you need to be pushed by a coach who will not just tell you how great you are. You must learn to express and allow your emotions truthfully and fully. In any industry you are in, you must be learning new things on a daily basis. The world is changing at an alarming rate. What worked 5 years ago will not work today. If you don't think that is so, you must be still writing in Grafitti on your palm pilot and calling people you met off Myspace on your shiny new Razr. If you cannot find the right coach there are resources online www.tedtalks.com.

4. Be uncomfortable
Any or all of the things on this list will make you feel uncomfortable if you do them right. You must push out of your comfort zone to start achieving things that you never have before. Actors must push to sit in the uncomfortable space where they are being emotionally affected by another human being. At the gym you must lift weights that feel uncomfortable in order to build muscle. In your daily life you must constantly take risks to stay young and feel alive. Talk to a stranger, call in to a radio station, go to an open mic and sing something acapella. Risk looking bad. The rewards will blow your mind.

5. Don't make it personal
Life is about something bigger than you. People will tell you all sorts of things to bring you down or lift you up, depending on what they need from you. Whatever they say says more about them than you! That is very important to know if you wish to be successful. Whether feedback is positive or negative, take what you are getting without making it mean anything about you. Consider criticism and think it through to see if it may help your work. Accept compliments but go home and work harder. Your pursuits are a constant process and nobody is responsible for your success but you.

Robyn Kay is an acting coach and founder of the Robyn Kay Studio in downtown Toronto. Meisner Technique classes run continuously with drop ins every Sunday night. For more info please contact Robyn Kay at
416-312-9188 or [email protected]

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Drop in Sunday is tonight!

Get Out of Your Head. For Good.

5 Ways to Ensure Success

Robyn Kay

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