Working Stiffs
Episode 1: 9 to 5
Episode 2: Hard Day's Work
Episode 3: The Beholder
Episode 4: Sweet and Sour
Fortune
Working Stiffs is a short episodic television program produced by New York Film Academy students. It follows the adventures of two roommates who get canned from their corporate cubical farm jobs, which sets them off on a series of entrepreneurial escapades. Keep up on the antics of these two as they try to make things work on their own terms.
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The New York Film Academy is proud to be the acting school and film school of choice for the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA organization.
NYFA CONGRATULATES
DAYANA MENDOZA,
MISS UNIVERSE, 2008!
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TWO-YEAR OVERVIEW
The New York Film Academy’s Two-year Musical Theatre Conservatory Program has been designed with the same focus and intensity of our world-renowned Acting for Film Program. Students interested in performing musical theatre will be able to study the various aspects of musical theatre craft to hone and perfect their skills.
The program is designed for individuals with innate singing and movement abilities who may or may not have prior experience on a musical theatre stage. The first semester will lay the foundation for more advanced and complicated work in the second and third semesters. While musical performance work will continue through the fourth semester, students will also focus on audition preparation and complete an intensive Acting for Film Workshop.
Musical theatre actors must be well-versed in a variety of dance styles, be able to effectively interpret scripts and songs, as well as present themselves professionally in auditions. The following courses allow students to explore the integral skills required for success in this field, to understand professional ethics and to prepare themselves for the rigorous physical and emotional demands of a musical theatre career.
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| SEMESTER 1 |
CLASSES
• Acting Technique
• Scene Study
• Choreographed Dance
• Voice and Speech
• Music Theory
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• Singing Technique
• Singing Interpretation
• Text Analysis
• Performance Lab
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| SEMESTER 2 |
CLASSES
• Acting Technique
• Scene Study
• Choreographed Dance
• Voice and Speech
• Music Theory
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• Singing Technique
• Singing Interpretation
• Text Analysis
• Performance Lab
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| SEMESTER 3 |
CLASSES
• Acting Technique
• Scene Study
• Choreographed Dance
• Voice and Speech
• Stage Combat
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• Singing Technique
• Singing Interpretation
• Text Analysis
• Performance Lab
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| SEMESTER 4 |
CLASSES
• Acting Technique
• Audition Technique
• Choreographed Dance
• Monologues
• Stage Combat
• Singing Technique
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• Singing Interpretation
• Cold Readings and Audition
Technique
• Acting for Film and Television
• Performance Lab
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AUDITION REQUIREMENTS:
2-minute monologue and 32-bar song. Please bring your own sheet music, in your key, marked with your 32 bars.
When choosing audition materials, it is important to choose roles that are age and type appropriate. It is also important to read the entire play or screenplay prior to your audition. Applications should be turned in prior to your audition in order to schedule your audition. Admissions Representatives will contact you shortly after your audition with an admissions decision.
Please click here to see our audition dates and locations. However, applicants may also make an appointment for a specific audition time at our New York or Los Angeles campus. |
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| SINGING TECHNIQUE |
CHOREOGRAPHED DANCE |
Students will work on the fundamentals of healthy singing: breath support, diaphragmatic control, natural articulation, relaxation of the neck, face and jaw, and proper use of the body. Other topics may include chest voice, falsetto, head voice, and tone, among others. |
This course begins with an overview of dance techniques employed in musical theatre performance with an emphasis on ballet, jazz, and tap, and then progresses to individual training sessions in each of these areas. Students will be applying the various techniques to choreography specifically for musical theatre. |
| ACTING TECHNIQUE |
VOICE AND SPEECH |
The classes will begin with basic ensemble acting games and warm ups. Students will first explore the work of Konstantin Stanislavski, then move to the Method, briefly discussing the role of Sanford Meisner, then continue to the work of Lee Strasberg (sense and emotional memory), Stella Adler (absolute belief in given circumstances), Michael Chekhov (the psychological gesture), Jerzy Grotowski (physical approach/“outside in”), Anne Bogart (viewpoints) and Tadashi Suzuki. The classes will include a brief historical background of each of the Masters, as well as a discussion of the development of each of his/her techniques. Students will then be introduced to specific exercises attributed to each Master and asked to work on them outside of class and to perform them in class. Students will move to “Open Scenes” and monologue work to begin to utilize the different concepts learned. Beginning in the second semester, students will train specifically in both the Method and Meisner techniques, and will employ elements of these techniques in their performance work. |
A primary tool for the actor is the expressive and free voice. Therefore, voices must be trained to be heard (through volume adjustments), understood (through articulation) and also felt (through expression). Students gain insight into the power of how to nurture and control their voices by exercising various resonators and muscles, enabling them to release emotional impulses. In addition to breath work, classes focus on relaxation, phrasing, and posture as a way of nurturing the actor's instrument. Using text, students learn to identify key words and learn how to link intention with the voice and speak clearly and powerfully through the end of a line. Additionally, students will learn the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and apply that learning to the acquisition of convincing regional U.S. dialects and international accents. They will study audio speech samples, transcribe text using IPA, and present monologues and/or scene work to demonstrate mastery of an accent or dialect. |
SCENE STUDY |
SINGING INTERPRETATION |
Working on scenes from published musicals and dramatic plays allows actors to learn all of the basic concepts of approaching a scene: defining objectives, breaking the scene down into beats, understanding the arc, pursuing your objective, playing actions, and working to overcome obstacles. This class provides techniques for understanding actor’s job in relation to a prepared script. It begins at a foundations level, usually with silent scenes or short dialogue scenes and progresses to longer dramatic and/or comedic scenes. |
Students will apply the concepts being studied in Scene Study and Monologues classes to songs, and will learn to approach a song as a monologue or scene, while simultaneously employing proper technique. |
| MUSIC THEORY |
TEXT ANALYSIS |
This course begins with an introduction to music fundamentals including note values, identification of cadences and basic phrase structures, scales, intervals, harmony, key, chords and reading proficiency. |
This course will explore the history and development of seminal dramatic texts from the 20th century to the present. Both musical and non-musical plays will be analyzed. |
| PERFORMANCE LAB |
STAGE COMBAT |
This lab is designed to workshop musical scenes for performance at the end of each semester. Scenes will grow in complexity over the course of the program and will require that students take on both independent or lead performances and chorus roles. |
In this course, actors will learn the invaluable skills and fundamentals of stunt work and fight choreography for the stage. Students will also learn to safely use prop weapons such as guns, knives, rapier-daggers, broadswords, and quarterstaffs. |
| MONOLOGUES |
COLD READINGS AND AUDITION TECHNIQUE |
Monologues are often used for auditions. However, many stage plays incorporate monologues into their dramatic structures, which is why it is essential that actors learn how to approach the preparation, execution, and analysis of monologues. Students will choose, in collaboration with the instructor, monologues to be developed and performed. |
Auditioning is a special skill requiring specific techniques. Actors will learn and practice the essentials of a good auditiona dn focus on the set of skills required to handle cold readings. The goal is to help actors make quick, specific, action-oriented choices and to develop strong listening skills and flexibility in taking direction. |
| ACTING FOR FILM AND TELEVISION |
Today’s successful actors need to versatile, and many stage actors, at times, need to transition smoothly into film or television roles, and back again. The basic tenets of acting translate from stage to screen, but there are skills and knowledge that are specific to the craft of acting for the camera. Students will learn to calibrate performances based on shot size and angle, hitting marks, emotional and physical continuity, as well repetition of performances. |
Curriculum is subject to change. |
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