Question:
I am a 20 year old college drop out. I always had what I thought was a wild dream of becoming an actress ( who knows maybe it is). Anyway I was in a chat room talking to a girl who is going to school for producing, she convinced me that I should JUST DO IT! Easy, I thought. Boy, was I wrong. I have looked up things on the internet, my local phone book, and called information. Do you think I found any leads on acting instructors? if your saying yes to yourself, your wrong. Not one thing to go on. So what I need is someone........anyone to tell me where in Central New York I can get an acting instructot to work with me and tell me if I'm any good, or am I dreaming.
Answer:
If you're serious about acting, don't discount the idea of driving to NYC on a weekend where you will find the widest range of acting coaches for stage and film. For years while living in NY's Southern Tier, I took a noisy bus on weekends to study with some of the best coaches.... Bobby Lewis, Stella Adler.
Most of the cities in "Central New York" don't generate enough activity to support independent acting coaches, so your two best bets are to seek out professional theatre companies or colleges/universities.
I worked at GEVA Theatre, an Equity company in Rochester) in the 70s and recall that they did offer acting classes on an outreach or adult education basis. If you're near Rochester, give 'em a call.
The SUNY system includes a number of B.A., B.F.A. and M.F.A. programs in Theatre -- with an emphasis on acting. The problem is that you won't be able to take the "rock-solid" classes in acting, which are reserved for students who are majoring in theatre. But sometimes the state universities and even the private universities offer adult education.
By the way, I earned my first degree in Theatre at Harpur, now called SUNY B, or Binghamton University.... then taught acting later at Cornell in Ithaca.
