I Don't Need an Acting Class

Episode

• 
  Kick Ass Choices 11.08.2026 17mnt

  What does it mean to make a great acting choice? This week, we challenge the current obsession with being “authentic” and look instead at what Stella Adler demanded: choices that are appropriate to the play, that require the actor to pay a price, and—importantly—that make good theater.From A Doll’s House to NCIS, we explore why actors have to understand the world and form of the material they’re working on, and why even the simplest line can become compelling when the actor brings something specific and personal to it.Because ultimately, acting isn’t about being accurate or safe. It’s about shopping for choices until you find the one that makes you think: Oh, I love that.
• 
  Trust Your Preparation 04.08.2026 18mnt

  Actors often do wonderful preparation—and then abandon it the moment they begin speaking. This episode explores how to trust your work, stop explaining the plot, and let your preparation carry you naturally into the life of the scene.
• 
  Slow The F••• Down 29.07.2026 18mnt

  Rushing to make choices means we miss great acting opportunities. In this episode Milton works with one of his students who's going into rehearsals for a play soon.
• 
  Simplify Your Choices 21.07.2026 14mnt

  There's a tendency to complicate our choices by inventing elaborate plots, when simplifying to something specific will bring us to life. Also being more specific allows you to dig deeper.
• 
  Living Off Your Partner 14.07.2026 11mnt

  Building a solid relationship with the partner gives you grounding. Knowing who I'm talking to and what my attitude is towards them opens up what's going on in a scene.
• 
  Talking Out a Preparation 12.07.2026 7mnt

  In this video Milton works with Rashaud as he prepares a monologue from The Laramie Project.
• 
  Specificity • a Key 07.07.2026 12mnt

  Not just unexperienced facts can deaden our work as actors, the need to explain or report the facts can get in the way of our most creative work. Digging down specifically can help this problem.
• 
  Getting to Depth 30.06.2026 16mnt

  It's not just enough to be functional or accurate or good enough. There's a road in to our actor work that helps us find extraordinary choices and frees us up to do our best work.
• 
  Before the First Line 23.06.2026 17mnt

  If you think of the play as a continuation of what has already happened, it gives you a sense of how much work you have to do in order to earn the play. Excerpted from my New York class, we continue our work on the Frank Gilroy play, The Subject Was Roses.
• 
  The Human Being Behind the Character 16.06.2026 16mnt

  Continuing work on the Frank Gilroy play, The Subject Was Roses, this expert from Milton's in-person class begins to explore the road in to building a character with more depth.
• 
  Working on Text 12.06.2026 12mnt

  Working on a play begins to give actors the foundation of working on any text they get. These are excerpts from my Script Analysis class at The Actor Lab in New York.
• 
  The Partner and their Behavior 26.05.2026 14mnt

  We're combining two exercises in this class. (1) Seeing someone 'on the street' and being able to make decisions about who they are, based on their behavio and (2) building an attitude towards them.
• 
  Making Active Choices 19.05.2026 15mnt

  Making choices that really bring you to life seems to be a constant struggle. Maybe it's because we're relieved that we can come up with any choice, but the choices must be worth it. They can't be passive.
• 
  Living Off Your Partner 13.05.2026 13mnt

  Actively building an attitude to your partner can open you up to the action of the scene.
• 
  Empathy and Sympathy 05.05.2026 12mnt

  We need to really be careful about the vocabulary of acting. There are concepts that keep working their way and it can dangerously lead actors to a kind of passivity that lessens the power of experiencing.
• 
  Believe Your Choices 29.04.2026 14mnt

  After I vent about the Broadway production of Death of a Salesman, where they yelled at the audience for three hours, we look at the necessity of not just making great choices, but believing them. Not just performing them.
• 
  Character Traits and Actions 21.04.2026 16mnt

  Directors give performance or effect directions. It forces actors to play cliches. Figuring out the nature of a character trait or spine or personality frees an actor to play an action ... or an impulse ... that makes behavior more actable.
• 
  Actors Talk Acting 16.04.2026 16mnt

  Last week I gave classes in Poland and it was extremely useful to have a fresh perspective on students who were slightly new to this way of working – and also affording an opportunity for actors to talk about their particular problems.
• 
  Working On A Monologue 07.04.2026 18mnt

  My student, JP, has been working on the Biff and Happy scene from Death of a Salesman. In this episode we work through a place where he was stuck with that feeling of "now I'm performing a monologue."
• 
  The Actor's Personal Connection 31.03.2026 14mnt

  In coaching an actor this week, I was struck again by what feels obvious—and yet is so often missed: the actor must find a personal connection to the circumstances, or the character’s conflict never becomes a lived experience.