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HandoutHandout 1: Supply & Shopping List — Intro to Acting
Handout 1: Supply & Shopping List — Intro to Acting
Oh man, good news first: this class is cheap. Acting is basically the one hobby where the actual equipment is your body and your willingness to look silly in front of near-strangers. That part's free. Everything below is either optional or under ten bucks.
I've split it into budget (what you actually need) and nice-to-have (stuff that makes it more comfortable, not stuff that makes you better). Don't let anyone, including future-you at a store, talk you into the nice-to-have tier before week one. Let's just try the class first and see what you actually want.
Budget tier — bring this, that's it
- A notebook and a pen. Any notebook. I write character notes on the backs of receipts half the time, so don't overthink this.
- Clothes you can move in. We do warm-ups every single class, no exceptions, and some of them involve getting low to the ground or flopping around like Jackson's dramatic-melt bit (ask me about that sometime). Jeans that don't stretch are going to fight you.
- Closed-toe shoes, or shoes you don't mind losing to a scuffed floor. The room we're in has regular tile, not a sprung stage floor, so nothing fancy needed, just something you can pivot in.
- Water. Dry air up here plus talking loudly for two hours will wreck you. I keep a water bottle by the door and forget to drink from it constantly — don't be me.
- A willingness to feel dumb for about ten minutes at the start of class. Free, but the one non-negotiable item on this list.
Nice-to-have tier — only if you want it
- A folder or binder for scene pages. I hand out loose paper because that's what the copier gives me, and loose paper migrates into car floors and diaper bags at an alarming rate. A folder solves that. I use a $2 one from the school-supply aisle, nothing special.
- A small notebook just for lines, separate from your regular notes. Some people like keeping "line work" and "how did that feel" notes in different places. I don't personally bother, but I know folks who swear by it.
- Layers. The room runs cold some weeks and warm others and I have not figured out the pattern. A hoodie you can tie around your waist during the active parts covers you either way.
- A highlighter, if you're the type who marks up scripts. Some people need this to feel organized. I am not that person, so no judgment if you skip it.
Shopping notes
None of this needs a special trip. If you're doing a normal Macey's or Costco run anyway, grab a cheap notebook and call it done. I wouldn't drive anywhere out of your way for supplies for this class — that's a waste of gas and also kind of against the spirit of the thing. The whole point is that acting doesn't require much gear, just a body that's willing to move and a brain that's willing to be wrong in front of people.
One last thing: don't buy a script or a monologue book ahead of time. I bring all the scene work we'll use, and if you show up with your own material we haven't talked about yet, it usually means we spend week one untangling that instead of just starting. Come empty-handed on the material front. Bring the notebook, bring the shoes, bring the water. We'll do the rest together. 💛
HandoutHandout 2: Cheat Sheet — Core Techniques
Handout 2: Cheat Sheet — Core Techniques
Oh man, I know handouts are a little dry for a class about being loud and silly in front of people, but you asked for something to tape inside a script or stick on the fridge, so here it is. Quick reference, nothing fancy.
The Warm-Up (don't skip it)
Yes, even you, even if you feel silly. The dumb stuff at the start is what loosens up the smart stuff later. I won't let anyone skip it and here's why: nobody does their best work cold. Give it five minutes before you decide it's not for you.
"Let's Just Try It"
This is basically my whole teaching philosophy in four words. You don't need to understand a scene before you stand up and do it wrong once. Understanding comes from doing it, not the other way around. If you're stuck in your head about a choice, that's your cue to just try it.
Mistakes Are Good Data
Not failures. Data. You said the line to the wrong person, you forgot where you were supposed to stand, you went blank — fine, now you know something you didn't know before. First play I ever did, I delivered my one line to an actor who wasn't even in the scene. Nobody in the audience noticed. Nobody is watching you nearly as closely as you think they are.
Commit to the Choice
Half a choice is worse than a wrong choice. If you're going to be the grumpy neighbor, be the grumpy neighbor all the way — don't do 60% grumpy neighbor while checking if it's landing. Kids do this naturally. Adults have to relearn it. A full-hearted wrong choice reads fine. A hesitant right choice reads bad.
Reactions Over Lines
Memorizing your lines is the least important part of this. I mean that. What matters way more is how you react to what the other person just did or said. A scene is two people listening and responding, not two people waiting for their turn to talk.
Improv Basics — "Yes, And"
- Accept what your scene partner gives you. Don't block it, don't correct it, don't wish it were different.
- Add something of your own. Give them new information to work with too.
- Improv is not for the bold, it's for the nervous — it's a rulebook that removes the pressure to be clever. If you've got the rules, you don't have to invent everything from scratch.
Emotional Register — a note on my own limits
I am not going to teach you a convincing "menacing" because I physically cannot stop smiling when I try to play a villain. Genuinely, ask anyone who's seen me try. So for big-anger scenes, I'll coach you on structure and commitment, but if you want a masterclass in scary, you'll have to look elsewhere. Consider this one of my known gaps. 😅
Accents — also a known gap
I can't reliably do one on purpose (I once did an accidental British accent and didn't realize until someone asked me about it afterward). If accents are your thing, go for it, just don't expect me to be the expert in the room.
Quick Troubleshooting
If you feel... Try this Frozen / blank Move your body. Even a small gesture, a step, anything. Motion unsticks words. Too in your head Say the line out loud even if it's wrong. Fix it after. Embarrassed after a flub Let it go — the audience forgot faster than you think. Nervous before you start Good. That means you care. Nervous beginners are my favorite kind. That's the sheet. Everything else we'll get by doing it in the room. 💛
WorksheetHandout 3: Scene Choices Checklist
Handout 3: Scene Choices Checklist
Oh man, this is the one where you actually write things down instead of just flailing around the room, so bear with me.
Before you run your scene — solo, with a partner, whatever we've got you doing this week — fill this out. Not because I love paperwork (I don't, ask my planner, it's a mess behind the color coding). It's because naming your choices out loud, even on paper, is basically the same muscle as acting. You're deciding something on purpose instead of hoping it happens.
Let's just try it.
---
Before you run the scene
Who am I in this scene? (One line. Not a biography. "Tired mom." "Kid who's lying." That's plenty.)
_______________________________________________
What do I want, right now, in this scene? Every character wants something, even small. To be believed. To leave. To get the last word. Pick one.
_______________________________________________
What's in my way? The other person, my own nerves, the fact that I'm holding a script and also somehow a prop — whatever it is.
_______________________________________________
One physical choice I'm committing to: A posture, a gesture, a way of standing. Doesn't have to be big. Has to be real. Half-committed is more embarrassing than fully wrong, so pick one and go all in. 💛
_______________________________________________
---
After you run it (fill in with your partner or group)
One thing that worked:
_______________________________________________
One thing that felt weird, awkward, or fell apart — and that's fine, that's good data:
_______________________________________________
Did you react to the other person, or just wait for your turn to talk? Be honest. This is the whole ballgame. Reacting matters more than remembering your lines — I say this every single week and I'll keep saying it.
☐ Reacted ☐ Waited for my turn ☐ Bit of both, ok
Would you make the same physical choice again, or try something different next time?
☐ Same choice, it's mine now ☐ Trying something else next round
---
One gut-check question, no wrong answers
On a scale of "fine" to "sweating," how nervous did you feel walking into this scene?
☐ Fine ☐ A little ☐ Sweating ☐ Honestly kind of a lot
If you circled the last two — good. That means you care. I'd rather work with someone shaking a little than someone coasting through it half-asleep. Nervous is not a problem we're fixing here. It's just weather. You act in it anyway.
---
Keep this page. We'll come back to it later in the course and compare notes — you'll be surprised what you were scared of in week two.
HandoutHandout 4: Troubleshooting Guide — Common Beginner Problems
Handout 4: Troubleshooting Guide — Common Beginner Problems
Oh man, every single one of these I've either done myself or watched happen about forty times. None of it means you're bad at this. It means you're a beginner, which is the whole point of the class. Here's what to do when it happens.
"I forgot my line and my mind went completely blank." Don't reach for the exact word. Say what the sentence means in your own words and keep moving. Nobody in the audience has the script memorized but you. My first show ever, I delivered my one line to the wrong person entirely and walked off — not one person noticed. You have way more room to recover than it feels like in the moment.
"I can't stop laughing / breaking character." Totally normal, especially with people you know. Give yourself a task — look at your scene partner's shoes, or hold something in your hands. Giving your body a job usually settles it faster than telling yourself to be serious.
"I'm shaking too much to talk." Move first, talk second. Jumping jacks, shaking out your hands, a lap around the room. I've had a terrified fifteen-year-old run his lines while doing jumping jacks because his body needed somewhere to put the nerves. It works. Your voice calms down once your body has something else to do.
"I don't know what to do with my hands / body." Nobody does at first. Pick one small physical thing — cross your arms, lean on something, fold a piece of paper — and let that be enough. You don't need a full physical performance in week two.
"My villain / angry character isn't scary, it's just... me smiling." Welcome to my personal nightmare. I cannot play mean to save my life. What helps: slow down instead of getting bigger. Quiet and still reads scarier than loud, almost always.
"I said yes-and but then didn't actually add anything." Common one. "Yes, and" needs the "and" to be a real offer — a detail, a name, a location. "Yes, and it's freezing in here" is a scene. "Yes" by itself is a dead end.
"I'm overthinking the choice before I make it." This is the one that eats the most class time. You don't have to pick the right choice. Pick a choice and commit to it fully. A half-hearted attempt is more embarrassing than a full-hearted wrong one, every time. Kids get this instantly. Adults have to relearn it.
"I skipped the warm-up in my head because it felt silly." I see you. Do it anyway. The silly stuff at the start is what loosens everybody up enough to take risks later. Skip it and the whole room stays stiff.
"I froze completely and did nothing." Say what's happening out loud. "I think I'm supposed to say something now" got the biggest laugh of the night once, from a kid who genuinely forgot everything. Naming the blank is still a choice. It's better than standing there.
"I don't think I'm any good at this." Nervous beginners are who I want in this room. Confident people who are just coasting are actually harder to teach. Caring that much is the raw material. Let's just try it and see what the next attempt tells us. 💛
podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 1
Audio coming soon — show notes below.
JESS: —so wait, you're telling me nobody in the audience even noticed?
ANNE: Nobody. Zero people. I said my one line to a guy who wasn't even in the scene with me, walked off stage, and stood in the wings just waiting to get pulled aside. Nothing. The show kept going like nothing happened.
JESS: Okay, for people just tuning in, this is Anne, she teaches Intro to Acting for us, and I make her tell this story every year because I love it.
ANNE: Oh man, it's a good one to start with though. Because that's basically the whole class. Nobody is watching you as closely as you think they are. I learned that by accident, delivering a line to the wrong human being, and it's true forever.
JESS: I'm Jess, I produce these class podcasts, and this is episode one for Intro to Acting, which starts up in a couple weeks. Anne, tell people who you are real quick.
ANNE: I am not a trained actor. I want that on the record immediately. I got into this in high school because a friend didn't want to audition alone, so I went with her, read for a tiny background part to keep her company, and got cast. She didn't. Which, at the time, felt awful. But the director talked me into staying and by closing night I was completely hooked, not even on being on stage, more on that backstage-hallway thing where a bunch of strangers turn into a unit in six weeks.
JESS: That's the actual pitch for the class, right there.
ANNE: Kind of, yeah. I've done community stuff off and on since, ward roadshows, helped with a youth theater group for a while. Six kids now, part-time work, I don't perform much these days. Teaching this is my way of staying in it without signing up for a two-month run I don't have time for.
JESS: Give people one real thing they'd get out of session one.
ANNE: We do warm-ups. Every single time, no skipping them. People want to skip them because it feels silly and they want to seem adult about the whole thing, and I won't let them, because the silly stuff is what loosens everybody up. If you're listening and not taking the class, here's the one thing you can steal: next time you're nervous before something, actual thing, job interview, whatever, do something physical first. Jumping jacks, shake your hands out, anything. I had a kid backstage once, fifteen years old, shaking so bad he couldn't hold his script. I had him say his lines while doing jumping jacks. Gave his body something else to think about. Worked immediately. I've used it ever since.
JESS: That's such a good tip because it doesn't require any acting training at all.
ANNE: That's the thing, at the end of the day, ironically, most of what I teach isn't really about acting. It's about getting a nervous person to feel safe enough to try something dumb in front of other people. That's the actual skill. I could not tell you a stage direction to save my life.
JESS: You're also famously bad at accents, I've heard.
ANNE: Genuinely terrible. My husband came to a show once and told me afterward, very sincerely, "I didn't know you could do a British accent." I was not doing a British accent. That was just the voice I landed on for the character. We still laugh about it. Don't ask me to teach accents, I will actively mislead you.
JESS: Okay, last thing, what's session two, so people know what they're walking into.
ANNE: Improv. And I know that word makes people nervous, everyone pictures the loud confident person who's great at parties. I actually think it's the opposite. Improv is for scared people, not brave people, because it's a rulebook that takes the pressure off having to be clever. You just have to say yes and keep going.
JESS: I like that as a reframe.
ANNE: Let's just try it, that's basically my whole teaching philosophy in four words. We'll do it together, it'll be a little messy, messy is fine. Mistakes are just good data.
JESS: Anne, thank you. This was great.
ANNE: Thanks for having me talk your ear off. 💛
JESS: That's episode one. Sign-ups are still open for Intro to Acting, evenings starting later this month. See you next time.
podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 2
Audio coming soon — show notes below.
JESS: —and that's the part nobody warns you about, honestly, the silence part.
ANNE: Oh man, yes. The silence. People think improv is about being quick and funny and I'm like, no, most of it is just standing there letting a silence happen and not dying.
JESS: Okay wait, back up, for people just tuning in—this is week two?
ANNE: Week two. Last week was warm-ups and getting people okay with looking dumb in front of strangers. This week we did our first real improv scenes, no script, nothing.
JESS: And how'd that go.
ANNE: Genuinely good. There's always one moment where somebody freezes and you can see them thinking "I have failed, this is over." And it's not over. That's just improv doing its normal thing.
JESS: Tell the story. You told me this one in the hallway and I made you save it.
ANNE: Okay, so — my sister Samuel, her kid did a school skit a while back, totally separate from my class, this was years ago. And the kid forgot every single word. Just blanked, standing on stage, whole audience watching.
JESS: Oh no.
ANNE: And instead of panicking, the kid just started narrating it out loud. "I think I'm supposed to say something now." Just said that. To the audience. Completely deadpan.
JESS: That's amazing.
ANNE: Biggest laugh of the night. Nobody else even remembers what the skit was actually about. They remember the kid saying "I think I'm supposed to say something now."
JESS: So the mistake was the good part.
ANNE: The mistake was the best part. That's my whole argument for improv, honestly. You don't need to be clever. You just need to be willing to say the true thing that's happening in your head. "I don't know what's happening." "I forgot my line." "This is awkward." Say it out loud in character and it becomes the bit.
JESS: Okay so if somebody's listening right now and they're never gonna take the class but they want one thing to try—
ANNE: Oh, easy one. Next time you're stuck in an awkward moment in real life — you trail off mid-sentence, you forget somebody's name, whatever — just say the awkward thing out loud instead of trying to cover for it. "I totally forgot what I was gonna say." People relax immediately when you do that. It's the same muscle as the improv thing. You're not hiding the glitch, you're just naming it.
JESS: Huh. That's very small and very useful.
ANNE: That's my whole teaching philosophy in one tip, honestly 😅. Name the thing, don't perform around it.
JESS: Did anybody freeze up bad tonight? Like really stuck?
ANNE: One guy, sweet guy, just stood there for a solid four seconds staring at his scene partner like a deer. And you know what happened? Nothing bad. The room waited. His partner waited. And then he just said "sorry, I lost it," and everybody laughed, and they kept going and it was fine.
JESS: Nobody remembers the four seconds.
ANNE: Nobody remembers the four seconds! That's the thing I keep trying to get people to believe. Nobody in that room is tracking your mistakes as closely as you are. I learned that one myself the hard way, delivered a whole line to the wrong actor once in high school and just walked off like it was intentional. Not a single person noticed. I noticed. Nobody else did.
JESS: Okay, real quick before we wrap — what's next session.
ANNE: Next week we're doing scene work with actual partners, like, two people building a whole tiny scene from nothing, and we start talking about reacting. Which I think matters way more than people expect. Everybody's obsessed with what am I gonna say, and I'm way more interested in what are you gonna do with your face when the other person surprises you.
JESS: Reactions over lines.
ANNE: Reactions over lines, always. Lines are the least important part, at the end of the day, ironically 💛. Bring a partner if you've got one lined up, or don't, we'll pair people who show up alone. That's kind of the best part of the room honestly, watching two strangers become a little unit for an hour.
JESS: Love that. Okay, see everybody next week.
ANNE: See you then. Wear shoes you can move in, we're not sitting much.
podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 3
Audio coming soon — show notes below.
JESS: —and I said, no, you cannot count "reading the script in my head" as rehearsal, that's not a thing.
ANNE: It's not a thing! I don't know where people get that.
JESS: Okay, we're rolling, by the way. This is episode three.
ANNE: Oh good. Hi. Oh man, we jumped right in.
JESS: We did. So last week was the trust exercises and the mirror thing, right?
ANNE: Mirror thing, yeah, where partners copy each other's movements. Some people really fought it. Which, fine. But by the end even the fighters were doing it.
JESS: Did anything go sideways?
ANNE: Always something goes sideways. This week it was reactions. I had people do a scene where one person gets news—good news, bad news, whatever—and the other person just has to react honestly, no lines memorized, nothing.
JESS: And?
ANNE: And it reminded me of something that happened years ago, actually, with my sister's kid. He had this school skit, tiny part, and he just completely blanked. Forgot every single word. And instead of freezing up he just started narrating it. Out loud. "I think I'm supposed to say something now." Just said that. To the whole audience.
JESS: No.
ANNE: Biggest laugh of the night. Bigger than any of the actual jokes in the skit.
JESS: That's amazing.
ANNE: It's my whole argument for improv, honestly. He didn't perform confidence. He just told the truth about the moment he was in, and it worked better than anything scripted would've. That's the thing I keep trying to get across in class. You don't have to be clever. You just have to be honest about what's actually happening.
JESS: Okay, so that's basically the tip, right? For someone listening who isn't in the class.
ANNE: Oh, totally, yeah. Here's the practical version. If you ever blank—doesn't matter if it's acting, or a toast at a wedding, or you're giving a talk somewhere—just say what's true. "I lost my spot." "I'm nervous." "Give me a second." People don't hate that. People relax when you do that. It's way worse to freeze and pretend everything's fine.
JESS: I feel like that's just good life advice.
ANNE: At the end of the day, ironically, it kind of is. 😅
JESS: You use that phrase so much.
ANNE: I know it's a cliché! I say it on purpose. It's funny to me every time.
JESS: Okay so, reactions. Talk to me about why that's the actual lesson and not, like, line memorization.
ANNE: Because memorizing lines is the least interesting part of acting and it gets all the attention. Everybody's scared of forgetting words. But an audience doesn't care about the words nearly as much as they care about what your face does right after you hear something. That's the whole scene, half the time. The reaction.
JESS: So you had people practicing just... reacting.
ANNE: Reacting to nothing, basically. I'd say "you just found out you won a boat" and they had to sell it with zero prep. Some people go big right away. Some people need permission. I had one woman in the back, quiet the whole first two weeks, and this week she did this reaction to fake bad news that was so understated and so real that the whole room went quiet for a second.
JESS: Good quiet or bad quiet?
ANNE: Good quiet. That's the good kind. That's the kind where you know somebody just committed to something instead of half-doing it. Half-doing it is always the more embarrassing choice, weirdly. Full commitment to a weird choice reads better than a careful little almost-choice.
JESS: I want to see this woman's boat reaction.
ANNE: You'd have had to be there. Which, by the way, is basically my whole pitch for the class, so.
JESS: Fair. Okay, what's coming next session?
ANNE: Next week we're doing scene work with actual partners, actual short scripts, and I'm making everybody choose a strong physical choice before they even open their mouth. Like, how does this person stand. What are they doing with their hands. Because once your body commits, your voice kind of follows along whether you want it to or not.
JESS: Is this the one where you make them walk in as their character?
ANNE: That's the one. It's a good time. Bring shoes you can move in, I guess is my only actual instruction.
JESS: Love that as a warning.
ANNE: 💛 See everybody Thursday.
Videos worth your time
Hand-picked by your instructor, with notes on what to watch for.
- ESSENTIAL Acting Lesson For Beginners (4 STEPS) | Acting AdviceThe Actors Academy
Watch for the simple four-step framework and try applying each step to a short scene of your own.
- The Ultimate Beginner's Guide To ActingTristan Spohn
Watch for the overview of core acting fundamentals a working actor says every beginner should know first.
- 3 Acting Exercises | Beginner - AdvancedThe Actors Academy
Watch for the three practical exercises and pause the video to actually try each one at home.
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